[uxp]

If this actually fixes a legitimate problem (which is what?), I don't think anyone thinks that it shouldn't be fixed, just not at a x.12 release.

This changes breaks rgrep, thus it should be held until a full version (3.0).

edit: my FreeBSD's `grep` manpage:

    -R, -r, --recursive
           Read all files under each directory, recursively; this is equiv-
           alent to the -d recurse option.

[tinco]

I think many people think it should not be fixed, even though it has a use case which is mentioned elsewhere in the comments.

I absolutely agree than any changes to interface like this should be in clearly defined milestone releases, possibly allowing patches to be backported to legacy versions.

[koenigdavidmj]

FreeBSD grep is just GNU grep, it appears, up to but not including 9.0. Note the long --recursive option in the manual page snippet that you posted; no properly God-fearing BSD program would support long options.

[jasomill]

The new non-GNU grep in FreeBSD 9 was designed to be compatible with GNU grep (pedantically, with GNU grep configured with --disable-perl-regexp as it has been in previous FreeBSD releases) because lots of ports depend on GNU grep behavior. The fear of God is not a sufficient reason to break ports.