On 04 Feb 1999 15:03:13 +0100  Tom Ivar Helbekkmo wrote:

> One of the things I like about the new directory scheme is that
> configuration stuff goes in /etc, without any binaries being there.
> This means that I can quickly "grep something /etc/*", and generally
> find what I'm looking for, without risking lots of binary output.
> 
> However, aliases.db, pwd.db and spwd.db are there, and sometimes I'll
> get a match in one of those, resulting in a deluge of garbage.  Would
> it be a good idea to keep those files in, say, /var/db instead?

The current version of GNU grep by default doesn't print binary when it
gets a match.  On an Ultrix box with GNU grep 2.2c:

	balrog:~ 6> grep ULTRIX /bin/echo
	Binary file /bin/echo matches

I'll look into upgrading our GNU grep (currently 2.0) to the latest
version.

Simon.