On Fri, 5 Feb 1999 17:17:52 +0100 (MET)  Christoph Badura wrote:

> simonb@telstra.com.au (Simon Burge) writes:
> 
> >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.
> 
> Gack!
> 
> If you do this, please make it *not* the default.
> 
> This falls into my "If I want to use Windows I know where to find it"
> category.

I don't understand the objection here - grep _not_ printing binary data
was the reason I upgraded to the lastest version on my Ultrix/Solaris
work machines.  I can't think of a _single_ case where the binary output
would be useful.  You can always get the "normal" output with the new -a
option.  From the NEWS file for grep:

  - When searching a binary file FOO, grep now just reports
    `Binary file FOO matches' instead of outputting binary data.
    This is typically more useful than the old behavior,
    and it is also more consistent with other utilities like `diff'.
    A file is considered to be binary if it contains a NUL (i.e. zero) byte.

(I only use Windows enough to know how to fill in my electronic time
sheet at work, so I don't understand your reference there either.)

Simon.