csplit, nl, expr now conform to POSIX better, and are

more-compatible with traditional Unix, with respect to regular
expressions.

diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index b27acfb4d4357a731bd9dfe07d4599732681a903..e297418bc4117020688d083e9589126246b624cb 100644 (file)
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
        * Version 6.0-cvs.
 
+       * NEWS: csplit, nl, expr now conform to POSIX better, and are
+       more-compatible with traditional Unix, with respect to regular
+       expressions.
        * src/csplit.c (extract_regexp): Set re_syntax_options to a
        value that is compatible with what POSIX requires.
        * src/nl.c (build_type_arg): Likewise.

diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 418d92c6ceb330b5bf1d9a40a947ebd9f5283bd4..00e95f2eeb9303a93c5540ae4fbe34ef457db43e 100644 (file)
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -15,11 +15,23 @@ GNU coreutils NEWS                                    -*- outline -*-
   basename and dirname now treat // as different from / on platforms
   where the two are distinct.
 
+  csplit and nl now use POSIX syntax for regular expressions, not
+  Emacs syntax.  As a result, character classes like [[:print:]] and
+  interval expressions like A\{1,9\} now have their usual meaning,
+  . no longer matches the null character, and \ must precede the + and
+  ? operators.
+
   df now considers "none" and "proc" file systems to be dummies and
   therefore does not normally display them.  Also, inaccessible file
   systems (which can be caused by shadowed mount points or by chrooted
   bind mounts) are now dummies, too.
 
+  expr no longer complains about leading ^ in a regular expression
+  (the anchor is ignored), or about regular expressions like A** (the
+  second "*" is ignored).  expr now exits with status 2 (not 3) for
+  errors it detects in the expression's values; exit status 3 is now
+  used only for internal errors like arithmetic overflow.
+
   ln now uses different (and we hope clearer) diagnostics when it fails.
   ln -v now acts more like FreeBSD, so it generates output only when
   successful and the output is easier to parse.