Santiago Ruano Rincón wrote:
As suggested by this user, it would be better if egrep/fgrep script calls grep using its absolute path.
Debian bug 863002 doesn't explain why it would be better, as the original bug report is evidently a case of misunderstanding how PATH works.
Although we used to do it the way you're suggesting, the current way is better for users who want to specify their own 'grep' command with their own option preferences, and to have these preferences also apply to 'egrep' and 'fgrep'. See:
https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=19998