Prefixing GNU coreutils with "g" is common on most non-Linux Unix systems; it pr... | Hacker News

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aidenn0 on May 26, 2025 | parent | context | favorite | on: TIL: timeout in Bash scripts

Prefixing GNU coreutils with "g" is common on most non-Linux Unix systems; it prevents conflicts with the base system (gmake/gtar vs make/tar).

jonhohle on May 26, 2025 [–]

But also sucks because the g-prefixed versions aren’t installed on Linux systems which means scripts that rely on them are not portable.

mdaniel on May 26, 2025 | [–]

Thankfully bash tolerates that, if the script author cares, e.g.

  gnu_sed=gsed
  if ! command -v $gnu_sed; then
    gnu_sed=$(detector_wizardry)
  fi
  $gnu_sed -Ee ...

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