Issued:
2009-05-14
Updated:
2009-09-02

RHBA-2009:0481 - grep bug fix update

Synopsis

grep bug fix update

Type/Severity

Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

An updated grep package that fixes various bugs is now available.

Description

Grep searches through textual input for lines matching a regular expression.

This updated grep package includes fixes for the following bugs:

  • while searching certain immense binary files in which the newline character did not appear for large expanses (for hundreds of megabytes of text, for instance), grep may have missed a subsequent match. Because the grep utility is not intended to process arbitrarily-long files in this manner, this updated version now exits with a "line too long" error message and an appropriate error code under these conditions. (BZ#483073)

  • when operating on particular multi-byte character sets (but not, notably, UTF-8), grep could enter an infinite loop and become unresponsive. This has been fixed in this updated package so that grep is once again able to process these multi-byte character sets without hanging. (BZ#479151)

  • certain output control option combinations could cause the grep tool to segmentation fault. With this updated package, these combinations work as expected and no longer cause a segmentation fault. (BZ#452127)

  • the example attached to the "--label" option description was not illustrative enough: as documented, the option actually had no effect. The updated package contains an improved example that shows the "--label" option's utility, both in the manual and info pages. (BZ#484366)

All users of grep are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which resolves these issues.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at This content is not included.http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

ProductVersionArch
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian5ppc
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems5s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation5i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server5ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server5i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI5i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop5i386

Updated Packages

  • grep-2.5.1-55.el5.ppc.rpm
  • grep-2.5.1-55.el5.s390x.rpm
  • grep-2.5.1-55.el5.src.rpm
  • grep-2.5.1-55.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • grep-2.5.1-55.el5.ia64.rpm
  • grep-2.5.1-55.el5.i386.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)

Additional information