[10:21] <jarnos> Why lubuntu has mawk as awk, by default? Mawk is old version and buggy: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mawk Why not use gawk?
[10:52] <phillw> jarnos: it is not lubuntu's choice. mawk is installed as part of core, so is across all *buntu flavours.
[10:53] <jarnos> phillw, but you could add gawk package and make it default awk, right?
[10:54] <phillw> no, the flavours have no control over the 'core'. That needs to be taken up with the team that handles that part directly. as a start point, try #ubuntu+1 channel and they should be able to direct you to where / who to ask about the reasoning behind that decision.
[10:58] <phillw> jarnos: on the meantime http://askubuntu.com/questions/561621/choosing-awk-version-on-ubuntu-14-04 should be of some assistance to you.
[11:04] <jarnos> phillw, other flavours such as Xubuntu have gawk installed as well by default. I think they use gawk by default as it has higher priority.
[11:05] <phillw> sudo update-alternatives --config awk
[11:05] <phillw> shows gawk as my default
[11:05] <phillw> I'm running 15.04
[11:08] <phillw> so, it appears to have changed since the LTS came out. It is doubtful that a change from mawk to gawk would be accepted as an SRU as it poses an issue of breaking anybody's scripts they have written around mawk. As evidenced by the OP in that post I flagged up.
[11:10] <phillw> I'm surmising that they keep mawk available precisely for that reason.
[11:11] <jarnos> phillw, and still they don't update mawk.
[11:12] <phillw> jarnos: what version of lubuntu are you using?
[11:15] <jarnos> phillw, they all use an old version http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=mawk&searchon=names&suite=all&section=all
[11:17] <jarnos> phillw, according to http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=lubuntu&pkglist=true&version=15.04#pkglist lubuntu 15.04 does not have gawk installed by default, so I suppose you have installed it afterwards.
[11:17] <phillw> not me.. i do not use awk :D
[11:17] <phillw> it may be part of the -dev suite, which I do have
[11:17] <jarnos> phillw, but maybe as a dependency for another package you have installed.
[11:20] <phillw> jarnos: indeed, I have just powered up a VM with 15.10 on and mawk is the only option.
[11:21] <phillw> my system has that many additions to it, I keep VM's for testing :D
[11:22] <jarnos> phillw,  "apt-cache rdepends -i --installed --recurse gawk |less" could show which package caused gawk to be installed.
[11:23] <phillw> my VM system.. libguest :D
[11:23] <phillw> which happens to be about the 2nd thing I install on a new machine :)
[11:24] <phillw> but, you say xubuntu 15.04 uses gawk and not mawk?
[11:26] <jarnos> phillw, I am not 100% sure, but it has both gawk and mawk installed by default: http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=xubuntu&pkglist=true&version=15.04#pkglist
[11:28] <phillw> jarnos: let me grab the iso and install it onto a VM.. it will take a short while, so don't think i have forgotten about you!
[11:29] <jarnos> phillw, ok
[11:29] <phillw> gawk is in the manifest.. so saves that step :)
[11:30] <phillw> and is not in the lubuntu mainfest.
[11:30] <phillw> manifest
[11:34] <phillw> jarnos: I can ask Julien to look into it, but as we are currently over sized on the desktop ISO I doubt he will be wanting to add anything to the manifest, when faced with trimming it.
[11:38] <phillw> All the other flavours have gone to DVD sized ISO's, lubuntu is the sole flavour that still has CD sized (and also the sole flavour that has alternate for the lower powered legacy machines that cannot run ubiquity).
[11:43] <jarnos> phillw, oh, not all older PCs can be booted using USB drive :(
[11:45] <phillw> which is why we face difficult decisions with what to leave out.. the recent cull of language packs and fonts has caused issues... :(
[11:46] <jarnos> phillw, file size of mawk_1.3.3-17ubuntu2_amd64.deb is 78870 whereas file size of gawk_4.0.1+dfsg-2.1ubuntu2_amd64.deb is 781466, about 10 times as big :o
[11:49] <phillw> possibly why it is not on lubuntu. I'd hazard a guess that Julien culled it in a previous session of putting the ISO on to a 'diet'.
[11:49] <jarnos> In the description mawk advertises "Mawk is smaller and much faster than gawk." but check this out: https://code.google.com/p/original-mawk/issues/detail?id=34
[11:50] <phillw> gawk is 653944 whilst mawk is 117768 on my 15.04 system
[11:53] <jarnos> phillw, ok, I just told size reported by apt-cache show
[11:57] <phillw> wb jarnos :)
[11:58] <jarnos> phillw, thanks. It was not good idea to run the test script in the link I posted with current mawk. I couldn't stop it by Ctrl-C.
[12:00] <phillw> he he... you got to love VMs :D
[12:01] <phillw> if the answer to the question "could something go wrong?" is yes... sandbox it :D A pre-installed VM takes a minute to start up :)
[12:04] <phillw> he he, no wonder xubuntu can have gawk in it... ISO is over 1GB in size!
[12:04] <jarnos> phillw, the first mawk command never finished. If you replace mawk by gawk in it, it is pretty fast. So quite the opposite that mawk description claims.
[12:04] <phillw> well, make that ~ 1GB :)
[12:05] <phillw> it is doubtful that Julien will add 1/2 a Mb onto the ISO just for gawk when faced with taking more things off it.
[12:06] <jarnos> phillw, but I think it is important that the base system is reliable.
[12:06] <phillw> So, it will go down as a "won't fix" I'm afraid.
[12:08] <phillw> jarnos: it is important that it supports the Japanese language - but the fonts have been removed. They have far more chance of being added back in. People who use awk will be expected to have enough technical knowledge to fathom out installing gawk if they need it.
[12:08] <jarnos> phillw, I hope they finally update mawk at least.
[12:08] <phillw> Julien is stuck between a rock and a hard place as to what is stripped out to maintain CD sized ISO
[12:10] <phillw> can you look up what version of mawk is in debian repo?
[12:10] <phillw> if it is a newer version, then I can ask Julien to request it be added to the ubuntu repo so it is picked up in the build.
[12:11] <phillw> bbs .. lunch time
[12:12] <jarnos> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mawk/+bug/1332114
[12:21] <jarnos> phillw, it is still 1.3.3-17 in Debian:  https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=mawk
[12:25] <phillw> in that case, it needs a sponsor in debian to pull in the newer version. Once it is in debian, it will trickle down into ubuntu (or can be manually asked for to speed things up). But, it has to be in debian repo first.
[12:26] <phillw> And, with that, I'm not running away but I have some other stuff to do as it is end of month for parent's company. I auto-join here, so please feel free to ping me with progress / questions.