Download different version of grep in cygwin?

Question

I'd like to download a different version of grep in Cygwin. Currently, I have version 2.21, but I'd like to get version 2.5.1 (this is what runs on Mac OS by default, and I'm more familiar with that).

I obviously don't want to run the entire setup again. Is there a way to get the Mac OS version (i.e. 2.5.1) without running setup all over again? Thanks. <3

Answer 1

Compiling is always a possible choice: grep lives here: ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/grep/, and given the tarball (ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/grep/grep-2.5.1.tar.gz),

tar xf 2.5.1.tar.gz
cd 2.5.1
./configure
make && make install

(this will probably install into /usr/local/bin — you should read the instructions, e.g., the --prefix option to suit your own needs).

That assumes you are developing, and have installed gcc (the Cygwin setup program helps in that case).