I implemented this. Since comment 0 says that we cannot just change to GRegex by default for now, I made it so you can use either old regex or gregex, but not mix the two.

Created attachment 111724 [details] [review]
[PATCH] Prepare for gregex by moving consolidating the code to clear a vte_match_regex in one place only.

 src/reflect.c     |   27 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 src/vte-private.h |   15 ++++++++++++++-
 src/vte.c         |   47 +++++++++++++++++++++++++----------------------
 src/vte.h         |    5 ++++-
 4 files changed, 70 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-)

Created attachment 111725 [details] [review]
[PATCH] Add support for GRegex. Only either gregex or the old regex stuff must be used, not both at the same time. Bug #418918.

 src/vte-private.h |    1 +
 src/vte.c         |  316 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 2 files changed, 313 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

So, something for vte 1.0

Do you mean this should wait until 1.0, or wait until 1.0 to remove the old regex but put gregex in now?

(In reply to comment #5)
> Do you mean this should wait until 1.0, or wait until 1.0 to remove the old
> regex but put gregex in now?

The latter.  Feel free to do whatever you want as long as you don't break people's running applications :).

You touched it, now you own it ;)

So that means ok to commit, right? :)

Yes.

This problem has been fixed in the development version. The fix will be available in the next major software release. Thank you for your bug report.