Precisely, because JSON is ubiquitous (unlike XML) and relatively safe to parse (unlike CSV).
It's not perfect - it doesn't have higher-order features like types/schemas or functions built in. But JSON + jq is a workhorse. I agree that distros do people a disservice by not bundling jq in base (and attempting to provide JSON output for distro-specific tooling).
It's not perfect - it doesn't have higher-order features like types/schemas or functions built in. But JSON + jq is a workhorse. I agree that distros do people a disservice by not bundling jq in base (and attempting to provide JSON output for distro-specific tooling).