GNU bug report logs - #80774
GNU grep can not discover GNU grep on the PATH ?

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Package: grep; Reported by: Dennis Clarke <dclarke@HIDDEN>; dated Wed, 8 Apr 2026 18:55:02 UTC; Maintainer for grep is bug-grep@HIDDEN.

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Subject: Re: bug#80774: GNU grep can not discover GNU grep on the PATH ?
To: Dennis Clarke <dclarke@HIDDEN>, 80774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
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On 2026-04-07 16:25, Dennis Clarke via Bug reports for GNU grep wrote:
> configure: error: no working 'grep' found
>  =C2=A0 A working 'grep' command is needed to build GNU Grep.
>  =C2=A0 This 'grep' should support -e and long lines.
>  =C2=A0 On Solaris 10, install the package SUNWggrp or SUNWxcu4.
>  =C2=A0 On Solaris 11, install the package text/gnu-grep or system/xope=
n/xcu4.

What's in config.log? There could be some explanation there as to why=20
OpenBSD grep or /opt/bw/bin/grep failed the test for a working grep in=20
'configure'.




Information forwarded to bug-grep@HIDDEN:
bug#80774; Package grep. Full text available.

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Subject: GNU grep can not discover GNU grep on the PATH ?
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This really confuses me during configure :

alpha$
alpha$ head config.log
This file contains any messages produced by compilers while
running configure, to aid debugging if configure makes a mistake.

It was created by GNU grep configure 3.12, which was
generated by GNU Autoconf 2.72.76-2f64.  Invocation command line was

   $ ./configure --prefix=/opt/bw --disable-silent-rules 
--enable-dependency-tracking --enable-threads=posix 
--enable-gcc-warnings=no --with-libsigsegv 
--with-libsigsegv-prefix=/opt/bw --with-libiconv-prefix=/opt/bw 
--with-gnu-ld '--with-packager=GENUNIX Tue Apr  7 22:59:10 UTC 2026'

## --------- ##
## Platform. ##
alpha$

that configure line spits out :

configure: error: no working 'grep' found
   A working 'grep' command is needed to build GNU Grep.
   This 'grep' should support -e and long lines.
   On Solaris 10, install the package SUNWggrp or SUNWxcu4.
   On Solaris 11, install the package text/gnu-grep or system/xopen/xcu4.
alpha$


This is an OpenBSD 7.8 machine and I have already built GNU grep at 
least four times and managed to get good results. The binaries are on 
the PATH right away :

alpha$ which grep
/opt/bw/bin/grep
alpha$ ls -l /opt/bw/bin/grep
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  822658 Apr  7 22:47 /opt/bw/bin/grep
alpha$ /opt/bw/bin/grep --version
grep (GNU grep) 3.12
Packaged by GENUNIX Tue Apr  7 21:25:26 UTC 2026
Copyright (C) 2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later 
<https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Written by Mike Haertel and others; see
<https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/grep.git/tree/AUTHORS>.

grep -P uses PCRE2 10.47 2025-10-21
alpha$
alpha$
alpha$ ldd /opt/bw/bin/grep
/opt/bw/bin/grep:
         Start            End              Type  Open Ref GrpRef Name
         0000000030ab0000 0000000030b66000 exe   1    0   0 
/opt/bw/bin/grep
         000000007e106000 000000007e13c000 rlib  0    1   0 
/opt/bw/lib/libsigsegv.so.2.8
         00000000a01bc000 00000000a029c000 rlib  0    1   0 
/opt/bw/lib/libpcre2-8.so.15.0
         0000000092862000 0000000092998000 rlib  0    1   0 
/usr/lib/libc.so.102.0
         000000008a530000 000000008a530000 ld.so 0    1   0 
/usr/libexec/ld.so
alpha$

Also there is the system grep from the OpenBSD folks.

Is there some magic I am missing ?


-- 
--
Dennis Clarke
RISC-V/SPARC/PPC/ARM/CISC
UNIX and Linux spoken





Acknowledgement sent to Dennis Clarke <dclarke@HIDDEN>:
New bug report received and forwarded. Copy sent to bug-grep@HIDDEN. Full text available.
Report forwarded to bug-grep@HIDDEN:
bug#80774; Package grep. Full text available.
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