diff --git a/Misc/ACKS b/Misc/ACKS
index dccb7790742..1cf2cb1c7b5 100644
--- a/Misc/ACKS
+++ b/Misc/ACKS
@@ -321,6 +321,7 @@ David Goodger
 Hans de Graaff
 Eddy De Greef
 Duncan Grisby
+Fabian Groffen
 Eric Groo
 Dag Gruneau
 Michael Guravage
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 899eab0cc86..de4536a53fe 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -101,6 +101,9 @@ Library
 Build
 -----
 
+- Issue #7716: Under Solaris, don't assume existence of /usr/xpg4/bin/grep in
+  the configure script but use $GREP instead.  Patch by Fabian Groffen.
+
 - Issue #10475: Don't hardcode compilers for LDSHARED/LDCXXSHARED on NetBSD
   and DragonFly BSD.  Patch by Nicolas Joly.
 
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index b143c4ea3b5..d454efc1fbc 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #! /bin/sh
-# From configure.in Revision: 87639 .
+# From configure.in Revision: 87646 .
 # Guess values for system-dependent variables and create Makefiles.
 # Generated by GNU Autoconf 2.65 for python 3.2.
 #
@@ -8976,7 +8976,7 @@ rm -f conftest*
 			;;
 		solaris)
 			if test -f /etc/netconfig; then
-                          if /usr/xpg4/bin/grep -q tcp6 /etc/netconfig; then
+                          if $GREP -q tcp6 /etc/netconfig; then
 				ipv6type=$i
 				ipv6trylibc=yes
                           fi
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index bd2d027f11e..f3a7ee9162a 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -2350,7 +2350,7 @@ yes
 			;;
 		solaris)
 			if test -f /etc/netconfig; then
-                          if /usr/xpg4/bin/grep -q tcp6 /etc/netconfig; then
+                          if $GREP -q tcp6 /etc/netconfig; then
 				ipv6type=$i
 				ipv6trylibc=yes
                           fi