diff --git a/Documentation/git-grep.txt b/Documentation/git-grep.txt
index 71f32f3508..5033483db4 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-grep.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-grep.txt
@@ -161,8 +161,11 @@ OPTIONS
 
 -P::
 --perl-regexp::
-	Use Perl-compatible regexp for patterns. Requires libpcre to be
-	compiled in.
+	Use Perl-compatible regular expressions for patterns.
++
+Support for these types of regular expressions is an optional
+compile-time dependency. If Git wasn't compiled with support for them
+providing this option will cause it to die.
 
 -F::
 --fixed-strings::
diff --git a/Documentation/rev-list-options.txt b/Documentation/rev-list-options.txt
index a02f7324c0..a46f70c2b1 100644
--- a/Documentation/rev-list-options.txt
+++ b/Documentation/rev-list-options.txt
@@ -92,8 +92,12 @@ endif::git-rev-list[]
 	pattern as a regular expression).
 
 --perl-regexp::
-	Consider the limiting patterns to be Perl-compatible regular expressions.
-	Requires libpcre to be compiled in.
+	Consider the limiting patterns to be Perl-compatible regular
+	expressions.
++
+Support for these types of regular expressions is an optional
+compile-time dependency. If Git wasn't compiled with support for them
+providing this option will cause it to die.
 
 --remove-empty::
 	Stop when a given path disappears from the tree.