diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/bison/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/bison/package.py
index 7cf7faba71..7474950b7b 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/bison/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/bison/package.py
@@ -39,7 +39,10 @@ class Bison(AutotoolsPackage):
     version('3.0.4', 'a586e11cd4aff49c3ff6d3b6a4c9ccf8')
     version('2.7',   'ded660799e76fb1667d594de1f7a0da9')
 
+    depends_on('diffutils', type='build')
     depends_on('m4', type=('build', 'run'))
+    depends_on('perl', type='build')
+    depends_on('help2man', type='build')
 
     patch('pgi.patch', when='@3.0.4')
 
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/bzip2/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/bzip2/package.py
index 1e15669174..6ba1c5ded6 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/bzip2/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/bzip2/package.py
@@ -42,6 +42,8 @@ class Bzip2(Package):
 
     variant('shared', default=True, description='Enables the build of shared libraries.')
 
+    depends_on('diffutils', type='build')
+
     # override default implementation
     @property
     def libs(self):
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/diffutils/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/diffutils/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bcc61fea4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/diffutils/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+##############################################################################
+# Copyright (c) 2013-2018, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.
+# Produced at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
+#
+# This file is part of Spack.
+# Created by Todd Gamblin, tgamblin@llnl.gov, All rights reserved.
+# LLNL-CODE-647188
+#
+# For details, see https://github.com/spack/spack
+# Please also see the NOTICE and LICENSE files for our notice and the LGPL.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License (as
+# published by the Free Software Foundation) version 2.1, February 1999.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the IMPLIED WARRANTY OF
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the terms and
+# conditions of the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+# License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
+##############################################################################
+from spack import *
+
+
+class Diffutils(AutotoolsPackage):
+    """GNU Diffutils is a package of several programs related to finding
+    differences between files."""
+
+    homepage = "https://www.gnu.org/software/diffutils/"
+    url      = "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/diffutils/diffutils-3.6.tar.xz"
+
+    version('3.6', sha256='d621e8bdd4b573918c8145f7ae61817d1be9deb4c8d2328a65cea8e11d783bd6')
+
+    build_directory = 'spack-build'
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/findutils/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/findutils/package.py
index c1a7e08167..1660268b66 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/findutils/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/findutils/package.py
@@ -51,3 +51,32 @@ class Findutils(AutotoolsPackage):
     version('4.2.15', 'a881b15aa7170aea045bf35cc92d48e7')
     version('4.1.20', 'e90ce7222daadeb8616b8db461e17cbc')
     version('4.1',    '3ea8fe58ef5386da75f6c707713aa059')
+
+    depends_on('autoconf', type='build', when='@4.6.0')
+    depends_on('automake', type='build', when='@4.6.0')
+    depends_on('libtool', type='build', when='@4.6.0')
+    depends_on('m4', type='build', when='@4.6.0')
+    depends_on('texinfo', type='build', when='@4.6.0')
+
+    # findutils does not build with newer versions of glibc
+    patch('https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/findutils/raw/97ba2d7a18d1f9ae761b6ff0b4f1c4d33d7a8efc/f/findutils-4.6.0-gnulib-fflush.patch', sha256='84b916c0bf8c51b7e7b28417692f0ad3e7030d1f3c248ba77c42ede5c1c5d11e', when='@4.6.0')
+    patch('https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/findutils/raw/97ba2d7a18d1f9ae761b6ff0b4f1c4d33d7a8efc/f/findutils-4.6.0-gnulib-makedev.patch', sha256='bd9e4e5cc280f9753ae14956c4e4aa17fe7a210f55dd6c84aa60b12d106d47a2', when='@4.6.0')
+
+    build_directory = 'spack-build'
+
+    @property
+    def force_autoreconf(self):
+        # Run autoreconf due to build system patch (gnulib-makedev)
+        return self.spec.satisfies('@4.6.0')
+
+    @when('@4.6.0')
+    def patch(self):
+        # We have to patch out gettext support, otherwise autoreconf tries to
+        # call autopoint, which depends on find, which is part of findutils.
+        filter_file('^AM_GNU_GETTEXT.*',
+                    '',
+                    'configure.ac')
+
+        filter_file(r'^SUBDIRS = (.*) po (.*)',
+                    r'SUBDIRS = \1 \2',
+                    'Makefile.am')
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/help2man/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/help2man/package.py
index f7940547d4..977f0394ee 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/help2man/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/help2man/package.py
@@ -35,3 +35,4 @@ class Help2man(AutotoolsPackage):
     version('1.47.4', '544aca496a7d89de3e5d99e56a2f03d3')
 
     depends_on('gettext', type='build')
+    depends_on('perl', type='build')
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/m4/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/m4/package.py
index 0265accf5f..ac716cf622 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/m4/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/m4/package.py
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ class M4(AutotoolsPackage):
     # from: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/master/Formula/m4.rb
     # Patch credit to Jeremy Huddleston Sequoia <jeremyhu@apple.com>
     patch('secure_snprintf.patch', when='platform_os = highsierra')
+    # https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1573342
+    patch('https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/m4/raw/5d147168d4b93f38a4833f5dd1d650ad88af5a8a/f/m4-1.4.18-glibc-change-work-around.patch', sha256='fc9b61654a3ba1a8d6cd78ce087e7c96366c290bc8d2c299f09828d793b853c8', when='@1.4.18')
 
     variant('sigsegv', default=True,
             description="Build the libsigsegv dependency")
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mpich/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mpich/package.py
index dfa227f37e..28b083b332 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mpich/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mpich/package.py
@@ -82,6 +82,8 @@ class Mpich(AutotoolsPackage):
     # and https://lists.mpich.org/pipermail/discuss/2016-June/004768.html
     patch('mpich32_clang.patch', when='@3.2:3.2.0%clang')
 
+    depends_on('findutils', type='build')
+
     depends_on('libfabric', when='netmod=ofi')
 
     conflicts('device=ch4', when='@:3.2')
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mvapich2/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mvapich2/package.py
index 966568cb71..7671e95a3a 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mvapich2/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mvapich2/package.py
@@ -117,6 +117,7 @@ class Mvapich2(AutotoolsPackage):
         multi=True
     )
 
+    depends_on('findutils', type='build')
     depends_on('bison', type='build')
     depends_on('libpciaccess', when=(sys.platform != 'darwin'))
     depends_on('cuda', when='+cuda')
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openssl/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openssl/package.py
index cd8f06b9d0..f6fca1d19c 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openssl/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openssl/package.py
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ class Openssl(Package):
 
     depends_on('zlib')
 
-    depends_on('perl@5.14.0:', type='test')
+    depends_on('perl@5.14.0:', type=('build', 'test'))
 
     parallel = False
 
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/texinfo/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/texinfo/package.py
index 10a1a4ba52..af811b1f28 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/texinfo/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/texinfo/package.py
@@ -42,3 +42,5 @@ class Texinfo(AutotoolsPackage):
     version('5.2', '1b8f98b80a8e6c50422125e07522e8db')
     version('5.1', '54e250014fe698fb4832016158747c03')
     version('5.0', '918432285abe6fe96c98355594c5656a')
+
+    depends_on('perl')