git grep operations are failing on macOS - update docs and tests

[pierre-rouleau]

git grep operations running on macOS fail. It fails even if a GNU grep is installed as reported in issue 428.

I suggest the following:

• 1: Identify this problem in the readme text

• 2: Dynamically prevent execution of the following git grep ert tests when the running OS is macOS:

  • dumb-jump-test-git-grep-rules-fail-test,
  • dumb-jump-test-git-grep-rules-not-test,
  • dumb-jump-test-git-grep-rules-test.

  For example the code for the first one of those could be modified to the following:

  (when (and (not (eq system-type 'darwin))   ; git grep is broken on macOS as of Jan 2026.                                                               $
             (dumb-jump-git-grep-installed?))
    (ert-deftest dumb-jump-test-git-grep-rules-fail-test ()
      (let* ((bad-rule '(:type "variable"
                               :supports ("ag" "grep" "rg" "git-grep")
                               :language "elisp"
                               :regex "\\\(defvarJJJ\\b\\s*"
                               :tests ("(defvar test ")))
             (dumb-jump-find-rules (cons bad-rule dumb-jump-find-rules))
             (rule-failures (dumb-jump-test-git-grep-rules)))
        (should (= (length rule-failures) 1))))
  

• 3: Add macOS runner(s) in the CI workflow to run tests on macOS.

[jacktasia]

@coderabbitai thoughts?

[coderabbitai]

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@jacktasia Here are my thoughts on issue #490:

Overall Assessment: This is a legitimate platform-specific issue that deserves attention, especially since macOS is a popular development platform.

On the Proposed Solutions:

1. Documentation (Proposal #1) ✅ - Definitely should be done regardless of other approaches. Users need to know about this limitation.

2. Conditionally Skipping Tests (Proposal #2) ⚠️ - This is pragmatic but has trade-offs:

   • Pros: Quick fix, prevents false failures, code is clean with the system-type check
   • Cons: Means git-grep support won't be tested/validated on macOS, essentially abandoning the feature on that platform

3. macOS CI Runners (Proposal #3) ✅ - Strong recommendation. This would catch platform-specific issues early and is essential if you want to properly support macOS users.

Alternative Consideration:

Before completely disabling git-grep on macOS, it might be worth investigating:

• What specifically is broken about git-grep on macOS?
• Could dumb-jump detect and use GNU grep when available (ggrep via Homebrew)?
• Is this an issue with all macOS versions or specific ones?
• Could there be a fallback chain: try git-grep → if fails/unavailable, use rg/ag/grep?

My Recommendation:

A hybrid approach:

1. ✅ Add documentation about the macOS limitation
2. ✅ Add macOS to CI (critical for validating any fix and preventing regressions)
3. 🔍 Investigate if there's a viable fix (perhaps detecting ggrep or adjusting the git-grep command)
4. ⏭️ If no fix is feasible after investigation, then implement the conditional test skipping

The test-skipping code proposed looks correct, but it would be ideal to understand why git-grep fails on macOS before giving up on it entirely.

[jacktasia]

@pierre-rouleau started to address this in #521 if you have any feedback. On my M4 mac over docker these tests are pretty slow (~3 minutes to run the full suite for one emacs version). I guess since it needs to emulate for the container image. cc @coderabbitai

[jacktasia]

All three proposals from this issue have been addressed:

1. README documentation — The macOS git-grep breakage is documented.
2. Skip git-grep tests on macOS — Tests are skipped on macOS CI.
3. macOS CI runners — Added.

Additionally, the misleading note at README line 170 (which incorrectly stated that git-grep is the default searcher and promised a "future release" fix) has been corrected. The note now accurately reflects that git-grep is never auto-selected — it's only used when explicitly configured via dumb-jump-force-searcher or dumb-jump-prefer-searcher. The default fallback order (ag → rg → gnu-grep → grep) does not include git-grep.

No code changes were needed since git-grep is already opt-in only.