--- a/test.py	Fri Jun 14 14:12:56 2013 -0700
+++ b/test.py	Fri Jun 14 16:31:10 2013 -0700
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@
     "BUILD_PROFILE",
     "VERSION",
     "PYTHON",
+    "VALGRIND_FOUND",
 ]
 
 NSC_ENABLED = False
@@ -73,6 +74,7 @@
 BUILD_PROFILE = ""
 VERSION = ""
 PYTHON = ""
+VALGRIND_FOUND = True
 
 #
 # This will be given a prefix and a suffix when the waf config file is
@@ -1766,6 +1768,16 @@
             print
 
     #
+    # Let the user know if they tried to use valgrind but it was not
+    # present on their machine.
+    #
+    if options.valgrind and not VALGRIND_FOUND:
+        print
+        print '***  Note: you are trying to use valgrind, but valgrind could not be found'
+        print '***  on your machine.  All tests and examples will crash or be skipped.'
+        print
+
+    #
     # If we have been asked to retain all of the little temporary files, we
     # don't delete tm.  If we do delete the temporary files, delete only the
     # directory we just created.  We don't want to happily delete any retained

--- a/wscript	Fri Jun 14 14:12:56 2013 -0700
+++ b/wscript	Fri Jun 14 16:31:10 2013 -0700
@@ -468,8 +468,10 @@
     conf.report_optional_feature("ENABLE_EXAMPLES", "Build examples", env['ENABLE_EXAMPLES'], 
                                  why_not_examples)
 
+    env['VALGRIND_FOUND'] = False
     try:
         conf.find_program('valgrind', var='VALGRIND')
+        env['VALGRIND_FOUND'] = True
     except WafError:
         pass