diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 31c0a70..065a612 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -110,6 +110,11 @@ CMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED(VERSION 3.0.0)
 # GET_TARGET_PROPERTY. This should no longer be required.
 # CMAKE_POLICY(SET CMP0026 OLD)
 
+# With a recent cmake, you can provide a rootdir to look for non
+# standard installed library dependencies, but to do so, the policy
+# needs to be set to new (by uncommenting the following)
+# CMAKE_POLICY(SET CMP0074 NEW)
+
 # For FindReadline.cmake. This was changed to allow setting CMAKE_MODULE_PATH
 # on the command line.
 # SET(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake)
@@ -312,7 +317,11 @@ IF(EDITLINE_FOUND)
   ENDIF(PCRE2_SUPPORT_LIBEDIT)
 ELSE(EDITLINE_FOUND)
   IF(PCRE2_SUPPORT_LIBEDIT)
-    MESSAGE(FATAL_ERROR "libedit not found, set Editline_ROOT if needed")
+    MESSAGE(FATAL_ERROR
+      " libedit not found, set EDITLINE_INCLUDE_DIR to a compatible header\n"
+      " or set Editline_ROOT to a full libedit installed tree, as needed\n"
+      " Might need to enable policy CMP0074 in CMakeLists.txt"
+    )
   ENDIF(PCRE2_SUPPORT_LIBEDIT)
 ENDIF(EDITLINE_FOUND)
 
diff --git a/cmake/FindEditline.cmake b/cmake/FindEditline.cmake
index 37eeb3e..1f0c951 100644
--- a/cmake/FindEditline.cmake
+++ b/cmake/FindEditline.cmake
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 # Modified from FindReadline.cmake (PH Feb 2012)
 
-if(EDITLINE_INCLUDE_DIR AND EDITLINE_LIBRARY AND NCURSES_LIBRARY)
+if(EDITLINE_INCLUDE_DIR AND EDITLINE_LIBRARY)
   set(EDITLINE_FOUND TRUE)
-else(EDITLINE_INCLUDE_DIR AND EDITLINE_LIBRARY AND NCURSES_LIBRARY)
+else(EDITLINE_INCLUDE_DIR AND EDITLINE_LIBRARY)
   FIND_PATH(EDITLINE_INCLUDE_DIR readline.h PATH_SUFFIXES
     editline
     edit/readline
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ else(EDITLINE_INCLUDE_DIR AND EDITLINE_LIBRARY AND NCURSES_LIBRARY)
   
   FIND_LIBRARY(EDITLINE_LIBRARY NAMES edit)
   include(FindPackageHandleStandardArgs)
-  FIND_PACKAGE_HANDLE_STANDARD_ARGS(Editline DEFAULT_MSG EDITLINE_INCLUDE_DIR EDITLINE_LIBRARY )
+  FIND_PACKAGE_HANDLE_STANDARD_ARGS(Editline DEFAULT_MSG EDITLINE_INCLUDE_DIR EDITLINE_LIBRARY)
 
   MARK_AS_ADVANCED(EDITLINE_INCLUDE_DIR EDITLINE_LIBRARY)
-endif(EDITLINE_INCLUDE_DIR AND EDITLINE_LIBRARY AND NCURSES_LIBRARY)
+endif(EDITLINE_INCLUDE_DIR AND EDITLINE_LIBRARY)
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 7f22640..3cbd7ee 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -601,7 +601,7 @@ fi
 # headers in different places. Try to cover the most common ones.
 
 if test "$enable_pcre2test_libedit" = "yes"; then
-  AC_CHECK_HEADERS([editline/readline.h edit/readline/readline.h], [
+  AC_CHECK_HEADERS([editline/readline.h edit/readline/readline.h readline.h], [
     HAVE_LIBEDIT_HEADER=1
     break
   ])
@@ -941,8 +941,8 @@ if test "$enable_pcre2test_libedit" = "yes"; then
     exit 1
   fi
   if test -z "$HAVE_LIBEDIT_HEADER"; then
-    echo "** Cannot --enable-pcre2test-libedit because neither editline/readline.h"
-    echo "** nor edit/readline/readline.h was found."
+    echo "** Cannot --enable-pcre2test-libedit because neither editline/readline.h,"
+    echo "** edit/readline/readline.h nor a compatible header was found."
     exit 1
   fi
   if test -z "$LIBEDIT"; then
diff --git a/maint/ucptest.c b/maint/ucptest.c
index 638f6af..48475bb 100644
--- a/maint/ucptest.c
+++ b/maint/ucptest.c
@@ -110,6 +110,9 @@ type, gbreak or bidi. The defined values for that property are listed. */
 #include <editline/readline.h>
 #else
 #include <readline/readline.h>
+#ifdef RL_VERSION_MAJOR
+#include <readline/history.h>
+#endif
 #endif
 #endif
 #endif
diff --git a/src/pcre2test.c b/src/pcre2test.c
index 3de92b4..ee35c3b 100644
--- a/src/pcre2test.c
+++ b/src/pcre2test.c
@@ -82,11 +82,7 @@ from www.cbttape.org. */
 
 /* #define DEBUG_SHOW_MALLOC_ADDRESSES */
 
-/* Both libreadline and libedit are optionally supported. The user-supplied
-original patch uses readline/readline.h for libedit, but in at least one system
-it is installed as editline/readline.h, so the configuration code now looks for
-that first, falling back to readline/readline.h. */
-
+/* Both libreadline and libedit are optionally supported */
 #if defined(SUPPORT_LIBREADLINE) || defined(SUPPORT_LIBEDIT)
 #if defined(SUPPORT_LIBREADLINE)
 #include <readline/readline.h>
@@ -98,6 +94,11 @@ that first, falling back to readline/readline.h. */
 #include <edit/readline/readline.h>
 #else
 #include <readline.h>
+/* GNU readline defines this macro but libedit doesn't, if that ever changes
+this needs to be updated or the build could break */
+#ifdef RL_VERSION_MAJOR
+#include <history.h>
+#endif
 #endif
 #endif
 #endif