diff --git a/lisp/ChangeLog b/lisp/ChangeLog
index cc089335e4b..0d2b52b5d95 100644
--- a/lisp/ChangeLog
+++ b/lisp/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+2008-01-02  Eric S. Raymond  <esr@snark.thyrsus.com>
+
+	* progmodes/grep.el (grep-find-ignored-directories): Initialize
+	from the value of vc-directory-exclusion-list.
+
+	* vc-hooks (vc-directory-exclusion-list):  Include "_darcs",
+	even though we don't have a back end for darcs yet.
+
 2008-01-02  Karl Fogel  <kfogel@red-bean.com>
 
 	Change a return type, for greater extensibility.  See
diff --git a/lisp/progmodes/grep.el b/lisp/progmodes/grep.el
index 062fce4c346..101e8f12e3f 100644
--- a/lisp/progmodes/grep.el
+++ b/lisp/progmodes/grep.el
@@ -158,15 +158,7 @@ The following place holders should be present in the string:
   :group 'grep)
 
 (defcustom grep-find-ignored-directories
-  '(".bzr"
-    ".git"
-    ".hg"
-    ".svn"
-    "CVS"
-    "RCS"
-    "_MTN"
-    "_darcs"
-    "{arch}")
+  vc-directory-exclusion-list
   "*List of names of sub-directories which `rgrep' shall not recurse into."
   :type '(repeat string)
   :group 'grep)
diff --git a/lisp/vc-hooks.el b/lisp/vc-hooks.el
index 39550da8018..287605f338c 100644
--- a/lisp/vc-hooks.el
+++ b/lisp/vc-hooks.el
@@ -76,9 +76,10 @@ An empty list disables VC altogether."
   :version "23.1"
   :group 'vc)
 
+;; Note: we don't actually have a darcs back end yet.
 (defcustom vc-directory-exclusion-list '("SCCS" "RCS" "CVS" "MCVS" 
 					 ".svn" ".git" ".hg" ".bzr" 
-					 "_MTN" "{arch}")
+					 "_MTN" "_darcs" "{arch}")
   "List of directory names to be ignored when walking directory trees."
   :type '(repeat string)
   :group 'vc)