problem in building 4.8.0: references to non-existent util CLANG

[Linda Walsh]

Is CLANG required for building now?

when I did a "make xconfig" (or any make, for that matter), I get:

>  make xconfig
scripts/kconfig/qconf  Kconfig
invocation line: ./scripts/clang-version.sh gcc     ## debug line I added
./scripts/clang-version.sh: line 15: ./COPYING: Permission denied
./scripts/clang-version.sh: line 23: printf: __clang_major__: invalid number
./scripts/clang-version.sh: line 23: printf: __clang_minor__: invalid number
./scripts/clang-version.sh: line 23: printf: __clang_patchlevel__: 
invalid number
init/Kconfig:24:warning: 'CLANG_VERSION': number is invalid
.config:50:warning: symbol value '00000' invalid for CLANG_VERSION

The reference to COPYING comes from me running make in the
top dir, where there is a text file named COPYING, however it is
not executable.

I put in an echo to see what command line the script was being passed,
"gcc"?

I'm guessing but I don't think the clang script should be getting
called at all.  I installed the sources by patching 4.17.0 (done via a
script).

Are there instructions somewhere for what command(s) to run for patching?
It seems to have changed from using the standard patch program to using
a git version that isn't compatible w/the gnu version.  I adapted the
script to the git version and that's seemed to work since I did
the change.  But with 4.18.0, I am uncertain if it is working correctly.

If the above was the only problem, I'd be less concerned, but
scripts run after the main build to build external modules failed.
It seems unlikely the two problems are related, but I wanted to fix
this first before going on to the compile-fails.

Please Cc me, as I'm not currently on the list.

Thanks,
Linda W.