why not use getconf utility?

[Ed Hartnett]

Howdy all!

With respect to compiling with large file support, there is a utility
called getconf, which, when supported, is supposed to provide the
command line options needed to compile with large file support.

I've seen in many messages and web pages that autoconf no longer uses
getconf, and I wonder why that is the case?

Any information would be helpful!

Thanks,

Ed 
Unidata