SUGGESTION: configure scripts can complain about --with-package options that they do not support if...

[Lance E. Arsenault]

Hello autoconf Wizards,

SUGGESTION:   (1) Add a built-in configure option, call it
--enable-option-checking (or whatever suits you), that will turn on
complaining about --with-package and -enable-feature options that are
not supported.  Or maybe one option for each if you must.

(2) Also or in addition: add a autoconf function AC_OPTION_CHECKING (or
other name) so that the autoconf user who is making a software package
using autoconf can decide whither to have option-checking turned on or
off by default.

I believe that this is a "better" approach.  Your current documentation
implicitly asks (see below) for this suggestion.  So here it is.

cheers
lance



from:
http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/autoconf.html#External-Software

configure scripts do not complain about --with-package options that they
do not support. This behavior permits configuring a source tree
containing multiple packages with a top-level configure script when the
packages support different options, without spurious error messages
about options that some of the packages support. An unfortunate side
effect is that option spelling errors are not diagnosed. No better
approach to this problem has been suggested so far.

from:
http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/autoconf.html#Package-Options

configure scripts do not complain about --enable-feature options that
they do not support. This behavior permits configuring a source tree
containing multiple packages with a top-level configure script when the
packages support different options, without spurious error messages
about options that some of the packages support. An unfortunate side
effect is that option spelling errors are not diagnosed. No better
approach to this problem has been suggested so far.