Re: Interpreting configure script's results

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: John Yates <john@yates-sheets.org>
> Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2021 15:08:50 -0500
> 
> Suggestion: Could configure's output be made more informative?
> In particular, when some expected capability fails to be included
> for lack of some header could that be called out?

We follow the same format as configure scripts for any other GNU
package.

When you are about to build a new version of Emacs (or any other
package), you are supposed to run "./configure --help" ans study the
various options to determine which ones are for you.  In the "--help"
output, the options that are spelled as --without-FOO mean that the
default is to build _with_ FOO, if that's possible (which for external
library means the development package for the library is installed).
Options that are spelled as --with-FOO mean that the default is to
build without them, regardless of whether the relevant software is
installed.  So if some option is listed as --without-FOO, and you
didn't use that --without switch, but the configure reports that it
doesn't build with FOO, it means some software component for that is
missing, or maybe the option is not relevant for your platform.

We usually announce new configure options in the "Installation
changes" section of the NEWS file, which is one other place to look
for information about this stuff.