Re: --with-foo= vs. FOO=${FOO:-foo_default}

[Harlan Stenn]

I could be mistaken but I think some of us are talking about "how do we
specify the default for X", and not "do we specify X at compile time or at
runtime".

I would much rather "seed" the default values via configure switches than
have to take the author's choice and then have to either wiggle config files
on every installation, or wiggle the source distribution.

As for "don't use --enable or --with for anything except what they are
documented for", I have a recollection of RMS telling me that the NTP
configure process was Huge and I shouldn't have used --enable and --with the
way I did.  I asked him what I should do instead, and I don't believe we
ever found alternatives that would be acceptable.

It may be wrong (or merely suboptimal) to abuse --with and --enable, but if
the only tool you have is a hammer...

H