Re: GnuTLS build-time configuration

[Paul Eggert]

Ted Zlatanov wrote:
> those pieces
> were not introduced at the same time. Also they may not be available
> with the same API in a future version.

Sure, but I don't see how the 'configure'-time check solves this problem. 
Although some of those pieces were introduced before GnuTLS v3, the 
'configure'-time checks do not look for these pieces in older GnuTLS platforms, 
presumably because their semantics changed or because we're not sure they'll 
really work in these older versions. So although the 'configure'-time check 
might look like it's checking the API, it's really doing a version-number check 
as well, and to some extent it's really the version number that is calling the 
shots.

Normally I'm a fan of the Autoconf Way, where one tests behavior and not version 
numbers. Here, though, we have just one implementation with a well-documented 
relationship between version number and API symbols, along with a 
'configure'-time check that already relies on version numbers, so the Autoconf 
Way is not so useful here.