title: What are various options / arguments for "./configure" in Linux
body: <p>I have seen that while installing new software in Linux, I always have to use first <code>configure</code> it.</p>
  
  <p>But sometimes we need to pass various options like I did today to install <code>lxml</code>:</p>
  
  <pre><code>./configure --with-python=/opt/python27/bin/python 
  --prefix=/usr/local 
  --with-libxml-prefix=/usr/local 
  --with-libxml-include-prefix=/usr/local/include 
  --with-libxml-libs-prefix=/usr/local/lib
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Now I want to know that how will the person know that what type of paramaters like  <code>--with-python</code> can be used?<br>
  I mean:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><p>Are those parameters same across all software packages or they vary software to software?</p></li>
  <li><p>I even tried to read documentation as well, but no one mentions those parameters.</p></li>
  </ol>