On Unix-like systems, ./configure is traditionally the script that is executed prior to executing make and make install. Often, but not always, this file is a sh shell script generated by autoconf.

Code obtained from a source code repository sometimes doesn't contain the configure file. If a file exits, use autoconf to generate a configure file from it. This process may require m4, libtool , or other addtional tools.

configure is also a subcommand of many widgets, as in

  pack [canvas .c -background white -height 320]; update; after 1000
  .c configure -background red

See also: chan configure - database configure - font configure - grid configure