It helps a bit the fact that the 'configure' script usually hasn't any sh
function definition; they're simply lots of instructions written and run in
order. So, if a program stops at one point, whenever you find the point, you
know (easier than with code with function) which code lines were run and
when.

2006/5/10, geoff@collyer.net <geoff@collyer.net>:
>
> 5,000 lines is actually a rather small configure script.  These are
> the configure scripts I have lying around (just on Plan 9, I haven't
> even looked at my Mac or OpenBSD firewall) that exceed 5,000 lines:
>
>    5520 /n/other/scr/src/gs/hpijs-1.5/configure
>    5621 /sys/src/libdb/dist/configure
>    5962 /sys/src/cmd/uucp.taylor/configure
>    5962 /n/other/frommac/src/cmd/uucp/configure
>    6722 /sys/src/cmd/links/configure
>    6722 /n/other/scr/links/links.native/configure
>    6722 /n/other/scr/links/links.varfont/configure
>    7352 /n/other/scr/src/gs/jbig2dec/configure
>    7751 /usr/geoff/src/cmd/unix/rc.byron/configure
>    8000 /n/other/frommac/desk/gilmore/udftools-1.0.0b2/configure
>    8250 /n/other/frommac/desk/src/flex/flex-2.5.31/configure
>    9756 /n/other/scr/src/gs/configure
>   11460 /n/other/frommac/desk/src/raid.evms/configure
>   12676 /usr/geoff/src/cmd/grip/grip/configure
>   13698 /n/other/scr/src/mp3enc.lame/configure
>   16489 /usr/geoff/src/cmd/imagemagick/ltdl/configure
>   16489 /n/other/dist/image.magick/im/ltdl/configure
>   23719 /usr/geoff/src/cmd/imagemagick/configure
>   23851 /n/other/frommac/src/cmd/bochs/configure
>   25527 /n/other/dist/image.magick/im/configure
>   25877 /n/other/scr/src/index/swishe/swish-e-2.4.2/configure
>
> Trying to debug a machine-generated 25,000-line script is really fun.
>
>