lynx-dev what is "compile time settings"

[Nelson Henry Eric]

On the info page there is a link "compile time settings":
   Linkname: Configuration Definitions
        URL: file://localhost/home/kyoin/nelsonhe/L8681-2TMP.html

I can't really see as how it's going to benefit anyone except
someone who understands programming.  Seems to me it could be
off by default.

Also, looking at it, the line about gzopen puzzles me:
   [...]
   func_gethostname                    yes
   func_gzopen                         no
   func_lstat                          yes
   [...]
because at configure time I get the following messages:
   [...]
   checking if you want to use zlib for decompression of some gzip files... yes
   checking for gzopen... no
   checking for gzopen in -lz... yes
   checking if directory-editor code should be used... yes
   [...]

__Henry