Unfortunately, adding in an option like `-DENABLE_OBSOLETE_SELECT_API` is only trivial if you have a good understanding of the build system in use and sometimes other nuts and bolts of a given project.

Tracking down a build failure in some old software project that may or may not have approachable people left on the team through elaborate build scripts that may or may not surface the error in a way that may or may not be easily comprehensible for an outsider can be really hard.