Build System: Introduce Configurable Assertion Handling

Implemented a new configuration option --enable-assertions=[yes|no] within config.ac, enabling controlled inclusion of -DNDEBUG in CPPFLAGS. The default setting suppresses assertions (by adding -DNDEBUG to CPPFLAGS), preserving the original behavior. This enhancement allows for the optional enabling of assertions during development or debugging by setting --enable-assertions=yes, thereby excluding -DNDEBUG from CPPFLAGS.

configure.ac

@@ -248,6 +248,17 @@ AC_SUBST([MSC_VERSION])
 MSC_GIT_VERSION=msc_version_git
 AC_SUBST([MSC_GIT_VERSION])
 
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(assertions,
+    [AS_HELP_STRING([--enable-assertions],[Turn on assertions feature: undefine NDEBUG])],
+
+    [case "${enableval}" in
+        yes) assertions=true ;;
+        no)  assertions=false ;;
+        *) AC_MSG_ERROR(bad value ${enableval} for --enable-assertions) ;;
+        esac],
+
+        [assertions=false]
+        )
 
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(debug-logs,
     [AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-debug-logs],[Turn off the SecDebugLog feature])],
@@ -377,6 +388,14 @@ if test "$aflFuzzer" == "true"; then
     GLOBAL_CPPFLAGS="$GLOBAL_CPPFLAGS $FUZZ_CPPCFLAGS"
     $buildExamples = false
 fi
+
+case $assertions in
+    false) ASSERTIONS_CPPCFLAGS="-DNDEBUG" ;;
+    true) ASSERTIONS_CPPCFLAGS="-UNDEBUG" ;;
+    *) AC_MSG_ERROR(bad value ${assertions} for assertions) ;;
+esac
+GLOBAL_CPPFLAGS="$GLOBAL_CPPFLAGS $ASSERTIONS_CPPCFLAGS"
+
 AC_SUBST(GLOBAL_LDADD)
 AC_SUBST(GLOBAL_CPPFLAGS)
 
@@ -613,6 +632,11 @@ if test $buildTestUtilities = true; then
 else
     echo "   + Test Utilities                                ....disabled"
 fi
+if test $assertions = true; then
+    echo "   + Assertions                                    ....enabled"
+else
+    echo "   + Assertions                                    ....disabled"
+fi
 if test $debugLogs = true; then
     echo "   + SecDebugLog                                   ....enabled"
 else