configure would print that it's not enabled, so it seems like the kind of thing people would eventually notice.
But I still think reading boring logs is a great way to understand a system. Turning on all the intermediates for a compiler (llvm ghc etc) is very educational too.
That's my point, you're going to look at autoconf's output if a feature you're expecting is missing.
But would you think to have a test or expectation for landlock in xz? How would you even check if landlock is enabled for a process?