Consider reverting the autoconf 2.72 version bump requirement as it breaks compatibility with distros

Bug report

Bug description:

autoconf minimum requirement was bumped to 2.72 through https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/115765

This breaks configure regeneration for CentOS Stream 9/RHEL9 (shipping 2.69 and extra 2.71) and CentOS Stream 10/RHEL10 (shipping 2.71). I presume other distros as well. We currently patch our spec files, lowering the version (to 2.69 and 2.71) makes them work fine.

I (re)discovered the issue by doing some testing on the newly added CentOS Stream buildbot.

And as far as I can see there is nothing used from 2.72, no functional changes. Requiring 2.72 is too aggressive and it seems it was not tested on any major distros at the time.

CPython versions tested on:

CPython main branch, 3.16, 3.15, 3.14

Operating systems tested on:

Linux

Überprüfe die durch Issue 115765 eingeführte Änderung der autoconf-Mindestversion und den davon betroffenen Pfad zur Regenerierung von configure. Reproduziere den Build in den genannten Umgebungen CentOS Stream 9/RHEL 9 und CentOS Stream 10/RHEL 10 und verifiziere anschließend, dass die unterstützten Distributionsversionen ohne Anpassungen an den spec files funktionieren.