Currently configure.exe is only present in the .zip and .7z packages, and missing from the .tar.gz and .tar.xz files. I would like to use the tarballs even on Windows because they are smaller to download.

<thiago> the two files should have identical contents
<thiago> there have been lots of people who download the .tar.gz because it's smaller and then find themselves unable to build on Windows

This problem was already brought up in QTBUG-28743, but it was closed; not because it was fixed, but because no decision was made and the status quo remained.