On Sun, Feb 16, 2020 at 05:24:22PM +0100, Bengt Richter wrote:
> Hi Efraim,
> 
> On +2020-02-16 16:55:17 +0200, Efraim Flashner wrote:
> > On Sun, Feb 16, 2020 at 03:27:36PM +0100, Marius Bakke wrote:
> > > guix-commits@gnu.org writes:
> > > 
> > > > commit 481a0f1a7ceac666a011b28324220584ead07698
> > > > Author: Efraim Flashner <efraim@flashner.co.il>
> > > > AuthorDate: Thu Feb 13 10:54:29 2020 +0200
> > > >
> > > >     build: gnu-build-system: Don't run configure during bootstrap.
> > > >     
> > > >     * guix/build/gnu-build-system.scm (bootstrap): Add NOCONFIGURE
> > > >     environment variable before running bootstrap scripts.
> > > 
> > > [...]
> > > 
> > > > @@ -190,6 +190,7 @@ working directory."
> > > >                (if (executable-file? script)
> > > >                    (begin
> > > >                      (patch-shebang script)
> > > > +                    (setenv "NOCONFIGURE" "true")
> > > >                      (invoke script))
> > > >                    (invoke "sh" script)))
> > > >              (if (or (file-exists? "configure.ac")
> > > 
> > > Should we unset NOCONFIGURE afterwards?  Probably at least one package
> > > uses this variable for something completely different...
> > 
> > It probably wouldn't hurt to unset it. I've never come across a package
> > where that's been a problem but best not invite trouble.
> >
> With all due respect, I am not comfortable with this kind of rationale :) 
> 
> If it's never been a problem, unsetting might hide a case where it _would_
> cause a problem -- which IMO it would be better to find out about than not.
> 
> Is there an official policy regarding garbage/dangling environment variables?
> 
> (Or is that just to be expected in the sargasso sea of "undefined behaviour"? ;-)
> 
> So, if in doubt, instead of unsetting, perhaps set it something like
> 
>     "IF_YOU_SEE_THIS_PLEASE_REPORT_HOW_IT_HAPPENED_TO_efraim_AT_flashner.co.il"
> 
> ;-P
> 
> or make it throw an exception somehow, if following processing uses NOCONFIGURE
> any way at all before being replaced with a proper meaningful new value.
> 
> > Also, looking at the snippet, I should move it higher up. If it's not
> > executable then NOCONFIGURE doesn't get set.
> > 
> 
> Hope I didn't offend anyone :)

(ins)efraim@E5400 ~$ env | grep -i pants
PANTS=ON

There's some inside joke somewhere in Enlightenment that I don't know.
I've found the code that sets PANTS=ON but I've never tried changing it.

The beginning of the gnu-build-system goes:
(phases set-SOURCE-DATE-EPOCH set-paths install-locale unpack
        bootstrap

So if NOCONFIGURE is set previously it's from us anyway. So in this case
I think it's fair to clean up after ourselves.

-- 
Efraim Flashner   <efraim@flashner.co.il>   אפרים פלשנר
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