[bug #62469] Make honors MAKEFLAGS=<value> definition on the command line.

[Dmitry Goncharov]

URL:
  <https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?62469>

                 Summary: Make honors MAKEFLAGS=<value> definition on the
command line.
                 Project: make
            Submitted by: dgoncharov
            Submitted on: Mon 16 May 2022 02:12:20 AM UTC
                Severity: 3 - Normal
              Item Group: Bug
                  Status: None
                 Privacy: Public
             Assigned to: None
             Open/Closed: Open
         Discussion Lock: Any
       Component Version: SCM
        Operating System: None
           Fixed Release: None
           Triage Status: None

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Details:

Make honors MAKEFLAGS=<value> definition on the command line.

Such command line definition wipes out command line switches from the
resultant MAKEFLAGS definition, even though the command line switches are
active.

In this example switch -d is active, but the value of MAKEFLAGS in make's
memory is 'r'.

++++
$ cat makefile 
$(info      at parse time MAKEFLAGS="$(MAKEFLAGS)")
all:;$(info    in a recipe MAKEFLAGS="$(MAKEFLAGS)")
$ /usr/bin/make -d MAKEFLAGS=r
GNU Make 4.3
Built for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Copyright (C) 1988-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
Reading makefiles...
Reading makefile 'makefile'...
at parse time MAKEFLAGS="r"
Updating makefiles....
 Considering target file 'makefile'.
  Looking for an implicit rule for 'makefile'.
  No implicit rule found for 'makefile'.
  Finished prerequisites of target file 'makefile'.
 No need to remake target 'makefile'.
Updating goal targets....
Considering target file 'all'.
 File 'all' does not exist.
 Finished prerequisites of target file 'all'.
Must remake target 'all'.
in a recipe MAKEFLAGS="r"
Successfully remade target file 'all'.
make: 'all' is up to date.
----

Parent make then passes this incorrect value of MAKEFLAGS to each recursive
child make.

The manual already describes that MAKEFLAGS should only be specified in
makefile or in the environment. E.g. appendix a says
"MAKEFLAGS

    The flags given to make. You can set this in the environment or a makefile
to set flags."

and

In 5.7.3 the manual says
"If you do not want to pass the other flags down, you must change the value of
MAKEFLAGS, like this:

subsystem:
        cd subdir && $(MAKE) MAKEFLAGS="

The manual does not explicitly describe what happens when MAKEFLAGS=<value> is
defined on the command line.

This patch adds a piece of code which causes make to ignore MAKEFLAGS=<value>
command line argument and print a warning.
This patch also adds a piece of documentation to the manual to explicitly
prohibit MAKEFLAGS=<value> arguments.





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