I'd like to have pants propagate the

ARCHFLAGS

env var to tests for ci. This appears to require a code change to expand the hardcoded

SETTABLE_ENV_VARS

list in

src/python/pants/core/util_rules/subprocess_environment.py

. Is that true or am I missing some other way? If it is true is that viewed as good or necessary? It seems I should be able to allow any env var through I want if I go through the effort to set the option.

Yep, that is unfortunately true. Not only that, but we don't consistently mixin that subsystem to every

Process

I think we probably need to loose it and use a blocklist approach, e.g. block

PATH

I'm even fine with allowlisting, its just a pretty bad experience to be told you can't.

Another awkward thing is

[python-natiev-code].{cpp,ld}_flags

, which should instead move to

subprocess_environment

. I tried doing that two months ago but couldn't figure out how to deprecate cleanly and moved on to bigger priorities 🤷‍♂️

Yes, that was my bad idea I think

I'm even fine with allowlisting, its just a pretty bad experience to be told you can't.

To be clear, I meant that Pants's code should blocklist. Users will still allowlist via the option

K. Great. I'll start small and kill the list constraint.

hm... you said you want the flag passed to “tests”?

psutil is failing to be built in one of John's PRs. I didn't check if that's happening inside a test vs. in the setup, but it does speak to a plausible scenario where a user can't resolve requirements like psutil until we fix Pants's hardcoded list, which is pretty bad

I'm not exatly sure where to fix this. I'm trying the SubprocessEnvironment kill allowlist 1st.

yea. multiple levels of filtering in play here.

yeah, to recap, three sins right now with our arbitrary env var code: 1. you can only set for a blessed subset. John is fixing this 2. not every Process is wired to use this, including things like running Protoc. 3.

[python-native-code]

should merge into

[subprocess-environment]

this is a good first step

2. not every Process is wired to use this, including things like running Protoc.

3. 

[python-native-code]

 should merge into 

[subprocess-environment]

um, maybe. it’s also possible that they should be split out and be specific, rather than all being unified. this was a usecase for “scoped” Subsystems