Is there any valid reason that a debug or fastdebug build should define PRODUCT and not ASSERT during compiles?

[Magnus Ihse Bursie]

On 2016-01-08 23:07, Derek White wrote:
> [This is likely a bug, but thought I'd ask it as a question first].
>
> I'm new to jdk builds on windows, and have spent way more time than 
> I'd like to admit on figuring out why my fastdebug builds did not have 
> asserts turned on.
>
> The TL;DR; answer is that anyone can build this way on Windows by 
> simply executing this in cygwin before doing a make:
> > export release="Derek is having a fun day"
> > bash common/bin/jib.sh make -p windows-x86-debug -- images
>
> (This bug has nothing to do with jib, it's just the actual command 
> line I used.)
>
> This results in a build with both /D "DEBUG_LEVEL=\"fastdebug\"" and 
> /D "PRODUCT" set, because nmake.exe uppercases all environment 
> variables as it imports them (as a convenience to the user).
>
> I'd think that there is no useful purpose to supporting such a 
> configuration, and it's a bug to attempt it. I suggest doing an 
> "!ifdef RELEASE" check in windows/makefiles/debug.make and 
> windows/makefiles/fastdebug.make that either errors or unsets RELEASE 
> before including vm.make.
>
> Any thoughts on this? Thanks!

In general, environment variables can have unexpected effects on the 
build, if they match a name used in the make files. There is no general 
solution to this problem.

As for this specific problem, as Erik said in a reply to your other 
mail, we are currently working on replacing the use of nmake, so we are 
not keen on spending time fixing issues in the current nmake scripts.

Since this problem has existed since the dawn of time (or so...), and it 
has not been reported until now, and given that there is a good 
workaround, I don't consider it worth fixing.

I appreciate that you spent time to figure out the issue and that you 
reported it to us in such a polite manner! :-) I hope I don't come 
across as rude by dismissing your suggested fix, it's just that I want 
to spend all possible time on getting rid of nmake instead of fixing 
issues in it.

/Magnus