If we detect a recursive variable reference when constructing the
environment for the shell function, return the original value from the
caller's environment. Other options such as failing, returning the
empty string, or returning the unexpanded make variable value have
been shown to not behave well in real-world environments. If the
variable doesn't exist in the caller's environment, return the empty
string.
Found by Sergei Trofimovich <slyich@gmail.com> when testing older
versions of autoconf.
* NEWS: Clarify this behavior.
* doc/make.texi (Shell Function): Ditto. Also add info about !=.
* src/expand.c (recursively_expand_for_file): Search the caller's
environment if we detect a recursive variable expansion.
* tests/scripts/functions/shell: Add tests for this behavior.