GHC's configure script does not honour CC env var

./configure --help tells us that:

...

Some influential environment variables:
  CC          C compiler command
  CFLAGS      C compiler flags
  LDFLAGS     linker flags, e.g. -L<lib dir> if you have libraries in a
              nonstandard directory <lib dir>
  LIBS        libraries to pass to the linker, e.g. -l<library>
  CPPFLAGS    (Objective) C/C++ preprocessor flags, e.g. -I<include dir> if
              you have headers in a nonstandard directory <include dir>
  CPP         C preprocessor

Use these variables to override the choices made by `configure' or to help
it to find libraries and programs with nonstandard names/locations.

Report bugs to <glasgow-haskell-bugs@haskell.org>.

However, neither

• CC=clang-3.8 ./configure, nor
• ./configure CC=clang-3.8

has any effect. ./configure keeps using the /usr/bin/gcc in $PATH.

The only invocation that has the desired effect is

• ./configure --with-gcc=clang-3.8

However, this is utterly surprising and confusing to experienced developers who are used to Autoconf ./configure scripts adhering to the conventions regarding CC, and contradicts the --help message.

Trac metadata

Trac field	Value
Version	7.11
Type	Bug
TypeOfFailure	OtherFailure
Priority	normal
Resolution	Unresolved
Component	Build System
Test case
Differential revisions
BlockedBy
Related
Blocking
CC
Operating system
Architecture