export env variable does not work from Makefile

Question

We have below task in Makefile:

test:
    export SOME_ENV=someTest
    go test -tags=integration -v -race  ./tests/integrationtest/...

---

on shell prompt, SOME_ENV is set and the next command(go test) internally picks .someTest.env file

 $ export SOME_ENV=someTest
 $ go test -tags=integration -v -race  ./tests/integrationtest/...

---

but the Makefile approach doesn't work

Why environment variable is not set using Makefile approach?

Note: we have another tasks in Makefile that should not be influence with this export

Answer 1

Each line in a recipe is executed using a separate shell invocation. Thus

export SOME_ENV=someTest

is executed, then in a new shell,

go test ...

and the latter doesn’t see the environment variable.

You should export the variable using Make’s constructs:

export SOME_ENV := someTest

test:
        go test ...

or specify the variable inline:

test:
        SOME_ENV=someTest go test ...

or ensure both lines are run in the same shell:

test:
        export SOME_ENV=someTest && \
        go test ...

Answer 2

this has worked for me and I find it more readable

.PHONY: foo
foo: export FOO="this-is-foo"
foo:
    echo "{$$FOO}"

but if the env variable is a dynamic value then using && \ makes more sense

.PHONY: foo
foo:
    export FOO="this-is-foo" && \
    echo "{$$FOO}"

Answer 3

As @Stephen kitt pointed out the export will take effect in a separate shell and not the one you are calling the make, his answer gave a solution if the command that preceds the export also will be run using make, but you can do something like this if you want to use it out of make:

print_my_env:
    echo 'export MY_ENV="blue"'

then:

eval "$(make print_my_env)"

now if you run echo "$MY_ENV" you should get your env.