strange behavior with ImmutableWriter::isExternallyDefined()

[Cyrille37]

Hi

• In a terminal on linux with php 8.3
• the default Php ini has variables_order = "GPCS" ('E' is not present) so the shell env is not present/copied in php $_ENV.
• use of $dotenv = Dotenv::createImmutable('.'); $res = $dotenv->load();

If I export a shell env variable "TOTO" then the "TOTO" entry in the .env file is not read because ImmutableWriter::isExternallyDefined() determine that the variable is externally defined.

Finaly I cannot access "TOTO" value which is set in shell env and in .env file.

Isn't this behaviour strange?

[GrahamCampbell]

This is the intended behaviour rather than a bug. In immutable mode anything already present in the real environment wins over the .env file, and since $_SERVER is populated from the environment regardless of whether variables_order includes E, the writer sees TOTO there and leaves it alone, which is also why load() doesn't return it. The value isn't inaccessible, though: $_SERVER['TOTO'] and getenv('TOTO') both give you the shell value, and $_SERVER is where I'd recommend reading from anyway. If you want the file to take precedence use createMutable(), and if you'd like $_ENV mirrored as well add E to variables_order. Closing as expected behaviour.