So in experimenting, I learned that if I did a 'export ABC=3' in my environment followed by a 'bitbake whatever', the ABC environment variable would persist all the way to the do_compile(). However, what I found weird is that it is not present in the do_configure() step.

 

To confirm it was present, period, I can see it in 'bitbake whatever -e'. I can, in the do_compile() step, execute 'export > do_compile.out', examine the file and see 'export ABC=3'. I can, in the do_configure() step, execute 'export > do_configure.out', examine the file and see that it isn't there.