config.status refuses to run

[Sam Steingold]

I am getting this:
sh config.status --recheck
...
configure: loading cache ../config.cache
configure: error: `CFLAGS' was not set in the previous run
configure: error: `CPPFLAGS' was not set in the previous run
configure: error: changes in the environment can compromise the build
configure: error: run `make distclean' and/or `rm ../config.cache' and start 
over
make[1]: *** [config.status] Error 1

I did not set any variables, not by hand.
how do I avoid this error?

here is my infrastructure:

I am in the mail product build directory (.)
it has several "module" subdirectories, each with its own configure (and
configure.in, config.h.in, Makefile.in &c).
they are built like this:
--- ./Makefile ---
module-dir:
        cd module-dir; ./configure --cache-file=../config.cache CC=$(CC) ....
        cd module-dir; make CC=$(CC) CPPFLAGS=$(CPPFLAGS) ....
--- ./Makefile ---

I thought that by adding
--- module-dir/Makefile ---
config.status : configure
        sh config.status --recheck

config.h : config.status config.h.in
        sh config.status --header=config.h
--- module-dir/Makefile ---
I will ensure that when module-dir/configure changes,
module-dir will be automatically reconfigured.

Unfortunately I am getting the above errors (`CFLAGS' was not set in the
previous run &c).
I understand why I am getting them, but I see no way to avoid them:
if I configure module-dir1 before module-dir2, and module-dir2/configure
changes CFLAGS, then module-dir1/configure will complain when I try to
re-run it.
So, how do you handle this issue?
the only thing I could come up with so far is quite ugly:

--- module-dir/Makefile ---
config.status : configure
        sh config.status --recheck || (cd ..; rm -fv module-dir; make 
module-dir)
--- module-dir/Makefile ---

any other suggestions?

-- 
Sam Steingold (http://www.podval.org/~sds) running w2k
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