Using GNU-make functions to check if variables are defined - makefile

Question

I'm writing a makefile that requires some enviroment variables to be defined. I am trying to use something like this to acheive this:
define check-var-defined
ifndef $(1)
$(error $(1) is not defined)
endif
endef
$(call check-var-defined,VAR1)
$(call check-var-defined,VAR2)
$(call check-var-defined,VAR3)
rule1:
#stuff
When I run make with no args I get this:
$ make
Makefile:7: *** VAR1 is not defined. Stop.
But when I run it with VAR1 specified I get the same error.
$ make VAR1=hello
Makefile:7: *** VAR1 is not defined. Stop.
Any ideas why this doesn't work? What can I do to make this work? Thanks in advance.
(Note that I need to check that the variables are actually defined when the makefile is run, as I need to include another makefle further down and the variables need to be set correctly by the time I do this).

Answer 1

The $(call ...) function does not evaluate the results of the function as if it were makefile code, so you can't things like ifdef there.
What happens is that the contents of check-var-defined are expanded and since it doesn't recognize the ifdef operation, it just proceeds to expand the $(error ...) function every time.
If you want to use ifdef you have to use $(eval ...) with $(call ...) which will evaluate the result as if it were a makefile.
Simpler is to use the $(if ...) function, like this:
check-var-defined = $(if $(1),,$(error $(1) is not defined))
Note that this will fail if the variable is empty, which is not quite the same thing as being undefined; it could have been defined to be empty (as VAR1=). But that's the way ifdef works, too, confusingly.

Answer 2

the macro in 1st answer is great but doesn't actually report the name of the 'empty' variable. here is a slight improvement with example/test:
# -*- mode: makefile -*-
check-var-defined = $(if $(strip $($1)),,$(error "$1" is not defined))
my_def1:=hello
my_def3:=bye
$(call check-var-defined,my_def1)
$(call check-var-defined,my_def2)
$(call check-var-defined,my_def3)
and the result:
Makefile:10: * "my_def2" is not defined. Stop.

Answer 3

defined = $(strip $(filter-out undefined,$(flavor $1)))
ensure-defined = \
$(eval .ensure-defined :=) \
$(foreach V,$(sort $1), \
$(if $(call defined,$V),,$(eval .ensure-defined += $V)) \
) \
$(if $(strip ${.ensure-defined}), \
$(foreach V,${.ensure-defined}, \
$(info NOT DEFINED: $$$V) \
) \
$(error Required variables not defined) \
)
ifFOO = $(if $(call defined,FOO), \
$(info FOO is defined: '${FOO}'), \
$(info FOO not defined) \
)
$(ifFOO)
FOO := foo
$(ifFOO)
$(call ensure-defined,FOO BAR)
all: ; #:
OUTPUT:
$ make -f foo.mk
FOO not defined
FOO is defined: 'foo'
NOT DEFINED: $BAR
foo.mk:25: *** Required variables not defined. Stop.