Why "EMACS=24.4.91.2 (term:0.96)" in term-exec-1?

[Oleh Krehel]

Hi all,

I've been putting up with this misfeature for quite some time.
Basically, I can't just type `make test' into ansi-term for ERT testing.
I have to either re-export the EMACS variable (by hand, since I can't
just nail it down in the Makefile), or call `make test' from outside
Emacs.

Turns out, the reason is in `term-exec-1', accompanied by this comment:

    ;; We are going to get rid of the binding for EMACS,
    ;; probably in Emacs 23, because it breaks
    ;; `./configure' of some packages that expect it to
    ;; say where to find EMACS.
    (format "EMACS=%s (term:%s)" emacs-version term-protocol-version)

So I have two questions: what was the reason for setting this variable,
and can we remove it?

regards,
Oleh