docs(plugins): update EnvironmentPlugin warning

[snitin315]

Fix #7448

[vercel]

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Name	Status	Preview	Comments	Updated (UTC)
webpack-js-org	✅ Ready (Inspect)	Visit Preview	💬 Add feedback	Nov 3, 2024 2:31pm

[fasiha]

I was hoping that this PR would include a note about the issue raised in #7448 where, if you use process.env.SOMETHING and that EnvironmentPlugin doesn't know about it, Webpack will happily ignore process.env.SOMETHING and include it in the output.

[snitin315]

EnvironmentPlugin checks process.env for the specified variable.

@fasiha This is mentioned in the warning EnvironmentPlugin checks only for the variables specified within this plugin. Otherwise, no errors.

[fasiha]

@snitin315 thanks for the note! Do you mean this warning?:

W> EnvironmentPlugin checks process.env for the specified variable. If it’s missing, it searches for a default value provided in the configuration. If neither the environment variable nor the default value is defined, an error will be thrown: "EnvironmentPlugin - ${key} environment variable is undefined".

Re-reading this, I don't think it makes clear that the plugin ignores usages of process.env that it doesn't know about? So perhaps we could add a line to this paragraph, something like what you said:

EnvironmentPlugin checks only for variables specified by this plugin. Using process.env with unspecified variables results in those usages being ignored: for example, process.env.UNKNOWN will be left intact.

[snitin315]

@fasiha sure, feel free to send a PR