Index: common.scm
==================================================================
--- common.scm
+++ common.scm
@@ -33,18 +33,19 @@
 ;;       (old-exit)
 ;;       (old-exit code)))
 
 (define getenv get-environment-variable)
 (define (safe-setenv key val)
-  (if (and (string? val)
-	   (string? key)
-	   (not (substring-index ":" key))) ;; variables containing : are for internal use and cannot be environment variables.
-      (handle-exceptions
-       exn
-       (debug:print-error 0 *default-log-port* "bad value for setenv, key=" key ", value=" val)
-       (setenv key val))
-      (debug:print-error 0 *default-log-port* "bad value for setenv, key=" key ", value=" val)))
+  (if (substring-index ":" key) ;; variables containing : are for internal use and cannot be environment variables.
+      (debug:print-error 4 *default-log-port* "skip setting internal use only variables containing \":\"")
+      (if (and (string? val)
+	       (string? key))
+	  (handle-exceptions
+	      exn
+	      (debug:print-error 0 *default-log-port* "bad value for setenv, key=" key ", value=" val)
+	    (setenv key val))
+	  (debug:print-error 0 *default-log-port* "bad value for setenv, key=" key ", value=" val))))
 
 (define home (getenv "HOME"))
 (define user (getenv "USER"))
 
 ;; GLOBAL GLETCHES
@@ -1619,11 +1620,12 @@
 		      (let* ((key (car keyval))
 			     (val (cdr keyval))
 			     (delim (if (string-search whitesp val) 
 					"\""
 					"")))
-			(print (if (member key ignorevars)
+			(print (if (or (member key ignorevars)
+				       (string-search ":" key)) ;; internal only values to be skipped.
 				   "# export "
 				   "export ")
 			       key "=" delim (mungeval val) delim)))
                     envvars)))))
 

Index: launch.scm
==================================================================
--- launch.scm
+++ launch.scm
@@ -742,11 +742,11 @@
 (define (launch:setup-body #!key (force #f) (areapath #f))
   (let* ((toppath  (or *toppath* areapath (getenv "MT_RUN_AREA_HOME"))) ;; preserve toppath
 	 (runname  (common:args-get-runname))
 	 (target   (common:args-get-target exit-if-bad: #t))
 	 (linktree (common:get-linktree))
-	 (contour  (args:get-arg "-contour"))
+	 (contour  #f) ;; NOT READY FOR THIS (args:get-arg "-contour"))
 	 (sections (if target (list "default" target) #f)) ;; for runconfigs
 	 (mtconfig (or (args:get-arg "-config") "megatest.config")) ;; allow overriding megatest.config 
 	 (rundir   (if (and runname target linktree)(conc linktree (if contour (conc "/" contour) "") "/" target "/" runname) #f))
 	 (mtcachef (and rundir (conc rundir "/" ".megatest.cfg-"  megatest-version "-" megatest-fossil-hash)))
 	 (rccachef (and rundir (conc rundir "/" ".runconfigs.cfg-"  megatest-version "-" megatest-fossil-hash)))
@@ -800,14 +800,15 @@
 		    (exit 1)))
 	      (setenv "MT_RUN_AREA_HOME" *toppath*)
 	      ;; the seed read is done, now read runconfigs, cache it then read megatest.config one more time and cache it
 	      (let* ((keys         (rmt:get-keys))
 		     (key-vals     (keys:target->keyval keys target))
-		     (linktree     (or (getenv "MT_LINKTREE")
-				       (if *configdat*
-					   (configf:lookup *configdat* "setup" "linktree")
-					   (conc *toppath* "/lt"))))
+		     (linktree     (common:get-linktree))
+					; (or (getenv "MT_LINKTREE")
+					;     (if *configdat*
+					; 	   (configf:lookup *configdat* "setup" "linktree")
+					; 	   (conc *toppath* "/lt"))))
 		     (second-pass  (find-and-read-config
 				    mtconfig
 				    environ-patt: "env-override"
 				    given-toppath: toppath
 				    pathenvvar: "MT_RUN_AREA_HOME"))
@@ -918,11 +919,11 @@
 	 (runname   (if (string? run-info) ;; if we pass in a string as run-info use it as run-name.
 			run-info
 			(db:get-value-by-header (db:get-rows run-info)
 						(db:get-header run-info)
 						"runname")))
-	 (contour   (args:get-arg "-contour"))
+	 (contour   #f) ;; NOT READY FOR THIS (args:get-arg "-contour"))
 	 ;; convert back to db: from rdb: - this is always run at server end
 	 (target   (string-intersperse (map cadr keyvals) "/"))
 
 	 (not-iterated  (equal? "" item-path))
 
@@ -1091,11 +1092,11 @@
 ;;    - could be netbatch
 ;;      (launch-test db (cadr status) test-conf))
 (define (launch-test test-id run-id run-info keyvals runname test-conf test-name test-path itemdat params)
   (mutex-lock! *launch-setup-mutex*) ;; setting variables and processing the testconfig is NOT thread-safe, reuse the launch-setup mutex
   (let* ((item-path       (item-list->path itemdat))
-	 (contour         (args:get-arg "-contour")))
+	 (contour         #f)) ;; NOT READY FOR THIS (args:get-arg "-contour")))
     (let loop ((delta        (- (current-seconds) *last-launch*))
 	       (launch-delay (string->number (or (configf:lookup *configdat* "setup" "launch-delay") "5"))))
       (if (> launch-delay delta)
 	  (begin
 	    (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "Delaying launch of " test-name " for " (- launch-delay delta) " seconds")

Index: runconfigs.config
==================================================================
--- runconfigs.config
+++ runconfigs.config
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
+# To get emacs font highlighing in the various megatest configs do this:
+#
+# Install emacs-goodies-el:
+#    sudo apt install emacs-goodies-el
+# Add to your ~/.emacs file:
+#    (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("config\\'" . conf-space-mode))
+#
 
 # example of a cron entry to run sync using db spec pgdb, with pgdb setting in file local.config
 #
 [a/b/c]
 all:scheduled:sync     cron=  0/5 * * * *;dbdest=pgdb;appendconf=/mfs/matt/.sysmaint/local.config