diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/arpack-ng/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/arpack-ng/package.py
index 06435b9248b..564c684e38a 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/arpack-ng/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/arpack-ng/package.py
@@ -93,16 +93,15 @@ class ArpackNg(CMakePackage, AutotoolsPackage):
 
     def flag_handler(self, name, flags):
         spec = self.spec
-        iflags = []
         if name == "cflags":
             if spec.satisfies("%oneapi"):
-                iflags.append("-Wno-error=implicit-function-declaration")
+                flags.append("-Wno-error=implicit-function-declaration")
 
         if name == "fflags":
             if self.spec.satisfies("%cce"):
-                iflags.append("-hnopattern")
+                flags.append("-hnopattern")
 
-        return (iflags, None, None)
+        return (flags, None, None)
 
     @property
     def libs(self):
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/czmq/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/czmq/package.py
index 9f8805bed9e..7206bbe28ef 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/czmq/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/czmq/package.py
@@ -32,12 +32,11 @@ class Czmq(AutotoolsPackage):
     depends_on("libzmq")
 
     def flag_handler(self, name, flags):
-        iflags = []
         if name == "cflags":
             if self.spec.satisfies("%oneapi@2022.2.0:"):
-                iflags.append("-Wno-error=gnu-null-pointer-arithmetic")
-                iflags.append("-Wno-error=strict-prototypes")
-        return (iflags, None, None)
+                flags.append("-Wno-error=gnu-null-pointer-arithmetic")
+                flags.append("-Wno-error=strict-prototypes")
+        return (flags, None, None)
 
     def autoreconf(self, spec, prefix):
         autogen = Executable("./autogen.sh")
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/flex/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/flex/package.py
index 3b2bf4f1ebf..cacd5c71a92 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/flex/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/flex/package.py
@@ -65,11 +65,10 @@ class Flex(AutotoolsPackage):
 
     def flag_handler(self, name, flags):
         spec = self.spec
-        iflags = []
         if name == "cflags":
             if spec.satisfies("%oneapi"):
-                iflags.append("-Wno-error=implicit-function-declaration")
-        return (iflags, None, None)
+                flags.append("-Wno-error=implicit-function-declaration")
+        return (flags, None, None)
 
     @classmethod
     def determine_version(cls, exe):
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/json-c/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/json-c/package.py
index fbd69a01b6a..59da279e5e7 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/json-c/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/json-c/package.py
@@ -48,11 +48,10 @@ def patch(self):
         filter_file("-Werror", "", "CMakeLists.txt")
 
     def flag_handler(self, name, flags):
-        iflags = []
         if name == "cflags":
             if self.spec.satisfies("%oneapi"):
-                iflags.append("-Wno-error=implicit-function-declaration")
-        return (iflags, None, None)
+                flags.append("-Wno-error=implicit-function-declaration")
+        return (flags, None, None)
 
     @run_after("install")
     def darwin_fix(self):
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mpifileutils/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mpifileutils/package.py
index 2d51b9425ec..ffe5e9e9e70 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mpifileutils/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mpifileutils/package.py
@@ -65,11 +65,10 @@ class Mpifileutils(CMakePackage):
 
     def flag_handler(self, name, flags):
         spec = self.spec
-        iflags = []
         if name == "cflags":
             if spec.satisfies("%oneapi"):
-                iflags.append("-Wno-error=implicit-function-declaration")
-        return (iflags, None, None)
+                flags.append("-Wno-error=implicit-function-declaration")
+        return (flags, None, None)
 
     def cmake_args(self):
         args = [
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/netlib-scalapack/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/netlib-scalapack/package.py
index 38ad49f7957..245dcfaf0c7 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/netlib-scalapack/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/netlib-scalapack/package.py
@@ -41,15 +41,14 @@ class ScalapackBase(CMakePackage):
     patch("fix-build-macos.patch", when="@2.2.0")
 
     def flag_handler(self, name, flags):
-        iflags = []
         if name == "cflags":
             if self.spec.satisfies("%gcc@14:"):
                 # https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2178710
-                iflags.append("-std=gnu89")
+                flags.append("-std=gnu89")
         elif name == "fflags":
             if self.spec.satisfies("%cce"):
-                iflags.append("-hnopattern")
-        return (iflags, None, None)
+                flags.append("-hnopattern")
+        return (flags, None, None)
 
     @property
     def libs(self):
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openblas/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openblas/package.py
index 832fdda9db1..dcb965dbc2a 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openblas/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openblas/package.py
@@ -270,11 +270,10 @@ class Openblas(CMakePackage, MakefilePackage):
 
     def flag_handler(self, name, flags):
         spec = self.spec
-        iflags = []
         if name == "cflags":
             if spec.satisfies("@0.3.20: %oneapi") or spec.satisfies("@0.3.20: %arm"):
-                iflags.append("-Wno-error=implicit-function-declaration")
-        return (iflags, None, None)
+                flags.append("-Wno-error=implicit-function-declaration")
+        return (flags, None, None)
 
     @classmethod
     def determine_version(cls, lib):
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/sed/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/sed/package.py
index 0c556310799..5a6b21b4b95 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/sed/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/sed/package.py
@@ -44,8 +44,7 @@ def determine_version(cls, exe):
         return match.group(1) if match else None
 
     def flag_handler(self, name, flags):
-        iflags = []
         if name == "cflags":
             if self.spec.satisfies("%oneapi@2023.0.0:"):
-                iflags.append("-Wno-error=incompatible-function-pointer-types")
-        return (iflags, None, None)
+                flags.append("-Wno-error=incompatible-function-pointer-types")
+        return (flags, None, None)