diff --git a/package.cm b/package.cm
index a2b3d2b1..b7c4641b 100644
--- a/package.cm
+++ b/package.cm
@@ -65,9 +65,10 @@ package.load_config = function(name)
 
   // Validate: if content has [compilation] but decode result doesn't, retry
   var has_compilation = search(content, '[compilation') != null
+  var retry = 0
+  var cf = null
   if (has_compilation && !result.compilation) {
     print(`TOML decode missing compilation for ${config_path}, retrying`)
-    var retry = 0
     while (retry < 3 && (!result || !result.compilation)) {
       result = toml.decode(content)
       retry = retry + 1
@@ -76,7 +77,7 @@ package.load_config = function(name)
   }
 
   if (has_compilation && result.compilation) {
-    var cf = result.compilation.CFLAGS
+    cf = result.compilation.CFLAGS
     if (cf == null && search(content, 'CFLAGS') != null) {
       print(`TOML has CFLAGS text but decode missing it for ${config_path}`)
       print(`compilation keys: ${text(array(result.compilation), ',')}`)