specifying CI predefined variables as environment name does not work as expected under kubermetes deployment

Summary

(Summarize the bug encountered concisely)

When specifying environment name in .gitlab-ci.yml file as name: $CI_PROJECT_NAME-production does not work under "Environment Tab". Gitlab shows this as a new environment created but even after deployment finished, it shows No deployments yet and does not link the successful stage completed. The environment is successful when its name is as name: production without any variable in name. The use of environment should work according to docs https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/ci/environments.html#limitations I have not tested the deployment on other platform except kubernetes, so not sure if it is in general or specific to kubernetes only.

Steps to reproduce

Create an example CI config with environment name set to CI_PROJECT_NAME-production and run the pipeline to deploy application on kubernetes. The stages will be successful but the environment will not pick up the deployment. (How one can reproduce the issue - this is very important)

What is the current bug behavior?

Environment tab does not show the deployment which has been successfully deployed through pipeline. Simply shows the name of environment only.

What is the expected correct behavior?

Environment should be linked to successful deployment done through pipeline with the corresponding name.

This is kind of deal breaker for us, as if we use environment name as name: production only then we can deploy on one application in the namespace. Because gitlab uses the environment name to name the deployment and label it.