diff --git a/share/spack/qa/run-flake8 b/share/spack/qa/run-flake8
index 42da56222ca7ac3fba354aded0cf61aaeab72c8e..44eb0167fb666bea49e448e4b0c13848ebfb00fb 100755
--- a/share/spack/qa/run-flake8
+++ b/share/spack/qa/run-flake8
@@ -20,12 +20,17 @@ fi
 # Check if changed files are flake8 conformant [framework]
 changed=$(git diff --name-only develop... | grep '.py$')
 
-# Exempt url lines in changed packages from overlong line errors.
-# Exempt functions defined with '@when' decorator from redefinition errors.
+# Add approved style exemptions to the changed packages.
 for file in $changed; do
     if [[ $file = *package.py ]]; then
         cp "$file" "$file~"
+
+        # Exempt lines with urls and descriptions from overlong line errors.
         perl -i -pe 's/^(\s*url\s*=.*)$/\1  # NOQA: ignore=E501/' $file
+        perl -i -pe 's/^(\s*version\(.*\).*)$/\1  # NOQA: ignore=E501/' $file
+        perl -i -pe 's/^(\s*variant\(.*\).*)$/\1  # NOQA: ignore=E501/' $file
+
+        # Exempt '@when' decorated functions from redefinition errors.
         perl -i -pe 's/^(\s*\@when\(.*\).*)$/\1  # NOQA: ignore=F811/' $file
     fi
 done
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/scotch/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/scotch/package.py
index 931e5c993ae80887ebad08bef8eff136c2364ec5..3abbf3c665a735dda36b929a191d197d71005e48 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/scotch/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/scotch/package.py
@@ -40,14 +40,10 @@ class Scotch(Package):
     version('6.0.0', 'c50d6187462ba801f9a82133ee666e8e')
     version('5.1.10b', 'f587201d6cf5cf63527182fbfba70753')
 
-    variant('mpi', default=False,
-            description='Activate the compilation of parallel libraries')
-    variant('compression', default=True,
-            description='Activate the posibility to use compressed files')
-    variant('esmumps', default=False,
-            description='Activate the compilation of esmumps needed by mumps')
-    variant('shared', default=True,
-            description='Build a shared version of the library')
+    variant('mpi', default=False, description='Activate the compilation of parallel libraries')
+    variant('compression', default=True, description='Activate the posibility to use compressed files')
+    variant('esmumps', default=False, description='Activate the compilation of esmumps needed by mumps')
+    variant('shared', default=True, description='Build a shared version of the library')
 
     depends_on('flex')
     depends_on('bison')