In newer LESS versrions (since 1.4) it's possible to use a mixin as a function call (see http://lesscss.org/features/#mixins-as-functions-feature): the variables defined inside the mixin body are accessible in a calling mixin.
Example:
.mainMixin() {
.subMixin();
height: @subMixinReturnValue;
}
.subMixin() {
@subMixinReturnValue: 17px;
}
LESS editor can't resolve the reference to "@subMixinReturnValue" in mixin .mainMixin.