Update from 1.28 to 1.31 - default variable gets reset

On a site using i18n, upgrading from 7.x-1.28 to 7.x-1.31 runs 3 hook_update_Ns and the eu_cookie_compliance variable gets reset.

In eu_cookie_compliance_update_7011, i18n_variable_set() executes variable_realm_refresh() which does a unset($GLOBALS['conf']['eu_cookie_compliance']);.

Then, in eu_cookie_compliance_update_7012, when variable_get('eu_cookie_compliance') is called, it returns empty array. When variable_set('eu_cookie_compliance') gets called, the empty array (with a few new values) is saved.

My suggestion is to use variable_realm_set() instead and explicitly turn off $rebuild:

variable_realm_set('language', $langcode, 'eu_cookie_compliance', $settings, FALSE);