Strange errors in CPAN modules when running on Windows 8.1

[schweini]

I just switched to Windows 8 with Strawberry perl.

So I installed a couple of modules via Stawberry perl´s cpan, and I´m getting errors and warning left and right.

As an example, I am trying to hook up a LeapMotion to perl using the company provided Device::Leap, and get errors like:

Use of uninitialized value $BUFF in string eq at C:/Strawberry/perl/si
+te/lib/Device/Leap.pm line 40.
substr outside of string at C:/Strawberry/perl/site/lib/Device/Leap.pm
+ line 115.

Which seems odd, considering that that module is not doing anything fancy - just a bit of socket reading. The authors even explicitly turned on warnings and strict, so they would have seen these errors, too.

Even more shockingly, I´m trying to talk to an Arduino using Win32::SerialPort, and I get errors like:

Second Write attempted before First is done at ServoJoy.pl line 55.
Use of uninitialized value $written in numeric ne (!=) at C:/Strawberr
+y/perl/site/lib/Win32/SerialPort.pm line 1580.

Apart from the fact that serial communications arent working, the "uninitialized value" error seems out-of place for such a popular module.

On a hunch, I tried running the same programs from an elevated command window, but I get the same errors.

Is there something I am missing? Is this a Win8.1 issue? Some new perl version thing?

Edit: For future readers: Most of the issues seem to have disappeared after I switched to 32-bit Strawberry perl. Seems that Win32::SerialPort doesnt like 64bit perl. I would've thought that that isn't an issue anymore, but it is.

[toolic]

What version of Perl are you using (and what was your previous version)?

perl -v

I looked at Device::Leap on CPAN, and there are many passing tests on recent Perl versions. However, there is only one test in the test suite, and it does nothing more than check that the module can be loaded. So, those runtime warnings you get would never be detected by CPAN Testers.

It is likely you are affected by incompatible changes in a new version of Perl. Check the perldeltas at http://perldoc.perl.org/index-history.html

[schweini]

This is perl 5, version 20, subversion 2 (v5.20.2) built for MSWin32-x
+64-multi-thread

I was guessing that some regression is biting me, but from what i saw in the Leap.pm source, nothing strange stood out? $BUFF is well-declared, so why would it stop being that all of a sudden?

Also, I would hope that something as important as Win32::SerialDevice would pass any tests with any new version of perl?

[syphilis]

$BUFF is well-declared, so why would it stop being that all of a sudden?

It's still "well-declared".
The warning is not that it has not been declared, but that it has not been assigned a value:

C:\>perl -wle "my $x; print $x;"
Use of uninitialized value $x in print at -e line 1.

C:\>perl -wle "my $x; $x = 17; print $x;"
17

Cheers,
Rob

[Laurent_R]

There may also be an error in the way you are using this package or in the parameters you are passing to its functions. But nobody can know since you haven't shown any of your code. BTW, was your code working with a previous version of Perl (or Windows)?

[Anonymous Monk]

Which seems odd, considering that that module is not doing anything fancy - just a bit of socket reading.

Why? Its just a regular everyday most common of warnings Use of uninitialized value

Apart from the fact that serial communications arent working, the "uninitialized value" error seems out-of place for such a popular module.

Why? You can give "uninitialized value" to pretty much everything, its very basic

Also, for "such a popular module" it hasn't been updated since 2010

2010 is when perl 5.12 came out. since then we've had 5.14, 5.16, 5.18, and 5.20, and 5.22 is about to be released

The module uses strict+warnings, and new versions of perl can introduce new warnings

perldeltas

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