Re: the -x command line parameter

[hbo]

An example of how Larry (or someone playing him on TV) uses perl -x:

From http://search.cpan.org/src/JHI/perl-5.8.1/patchlevel.h:

/*    patchlevel.h
 *
 *    Copyright (C) 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
 *    2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, by Larry Wall and others
 *
 *    You may distribute under the terms of either the GNU General Pub
+lic
 *    License or the Artistic License, as specified in the README file
+.
 *
 */

*snip*

/*

*snip*

      History has shown that nobody distributes patches that also
        modify patchlevel.h. Do it yourself. The following perl
        program can be used to add a comment to patchlevel.h:

#!perl
die "Usage: perl -x patchlevel.h comment ..." unless @ARGV;
open PLIN, "patchlevel.h" or die "Couldn't open patchlevel.h : $!";

*snip*

__END__

So we have perl -x used in a context similar to how patch was used on usenet, and associated with patching, too.