http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=674749


in reply to Weird use warnings FATAL behavior

OK, here is the expanded version of the original OP's oneliner, following tye's explanation:
cat fatals.pl #!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings FATAL => 'all'; my $cmd = shift || '_bad_exe_ a b c'; print "I'm parent with id $$\n"; eval { my $pid = open CMD, "-|"; if ($pid) { print "I'm forking a child with id $pid\n"; print while <CMD>; } else { #no warnings; # get rid of warnings on "Can't exec:..." print "[$$] I'm child, about to exec [$cmd]\n"; exec $cmd; } }; die "[$$] ERROR: $@" if $@; print "[$$]HOW DID I GET HERE?\n";
Run with correct command (just as comparisson):
$ perl fatals.pl ls I'm parent with id 6238 I'm forking a child with id 6239 [6239] I'm child, about to exec [ls] 642663.pl 642676.pl 642682.pl 644761.pl
No problem there. Now, run with no args (default command):
$ perl fatals.pl I'm parent with id 6240 [6241] ERROR: Can't exec "_bad_exe_": No such file or directory at fat +als.pl line 18. I'm forking a child with id 6241 [6241] I'm child, about to exec [_bad_exe_ a b c] [6240]HOW DID I GET HERE?
So I guess, it's the child that triggers the "Can't exec ..." warning that gets "upgraded" into fatal error (due to FATAL), trapped in $@, and dies. The child dies, the parent doesn't, that's HOW DID I GET HERE, I suppose. OTOH, if the no warnings; is uncommented, then well, no "Can't exec..." warning, no $@ trapping, and the child lives pretending nothing happens, yet covering up by asking HOW DID I GET HERE.

Open source softwares? Share and enjoy. Make profit from them if you can. Yet, share and enjoy!

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^2: Weird use warnings FATAL behavior
by hsola (Initiate) on Mar 18, 2008 at 15:38 UTC
    Ok, so the version with explicit forking shows what is happenng better. This was my example (jneil just posted it for me). So there is no perl bug?