Here is my test prog :-

use strict;
use File::Find;
my $dir = shift;
my ($with, $without);

print "Counting files in $dir\n";

# This is the default on Linux
$File::Find::dont_use_nlink = 0;
find(sub { $without++ }, $dir);

$File::Find::dont_use_nlink = 1;
find(sub { $with++ }, $dir);

print "With \$File::Find::dont_use_nlink = 0: $without files found\n";
print "With \$File::Find::dont_use_nlink = 1: $with files found\n";
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I ran this on a mounted iso9660 disc like this (note if the disc has RockRidge extensions then it works properly!) :-

$ ./file_find_test.pl /mnt/cdrom 
Counting files in /mnt/cdrom
With $File::Find::dont_use_nlink = 0: 29 files found
With $File::Find::dont_use_nlink = 1: 1300 files found

This was on Linux 2.2.17 with perl 5.00503 with the standard File::Find that comes with the distribution

I agree with tye's comment here - $File::Find::dont_use_nlink should be 1 on all platforms - the slowdown isn't worth the incompatibilities.