Why not simply use -1?

$ perl -MDP -we'DHexDump pack ("N", -1)'
0000  ff ff ff ff                                       ....
$ perl -MDP -we'DHexDump pack ("Q", -1)'
0000  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff                           ........
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Aside from the fact that N is suppose to take an unsigned integer, your very question demonstrates that -1 and 0xFFFF_FFFF pack differently.

Aside from the fact that N is suppose to take an unsigned integer,

Hm. pack takes a bunch of bits and interprets them in whatever way you tell if to:

print unpack 'f', pack 'N', unpack 'N', pack 'f', 3.141592653589793238
+4626433832795;;
3.14159274101257
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your very question demonstrates that -1 and 0xFFFF_FFFF pack differently

Que! Care to explain what you think you mean by that?

Neither I nor Perl can see any difference:

print pack('N', -1) eq pack('N', 0xffffffff) ? 'Same' : 'Different';;
Same
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