It would've been cleaner to use something like

                || die qq/Cannot open pid file "$self->{path}": $!\n/;
        flock($fh, LOCK_EX | LOCK_NB)
         || die qq/pid "$self->{path}" already locked: $!\n/;
-       my ($pid) = <$fh> =~ /^(\d+)/;
+       my $maybe = <$fh>;
+       $maybe = "" unless defined $maybe;
+       my ($pid) = $maybe =~ /^(\d+)/;
        close $fh if @_ == 1;
[download]

"It would've been cleaner to use something like"
...


I happily accept your patch, choroba - if only I was the module author. And I read the bug thread over at Debian and I am in agreement that it was not nice.

This was interesting, educational for me, points for choroba and ikegami. The reply from ikegami confirmed what I suspected, and the discussion at Conditional initialization of my-variables was enlightening. I had looked at that code in Proc-PID-File and it bothered me with out me knowing exactly why. I guess I have some good Perl instincts after all; sometimes we code too compactly, saving a couple more lines of code but introducing a problem in doing so. Yes, indeed, Perl lends itself to obfuscation.

Feb 18, 2025 at 19:51 UTC

A just machine to make big decisions
Programmed by fellows (and gals) with compassion and vision
We'll be clean when their work is done
We'll be eternally free yes, and eternally young
Donald Fagen –> I.G.Y.
(Slightly modified for inclusiveness)