Intrepid has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I've experienced a strange failure with "Resource temporarily unavailable".

The hefty cascade of messages shown here, I think this is known as a "call stack"?:
Configuring R/RJ/RJBS/Dist-Zilla-6.037.tar.gz with Makefile.PL
      0 main perl 1106 child_info_fork::abort: \??\C:\ix\cygwin\usr\local\lib\perl5\site_perl\5.40\x86_64-cygwin-threads\auto\Compress\Raw\Bzip2\Bzip2.dll: Loaded to different address: parent(0x3F07F0000) != child(0x4C08D0000)

Error while running PL phase: Couldn't fork(): Resource temporarily unavailable at /usr/local/share/perl5/site_perl/5.40/Capture/Tiny.pm line 242.
        Capture::Tiny::_fork_exec("stderr", HASH(0xa03589cb8)) called at /usr/local/share/perl5/site_perl/5.40/Capture/Tiny.pm line 235
        Capture::Tiny::_start_tee("stderr", HASH(0xa03589cb8)) called at /usr/local/share/perl5/site_perl/5.40/Capture/Tiny.pm line 364
        Capture::Tiny::_capture_tee(1, 1, 1, 1, CODE(0xa02709420)) called at /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/5.40/CPAN/Reporter.pm line 161
        CPAN::Reporter::record_command("/usr/bin/perl Makefile.PL") called at /usr/local/share/perl5/site_perl/5.40/CPAN/Distribution.pm line 2093
        eval {...} called at /usr/local/share/perl5/site_perl/5.40/CPAN/Distribution.pm line 2093
        CPAN::Distribution::prepare(CPAN::Distribution=HASH(0xa09c73b00)) called at /usr/local/share/perl5/site_perl/5.40/CPAN/Distribution.pm line 2217
        CPAN::Distribution::make(CPAN::Distribution=HASH(0xa09c73b00)) called at /usr/local/share/perl5/site_perl/5.40/CPAN/Distribution.pm line 3676
        CPAN::Distribution::test(CPAN::Distribution=HASH(0xa09c73b00)) called at /usr/local/share/perl5/site_perl/5.40/CPAN/Distribution.pm line 4167
        CPAN::Distribution::install(CPAN::Distribution=HASH(0xa09c73b00)) called at /usr/local/share/perl5/site_perl/5.40/CPAN/Module.pm line 484
        eval {...} called at /usr/local/share/perl5/site_perl/5.40/CPAN/Module.pm line 483
        CPAN::Module::rematein(CPAN::Module=HASH(0xa09c70ce8), "install") called at /usr/local/share/perl5/site_perl/5.40/CPAN/Module.pm line 592
        CPAN::Module::install(CPAN::Module=HASH(0xa09c70ce8)) called at /usr/local/share/perl5/site_perl/5.40/CPAN/Shell.pm line 1901
        CPAN::Shell::rematein("CPAN::Shell", "install", "Dist::Zilla") called at /usr/local/share/perl5/site_perl/5.40/CPAN/Shell.pm line 2068
        CPAN::Shell::__ANON__("CPAN::Shell", "Dist::Zilla") called at /usr/local/share/perl5/site_perl/5.40/App/Cpan.pm line 635
        App::Cpan::__ANON__("Dist::Zilla") called at /usr/local/share/perl5/site_perl/5.40/App/Cpan.pm line 652
        App::Cpan::_default(ARRAY(0xa00027238), HASH(0xa014d9b80)) called at /usr/local/share/perl5/site_perl/5.40/App/Cpan.pm line 536
        App::Cpan::run("App::Cpan", "IO::Compress", "App::ccdiff", "Dist::Zilla") called at /usr/local/bin/cpan line 15

  RJBS/Dist-Zilla-6.037.tar.gz
  /usr/bin/perl Makefile.PL -- NOT OK
Stopping: 'install' failed for 'Dist::Zilla'.

I'd like to know what the good Monks think about that?

Feb 11, 2026 at 03:07 UTC

  • Comment on In CygPerl, a fork failed with error "Resource temporarily unavailable"

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Re: In CygPerl, a fork failed with error "Resource temporarily unavailable"
by marto (Cardinal) on Feb 11, 2026 at 11:09 UTC

    Cygwin User's Guide -> 1.6.6.1 Problems with process creation .... In summary, current Windows implementations make it impossible to implement a perfectly reliable fork, and occasional fork failures are inevitable..

Re: In CygPerl, a fork failed with error "Resource temporarily unavailable"
by ikegami (Patriarch) on Feb 11, 2026 at 17:04 UTC

    I haven't used Cygwin since I switched to using Linux over WSL/WSL2. You might find that it suit your needs too.

    • You can access the Linux files from Windows.
    • You can access the Windows files from Linux.
    • You can run Windows programs from Linux.
    • You CAN'T run Linux programs from Windows.
    • You can run Linux GUI apps. (They show as Windows windows.)