Re^4: instantiating an smtp object

Hi $h4X4_|=73}{,

It's unfortunate that the eval ...; if ($@) ... idiom is still very prevalent, there are many examples in the literature and even the eval docs use it! However, the issues I linked to previously have been around for a long time and even though Perl 5.14 fixed some of the major issues, as far as I have read the fixes are not perfect yet. The idiom eval { ...; 1 } or ... at least allows for reliable detection of when eval failed, even when $@ gets clobbered.

As for $! vs. $@, I had a look at the source of Net::SMTP's new and it seems that $@ is explicitly set there.

Regards,
-- Hauke D

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Re^5: instantiating an smtp object by $h4X4_\|=73}{ (Monk) on Jun 06, 2016 at 14:27 UTC
Please read perl doc my code is imuned to the bug state in the post Bug in eval in pre-5.14. I have posted an example but its not a good one. If you want to hide errors then use `eval { 1 } if ! $self->{finished};` in `DESTROY` like that post has to cause the issue. But you cant say that is what is going to happen with /that/my/ code because I tested it for over 7 years in perl v5.8 and it works.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^6: instantiating an smtp object by haukex (Archbishop) on Jun 06, 2016 at 15:03 UTC
Hi $h4X4_\|=73}{, I'll admit that I've never personally encountered the eval/$@ bug in the wild (yet), and the code in question does say `use 5.014;`. But, although admittedly unlikely, it's not impossible that Net::SMTP might someday update its `DESTROY` method with some code that still exhibits a form of the bug, or that the `use 5.014;` statement is removed later and the code is run on a lower version of Perl, or that the code is copy-and-pasted and used somewhere else where the bug suddenly shows up, and so on. So I still think that `eval { ...; 1 } or ...` is "better" (more reliable at detecting eval failures) than `eval { ... }; if ($@) ...`, and that it's a good habit to get into. Regards, -- Hauke D	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^7: instantiating an smtp object by $h4X4_\|=73}{ (Monk) on Jun 07, 2016 at 08:22 UTC
You are absolutely right about eval. I was basing my usage of Net::SMTP before Steve Hay got his grubby hands on it and put eval all over it like he knows what he is doing. Your not supposed to use eval that much and in the case of sending mail. Normally sending mail is last action you would be doing, so eval will work out good. But as the way Net::SMTP is made today. I would not use it anymore. Someone needs to take that name space back. Instead of making up a new namespace Email because of crappy modules "Net::SMTP" . Then no one tells me and I get to post bad info on a thread and run crappy modules that are bugs for about 3 years now. It makes it very hard for me to trust any Perl module these days.	[reply]