Pack source code

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

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Pack source code by pg (Canon) on Dec 09, 2002 at 01:41 UTC
This is not a surprise. pack/unpack is not fully portable. Check this web page: How to write portable Perl	[reply]
Re: Re: Pack source code by Anonymous Monk on Dec 09, 2002 at 02:06 UTC
I tried using the n and N methods when pack/unpack but it still does not seem to work on the other system - is it not possible to port it using pack at all?	[reply]
Re: Pack source code by tadman (Prior) on Dec 09, 2002 at 08:08 UTC
What you might want to do is stay away from endian types and use only "network order" types. In pack, this is `n` and `N`. Character types should be fine. These can be packed and unpacked across different platforms with no data mangling. Barring that, maybe you could show, or at least describe the way you're packing your data.	[reply]
Re: Pack source code by John M. Dlugosz (Monsignor) on Dec 09, 2002 at 07:16 UTC
Suggestion: make a toy script (or comment out bunches of stuff) so you have a program which only reads from the data and prints it. See if it works right on the "other" machine, under those circumstances. Write a toy program which just calls unpack on some literal data (not read from anywhere) and prints the results. See if it works the same on each machine. When you get something that doesn't work the same on all machines, come back and post just the stuff that works differently, and we should be able to enlighten. —John	[reply]
Re: Pack source code by submersible_toaster (Chaplain) on Dec 09, 2002 at 07:09 UTC
And what , do tell , is it you plan to use this for? Even without endian issues, this is bound to be difficult. What makes this 'code' so crucial that you feel the need to bundle it up illegibly. <rhetoric> suggests changing node title to "What I'll try doing to your scripts if they're world writable"</rhetoric>	[reply]