Perl has been able to handle 64 bit integers and pointers for quite some time already. It's not so much a matter whether your hardware supports it, it's a matter whether your compiler supports it. Perl doesn't generate machine instructions, the compiler does.

Perl can do either 64 bit integers, and 64 bit pointers, or both, and all the combinations are mutually binary incompatible. 64 bitness isn't something you turn on with a pragma, it's a Configure option.

For more details, see the README file coming with the Perl distribution.

Abigail