...there should be no changes made to the COW memory
Why not? Both versions modify the string - just differently: 

$ perl -le '$data = "xxx"; substr($data, 1, 1) |= 1; print $data'
x1x

$ perl -le '$data = "xxx"; substr($data, 1, 1) |= chr(1); print $data'
xyx

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In reply to Re^27: Strange memory leak using just threads (forks.pm) by Anonymous Monk
in thread Strange memory leak using just threads by MnkyBrain

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