Ok,

So I've got a real simple script that takes a list of hosts, pings them (Net::Ping), checks to make sure we have at least X number of active machines (if we don't, something is severly wrong), and then does something else. For the record, this is ActivePerl 5.8.3 on a Wintel box.

So the code, like I said, is simple (summary below):

print "Doing some work ...";
  &doSomWork();
    print "Done\n";
print "Doing some ping ...";
  &doSomePing();
    print "Done\n";
print "Checking threshold ...";
  if ($yadayadaya < $yodolodolo) { die "Horrible death"; }
    Print "Done\n";
[download]

That's it in a nutshell. Now check out the output and notice where the "Checking threshold" line actually comes in:

C:\temp>myScript.pl
Doing some work --> Done.
Doing some ping --> Done.
Doing something else --> Done.
Number of machines to be LAPC'd (178) below threshhold (700), please i
+nvestigate
! at I:\perl\lapc.pl line 41.
Checking Threshold -->
C:\temp>
[download]

The script does what it's supposed to and works fine, but I've noticed this before in other scripts and it seems like either a buffer isn't flushing or perl is just flatout deciding to rebel against the humans and work the code in it's own order.

Bill in Brooklyn