$ perl -e 'sub {die}'
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is just setting up an anonymous subroutine in void context then exiting with a normal termination status because it never actually dies. Note the following

$ perl -e '$sub = sub {die}; $sub->();'
Died at -e line 1.
$ echo $?
255
$
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Cheers,

JohnGG

Update: To test behaviour in a script rather than on the command line.

use strict;
use warnings;

sub toDieFor
{
    my $v = shift;
    die qq{Died with $v};
}

my $value = shift;
toDieFor($value) if $value > 10;
print qq{Normal termination\n};
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Running this a couple of times

$ spw638035 3
Normal termination
$ spw638035 33
Died with 33 at spw638035 line 9.
$ echo $?
255
$
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Perhaps you could shows us an actual code sample that triggers the behaviour you describe.

$ perldoc -f die
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die LIST

Outside an "eval", prints the value of LIST to "STDERR" and exits with the current value of $! (errno). If $! is 0, exits with the value of "($? >> 8)" (backtick `command` status). If "($? >> 8)" is 0, exits with 255. ... snip ...

Let's see how this works.

$ perl -e '$! = 10; die "blah\n"'
blah
$ echo $?
10
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Seems to work as described in the doco.

I have chosen a bad example trying to simplify the problem, as I have not realised that defining a sub is not executing it. In real world I have a module with utility subs and one of them is FatalError $msg as:


sub FatalError
{
        my $message = shift;

        my ($package, $filename, $line) = caller;

        Log "ERROR","$message ($filename linea $line)";
        CloseLog;
        die "ERROR: $message ($filename linea $line)\n";
}
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then I use it in a script as in:


$conn = Net::SFTP::Foreign::Compat->new($ftp_host,(user => $ftp_user))
+;
if ( $conn->error )
{
    my $errormsg=$!;
    FatalError "Error: $errormsg";
}
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Result is the error message appears in the log but the script finishes with 0 return code.
I have tried to force the return code with $! but with no positive result.


Thanks
Xavi

I don't know why you're getting zero — you should never get zero from die — but your code is broken since Log and CloseLog probably change $!.

Why do think that the Net::SFTP::Foreign::Compat will set $! if there is a problem? Looking at the source code for that module, the only time that $! is used is when there is a problem opening or communicating to a local file or pipe. Also, the doco for Net::SFTP::Foreign::Compat says that it will call die if there is a 'low-level protocol error or unexpected error message' so you would need to wrap your use of the module up in a eval block to catch the exception.

On to the FatalError sub.

bruce:1:~/tmp $ cat  p.pl
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

sub Log { }
sub CloseLog { }

sub FatalError 
{
    my ($message, $exit_status) = @_;
    my ($package, $filename, $line) = caller;

    Log "ERROR", "$message ($filename linea $line)";
    CloseLog;
    $! = $exit_status;
    die "ERROR: $message ($filename linea $line)\n";
}

FatalError "testing", 34; # <- 34 should be the value of $?

bruce:1:~/tmp $ ./p.pl
ERROR: testing (./p.pl linea 19)
bruce:1:~/tmp $ echo $?
34
bruce:1:~/tmp $
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Try rearranging your code. Good luck.

Cheers.

I tried the same on HP/UX and it doesn't work for me: the script returns 0, even forcing $!=1 before the die.

thanks
Xavi

All the trouble and confusion was caused by bugs in the Net::SFTP::Foreign module.
I've upgraded to the latest version and now it works. I don't fully understand why it failed yet, but seems that some die inside the module could be the cause.
Thank you all
Xavi