If you agree, I think I'll pass it on as a perl bug.

Yes, I absolutely agree. And your example demos the bug perfectly.

Nice to know my instincts weren't too far off--I always suspect new features first. But try as hard as I might I couldn't arrive at the simple demo that leaked. Congratulations on that.

The downside is you'll have to wait a while for the fix, but at least you now know.