Hi Microcebus, i can confirm your observation using Windows XP/StrawberryPerl 5.12. There is a message stating xyz isn't numeric at c:/strawberry/perl/site/lib/Tk/Widget.pm line 205.. The most interesting thing the message is different according to which pragma you are using in your script.

I'm not sure character encoding remains correct but I try to post some messages:

# no pragma active
'Lî
' isn't numeric at c:/strawberry/perl/site/lib/Tk/Widget.pm line
+ 205.

# use strict active
'ï
' isn't numeric at c:/strawberry/perl/site/lib/Tk/Widget.pm line
+ 205.

# use strict
# use warnings are active:
'\ï
' isn't numeric at c:/strawberry/perl/site/lib/Tk/Widget.pm line
+ 205.

# use strict, 
# use warnings and 
# use diagnostics are active
'ÔXª' isn't numeric at c:/strawberry/perl/site/lib/Tk/Widget.pm line 2
+05.
[download]

the output is allways the same for the same set of pragmas. The script works fine without use bignum for me.

P.S: special character in the posting are the same as they are displayed!