$_ //= '' for $user, $rip, $op, $srvrip, $from, $msgid, $msgdate, $msg
+time;   ### line 25
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A big problem here is that the  //= operator (and its pal  // 'defined-or') were not added until version 5.10 (AFAIR), so 5.8.4 is definitely not going to grok this. Try
    defined($_) || $_ = '' for ...;
instead.