From @schwern

print ($h{''} eq 'bar' ? "ok 12\n" : "not ok 12\n");

Since libndbm.so is lined to libdb.so on Debian (and RedHat as well, I
believe) AnyDBM_File is using DB_File by default. The following
example also fails​:

use DB_File;
tie(%h,DB_File,"/tmp/Op_dbmx", O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0640) or die $!;
$h{""} = "bar";
$h{"foo"} = "foo";
print ($h{"foo"} eq "foo" ? "ok 11\n" : "not ok 11\n");'
print ($h{""} eq "bar" ? "ok 12\n" : "not ok 12\n");'

ok 11

Use of uninitialized value at -e line 1.
not ok 12

libdb.so is 2.1.2 from the Debian libc6 (2.1.2-0pre2) package
I presume this is an issue in DB 2 and not really a perlbug per-say.

Summary of my perl5 (5.0 patchlevel 5 subversion 3) configuration​:
  Platform​:
  osname=linux, osvers=2.2.7, archname=i686-linux
  uname='linux athens 2.2.7 #2 smp mon may 10 23​:17​:01 edt 1999 i686 unknown '
  hint=recommended, useposix=true, d_sigaction=define
  usethreads=undef useperlio=undef d_sfio=undef
  Compiler​:
  cc='gcc', optimize='-O6', gccversion=egcs-2.91.66 19990314 (egcs-1.1.2 release)
  cppflags='-Dbool=char -DHAS_BOOL -I/usr/local/include'
  ccflags ='-Dbool=char -DHAS_BOOL -I/usr/local/include'
  stdchar='char', d_stdstdio=undef, usevfork=false
  intsize=4, longsize=4, ptrsize=4, doublesize=8
  d_longlong=define, longlongsize=8, d_longdbl=define, longdblsize=12
  alignbytes=4, usemymalloc=y, prototype=define
  Linker and Libraries​:
  ld='gcc', ldflags =' -L/usr/local/lib'
  libpth=/usr/local/lib /lib /usr/lib
  libs=-lnsl -lndbm -lgdbm -ldbm -ldb -ldl -lm -lc -lposix -lcrypt
  libc=, so=so, useshrplib=false, libperl=libperl.a
  Dynamic Linking​:
  dlsrc=dl_dlopen.xs, dlext=so, d_dlsymun=undef, ccdlflags='-rdynamic'
  cccdlflags='-fpic', lddlflags='-shared -L/usr/local/lib'

Characteristics of this binary (from libperl)​:
  Built under linux
  Compiled at Jul 29 1999 00​:29​:00
  @​INC​:
  /usr/lib/perl5/i686-linux
  /usr/lib/perl5
  /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005/i686-linux
  /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005
  .

Summary of my perl5 (revision 5.0 version 5 subversion 57) configuration​:
  Platform​:
  osname=linux, osvers=2.2.7, archname=i686-linux
  uname='linux athens 2.2.7 #2 smp mon may 10 23​:17​:01 edt 1999 i686 unknown '
  config_args=''
  hint=previous, useposix=true, d_sigaction=define
  usethreads=undef useperlio=undef d_sfio=undef
  use64bits=undef usemultiplicity=undef
  Compiler​:
  cc='gcc', optimize='-g', gccversion=2.7.2.3
  cppflags='-Dbool=char -DHAS_BOOL -DDEBUGGING -I/usr/local/include -DDEBUGGING_OPS -DEBUGGING_MSTATS'
  ccflags ='-Dbool=char -DHAS_BOOL -DDEBUGGING -I/usr/local/include -DDEBUGGING_OPS -DEBUGGING_MSTATS'
  stdchar='char', d_stdstdio=define, usevfork=false
  intsize=4, longsize=4, ptrsize=4, doublesize=8
  d_longlong=define, longlongsize=8, d_longdbl=define, longdblsize=12
  alignbytes=4, usemymalloc=y, prototype=define
  Linker and Libraries​:
  ld='gcc', ldflags =' -L/usr/local/lib'
  libpth=/usr/local/lib /lib /usr/lib
  libs=-lnsl -lndbm -lgdbm -ldbm -ldb -ldl -lm -lc -lposix -lcrypt
  libc=/lib/libc-2.0.7.so, so=so, useshrplib=false, libperl=libperl.a
  Dynamic Linking​:
  dlsrc=dl_dlopen.xs, dlext=so, d_dlsymun=undef, ccdlflags='-rdynamic'
  cccdlflags='-fpic', lddlflags='-shared -L/usr/local/lib'

Characteristics of this binary (from libperl)​:
  Compile-time options​: DEBUGGING
  Built under linux
  Compiled at Jun 7 1999 16​:36​:16
  @​INC​:
  /usr/local/perl5.005_57/lib/5.00557/i686-linux
  /usr/local/perl5.005_57/lib/5.00557
  /usr/local/perl5.005_57/lib/site_perl/5.00557/i686-linux
  /usr/local/perl5.005_57/lib/site_perl/5.00557
  .

From @pmqs

From​: Michael G Schwern [mailto​:schwern@​ArenaNetworks.com]

On both perl 5.005_03 and 5.005_57 with Debian 2.1 (potato) and
Berkeley DB 2, lib/anydbm.t fails test 12​:

print ($h{''} eq 'bar' ? "ok 12\n" : "not ok 12\n");

Since libndbm.so is lined to libdb.so on Debian (and RedHat as well, I
believe) AnyDBM_File is using DB_File by default. The following
example also fails​:

use DB_File;
tie(%h,DB_File,"/tmp/Op_dbmx", O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0640) or die $!;
$h{""} = "bar";
$h{"foo"} = "foo";
print ($h{"foo"} eq "foo" ? "ok 11\n" : "not ok 11\n");'
print ($h{""} eq "bar" ? "ok 12\n" : "not ok 12\n");'

ok 11

Use of uninitialized value at -e line 1.
not ok 12

libdb.so is 2.1.2 from the Debian libc6 (2.1.2-0pre2) package
I presume this is an issue in DB 2 and not really a perlbug per-say.

Correct, this is a Berkeley DB issue rather than a DB_File one.

The good new is that the Sleepycat folk have said that they will re-enable
null keys in a future release of Berkeley DB.

Paul

From @schwern

On Sat, Jul 31, 1999 at 08​:40​:32PM +0100, paul.marquess@​bt.com wrote​:

From​: Michael G Schwern [mailto​:schwern@​ArenaNetworks.com]

libdb.so is 2.1.2 from the Debian libc6 (2.1.2-0pre2) package
I presume this is an issue in DB 2 and not really a perlbug per-say.

Correct, this is a Berkeley DB issue rather than a DB_File one.

The good new is that the Sleepycat folk have said that they will re-enable
null keys in a future release of Berkeley DB.

Ahh, good to hear. May I suggest that a comment be added to
lib/anydbm.t and lib/db-hash.t about this?

*** db-hash.t 1999/08/01 01​:57​:06
--- db-hash.t 1999/08/01 01​:57​:53
***************
*** 164,169 ****
--- 164,171 ----
  $h{'foo'} = '';
  ok(26, $h{'foo'} eq '' );

+ # Berkeley DB 2 (up to an including 2.1.2) does not allow null keys.
+ # Future versions should reenable this feature.
  #$h{''} = 'bar';
  #ok(27, $h{''} eq 'bar' );
  ok(27,1) ;

*** anydbm.t 1999/08/01 01​:54​:31
--- anydbm.t 1999/08/01 01​:56​:40
***************
*** 118,123 ****
--- 118,126 ----
  print join('​:',200..400) eq join('​:',@​foo) ? "ok 10\n" : "not ok 10\n";

  print ($h{'foo'} eq '' ? "ok 11\n" : "not ok 11\n");
+ # Berkeley DB 2 (up to 2.1.2 and possibly higher) does not allow null keys
+ # and may cause this test to fail. Null keys should be reenabled in future
+ # versions of Berkeley DB 2.
  print ($h{''} eq 'bar' ? "ok 12\n" : "not ok 12\n");

  untie %h;

--

Michael G Schwern schwern@​pobox.com
  http​://www.pobox.com/~schwern
  /(?​:(?​:(1)[.-]?)?\(?(\d{3})\)?[.-]?)?(\d{3})[.-]?(\d{4})(x\d+)?/i

From @timbunce

On Sat, Jul 31, 1999 at 09​:53​:04PM -0400, Michael G Schwern wrote​:

On Sat, Jul 31, 1999 at 08​:40​:32PM +0100, paul.marquess@​bt.com wrote​:

From​: Michael G Schwern [mailto​:schwern@​ArenaNetworks.com]

libdb.so is 2.1.2 from the Debian libc6 (2.1.2-0pre2) package
I presume this is an issue in DB 2 and not really a perlbug per-say.

Correct, this is a Berkeley DB issue rather than a DB_File one.

The good new is that the Sleepycat folk have said that they will re-enable
null keys in a future release of Berkeley DB.

Ahh, good to hear. May I suggest that a comment be added to
lib/anydbm.t and lib/db-hash.t about this?

*** db-hash.t 1999/08/01 01​:57​:06
--- db-hash.t 1999/08/01 01​:57​:53
***************
*** 164,169 ****
--- 164,171 ----
$h{'foo'} = '';
ok(26, $h{'foo'} eq '' );

+ # Berkeley DB 2 (up to an including 2.1.2) does not allow null keys.
+ # Future versions should reenable this feature.
#$h{''} = 'bar';
#ok(27, $h{''} eq 'bar' );
ok(27,1) ;

Does DB offer a way to discover the version at runtime?

Tim.

From @pmqs

From​: Tim Bunce [mailto​:Tim.Bunce@​ig.co.uk]
 
On Sat, Jul 31, 1999 at 09​:53​:04PM -0400, Michael G Schwern wrote​:

On Sat, Jul 31, 1999 at 08​:40​:32PM +0100, paul.marquess@​bt.com wrote​:

From​: Michael G Schwern [mailto​:schwern@​ArenaNetworks.com]

libdb.so is 2.1.2 from the Debian libc6 (2.1.2-0pre2) package
I presume this is an issue in DB 2 and not really a perlbug per-say.

Correct, this is a Berkeley DB issue rather than a DB_File one.

The good new is that the Sleepycat folk have said that they will
re-enable
null keys in a future release of Berkeley DB.

Ahh, good to hear. May I suggest that a comment be added to
lib/anydbm.t and lib/db-hash.t about this?

*** db-hash.t 1999/08/01 01​:57​:06
--- db-hash.t 1999/08/01 01​:57​:53
***************
*** 164,169 ****
--- 164,171 ----
$h{'foo'} = '';
ok(26, $h{'foo'} eq '' );

+ # Berkeley DB 2 (up to an including 2.1.2) does not allow null keys.
+ # Future versions should reenable this feature.
#$h{''} = 'bar';
#ok(27, $h{''} eq 'bar' );
ok(27,1) ;

Does DB offer a way to discover the version at runtime?

For Berkeley DB 1.x, no.
For Berkeley DB 2.x, yes.

In DB_File I provide a restricted interface to the Berkeley DB version via
the $DB_File​::db_version variable.

For Berkeley DB 1.x the variable always returns "1".

With Berkeley DB version 2, it returns the major & minor version numbers
(but not the patch number) as a floating point number. So for Berkeley DB
2.7.5 $DB_File​::db_version will be 2.7

Paul

From @pmqs

From​: Michael G Schwern [mailto​:schwern@​pobox.com]

On Sat, Jul 31, 1999 at 08​:40​:32PM +0100, paul.marquess@​bt.com wrote​:

From​: Michael G Schwern [mailto​:schwern@​ArenaNetworks.com]

libdb.so is 2.1.2 from the Debian libc6 (2.1.2-0pre2) package
I presume this is an issue in DB 2 and not really a
perlbug per-say.

Correct, this is a Berkeley DB issue rather than a DB_File one.

The good new is that the Sleepycat folk have said that they
will re-enable
null keys in a future release of Berkeley DB.

Ahh, good to hear. May I suggest that a comment be added to
lib/anydbm.t and lib/db-hash.t about this?

*** db-hash.t 1999/08/01 01​:57​:06
--- db-hash.t 1999/08/01 01​:57​:53
***************
*** 164,169 ****
--- 164,171 ----
$h{'foo'} = '';
ok(26, $h{'foo'} eq '' );

+ # Berkeley DB 2 (up to an including 2.1.2) does not allow null keys.

Nope, the change was made in Berkeley DB 2.4.10. Anything before is ok,
anything after isn't.

Paul