From The RT System itself

perl documentation (5.005_61, but not in 5.004_02 and 5.005_02) contains
misprint.
It says​:
...............
  * The integer formats `"s"', `"S"', `"i"', `"I"', `"l"',
  and `"L"' are inherently non-portable between processors
  and operating systems because they obey the native
  byteorder and endianness. For example a 4-byte integer
  0x87654321 (2271560481 decimal) be ordered natively
  (arranged in and handled by the CPU registers) into
  bytes as

  0x12 0x34 0x56 0x78 # little-endian
  0x78 0x56 0x34 0x12 # big-endian
...............

The number 0x87654321is incorrect, it should be 0x78563412,
because single machine byte chunks are not considered to be swapped.
(no architecture makes transofmation of 0x87<=>0x78 [decimal​:135<=>120])

If I misunderstand the point then function explanation should be clearer :)

Good luck,
Vadim

@rgs - Status changed from 'stalled' to 'resolved'