From danq@brtt.com

The following script failed for a directory with 5,251 entries​:

  #!/opt/antelope/perl/bin/perl
  @​a = glob("$ARGV[0]/*") ;
  $a = @​a ;
  print "$a entries : first is $a[0]\n" ;

The directory contains many files, all of a similar format​:

  % ls split | wc
  5251 5251 141970
  % ls split | head
  1997-189-10​:12​:36-Tue-danq
  1997-190-14​:40​:23-Wed-danq
  1997-190-14​:40​:34-Wed-danq
  1997-201-15​:57​:14-Sun-danq
  1997-201-17​:22​:40-Sun-danq
  1997-201-17​:32​:05-Sun-danq
  1997-201-18​:24​:30-Sun-danq
  1997-201-18​:28​:45-Sun-danq
  1997-201-18​:30​:41-Sun-danq
  1997-201-18​:32​:34-Sun-danq

A few filenames have a trailing "+" or "++".

Site configuration information for perl 5.00502:

Configured by danq at Wed Feb 17 09:19:08 MST 1999.

Summary of my perl5 (5.0 patchlevel 5 subversion 2) configuration:
  Platform:
    osname=solaris, osvers=2.7, archname=sun4-solaris
    uname='sunos denali 5.7 generic sun4u sparc sunw,ultra-1 '
    hint=recommended, useposix=true, d_sigaction=define
    usethreads=undef useperlio=undef d_sfio=undef
  Compiler:
    cc='cc', optimize='-O', gccversion=
    cppflags=''
    ccflags =''
    stdchar='char', d_stdstdio=define, usevfork=false
    intsize=4, longsize=4, ptrsize=4, doublesize=8
    d_longlong=define, longlongsize=8, d_longdbl=define, longdblsize=16
    alignbytes=8, usemymalloc=y, prototype=define
  Linker and Libraries:
    ld='cc', ldflags =''
    libpth=/lib
    libs=-lsocket -lnsl -ldl -lm -lc -lcrypt
    libc=/lib/libc.so, so=so, useshrplib=false, libperl=libperl.a
  Dynamic Linking:
    dlsrc=dl_dlopen.xs, dlext=so, d_dlsymun=undef, ccdlflags=' '
    cccdlflags='-KPIC', lddlflags='-G'

Locally applied patches:
    


@INC for perl 5.00502:
    /opt/antelope/perl/lib/5.00502/sun4-solaris
    /opt/antelope/perl/lib/5.00502
    /opt/antelope/perl/lib/site_perl/5.005/sun4-solaris
    /opt/antelope/perl/lib/site_perl/5.005
    .


Environment for perl 5.00502:
    HOME=/home/danq
    LANG (unset)
    LD_LIBRARY_PATH (unset)
    LOGDIR (unset)
    PATH=/opt/java/jdk1.1.5/bin:/opt/java/JavaCC/bin:/opt/antelope/dev/bin:/usr/sbin:.:/home/danq/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/local/etc:/opt/local/bin:/opt/SUNWspro/bin:/usr/ccs/bin:/usr/openwin/bin:/bin:/usr/proc/bin:/usr/ucb:/opt/antelope/tcl7.4tk4.0/bin:/opt/antelope/perl/bin
    PERL_BADLANG (unset)
    SHELL=/bin/tcsh

From [Unknown Contact. See original ticket]

This was a known restriction in the release you cite. It is fixed in the
experimental release, 5.005_62. Currently, you only get the correct
behaviour if you build Perl using -DPERL_INTERNAL_GLOB. Whether that
becomes the default for the upcoming 5.6 release remains to be seen.
What we need right now is for as many people as possible to stress-test
the new built-in globbing so we have sufficient confidence in it to
make it the default.

Good luck,

--tom

From [Unknown Contact. See original ticket]

"Daniel M. Quinlan" <danq@​brtt.com> wrote

The following script failed for a directory with 5,251 entries​:

\#\!/opt/antelope/perl/bin/perl
@​a = glob\("$ARGV\[0\]/\*"\) ;
$a = @​a ; 
print "$a entries : first is $a\[0\]\\n" ;

You don't say what the error is, but assuming it's the obvious one,
this is as documented in perlop.pod​:

  Furthermore, due to its current implementation of using a
  shell, the glob() routine may get "Arg list too long" errors
  (unless you've installed tcsh(1L) as /bin/csh).

The development version of Perl has its own built-in version of glob(),
so hopefully these problems should become a thing of the past.

Mike Guy

From @TimToady

Tom Christiansen writes​:
: This was a known restriction in the release you cite. It is fixed in the
: experimental release, 5.005_62. Currently, you only get the correct
: behaviour if you build Perl using -DPERL_INTERNAL_GLOB.

Seems to me we'd better make it the default in beta or it won't get
properly tested. Unless we're planning for it to remain an experimental
feature till 5.7.

Larry