From joshp@bbnplanet.com

The following should print "a<b", yet instead it prints nothing.

perl5.00502 -e 'use Math​::BigFloat; $a = new Math​::BigFloat "1";
  $b = new Math​::BigFloat "2"; if($a < $b) {print "a<b\n"}'

Site configuration information for perl 5.00502​:

Configured by joshp at Mon Aug 31 19​:44​:30 EDT 1998.

Summary of my perl5 (5.0 patchlevel 5 subversion 2) configuration​:
  Platform​:
  osname=solaris, osvers=2.5, archname=sun4-solaris-thread
  uname='sunos pasilla.bbnplanet.com 5.5 generic_103093-23 sun4u sparc sunw,ultra-1 '
  hint=recommended, useposix=true, d_sigaction=define
  usethreads=define useperlio=undef d_sfio=undef
  Compiler​:
  cc='gcc', optimize='-O3 -funroll-loops -fomit-frame-pointer', gccversion=2.7.2
  cppflags='-D_REENTRANT -I/usr/local/include -DDEBUGGING'
  ccflags ='-D_REENTRANT -I/usr/local/include -DDEBUGGING'
  stdchar='unsigned 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='gcc', ldflags =' -L/usr/local/lib'
  libpth=/usr/local/lib /lib /usr/lib /usr/ccs/lib
  libs=-lsocket -lnsl -ldl -lm -lposix4 -lpthread -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='-fPIC', lddlflags='-G -L/usr/local/lib'

Locally applied patches​:
 

@​INC for perl 5.00502​:
  /usr/planet/lib/perl5.00502/sun4-solaris-thread
  /usr/planet/lib/perl5.00502
  /usr/planet/lib/perl5.00502/site_perl/sun4-solaris-thread
  /usr/planet/lib/perl5.00502/site_perl
  .

Environment for perl 5.00502​:
  HOME=/users/joshp
  LANG (unset)
  LC_ALL=C
  LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/openwin/lib​:/usr/ccs/lib​:/usr/lib​:/lib​:/usr/local/lib​:/users/joshp/local/ast/lib​:/users/joshp/install/LEDA-3.7.1-solaris-g++-2.7
  LOGDIR (unset)
  PATH=/users/joshp/bin​:/usr/local/gnu/bin​:/opt/SUNWspro/bin​:/bin​:/usr/ccs/bin​:/opt/bin​:/usr/planet/bin​:/usr/local/bin​:/usr/sunos/local/kerberos/bin​:/usr/sunos/local/mh​:/etc​:/usr/etc​:/usr/ucb​:/usr/bin​:/usr/openwin/bin​:/usr/sunos/local/X11R6/bin​:/usr/planet/informix/bin​:/usr/planet/magma/admin/bin​:/usr/local/bin​:/usr/local/nosupport​:/usr/planet/informix/bin​:/users/asciacca/bin​:/usr/planet/unsupported/bin​:/users/joshp/local/ast/bin​:/users/joshp/local/bin​:/users/joshp/install/LEDA-3.7.1-solaris-g++-2.7/Manual/cmd​:/usr/planet/informix/bin
  PERL_BADLANG (unset)
  SHELL=/usr/local/bin/zsh

From [Unknown Contact. See original ticket]

Josh Purinton <joshp@​bbnplanet.com> wrote

The following should print "a<b", yet instead it prints nothing.

perl5.00502 -e 'use Math​::BigFloat; $a = new Math​::BigFloat "1";
$b = new Math​::BigFloat "2"; if($a < $b) {print "a<b\n"}'

This bug has been mended in the development releases, so should be fixed
in perl 5.6, and presumably also in perl5.005_04 if/when it appears.

If you're impatient, the patch can be found at

http​://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/1999-02/msg00439.html

Thanks for the bug report.

Mike Guy