[perl #112184] $^N is ((only) secretly) readonly

# New Ticket Created by  tchrist1 
# Please include the string:  [perl #112184]
# in the subject line of all future correspondence about this issue. 
# <URL: https://rt.perl.org:443/rt3/Ticket/Display.html?id=112184 >


The $^N variable is not assignable, but attempting to do so
raises no exception:

    % perl -wle '"foo" =~ /(\w)/; print $^N'
    f
    % perl -wle '"foo" =~ /(\w)/; print $^N = 1'
    f
    % perl -wle '"foo" =~ /(\w)(?{ $^N = 2})/; print $^N = 1'
    f

Contrast with $1:

    % perl -wle '"foo" =~ /(\w)/; print $1'
    f
    % perl -wle '"foo" =~ /(\w)/; print $1 = 1'
    Modification of a read-only value attempted at -e line 1.
    Exit 255

--tom

Summary of my perl5 (revision 5 version 14 subversion 0) configuration:
   
  Platform:
    osname=openbsd, osvers=4.4, archname=OpenBSD.i386-openbsd
    uname='openbsd chthon 4.4 generic#0 i386 '
    config_args='-des'
    hint=recommended, useposix=true, d_sigaction=define
    useithreads=undef, usemultiplicity=undef
    useperlio=define, d_sfio=undef, uselargefiles=define, usesocks=undef
    use64bitint=undef, use64bitall=undef, uselongdouble=undef
    usemymalloc=y, bincompat5005=undef
  Compiler:
    cc='cc', ccflags ='-fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -fstack-protector -I/usr/local/include',
    optimize='-O2',
    cppflags='-fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -fstack-protector -I/usr/local/include'
    ccversion='', gccversion='3.3.5 (propolice)', gccosandvers='openbsd4.4'
    intsize=4, longsize=4, ptrsize=4, doublesize=8, byteorder=1234
    d_longlong=define, longlongsize=8, d_longdbl=define, longdblsize=12
    ivtype='long', ivsize=4, nvtype='double', nvsize=8, Off_t='off_t', lseeksize=8
    alignbytes=4, prototype=define
  Linker and Libraries:
    ld='cc', ldflags ='-Wl,-E  -fstack-protector -L/usr/local/lib'
    libpth=/usr/local/lib /usr/lib
    libs=-lgdbm -lm -lutil -lc
    perllibs=-lm -lutil -lc
    libc=/usr/lib/libc.so.48.0, so=so, useshrplib=false, libperl=libperl.a
    gnulibc_version=''
  Dynamic Linking:
    dlsrc=dl_dlopen.xs, dlext=so, d_dlsymun=undef, ccdlflags=' '
    cccdlflags='-DPIC -fPIC ', lddlflags='-shared -fPIC  -L/usr/local/lib -fstack-protector'


Characteristics of this binary (from libperl): 
  Compile-time options: MYMALLOC PERL_DONT_CREATE_GVSV PERL_MALLOC_WRAP
                        PERL_PRESERVE_IVUV USE_LARGE_FILES USE_PERLIO
                        USE_PERL_ATOF
  Built under openbsd
  Compiled at Jun 11 2011 11:48:28
  %ENV:
    PERL_UNICODE="SA"
  @INC:
    /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.14.0/OpenBSD.i386-openbsd
    /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.14.0
    /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.14.0/OpenBSD.i386-openbsd
    /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.14.0
    /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.12.3
    /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.11.3
    /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.10.1
    /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.10.0
    /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.7
    /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.0
    /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.6.0
    /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005
    /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl
    .

• [perl #112184] $^N is ((only) secretly) readonly by tchrist1