G'day Roland / p5p, Roland Giersig wrote: > How about this: plain "use autodie" fatalizes *all* functions and gives > a warning when the user uses the exotic (or should I say esoteric) > system() call style. The lack of a prototype on system() means that, should we replace it, the exotic form (only when used in the same package) becomes a syntax error which is generated at compile-time. To the very best of my knowledge, there's nothing I can possibly do about this without changing perl itself (throwing any sort of backwards portability out the window), or using source-filters (which I think are a very bad idea). If I *could* intercept the exotic system, I would, and have it work as expected, and everyone could go and have ice-cream. As it is, I can only break it. However the break is obvious, and easily repaired by prefixing it with CORE:: . I'm actually fairly convinced now that breaking exotic system() to provide a nice exception-throwing regular system() for those who want it is worthwhile. I even expect to have a version of IPC::System::Simple up on the CPAN that allows this to work in the next couple of days. Anyone who's been wanting Fatal to do the same thing can have their presents early. ;) Cheerio, Paul -- Paul Fenwick <pjf@perltraining.com.au> | http://perltraining.com.au/ Director of Training | Ph: +61 3 9354 6001 Perl Training Australia | Fax: +61 3 9354 2681