Fwd: [rt.cpan.org #88572] UNIVERSAL::VERSION and argument checking

Subject: UNIVERSAL::VERSION and argument checking
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As far as I can tell, the UNIVERSAL::VERSION in the perl core has always been callable with no arguments, but reads past the end of the stack (seeing the argument to pp_entersub; usually the *UNIVERSAL::VERSION glob, but possibly a string used to call the sub).

$ perl -le '*Foo = *UNIVERSAL::VERSION; $Foo::VERSION = 10; $_ = "Foo"; print $_->()'
10
$ perl -le '*Foo = *UNIVERSAL::VERSION; $Foo::VERSION = 10; $_ = \&Foo; print $_->()'
Cannot find version of an unblessed reference at -e line 1.

But version.pm’s UNIVERSAL::VERSION requires at least one argument:

$ perl -Mblib -Mversion -le '*Foo = *UNIVERSAL::VERSION; $Foo::VERSION = 10; $_ = "Foo"; print $_->()'
Usage: version::vxs::_VERSION(sv, ...) at -e line 1.

I think the former behaviour is wrong, but the latter is less helpful than it could be.

I would suggest:

Usage: UNIVERSAL::VERSION(sv, ...) at -e line 1.

I’m going to forward this to p5p, too.

• Fwd: [rt.cpan.org #88572] UNIVERSAL::VERSION and argument checking by bug-version