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Lexical::SealRequireHints(3pm) User Contributed Perl Documentation Lexical::SealRequireHints(3pm)

NAME
Lexical::SealRequireHints - prevent leakage of lexical hints

SYNOPSIS
use Lexical::SealRequireHints;

DESCRIPTION
This module works around two historical bugs in Perl's handling of the "%^H" (lexical
hints) variable. One bug causes lexical state in one file to leak into another that is
"require"d/"use"d from it. This bug, [perl #68590], was present from Perl 5.6 up to Perl
5.10, fixed in Perl 5.11.0. The second bug causes lexical state (normally a blank "%^H"
once the first bug is fixed) to leak outwards from "utf8.pm", if it is automatically
loaded during Unicode regular expression matching, into whatever source is compiling at
the time of the regexp match. This bug, [perl #73174], was present from Perl 5.8.7 up to
Perl 5.11.5, fixed in Perl 5.12.0.

Both of these bugs seriously damage the usability of any module relying on "%^H" for
lexical scoping, on the affected Perl versions. It is in practice essential to work
around these bugs when using such modules. On versions of Perl that require such a
workaround, this module globally changes the behaviour of "require", including "use" and
the implicit "require" performed in Unicode regular expression matching, so that it no
longer exhibits these bugs.

The workaround supplied by this module takes effect the first time its "import" method is
called. Typically this will be done by means of a "use" statement. This should be done
as early as possible, because it only affects "require"/"use" statements that are compiled
after the workaround goes into effect. For "use" statements, and "require" statements
that are executed immediately and only once, it suffices to invoke the workaround when
loading the first module that will set up vulnerable lexical state. Delayed-action
"require" statements, however, are more troublesome, and can require the workaround to be
loaded much earlier. Ultimately, an affected Perl program may need to load the workaround
as very nearly its first action. Invoking this module multiple times, from multiple
modules, is not a problem: the workaround is only applied once, and applies to everything
subsequently compiled.

This module is implemented in XS, with a pure Perl backup version for systems that can't
handle XS modules. The XS version has a better chance of playing nicely with other
modules that modify "require" handling. The pure Perl version can't work at all on some
Perl versions; users of those versions must use the XS.

PERL VERION DIFFERENCES
The history of the "%^H" bugs is complex. Here is a chronological statement of the
relevant changes.

Perl 5.6.0
"%^H" introduced. It exists only as a hash at compile time. It is not localised by
"require", so lexical hints leak into every module loaded, which is bug [perl #68590].

The "CORE::GLOBAL" mechanism doesn't work cleanly for "require", because overriding
"require" loses the necessary special parsing of bareword arguments to it. As a
result, pure Perl code can't properly globally affect the behaviour of "require".
Pure Perl code can localise "%^H" itself for any particular "require" invocation, but
a global fix is only possible through XS.

Perl 5.7.2
The "CORE::GLOBAL" mechanism now works cleanly for "require", so pure Perl code can
globally affect the behaviour of "require" to achieve a global fix for the bug.

Perl 5.8.7
When "utf8.pm" is automatically loaded during Unicode regular expression matching,
"%^H" now leaks outward from it into whatever source is compiling at the time of the
regexp match, which is bug [perl #73174]. It often goes unnoticed, because [perl
#68590] makes "%^H" leak into "utf8.pm" which then doesn't modify it, so what leaks
out tends to be identical to what leaked in. If [perl #68590] is worked around,
however, "%^H" tends to be (correctly) blank inside "utf8.pm", and this bug therefore
blanks it for the outer module.

Perl 5.9.4
"%^H" now exists in two forms. In addition to the relatively ordinary hash that is
modified during compilation, the value that it had at each point in compilation is
recorded in the compiled op tree, for later examination at runtime. It is in a
special representation-sharing format, and writes to "%^H" are meant to be performed
on both forms. "require" does not localise the runtime form of "%^H" (and still
doesn't localise the compile-time form).

A couple of special "%^H" entries are erroneously written only to the runtime form.

Pure Perl code, although it can localise the compile-time "%^H" by normal means, can't
adequately localise the runtime "%^H", except by using a string eval stack frame.
This makes a satisfactory global fix for the leakage bug impossible in pure Perl.

Perl 5.10.1
"require" now properly localises the runtime form of "%^H", but still not the compile-
time form.

A global fix is once again possible in pure Perl, because the fix only needs to
localise the compile-time form.

Perl 5.11.0
"require" now properly localises both forms of "%^H", fixing [perl #68590]. This
makes [perl #73174] apparent without any workaround for [perl #68590].

The special "%^H" entries are now correctly written to both forms of the hash.

Perl 5.12.0
The automatic loading of "utf8.pm" during Unicode regular expression matching now
properly restores "%^H", fixing [perl #73174].

BUGS
The operation of this module depends on influencing the compilation of "require". As a
result, it cannot prevent lexical state leakage through a "require" statement that was
compiled before this module was invoked. Where problems occur, this module must be
invoked earlier.