Rating: 

For example:

The peer demonstration (between two RPC servers) just won't work. Besides the fact that the code has a typo (new_rpc_server instead of new_server, mentioned in the errata), they each create a listening socket, supposedly to each opposite machine. That *won't* work. Even if they created a listening socket on their respective hosts, they wouldn't know who to contact for the TCP connection. The lower-level Msg library doesn't facilitate a server sending messages to some arbitrary client (as the RPC example implies).

Someone should *really* sit and go through the code.

Want another more explicit example:

BEGIN EXCERPT

sub rpc {

my $conn = shift;

my $subname = shift;

$subname = (caller() . '::' . $subname) unless $subname =~ /:/;

my $gimme = wantarray ? 'a' : 's'; # Array or scalar

my $msg_id = ++$g_msg_id;

my $serialized_msg = freeze ('>', $msg_id, $gimme, @_);

END EXCERPT

Notice that he shifts subname off the param list? Then proceeds to build the $serialized_msg with only the @_ params (NOT INCLUDING THE SUBNAME).

This is quite disasterous when the recevier gets here:

BEGIN EXCERPT

my $instant = thaw($msg);

my ($dir, $id, @args) = @$instant;

my ($result, @results);

if ($dir eq '>') {

# New request message

my $gimme = shift @args;

my $sub_name = shift @args;

try {

no strict 'refs'; # Because we call the subroutine using

# a symbolic reference

if ($gimme eq 'a') { # Want an array back

@results = &{$sub_name} (@args);

} else {

$result = &{$sub_name} (@args);

}

END EXCERPT

Notice again that he tries to shift the subname off the thaw'd @args array... Won't work, will it?!

I knew this already but for your knowledge - Don't trust ANYONE else's code. You'll pay for it with a significant loss of time.