i think 3 months should be enough to fix obvious bugs in a GA release

With respect, I do not see a patch from you and the fix is non-obvious, which is why I opened an upstream ticket 3 months ago.

yeah - there is not patch from me - so what - did i change Fedora to trigger this with a non-existing QA to make whatever change to a GA release?

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I think this is fixed in 1.3-7.fc25. Please test the update that is incoming to confirm.

perl-File-Tail-1.3-7.fc26 has been submitted as an update to Fedora 26. https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2017-f475d1d0a5

perl-File-Tail-1.3-7.fc25 has been pushed to the Fedora 25 testing repository. If problems still persist, please make note of it in this bug report.
See https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA:Updates_Testing for
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perl-File-Tail-1.3-7.fc26 has been pushed to the Fedora 26 testing repository. If problems still persist, please make note of it in this bug report.
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it's not

[root@testserver:~]$ cat messages
Aug 13 14:32:35 testserver systemd: Starting Cleanup of Temporary Directories...
Aug 13 14:32:36 testserver systemd: Started Cleanup of Temporary Directories.
Aug 13 14:39:25 testserver perl: Use of uninitialized value in numeric eq (==) at /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/File/Tail.pm line 392.

[root@testserver:~]$ rpm -qa | grep -i perl | grep -i tail
perl-File-Tail-1.3-7.fc25.noarch

[root@testserver:~]$ rpm -q --info perl-File-Tail-1.3-7.fc25.noarch
Name        : perl-File-Tail
Version     : 1.3
Release     : 7.fc25
Architecture: noarch
Install Date: Sat Aug 12 19:12:15 2017
Group       : Development/Libraries
Size        : 39612
License     : GPL+ or Artistic
Signature   : RSA/SHA256, Wed Aug  9 03:29:54 2017, Key ID 4089d8f2fdb19c98
Source RPM  : perl-File-Tail-1.3-7.fc25.src.rpm
Build Date  : Tue Aug  8 19:51:35 2017
Build Host  : buildvm-armv7-05.arm.fedoraproject.org
Relocations : (not relocatable)
Packager    : Fedora Project
Vendor      : Fedora Project
URL         : http://search.cpan.org/dist/File-Tail/
Summary     : Perl extension for reading from continously updated files

the same in F26 with updates-testing enabled, release-number seemes to be lower in F26

Sep 25 19:43:09 testserver perl[543]: Use of uninitialized value in numeric eq (==) at /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/File/Tail.pm line 391

[root@testserver:~]$ rpm -q --info perl-File-Tail
Name        : perl-File-Tail
Version     : 1.3
Release     : 4.fc26
Architecture: noarch
Install Date: Do 21 Sep 2017 15:23:11 CEST
Group       : Development/Libraries
Size        : 39518
License     : GPL+ or Artistic
Signature   : RSA/SHA256, So 12 Feb 2017 00:19:42 CET, Key ID 812a6b4b64dab85d
Source RPM  : perl-File-Tail-1.3-4.fc26.src.rpm
Build Date  : Sa 11 Feb 2017 14:07:21 CET
Build Host  : buildvm-aarch64-07.arm.fedoraproject.org
Relocations : (not relocatable)
Packager    : Fedora Project
Vendor      : Fedora Project
URL         : http://search.cpan.org/dist/File-Tail/
Summary     : Perl extension for reading from continously updated files
Description :
The primary purpose of File::Tail is reading and analysing log files
while they are being written, which is especially useful if you are
monitoring the logging process with a tool like Tobias Oetiker's MRTG.

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how many years can it take to fix such a bug?

Aug 26 12:33:01 testserver perl[629]: Use of uninitialized value in numeric eq (==) at /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/File/Tail.pm line 392

Based on the total lack of upstream activity, it may never be fixed.

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This package has changed maintainer in the Fedora.
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big cinema, 5 years later still unfixed

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i am tired about that thoughtless "end of life" actions when damned bugs don't get fixed over *five years*

This is my favorite bug, because I get to see it once a year.

Harald, I cannot reproduce this locally, because the only person who can trigger it is you. The program you claim triggers the bug (mailgraph) depends on a working mailserver using syslog, which I do not have (either, a mailserver or a system using syslog). It also hasn't been updated since 2007.

File::Tail has been abandoned since 2015. 

So, unless you can assist me with a reproduction case that does not involve installing a mailserver and an archaic logging infrastructure, this bug will be closed WONTFIX.

i am not a perl programmer, but "Use of uninitialized value in numeric eq (==) at /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/File/Tail.pm line 391" in PHP would likely cost me one line before to just make sure what ever is used in 391 is initalized if it's not already

Be grateful you are not a perl programmer. :)

It seems the values can be initialized but NULL and trigger this, but I cannot make it happen locally. The comment block directly above the line of code says:

# If the file was changed the same second as it was last read,
# we only reopen it if it's length has changed. The alternative is that
# sometimes, files would be reopened needlessly, and with reset_tail
# set to -1, we would see the whole file again.
# Of course, if the file was removed the same second as when it was
# last read, and replaced (within that second) with a file of equal
# length, we're out of luck. I don't see how to fix this.

Which leads me to believe their algorithm is totally wrong.

The challenge in trying to debug this is that I simply cannot reproduce it. I put in code that I thought would fix the issue, but you reported that it did not. Everything seems to be initialized and the entire existing test suite passes. I had hoped upstream would be able to provide insight (5 years ago), but they have clearly abandoned the effort.

Given all of that, I am hesitant to make additional changes to the algorithm logic without a reproducer. Are you still actively using a setup that could reproduce this?

I've looked at this again with fresh eyes and I _think_ I see the issue and a potential fix, but it would be really helpful to have a reproducer (even if the reproducer is me making a scratch build and you testing it on your setup where the problem occurs).

i see that on any machine running postfix and mailgrpah a few minutes after each and every reboot, that's why it's so annyoing when you filter fopr warning/fail/error over a whole cluster

Okay, please test this build and let me know if anything changes:

https://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/taskinfo?taskID=54919576

this is a F33 build and production servers will see F33 not before 2-4 months after release

Please tell me what target you need in order to test this fix.

Fedora 32 - that's why i updated "Version" of this bugreport :-)

Fedora 32 scratch build: https://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/taskinfo?taskID=55243290

2020-11-13T14:46:34+0100 SUBDEBUG Upgrade: perl-File-Tail-1.3-18.fc32.noarch

Nov 13 14:47:47 thx1138 systemd[1]: Stopping Mailgraph...
Nov 13 14:47:47 thx1138 systemd[1]: Stopped Mailgraph.
Nov 13 14:47:47 thx1138 systemd[1]: mailgraph.service: Consumed 7.849s CPU time.
Nov 13 14:47:47 thx1138 systemd[1]: Starting Mailgraph...
Nov 13 14:47:47 thx1138 systemd[1]: Started Mailgraph.
Nov 13 14:57:50 thx1138 perl[1720899]: Use of uninitialized value in numeric eq (==) at /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/File/Tail.pm line 391.

Alright. Please try -19:

https://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/taskinfo?taskID=55535461

i wouldn't swear at the moment but it pretty sure looks like perl-File-Tail-1.3-19.fc32.noarch is fixing the issue

FEDORA-2020-503b26ba4f has been submitted as an update to Fedora 32. https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2020-503b26ba4f

FEDORA-2020-503b26ba4f has been pushed to the Fedora 32 testing repository.
In short time you'll be able to install the update with the following command:
`sudo dnf upgrade --enablerepo=updates-testing --advisory=FEDORA-2020-503b26ba4f`
You can provide feedback for this update here: https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2020-503b26ba4f

See also https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA:Updates_Testing for more information on how to test updates.

FEDORA-2020-66c34e1f1e has been pushed to the Fedora 33 testing repository.
In short time you'll be able to install the update with the following command:
`sudo dnf upgrade --enablerepo=updates-testing --advisory=FEDORA-2020-66c34e1f1e`
You can provide feedback for this update here: https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2020-66c34e1f1e

See also https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA:Updates_Testing for more information on how to test updates.

FEDORA-2020-503b26ba4f has been pushed to the Fedora 32 stable repository.
If problem still persists, please make note of it in this bug report.

FEDORA-2020-66c34e1f1e has been pushed to the Fedora 33 stable repository.
If problem still persists, please make note of it in this bug report.