Perl_free_tmps(): don't test for PL_sv_undef

Each sv being popped off the tmps stack is compared against PL_sv_undef,
and if so, the SvTEMP_off(sv); SvREFCNT_dec_NN(sv); is skipped.

This condition was added by 8aacddc1 back in 2001, as part of a commit
to add support for hash placeholders. Initially it used &PL_sv_undef in
HE value slots to indicate a placeholder. In a later commit, that was
changed to &PL_sv_placeholder, but the test in free_tmps() continued
to test against &PL_sv_undef.

Im not sure what the original intent was, but I strongly suspect that
whatever purpose it may have originally served, it no longer served that
after the switch to PL_sv_placeholder.

On a purely pragmatic note, I can't see any harm in untemping PL_sv_undef;
at worst its ref count will occasionally reach 0, and the special code in
sv_free2() will reset its count to SvREFCNT_IMMORTAL. And no tests
fail....

diff --git a/scope.c b/scope.c
index a39859d..342e514 100644 (file)
--- a/scope.c
+++ b/scope.c
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ Perl_free_tmps(pTHX)
 #ifdef PERL_POISON
        PoisonWith(PL_tmps_stack + PL_tmps_ix + 1, 1, SV *, 0xAB);
 #endif
-       if (LIKELY(sv && sv != &PL_sv_undef)) {
+       if (LIKELY(sv)) {
            SvTEMP_off(sv);
            SvREFCNT_dec_NN(sv);                /* note, can modify tmps_ix!!! */
        }