=item MS-DOS
Create a batch file to run your program, and codify it in
-C<ALTERNATIVE_SHEBANG> (see the F<dosish.h> file in the source
+C<ALTERNATE_SHEBANG> (see the F<dosish.h> file in the source
distribution for more information).
=item Win95/NT
=item PERL5LIB
-A colon-separated list of directories in which to look for Perl library
+A list of directories in which to look for Perl library
files before looking in the standard library and the current
directory. Any architecture-specific directories under the specified
locations are automatically included if they exist. If PERL5LIB is not
-defined, PERLLIB is used.
+defined, PERLLIB is used. Directories are separated (like in PATH) by
+a colon on unixish platforms and by a semicolon on Windows (the proper
+path separator being given by the command C<perl -V:path_sep>).
When running taint checks (either because the program was running setuid
or setgid, or the B<-T> switch was used), neither variable is used.
=item PERLLIB
-A colon-separated list of directories in which to look for Perl library
+A list of directories in which to look for Perl library
files before looking in the standard library and the current directory.
If PERL5LIB is defined, PERLLIB is not used.
=item PERL_HASH_SEED
-(Since Perl 5.8.1.)
-
-Used to randomise Perl's internal hash function. To emulate the
-pre-5.8.1 behaviour, set to an integer (zero means exactly the same
-order as 5.8.0). "Pre-5.8.1" means, among other things, that hash
-keys will be ordered the same between different runs of Perl.
+(Since Perl 5.8.1.) Used to randomise Perl's internal hash function.
+To emulate the pre-5.8.1 behaviour, set to an integer (zero means
+exactly the same order as 5.8.0). "Pre-5.8.1" means, among other
+things, that hash keys will be ordered the same between different runs
+of Perl.
The default behaviour is to randomise unless the PERL_HASH_SEED is set.
-If Perl has been compiled with the -DUSE_HASH_SEED_EXPLICIT the default
+If Perl has been compiled with C<-DUSE_HASH_SEED_EXPLICIT>, the default
behaviour is B<not> to randomise unless the PERL_HASH_SEED is set.
If PERL_HASH_SEED is unset or set to a non-numeric string, Perl uses
the pseudorandom seed supplied by the operating system and libraries.
-If unset, each different run of Perl will have different ordering of
-the outputs of keys(), values, and each().
+This means that each different run of Perl will have a different
+ordering of the results of keys(), values(), and each().
See L<perlsec/"Algorithmic Complexity Attacks"> for more information.
+=item PERL_HASH_SEED_DEBUG
+
+(Since Perl 5.8.1.) Set to "1" to display (to STDERR) the value of
+the hash seed at the beginning of execution.
+
=item PERL_ROOT (specific to the VMS port)
A translation concealed rooted logical name that contains perl and the
In Perls 5.8.1 and later. If set to C<unsafe> the pre-Perl-5.8.0
signals behaviour (immediate but unsafe) is restored. If set to
-C<safe> the safe (or deferred) signals are used. See L<perlipc>.
+C<safe> the safe (or deferred) signals are used.
+See L<perlipc/"Deferred Signals (Safe signals)">.
=item PERL_UNICODE