Hello, This has been reported before on the list but I don't think that there was a resolution to the problem.
I have the following script which is the smallest failing case I can get to: #!/usr/bin/env perl use strict; use warnings; use DBI; use DBD::mysql; my $mysql_auto_reconnect = 1; # causes segfault ### my $mysql_auto_reconnect = 0; # does not cause segfault # print out the various versions of all modules: print "$_: " . ( $_->VERSION || '-' ) . "\n" for map { s{/}{::}g; s{\.pm$}{}; $_ } sort keys %INC; # connect to the database my $dbh = DBI->connect( "dbi:mysql:test", 'root', '', { mysql_auto_reconnect => $mysql_auto_reconnect }, ); # Check that we are connected to the database warn $dbh->ping ? "connected to db" : "ERROR"; # restart the database server - will drop all connections warn "--------- restarting db now -------------"; system('/etc/init.d/mysql restart'); # hacky but effective :) sleep 2; warn "--------- restarted db -------------"; # Try to use the old handle - should return an error but not kill the perl # process warn $dbh->ping ? "connected to db" : "ERROR"; 1; ####################################################### When I run this I get the following output: AutoLoader: 5.60 Carp: 1.04 Config: - DBD::mysql: 4.008 DBI: 1.605 DBI::Const::GetInfo::ANSI: - DBI::Const::GetInfo::ODBC: - DBI::Const::GetInfoType: - DynaLoader: 1.04 Exporter: 5.58 Exporter::Heavy: 5.58 List::Util: 1.19 Scalar::Util: 1.19 XSLoader: 0.06 strict: 1.03 vars: 1.01 warnings: 1.05 warnings::register: 1.01 connected to db at startup.pl line 22. --------- restarting db now ------------- at startup.pl line 25. Stopping MySQL database server: mysqld. Starting MySQL database server: mysqld. Checking for corrupt, not cleanly closed and upgrade needing tables.. --------- restarted db ------------- at startup.pl line 28. Segmentation fault (core dumped) Getting a backtrace out of gdb gives me this: hinudev:/etc/apache-perl# gdb /usr/bin/perl core.5501 GNU gdb 6.4.90-debian <snip>........</snip> Core was generated by `perl startup.pl'. Program terminated with signal 11, Segmentation fault. #0 0xb7968590 in mysql_ping () from /usr/lib/libmysqlclient.so.15 (gdb) backtrace #0 0xb7968590 in mysql_ping () from /usr/lib/libmysqlclient.so.15 #1 0xb7b18904 in XS_DBD__mysql__db_ping () from /usr/local/lib/perl/5.8.8/auto/DBD/mysql/mysql.so #2 0xb7b48724 in XS_DBI_dispatch () from /usr/local/lib/perl/5.8.8/auto/DBI/DBI.so #3 0x080bdaa1 in Perl_pp_entersub () #4 0x080bc379 in Perl_runops_standard () #5 0x08063bfd in perl_run () #6 0x0805ffd1 in main () my 'perl -V' follows, it is the current debian-etch default (although we compiled DBD::mysql from source): Summary of my perl5 (revision 5 version 8 subversion 8) configuration: Platform: osname=linux, osvers=2.6.24.4, archname=i486-linux-gnu-thread-multi uname='linux ninsei 2.6.24.4 #1 smp preempt fri apr 18 15:36:09 pdt 2008 i686 gnulinux ' config_args='-Dusethreads -Duselargefiles -Dccflags=-DDEBIAN -Dcccdlflags=-fPIC -Darchname=i486-linux-gnu -Dprefix=/usr -Dprivlib=/usr/share/perl/5.8 -Darchlib=/usr/lib/perl/5.8 -Dvendorprefix=/usr -Dvendorlib=/usr/share/perl5 -Dvendorarch=/usr/lib/perl5 -Dsiteprefix=/usr/local -Dsitelib=/usr/local/share/perl/5.8.8 -Dsitearch=/usr/local/lib/perl/5.8.8 -Dman1dir=/usr/share/man/man1 -Dman3dir=/usr/share/man/man3 -Dsiteman1dir=/usr/local/man/man1 -Dsiteman3dir=/usr/local/man/man3 -Dman1ext=1 -Dman3ext=3perl -Dpager=/usr/bin/sensible-pager -Uafs -Ud_csh -Uusesfio -Uusenm -Duseshrplib -Dlibperl=libperl.so.5.8.8 -Dd_dosuid -des' hint=recommended, useposix=true, d_sigaction=define usethreads=define use5005threads=undef useithreads=define usemultiplicity=define useperlio=define d_sfio=undef uselargefiles=define usesocks=undef use64bitint=undef use64bitall=undef uselongdouble=undef usemymalloc=n, bincompat5005=undef Compiler: cc='cc', ccflags ='-D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -DTHREADS_HAVE_PIDS -DDEBIAN -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -I/usr/local/include -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64', optimize='-O2', cppflags='-D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -DTHREADS_HAVE_PIDS -DDEBIAN -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -I/usr/local/include' ccversion='', gccversion='4.1.2 20061115 (prerelease) (Debian 4.1.1-21)', gccosandvers='' intsize=4, longsize=4, ptrsize=4, doublesize=8, byteorder=1234 d_longlong=define, longlongsize=8, d_longdbl=define, longdblsize=12 ivtype='long', ivsize=4, nvtype='double', nvsize=8, Off_t='off_t', lseeksize=8 alignbytes=4, prototype=define Linker and Libraries: ld='cc', ldflags =' -L/usr/local/lib' libpth=/usr/local/lib /lib /usr/lib libs=-lgdbm -lgdbm_compat -ldb -ldl -lm -lpthread -lc -lcrypt perllibs=-ldl -lm -lpthread -lc -lcrypt libc=/lib/libc-2.3.6.so, so=so, useshrplib=true, libperl=libperl.so.5.8.8 gnulibc_version='2.3.6' Dynamic Linking: dlsrc=dl_dlopen.xs, dlext=so, d_dlsymun=undef, ccdlflags='-Wl,-E' cccdlflags='-fPIC', lddlflags='-shared -L/usr/local/lib' Characteristics of this binary (from libperl): Compile-time options: MULTIPLICITY PERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT PERL_MALLOC_WRAP THREADS_HAVE_PIDS USE_ITHREADS USE_LARGE_FILES USE_PERLIO USE_REENTRANT_API Built under linux Compiled at Apr 25 2008 20:23:05 @INC: /etc/perl /usr/local/lib/perl/5.8.8 /usr/local/share/perl/5.8.8 /usr/lib/perl5 /usr/share/perl5 /usr/lib/perl/5.8 /usr/share/perl/5.8 /usr/local/lib/site_perl /usr/local/lib/perl/5.8.4 /usr/local/share/perl/5.8.4 . mysql is also the debian-etch default, version 5.0.32 I don't really know what else would be useful for you to debug this, at least it is repeatable on my box. On another box (DBI 1.601, DBD::mysql 4.005, otherwise identical) the issue does not occur. Any help getting this fixed would be great. Workarounds welcome too :) -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] - http://ecclestoad.co.uk