hi! the perl backend sends parts of the ldap request message as parameters to certain functions of a specified perl module. for example, in case of an ModifyRequest, in the file: servers/slapd/back-perl/modify.c function: int perl_back_modify( Operation *op, SlapReply *rs ) I see this starting with line 60: for ( i = 0; mods->sm_values != NULL && mods->sm_values[i].bv_val != NULL; i++ ) { XPUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSVpv( mods->sm_values[i].bv_val, 0 ))); <--- SAFE ??? } perlguts (http://perldoc.perl.org/perlguts.html#Working-with-SVs) says about newSVpv(): "Notice that you can choose to specify the length of the string to be assigned by using sv_setpvn , newSVpvn , or newSVpv , or you may allow Perl to calculate the length by using sv_setpv or by specifying 0 as the second argument to newSVpv . Be warned, though, that Perl will determine the string's length by using strlen , which depends on the string terminating with a NUL character." is it safe to assume that bc_val points to something that terminates with '\0' ?? thanks! bye now! cristian