Beginning with version 0.68, two versions of the phrtsd routine are available. If you want the new version, run 'perl Makefile.PL' as usual. If you want the original version, run: perl Makefile.PL phrtsd_orig The original version, which is the same as the phrtsd routine in the original Fortran library, generates the same seed numbers for all permutations of the same characters. For instance, 'abc', 'bca', and 'cab' will all generate the same seeds. Some users find this behavior surprising. Also, when Math::Random is loaded, it sets the seeds from scalar(localtime), which will be a string like 'Mon Jun 26 15:45:12 2006'. Nine seconds later, however, 'Mon Jun 26 15:45:21 2006' will generate the very same seeds. The new version uses an entirely different algorithm that will generate different seeds for such strings. This should be suitable for most applications, but the original version is still available for those who need to reproduce the behavior of the Fortran randlib.