mod_cgi has the docs for the module that executes your cgi. I havent seen anything on my server behave the way you described.

Apache::Reload is a mod_perl thing, so i dont for see it working in your environment. If you see a " LoadModule mod_perl " in your httpd.conf then it is a good sign you are in mod perl but it doesnt sound like that

The reason mod_perl would make a difference versus just the regular mod_cgi is that mod_perl constantly runs your script. Hence the modules are always stored in memory. Should you refresh the modules the state of the program restarts. With mod_cgi it starts a new instance of the script on each call. So theoretically it loads whatever state the modules are when they are called.