my $lock = "/tmp/lock_foo";
  if( ! -f $lock || time - (stat($lock))[9] > 600 ){
    # do stuff
    open FILE '>', $lock;
    # optionally write info/details to it
  }

##</code><code>##

use Cache::FileCache;
my $cache = new Cache::FileCache( { namespace=>"TimeLocks" } );
my $key = "something_bad";
if( ! $cache->get($key) ){
  # do stuff
  $cache->set( $key, time, "10 minutes" );  # note the value could just be '1', or any other true value.
}