BEGIN { push @INC, ".." }
use strict 1.04;

##</code><code>##

BEGIN { 
  use lib "..";  # or unshift @INC, ".."
}
use strict 1.04;

##</code><code>##

#!/usr/bin/perl -lW   # catch all bleeping errors

BEGIN { push @INC, ".." }

my @TAGS = qw| pedantics refs |; 
my $ideal_version = 1.04;

eval "
    use strict $ideal_version @TAGS; # fails, strict's VERSION==1.03
 ";

if ($@ =~ /version $ideal_version required.*BEGIN failed/ism) {
  warn qq|use strict $ideal_version qw(@TAGS); failed, falling back|;
  shift @TAGS;       # Unknown 'strict' tag 'pedantics'
  eval "use strict qw|@TAGS|";  # which strict is this??
  unless ($@) { 
      print qq|second eval, using strict $strict::VERSION qw(@TAGS) from module |, $INC{"strict.pm"};
  }
}
print qq|main now using strict $strict::VERSION qw(@TAGS) from module |, $INC{"strict.pm"};

if ( grep /pedantics/, @TAGS ) {
  # newer 'pedantics' related code here
  # will this run under strict v1.03?? not a chance
} else {
  # workaround for backward compat.
  # sub pedantics {...};
}

if ( grep /refs/, @TAGS ) {
  # usual 'refs' related code here 
} else {
  # quite unlikely to be reached
}

__END__

__output__
use strict 1.04 qw(pedantics refs); failed, falling back

second eval, using strict 1.03 qw(refs) from module /usr/share/perl/5.8/strict.pm

main now using strict 1.03 qw(refs) from module /usr/share/perl/5.8/strict.pm


##</code><code>##

 
BEGIN {
  eval {
   require Foo::Bar;
   if ($Foo::Bar::VERSION eq 5.01) {
      import Foo::Bar qw| ... |;
   }
 }; 
 revert() if $@;
}

##</code><code>##

 
eval " use Foo::Bar 5.01 qw| ... | ";
revert() if $@;