while(<CONFIG_FILE>) {
        print("Line: $_\n");
        if(/^backup path\s*=/) {
            (undef, $backupPath) = split(/\s*=\s*/,$_);
        } elsif(/^activation code\s*=/) {
            (undef, $activationCode) = split(/\s*=\s*/,$_);
            print "activation code:  $activationCode\n";
        } # etc...

##</code><code>##

my %config;

foreach (<CONFIG_FILE>) {
    unless (/^\s*(.+?)\s*=\s*(.+?)\s*$/) {
        chomp($_);
        warn "Invalid config format: `$_'";
        next;
    }
    $config{$1} = $2;
}