No, it doesn't answer the few questions I asked here. If it did, I wouldn't have had to ask them.

Not too get too technical but

What's the difference between use warnings and use warnings FATAL => 'all'?

And where are the differences between the two uses documented?

Both question directly answered by http://perldoc.perl.org/perllexwarn.html#Fatal-Warnings

 

What's the rationale for using the latter instead of the former?

Sure this question isn't answered directly, but the answer reveals itself -- what does a spoon do(warnings)? what does a knife do (FATAL/all)?

So the rationale is, when you're eating soup use a spoon :)

Reading http://perldoc.perl.org/perllexwarn.html#What%27s-wrong-with-*-w*-and-%24^W helps to reveal the more of the purpose behind warnings, so it reveals more of the purpose behind FATAL/all :)

The answers to my questions are in the many helpful responses to my inquiry here and in toolic's 2011 PerlMonks article titled Get stricter with use warnings FATAL => 'all'; and the discussion that followed from it. They're not in either warnings or perllexwarn.

Maybe you'd like to write a paragraph and perlbug this update to perllexwarn?

You're onto something Jim :)