I don't think you are having a problem with environment inheritance, you must be having a problem with something else. Consider

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main( int argc, char **argv ) {
  char *arg = *++argv;
  printf( "%s is %s\n", arg, getenv(arg) );
  exit(0);
}
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which is named env-echo.c, which you should compile with cc -o env-echo env-echo.c. You can then use this script:

#! /usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;

my $var   = shift || 'FOO';
my $value = shift || 'bar';

$ENV{$var} = $value;
system "./env-echo $var";
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And if I run that as ./env-change HOME /tmp the child process prints out HOME is /tmp. What does this code do when you run it on your system?

--

g r i n d e r
just another bofh

print@_{sort keys %_},$/if%_=split//,'= & *a?b:e\f/h^h!j+n,o@o;r$s-t%t#u';