I don't know if this helps with your AppConfig question but if you are reading a config file of the form name = value then there is a recipe in the Perl cookbook to cover it. This is slightly different to the example you gave where you have [] in place. If your config is more like an ini file then you would be better using Parse::RecDescent. The code looks something like (this is untested :P):

foreach (@lines)
    {
        next if (/^#/);
        if(/^\s*(\S+)\s*=\s*(\S+)\s*$/)
        {
            $self->[CONFIG]->{$1} = $2;
        }
    }
[download]

This allows for comment lines beginning with a # and, in the case above its being stored in a class package (a blessed arrayref here). The file has been read elsewhere.

Note, I'm not suggesting that you avoid AppConfig but you're request appeared urgent so I'm just suggesting alternatives.

HTH