greetz;

i have previously had problems with data::dumper for large structs, and have had none since using XML::Dumper, which produces compressed xml descriptions of your data struct.

typical usage is something like:

use XML::Dumper;
# deserialize
my $coffin = "resurrectme.xml.gz"
my $xdumper = new XML::Dumper;
my $lazarus = $xdumper->xml2pl($xml_gz);

# ... $lazarus modifications sit somewhere here

# serialize
$xdumper->pl2xml($lazarus, $coffin);
[download]

i have found this to be a practical (both space efficient and reliable) way to serialize many structs. i have used the admirable xml::twig to operate on the xml generated by xml dumper. obwarning: there may be issues with the xml generated in terms of well-formedness. i think diotalevi did not like this solution, and i am sure he had good reason, though, ermm, i'm not quite sure what it was: my forgetfulness.

hope that helps.

wufnik

-- in the world of the mules there are no rules --