maybe, just maybe you can use Cache::SharedMemoryCache

have one program that that stays running to hold the cache in memory while other programs come and go.

# holdcache.pl

use Cache::SharedMemoryCache;
my %cache_options_= (
  'namespace' => 'MyNamespace',
);
my $c = Cache::SharedMemoryCache->new( \%cache_options )
  or die( "Couldn't instantiate SharedMemoryCache" );

while (1) { sleep 300; }

__END__
[download]

should do to keep the cache open.

$ perl holdcache.pl &

$ perl -e 'use Cache::SharedMemoryCache;$c=Cache::SharedMemoryCache->n
+ew({namespace=>"MyNamespace"}) or die;$c->set("foo",1);'

$ perl -e 'use Cache::SharedMemoryCache;$c=Cache::SharedMemoryCache->n
+ew({namespace=>"MyNamespace"}) or die;$x=$c->get("foo");print $x,$/'
1
[download]

presto!