mod_perl is pretty common in OpenSource OSs. As an example, Redhat has provided apache w/ mod_perl since rh 6.1 or 6.2.

Apache::Registry does give you that 'out' though. I actually did some code that way - so it would run both with and wihout mod_perl. In fact I did it both ways on the same box, in the same directory, using a Location directive to use apacche registry if the url was, eg, /perl/... and letting it be regular CGI if the URL was, eg, /cgi-bin/... it's not hard

--Bob Niederman, http://bob-n.com