ok, i got some ideas and thoughts about this on #perl, actually even after changing the code to

package Foo::DBI;
        @Foo::DBI::ISA = qw( Class::DBI );
        use Class::MethodMaker
                new_with_init   => 'new';

        sub init
        {
          my $self=shift;
          $self->set_db('Main', 'dbi:mysql:my_database', 'user', 'xxxx
+');
        }
[download]

fxn (#perl) pointed me to the following problems:

fxn	you would need to debug whether the underlying implementation is compatible
fxn	this is a problem inherent of the openess of OOP in Perl
fxn	Class::MethodMaker uses a hashref IIRC
fxn	whereas I would expect Class::DBI to be a tied hash behind the scenes (just a guess)

any ideas or suggestions for that? thanks