"I would also be interested in a stern talking to if the idea of global scalars for all 12 of the scalars used frequently in file1 would be considered an bad idea."

Global variables are indeed something to be avoided, but i think it is okay to break this rule as long as you understand why first. When i was an undergraduate, my classmates and myself were forced to avoid them. Relying on global variables is a bad habit theorectically, but realistically, they have been proven to be prone to producing pasta code.

# file1.pl
our @angry_men = qw(
   Balsam Fiedler Cobb Marshall
   Klugman Binns Warden Fonda
   Sweeney Begley Voskovec Webber
);
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our %diamond = (
   'Koh-i-Noor'     => 186,   Cullinan         => 3106,
   Excelsior        => 995.2, 'Star of Africa' => 520.20,
   'Great Mogul'    => 793,   Orloff           => 300,
   "Idol's Eye"     => 70.2,  Regent           => 410,
   'Blue Hope'      => 45.52, Sancy            => 55,
   'Taylor-Burton'  => 69.42, Hortensia        => 20,
);
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require '/full/path/to/file1.pl';
our @angry_men;
our %diamond;

# then later ...
print $diamond{Cullinan};

$some_var = $angry_men[7];
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L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)

1. Create a separate module with all the shared staff:

package Common;

use constant GLOB_DEBUG_MODE = 1;
use constant GLOB_SITE_NAME = 'My site';

1;
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package Main;

use Common;

sub print_message {
  my $msg = shift;
  # Use default site name if no message specified.
  unless ($msg) { $msg = Common::GLOB_SITE_NAME; }
  # Prepend with "DEBUG: " if in debug mode.
  $msg = "DEBUG: $msg" if (Common::GLOB_DEBUG_MODE);
  
  print $msg;
}

1;
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Update: I've answered a bit a wrong question. :) You were asking about global variables, while I described constants. :)

Update: Fixed two misplaced 'Common's. :)

I'm assuming that the file in "1. Create a separate module with all the shared staff:" is called Config in part 2 which strikes me as odd.... perhaps a typo in "(Config::GLOB_DEBUG_MODE)"? I'm still sorta trying to figure this out. But my confusion says that perhaps "(Common::GLOB_DEBUG_MODE)" is what you meant?
If that is the case you have helped me out greatly!
Update: After looking over the rest of the replies I think that probably is the case, but massive brownie points for responding 99% perfectly in under 2 minutes of me posting

jcpunk
---
all code is tested, and doesn't work so there :p (varient on common PM sig for my own ammusment)

You are right - my bad. I've fixed it now. Sorry. :)

Leonid Mamtchenkov aka TVSET

When you use a module in a script, any variables defined in that module with our (instead of my) are automatically exported.

Alternatively, just declare the variable in one module (package) and refer to it using the package name, double colon, variable name.

When you use a module in a script, any variables defined in that module with our (instead of my) are automatically exported.

Can you post some code that demonstrates this?

S.pm...

package S;

use strict;
use warnings;

our $x = 1;
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And here is a script using S.pm

use strict;
use warnings;

use S;

print $S::x;
print "\n";
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Play that funky music white boy..