Hello Monks, I encountered a problem (I have a solution), but I thought that someone may be able to explain exactly what is going on. I was using Path::Class::Dir with the make_path method from the File::Path module. I had started with code like this: 
use File::Path;
use Path::Class::File;
my $pcd = Path::Class::Dir->new('test_dir', 'test_subdir');
make_path($pcd, { verbose => 1 })

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With the above code, the path would get created and my script would succeed. When I no longer wanted verbose output, I deleted the { verbose => 1 } hashref. 
use File::Path;
use Path::Class::File;
my $pcd = Path::Class::Dir->new('test_dir', 'test_subdir');
make_path($pcd)

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This code would fail (the path would not be created). I assume this has something to do with the context of $pcd in the make_path call, but I would be interested in a more precise explanation. If I force the stringification of $pcd (with $pcd->stringify or "$pcf" then it works again). Here is a more extensive lists of tests. 
#!/usr/bin/env perl

use strict;
use warnings;

use File::Path qw/make_path remove_tree/;
use Path::Class;

my $t_dir = 'test_dir';
my $t_subdir = 'test_subdir';

my $pcd = Path::Class::Dir->new($t_dir, $t_subdir);

# Test1
make_path($pcd);
if ( -e $pcd ) {
    print "make_path(\$pcd) worked!\n";
} else {
    print "make_path(\$pcd) did NOT work\n";
}
remove_tree($t_dir); # I know this works, use it for cleanup

# Test2
make_path($pcd, {}); 
if ( -e $pcd ) {
    print "make_path(\$pcd, {}) worked.\n";
} else {
    print "make_path(\$pcd, {}) did NOT work.\n";
}
remove_tree($t_dir);

# Test3
my $t_dir_pcd = Path::Class::Dir->new($t_dir);
make_path($pcd, {}); # I know this works, use it to create path before
+ removal attempt
remove_tree($t_dir_pcd);
if ( -e $t_dir_pcd ) {
    print "remove_tree(\$pcd) did NOT work.\n";
} else {
    print "remove_tree(\$pcd) worked.\n";
}
remove_tree($t_dir); # Actually remove the tree

# Test4
make_path($pcd, {});
remove_tree($t_dir_pcd, {});
if ( -e $t_dir_pcd ) {
    print "remove_tree(\$pcd, {}) did NOT work.\n";
} else {
    print "remove_tree(\$pcd, {}) worked.\n";
}
remove_tree($t_dir); # Actually remove the tree

# Test5
make_path($pcd->stringify);
if ( -e $pcd ) {
    print "make_path(\$pcd->stringify) worked\n";
} else {
    print "make_path(\$pcd->stringify) did NOT work\n";
}
remove_tree($t_dir); # Actually remove the tree

#Test6
make_path($pcd, {});
remove_tree($t_dir_pcd->stringify);
if ( -e $t_dir_pcd ) {
    print "remove_tree(\$t_dir_pcd->stringify) did NOT work.\n";
} else {
    print "remove_tree(\$t_dir_pcd->stringify) worked.\n";
}
remove_tree($t_dir); # Actually remove the tree

# Test7
make_path("$pcd");
if ( -e $pcd ) {
    print "make_path(\"\$pcd\") worked\n";
} else {
    print "make_path(\"\$pcd\") did NOT work\n";
}
remove_tree($t_dir); # Actually remove the tree

#Test8
make_path($pcd, {});
remove_tree("$t_dir_pcd");
if ( -e $t_dir_pcd ) {
    print "remove_tree(\"\$t_dir_pcd)\" did NOT work.\n";
} else {
    print "remove_tree(\"\$t_dir_pcd\") worked.\n";
}
remove_tree($t_dir); # Actually remove the tree

exit;

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Giving the following output: 
make_path($pcd) did NOT work
make_path($pcd, {}) worked.
remove_tree($pcd) did NOT work.
remove_tree($pcd, {}) worked.
make_path($pcd->stringify) worked
remove_tree($t_dir_pcd->stringify) worked.
make_path("$pcd") worked
remove_tree("$t_dir_pcd") worked.

[download]

In reply to Problem when using Path::Class::Dir with File::Path by kevbot

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