I am an experienced Perl programmer, but I have not done a lot of object programming except for this type of recent perl module: workers.pm 
package tom;

sub new {
my $self = "This is tom";
bless ($self, $class);
}

# (other subroutines for tom go here)

package dick;

sub new {
my $self = "This is dick";
bless ($self, $class);
}
# (subroutines for dick go here)


package harry;

sub new {
my $self = "This is harry";
bless ($self, $class);
}

# (routines for harry go here)

1;

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So I use 1 PM file and create 3 different objects that an outside script can use and the package xxx; statement seems to work to separate the different objects.

My new task:

I need to write a single-file perl script that can be copied to a virgin Linux box and when run, it will scan through lots of stuff to sanity-check the system. Things like users/directories/services/etc.

I want to create a "validate_users" object that I can pass various names and options to and it will validate or explain what is wrong.

Then I want to create a "validate_directory" object that will do similar things for different directories.

But - I want these, and the main code, to all live in a single .pl file to make it easy to pass around and use. (Imagine running this on 800+ different linux box's - each with only standard RedHat linux perl installed).

I have tried creating a .pl file and the keyword "package" throws errors. I have tried creating a .pm file, then putting main code (even "print 'Hello World', before the "1;", and this throws different errors.

I am getting the feeling that I am trying to do something "against the rules", but thought I would ask the Monks before giving up and writeing linear code.

What is the correct syntax to create tom/dick/harry objects all in a single .pl file and then use them?

In reply to Can I do single-file, Object oriented perl? by FatDog

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