Here's an example of how to "access a common variable but without resorting to globals":

use strict;
use warnings;

package A;

{
    my $maxlengths = {
        tinytext => 100,
        longtext => 2000,
    };

    sub max_tiny_text { return $maxlengths->{tinytext}; }
    sub max_long_text { return $maxlengths->{longtext}; }
}

package B;

use base 'A';

print 'From B: ', A->max_tiny_text(), "\n";
print 'From B: ', A->max_long_text(), "\n";

package main;

print 'From main: ', B->max_tiny_text(), "\n";
print 'From main: ', B->max_long_text(), "\n";
[download]

The output from this is:

From B: 100
From B: 2000
From main: 100
From main: 2000
[download]

Here's a quick rundown of what I've done here and why.

• I've removed Exporter. Take a look at the Selecting What To Export section in that documentation.
• I've set up class methods (max_tiny_text() and max_long_text()) to return the data.
• The class data ($maxlengths) is lexically scoped with my inside a block such that it is only visible to the class methods. If you attempt to access $maxlengths within package A but outside that block, you'll get a compilation error.

I've aimed to keep the same general framework you presented. There are (as usual) more ways to do it. :-)

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