You only have three options: pass it around, store it in objects that need it, or make it globally accessible. You can do the latter with a bit of encapsulation though:

my $dbh = DBI->connect($db_info, 'username', 'password',
    { PrintError => 0 }
) or die("Couldn't connect to database\n");

sub get_handle
{
    my $dbh;
}

print "info: " , getdb() , "\n";
[download]

Then you can call main::get_handle() from anywhere, instead of accessing a global variable. It's effectively the same, though it's a little nicer with the encapsulation.

If you don't want to pass it everywhere, you have at least two options: either set it as a module-wide parameter, or use objects and store it within each instance of the object. The first results in module code that looks like this:

This will work, but it means that this module can only ever access one database at a time (let alone the bad things that would happen in the presence of threads.) My personal preference is to use an object to encapsulate the necessary context:

This allows you to have two MyQuery objects "alive" at once. Which may or may not matter, but generally if you want to tie specific data (in this case, the $dbh) and some operations together, then consider using an object.

p.s. If you just want a shorthand way for functions in package Exported to refer to $main::dbh as though it were in its own namespace, then you might be able to get by with typeglob aliasing:

The only thing to watch out for here is that $main::dbh has to be a global name (declared with our), not a lexical variable (don't use my).