The script in the OP repoduces the problem. I believe the lookup method does access and read the ~/.netrc. Regarding the file mode for the .netrc file; the manpage for netrc on my HPUX 11 has the following:

If the .netrc file contains password or account information for use
      other than for anonymous ftp, its owner must match the effective
+ user
      ID of the current process.  Its read, write, and execute mode bi
+ts for
      group and other must all be zero, and it must be readable by its
      owner.  Otherwise, the file is ignored.
[download]

The Net::Netrc page says read/write for owner or 0600. Either way (400||600), the script hangs if both Tie::File and Net::Netrc are both in the script. If I remove Tie::File from the above script it does not hang.

Thanks

Sweetblood