There is a lot wrong with the approach. Your using modules and your complaining that they don't require the functions they use 'enough.' If they didn't require them at all, then the module shouldn't be including them. If they require them and they aren't practical then your problem lies with the module's author.

The second problem is: "There is no obvious win by having everything loaded up front." Which would imply a lack of education. Substituting nice compile time errors for a greater risk of run time errors is never a good thing. That isn't the only advantage, compile-time can take its time, run time is supposed to be the fast. The alternative, is wait while running, rather than waiting to compile.

Require is out of style for a reason, leave it that way. I wouldn't bother hacking modules apart to save compile time, I would take the suggestion of moving to modperl, or mason. Very easy to set up, and then you can compile once, and execute over and over again.

Evan Carroll
www.evancarroll.com