@ISA "tricks"? DBIC provides some shortcuts to save you typing over use base qw/.../; but there's absolutely no requirement to do that. Nice but optional syntactic sugar is a good thing surely, no?

DBIx::Class also has a Class::DBI compat layer which can pass the vast majority of the Class::DBI test suite, and a fair number of its own. It's still pretty new, but well worth considering for new projects - and we tend to operate the "submit a failing test case and it'll happen" principle for feature requests. It's also going to be able to support a lot of features Class::DBI simply won't (I went about as far as I could with my work on Class::DBI::Sweet).

If you need total stability above all else, use Class::DBI for sure - but if you're more interested in an actively developed project with an open process and a growing community, or want the greatest potential future feature set, DBIx::Class is definitely worth evaluating.

- Matt S Trout, DBIx::Class project founder