I'd very much like to avoid Expect, and I'd prefer to avoid Net::SSH if only because my code is already tested and written with something else. If the performance problems prove too severe then yes, I can and will fall back on that. (I say this often: Aren't I glad I have a test suite!)

But it'd be pretty sad if the tool I was relying on to ease deployment is limiting my choice of modules, so I'm not giving up yet.

(To clarify: without PAR the performance is acceptable.)