I recently added a ErrStr var to my modules, kinda of like the DBI::errstr. So if the object constructor fails the object is an undef and the the Errstr can be checked, i.e.

       my $obj = Some::Module->new() or die $Some::Module::Errstr, $/;
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...otherwise if there is an error with a method call the error string can be retrieved,

      $obj->get_errstr();
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I really struggled with what was the correct way to handle the errors, I'm still not sure I like my solution.