Well then, I'd say it's probably time to start sprinkling print statements into your code. For instance you might do (untested)

 sub gd_preconfig
 {
        my ($self) = @_;
        print "opening config file\n";
        open(CONFIG, "</etc/ticktockd.conf") or die "Failure opening c
+onfig file:$!";
        while(<CONFIG>) {
                $sleeptime = $1 if /^sleeptime\s+(\d+)/;
        }
        close(CONFIG);
        print "done reading config, sleeptime is now $sleeptime\n";
        return ();
 }
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Oh, and I just noticed that you need to add "use strict" to the top of your program! Very important!