Is all the use of eval/checking as gratuitous as the above - just calling confess to die with a backtrace?

You might be able to install Carp's confess method as your fatal error handler. Then you can eliminate the evals and checking code.

#!/usr/bin/perl
#
# Die with backtrace
#
use Carp;
$SIG{__DIE__} = \&Carp::confess;

callMethod();

sub callMethod
{
  # blah blah
  someMethod(0);
}

Sub someMethod {
  1/shift;
}
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Alternatively, you can set up local handlers and eliminate evals, on a case-by-case basis:

sub callMethod
{
  local $SIG{__DIE__} = sub {confess ("error calling someMethod: $_[0]
+")};
  someMethod(0);
}
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