here is my test code:

#!/opt/appenv/perl/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

use CGI;
use Data::Dumper;

my $q = new CGI;

print $q->header();
my %ENV2;

%ENV2 = (%ENV2, get_login_env());
print Dumper(\%ENV2);

sub get_login_env {
  local %ENV;
  my $shell= '/usr/bin/ksh'; #shift || (getpwuid($<))[8];
    
  my $env = `echo env | /opt/appenv/perl/bin/perl -e 'exec {"$shell"} 
+-sh'`;
  if (wantarray) {
    my @pieces = ($env =~ m/^(.*?)=((?:[^\n\\]|\\.|\\\n)*)/gm);
    s/\\(.)/$1/g foreach @pieces;
    return @pieces;
  }
  else {
    return $env;
  }
}
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The only things I have changed from Tillys example is the $shell, since the value it was coming up with was /bin/ksh and not /usr/bin/ksh (since which ksh returns /usr/bin/ksh). And the path to Perl on the machine /opt/appenv/perl/bin/perl. I am starting to follow your comments about an instance of /usr/bin/ksh calling echo env, but I am curious as to why we are only getting few results via the above method. Any advice on how to begin some debugging would help lots. TIA