So, more or less, there is no solution that fundamentally outstrips any of the others?

I guess my main concern is textualising the code refs in the objects. People seem to be happy with YAML Use/Dump/LoadCode methods... and i can modify the deserialization methods so that code refs are Safely inflated. I just wondered if anyone had any experience/advice/opinions on which of the many options produced the best results. (best in terms of performance/ease/maintainability etc...)

The way YAML and Data::Dumper go about it seem pretty much the same (all the way down to B::Deparse...). So is it really a matter of personal preference?

Thanks for your advice ikegami.