You can override CORE::GLOBAL::die to throw an exception object

Yes, but it wouldn't work for Perl errors such as the one the OP wants to capture, "Can't use an undefined value as a symbol reference".

The only thing overriding CORE::GLOBAL::die won't catch is compile-time parser errors

It won't catch run-time errors or XS errors either. Perl and XS don't call die, a Perl-space function. They call C function croak (not the one from Carp). Therefore, it only catches user-thrown errors.

Actually, I might have been mistaken about my SIG{__DIE__} assertion - I mean that using __DIE__ instead of overriding CORE::GLOBAL::die might indeed be the best way of dealing with it.

As I said I don't have the code with me at the moment - last time I looked at that specific bit of code was a couple of months ago and I switched implementations a few times.

In any case, the end result turned out that throwing an exception object that encapsulates the stack trace from whatever means you use to intercept the error was the only reasonable way of dealing with the problem when you also have to deal with eval (both versions).

Update: the way I implemented it, was that the exception object overloaded stringification so that the stack trace is printed if the exception isn't eventually caught.

"What should it profit a man, if he should win a flame war, yet lose his cool?"

edit: don't try to use the $SIG{__DIE__} for this. It won't work.

Care to elaborate? Surely it won't work if somebody else fiddles with $SIG{__DIE__}, just like overriding CORE::GLOBAL::die won't work if somebody else fiddles with it at same time.

Can't get into the details right now, the code I've worked on isn't here. One issue is that $SIG{__DIE__} won't work correctly with eval {} and eval "", even when testing $^S.

perlvar sais:

Due to an implementation glitch, the $SIG{__DIE__} hook is called even inside an eval(). Do not use this to rewrite a pending exception in $@, or as a bizarre substitute for overriding CORE::GLOBAL::die(). This strange action at a dis‐ tance may be fixed in a future release so that $SIG{__DIE__} is only called if your program is about to exit, as was the original intent. Any other use is deprecated.

The only thing overriding CORE::GLOBAL::die won't catch is compile-time parser errors, but then you won't need a stack trace.
"What should it profit a man, if he should win a flame war, yet lose his cool?"