[the stuff about blocking and timeouts] doesn't appear to be derived from anything the OP posted.

Why would I base a socket constructor on code that doesn't contruct sockets?

but if he needs any of the stuff that layers atop IO::Socket, he'll find the limitations for sure.

Why do you say that? It's was made for IO::Socket::INET. It should work with IO::Socket::INET clients and servers.

Incidentally, it should also work with IO::Socket::UNIX clients and servers buy simply changing the package name on the 6th line.