BTW I'm using Selenium RC server running on WinXP controlled from perl on Linux.

Ok I have to use the option:

auto_stop="0"

In the $sel...->new(...) constructor and the subsequent connections. Don't call

$sel->start;

in the routine to reconnect to the existing session.

I get Unknown command 'getExistingBrowserSession' if I use the function above - a great pity it looks like a very elegant way to get the session_id. My SeRC is on a WinXP box as the website only works on IE.

The command

$sel->retrieve_last_remote_control_logs();

seems to return a bunch of stuff and the session_id is in there - so I can parse an existing session_id from that.

I also found out how to avoid the website thinking I was navigating away - by using a open_ok() to a link that it is happy to navigate to without logging out - I tried that before but realized the date needs to be part of the link! That way I can maintain the session.