So, what happens if you've been using DBI and you have all your connect data in configuration files with DSN strings and then you decide you want to start using Rose::DB::Object? You have to find some way of getting the chocolate back from chocolate milk --- you have to break down the compound data in the dsn in order to get out the sub-elements.

First of all, it's not the fault of DBI that you decided to store DSN strings in your configuration file. If you had stored it as (for instance):

driver = mysql
host = localhost
username = joe
password = s3c41+
port = 3306
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it would trivial to construct a dsn, and to parameter list for Rose::Db::Object. You could also share the configuration file with applications written in a different language.

Second, if you're switching your API from DBI to Rose::Db::Object, I'd think you'll have a change a lot of your code anyway. Parsing out a dsn string shouldn't be that much more work.