-- I'm so used to seeing if($@) { # handle error } --

Unless this is throwaway code, in the meantime until that bug is fixed, it wouldn't hurt to add a comment to your code to explain why you needed to do $e=$@, just so that someone further down the pike doesn't think that your own assignment code is redundant or unnecessarily confusing and try to "clean" it up.

If you are so used to seeing if ($@)..., the same is likely true for others.