CP(1)         FreeBSD General Commands Manual             CP(1)

  ...

-f  For each existing destination pathname, remove it and create a new
    file, without prompting for confirmation regardless of its permis-
    sions.  (The -f option overrides any previous -i or -n options.)
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I this this option may have led to your problem.

use perl::always;
my $perl_version( 5.12.4 );
print $perl_version;