If you want to do this in Perl, i'd suggest you install Webmin on the linux-box (as root), yes it's written in Perl, and create user accounts in it, with the privileges you need.
From within Webmin, you have a clean simple userinterface for maintaining your linux box, without the need of understanding the command-line.
I do not recommend this way of working by the way, a clear understanding of what you're doing is important in this case, and i don't know how secure Webmin is.