my $test="my_variable_name";  # I pulled this from the db.  I have no idea what it actually is, plus I need to be able to support arbitrary additions to the db anyway
my $default_value="the value I set";
$$test = $default_value;

##</code><code>##

use strict;
package apackage;
do "include_file.pl";
print "the value of \$my_variable_name = $my_variable_name\n"; # I can't control the fact that this variable is being referred to without its package name

##</code><code>##

use strict;
use module;
$my_variable_name = "A new value";
print "the value of \$my_variable_name = $my_variable_name\n"; #print the local value
print "the value of the package variable = $apackage::my_variable_name\n"; # print the package value