It seems odd that there is no Perl module to handle .Z files.

But if this is the case then you have (at least) two options:

• uncompress the file to a temporary directory (using system() or backticks) then open it as normal.
• read the output of zcat: open LOG, "zcat $zfile |" or die "...";

If disk space is at a premium then the second option may be the better one. Hope this helps.