so basically, if I load 5 modules of 100k in size each; I would be throwing away 500k in size every single time I start this CGI; where mod_perl would be keeping 500k in memory and use the rest in shared memory?

Is mod_perl the only possible way to keep a script execution size and footprint as low as possible? What about scripts not running on apache using those 5 modules of 100k in size each?

I was thinking for all these years Perl would allocate its needed memory for the routines which are actively used; not using memory for the unused ones..