A less-well-known feature of use and require is that it gives a "hint" to the compiler that My::Module might be a class name so that "new My::Module" gets parsed okay. You don't need this hint unless you also have a subroutine "new" in the current package.

$ perl
use strict;
my $o= new My::Module;
^D
Can't locate object method "new" via package "My::Module"
$ perl
use strict;
sub new;
my $o= new My::Module;
^D
Bareword "My::Module" not allowed while "strict subs" in use
$ perl
use strict;
BEGIN {
    $My::Module::VERSION= 1.0;
}
sub new;
my $o= new My::Module;
^D
Can't locate object method "new" via package "My::Module"
$
[download]

As others have said, autouse.pm has an out-right bug in it.

You problem implies that use autouse My::Module => qw(new); predeclares "sub new;" instead of (or in addition to) "sub My::Module::new". It took me a bit to spot the problem. autouse.pm is not meant for use with OO modules and the routines you list get exported. My::Module doesn't normally export new() for good reason!

To get something like autouse.pm except for OO modules is actually much less work than what autouse.pm does. See (tye)Re: $PERL_USE=$PERL_USE: but use the better version in the reply.

If you want something that only does AutoNew for a particular package:

sub My::Module::new {
    require My::Module;
    undef &My::Module::new;
    goto &My::Module::new;
}
[download]

I think you need to change the line in autouse.pm that says:

 my $index = index($func, '::');
[download]

 my $index = rindex($func, '::');
[download]

update: wish I'd seen btrott's post before I figured the same thing out myself... would have saved some time. Anyway, I posted this to comp.lang.perl.moderated and comp.lang.perl.modules (wasn't sure which one it belonged in).