Working through a Module Problem

I have a module. This module is too big to be managed. So I've broken it up. It was Dumb.pm and I've broken it into Dumb/Database.pm, Dumb/HTML.pm, Dumb/This.pm, Dumb/That.pm, and Dumb/TheOtherThing.pm.

Yes, I am convinced of the low quality of this code. Yes, I wrote every dumb line of it myself. No, I will not post it for the amusement of the masses.

Under all this, there's 2 databases. One for test, one for production. If you want to test things, test against data that isn't vital, right? With Dumb.pm, I took something from Data::Dumper, specifically how you set indentation, so that you put in $Dumb::Database = 'test' ; if the you wanted to use the test DB. Usually this is connect to an if statement, like $Dumb::Database = 'test' if defined $cgi->param('test') ; It's a nice, compact solution. But if you balkanize the code base, there's not one bit you can set to say "look to the DB".

My first pass semi-solved this by having hash refs for getting variables into subroutines. Dumb::That::this_function( $hashref ), so as long as $hashref->{database} is set, or the underlying subroutine knows that an unset var means production, not test. But I am requested to make it more like the previous. More like Dumb::That::this_function( $value ).

Let me say that, if you're going to put several dozen variables through, enough so that ensuring order is a major concern, sending hashes or hash refs is a good idea. There are points where I hit that threshold, and I've kept it as the general case, even when I'm just passing one or two variables.

As I can figure it, this means having a reborn Dumb.pm, call it Dumber.pm as a central module, which has the $Database var. Then, every time I want Dumb::This::subroutine(), I go for Dumber::this_subroutine(), which is a simple wrapper that handles setting $hash->{database} and passes it on to Dumb/This.pm.

I see this as a tree issue. Child nodes can see what's in the parent node, but parallel children can't see each other. I don't see how biting the bullet and finally getting into Object Orientation would help, and I'm resistant anyway because that's one more dang thing to learn and kick this back. If there was another obvious solution, I wish somebody would give it to me.

As I wrap this up and resign myself to diving into this, let me mention the usefulness of passing hashes or hash refs if you're moving massive amounts of data into a subroutine. $result = my_subroutine( $a , $b, $c, $d , $e , $f , $g , $h , $j , $i , $k , $l ) will make you lose track of your variables quick, and passing them with a hash means you know what's what. CGI pushed me that way, too. Not useful for everything, but it has points.