Loading a Module with a Namesace Overlap in Perl

Question

Quick Summary: My script changes a symlink which is used for loading Modules, and I need to load two different versions of the same module from the same location, once before things are moved, and once after things are moved.

Detailed Summary: My script changes the installed version of a program I am working on.

In a folder, I have a symlink ( '/a/b/c/parallelogram' ) which points at the installed branch of my software ( '/a/b/c/1_parallelogram' ).

My script starts with a 'use parallelogram::Const'. Then, I do some things, including making my parallelogram symlink point at '/a/b/c/2_parallelogram'.

At this point, I have a 'require 2_parallelogram/Config.pm'. The problem is that Config.pm has a 'use parallelogram::Const'. I need this to reference Const.pm in 2_parallelogram, but since I already have 1_parallelogram/Const.pm loaded, it uses that file.

I cannot change the contents of either Config.pm or Const.pm.

Is there a way for me to locally scope these 'use' statements, or to override what modules are loaded, or to unload these modules?

Any ideas appreciated!

Answer 1

After changing the symlink, do:

delete $INC{'parallelogram/Const.pm'};
delete $INC{'parallelogram/Config.pm'};
use Symbol 'delete_package';
delete_package('parallelogram::Const');
delete_package('parallelogram::Config');
require parallelogram::Config;