[SOLVED] Reference a Perl Module that creates a hash in another Perl Module file that sets the hash equal to that hash

Reference a Perl Module that creates a hash in another Perl Module file that sets the hash equal to that hash

I have 2 perlmodule files (.pm). File_A.pm is located on /some/dir/here/File_A.pm. I have a File_B.pm located on /some/other/dir/File_B.pm.

File_B.pm will set its my %machines hash equal to /some/dir/here/File_A.pm's %machines if File_A.pm is readable using if (-r '/some/dir/here/File_A.pm') else it will use a standard hash defined within File_B.pm as my %machines = ().

I have tried the code below

However, this is not working for me.

package some::other::dir::File_B;
use strict;
use vars qw(@ISA @EXPORT $VERSION);
use Cwd;
use some::dir::File_A;

use Exporter;
$VERSION = 1.0;
@ISA     = qw(Exporter);
@EXPORT =
  qw(getMachines printMachines getMachineAttributes printMachineAttributes);

if(-r '/some/dir/here/File_A.pm'){
    my %machines = do q{/some/dir/here/File_A.pm};
else{
 my %machines = (  
    "some.fqdn.com" => {
    role        => ["someRole"],
    environment => "test",
    location    => "USA",
    os          => "Ubuntu",},
    )
}
###################################
#I have getMachines, printMachines, getMachineAtrributes, and
#printMachineAttributes below here in my code
####################################

I am expecting the logic to use the File_A.pm my %machines hash if it is readable and if not use the backup my %machines hash in case the File_A.pm somehow becomes unreadable.

Solution

The scope of a lexical variable defined with my spans from the declaration to the end of the enclosing block. The first my %machines doesn't survive the "then" block, the second one disappears at the end of the "else" block.

Note that if File_A is writable by a malicious user, they can insert any code into it. It's safer to use an INI file, or JSON, YAML, XML, or whatever to populate the hash.