Catalyst is probably the Perl framework that is most guilty of overloading configuration. I personally like it because it readily affords low-effort testing, tweaking, and debugging but it is sort of the poster child for what the OP is saying isn’t always a win. Multiple configuration files, in multiple config formats or sources, are possible; they are read or ignored or overridden via calling env/%ENV and there are rules about which config takes precedence when the same config is echoed in two or three or more places. It’s terribly powerful. If you aren’t intimate with it, it is exceptionally confusing.