If your code is "in the wild", isn't it already functional, all dependencies met?

Yes, but the next time someone wants to (re)install it, they can't simply install the required modules per the present README file I distributed. The project in question is distributed to a limited number of people so this point is kinda moot -- it's easy for me to redistribute. It would be a much bigger deal if it were a public project.

CPAN is more like your local public library than the Library of Congress

I respectfully disagree with you on that point. If the CPAN? isn't Perl's version of the Library of Congress then I don't know what is! CPAN is the Perl repository!

Oh, and finally, this would also be a place were code abstraction would be a Good Thing

Yes, you're right. But should I abstract every module I use? Just in case someone takes it off of CPAN? Perhaps I'll write an abstraction layer for CGI.pm and post to the monastery -- stand clear of the flames! ;-) In this particular case, I did abstact the INI handling stuff so there is no problem in my main program but my abstraction module now needs updating. I only abstracted because I needed some functionality not provided by Config::Ini. That certainly isn't the case with every module I use.

Besides it's generally a good idea to keep a virgin copy of the software you use.

Agreed. I'll be sure to be better about that from now on.