And I don't know how to fix this. It's a careful balancing act between being too strict and too flexible. I don't want to turn CPAN into PEAR, but I don't want to have 80 different ways to do things with no way to easily pick the "right" one, either.

Guess what: This is exactly how I view Java. But the downside of Java - in my view - is: You have to use these myriads of moduls to get your task done.

In Perl I see it like: I can use one of those modules, but I'm free to do it on my own. And it's almost always easy to do it on my own. In Java it will break my neck trying to do anything on my own.

So I don't think we need the Solution.