As a matter of fact, I spent a few hours grappling with daemontools, and it's a perfect example of the freakishly opaque "explanations" I described in my original post. Here's its FAQ entry for the question "How do I create a service directory?":

Answer: The only required component of your service directory is an executable file, ./run, that runs your daemon in the foreground, exiting when your daemon exits.

Huh? Does that mean I'm supposed to create ./run? And if so, what is it? And how, exactly, do I create it? The FAQ says:

Typically ./run is a shell script. For example:

#!/bin/sh
echo starting
exec clockspeed

"Typically?" So is my situation typical? How can I tell? And if ./run is a shell script in a typical case, what is it in other cases?

So let's assume that I am supposed to write a shell script (which in my case would execute my perl script?) and save it as ./run in my service directory. But if so, why not just say so? Plus, would it kill them to explain how? It's like if I said, "How is a moon-rock different from a regular rock?" and they said "OK, first go to the moon and get some rocks, and I'll tell you the rest when you get back..."

Of course the reality is that if the daemontools FAQ had been anything less than completely baffling, I wouldn't have written my solution, in which case I would never had received a personal response from merlyn! So it's all good. : )