I am used to having this kind of client environment, so I tend to use my own template processing, for example putting placeholders in a file, e.g. __ID__ and using bog-standard substitution. A useful standard tool in unix is the C preprocessor which, with a little Perl programming around it, can be used for fairly comprehensive templating of just about anything, in spite of it being designed for C language preprocessing. In fact a home-grown templating module based on the C-preprocessor could be worth doing if the requirement is a persistent one.
