Handle unset $HOME If File::HomeDir->my_home returns undef, e.g. when $HOME is not set on Linux, we see the following warnings during build or at runtime: . Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at /build/libdbix-class-schema-config-perl-0.001013/blib/lib/DBIx/Class/Schema/Config.pm line 133. Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at t/03_config_paths.t line 8. Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/share/perl5/DBIx/Class/Schema/Config.pm line 133. . Let's add $home/.dbic to config_paths only when we actually have a homedir, both in the code and the respective test.