Jambunathan K <kjambunathan@gmail.com> writes:

> perl-mode behaves differently and correctly.  

I think you've misunderstood.  cperl-mode does exactly what it's
supposed to do, which is more than what perl-mode tries to do.

> Is it possible to show the sub name when within a function and show
> the head1 or head2 string when within a perldoc string.  (I am new to
> perl so I can talk only fuzzily about the language or it's features)

It's not really feasible, though it has nothing to do with Perl per se.
Like I said before, the "function" name displayed by which-function-mode
is the function containing point or, if none, the nearest function
before point.  In cperl-mode pod =head directives count for this purpose
as "functions", and regular subroutines begin at the position following
their name.

> My gut feeling is that the way cperl mode treats POD directives also
> limits it from doing outlining.

After a brief skim of the cperl source, I had the opposite impression.

> I would really like to get outlining work when in cperl-mode.

I'll take a look at that later.  With luck, it'll be as easy as this
one.

> I think anything that doesn't show "= " would do for me.

Again, the "= " means that the "current function" (according to the
above definition) is a pod =head directive.

Try the attached patch.  Make sure you set cperl-imenu-index-pod to nil
before invoking cperl-mode.  If it does what you want, we can ask for it
to be installed.