PHP workarounds this problem with the OPEN_BASEDIR directive (http://www.php.net/manual/en/features.safe-mode.php).
In addition to what Markus said, I would point out that many mass-hosters just run PHP through CGI because it's the only way to get real security.
There is a fair amount of information about shared hosting with mod_perl on the site and in the archives, but I think it usually comes back to either getting perchild MPM finished or selling virtual servers (User Mode Linux and friends). In my opinion, the virtual server route is the best, since it doesn't cripple the user's access to mod_perl by limiting httpd.conf access. Giving minimal access on a virtualhost server would probably not amount to much more than ModPerl::Registry, and at that point you could probably just run something like SpeedyCGI or PPerl to get fast perl executions without modifying the web server.
- Perrin
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