Perl is still a better system administration language than Python. Many Unix wrappers in Python like shutil and subprocess are just not very good.

Python removes you from the system. Perl, like shell, keeps you in close contact with the system.

If a Linux/BSD distribution uses Perl in the base system, it is a plus for me. Unfortunately, most Linux distributions dropped Perl when they became bloated.

'Been looking for an excuse to return to Perl, my first love. Could you elaborate on Perl's better connection with the system compared with Python?

php isn't bad, it contains lots of useful functions.