I don't think you are remembering the 5.6 code correctly. Most likely you had my @array = @{$array_ref};. If my @$foo did work with 5.6 is was a bug and what changed was that bug was fixed.

my $ra_ret_save;
@$ra_ret_save = @$ra_ret;
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my $ra_ret_save = [@$ra_ret];
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my @$ra_ret_save = @$ra_ret; 
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my $ra_ret_save = [ @$ra_ret ];
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use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;

my $ra_ret = [ qw/ a b c d / ];
print Dumper($ra_ret);

my $ra_ret_save = [ @$ra_ret ];
print Dumper($ra_ret_save);
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perl 5.8.0
----------
$VAR1 = [
          'a',
          'b',
          'c',
          'd'
        ];
$VAR1 = [
          'a',
          'b',
          'c',
          'd'
        ];

perl 5.6.1
----------
$VAR1 = [
          'a',
          'b',
          'c',
          'd'
        ];
$VAR1 = [
          'a',
          'b',
          'c',
          'd'
        ];
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