what I'm using is the package that was in force when the call to ego() was compiled. That is excatly what I want: Mehods compiled in a class access the alter ego specific to that class, and that's the only way.

Yes, you are using the package (not "class") that the method was compiled in. But, no, you appear to have nearly completely missed my point. The package that a subroutine was compiled in can have very little to do with the class that the method ends up being a part of. In my example, the "class" you'd end up using isn't even a class, just the name of a package where code for some subroutines happened to be compiled.

The correct thing to look up is not what package the code was compiled into, nor the package part of the orignal name given to the subroutine (the two things that caller can give you). The correct "class" is the package part of the subroutine name that was used to find the subroutine when the method was looked up (looking in symbol tables and following @ISA). Unfortunately, I have yet to see a way to get this information. That is why you'd need to provide a way to override how the class name is determined.

Ah, so you are using Perl "magic" and you are allowing for "uncooperative" subclassing. If you'd include the XS code then this would have been clearer. I can't comment much on this because I'd still be guessing at what you are really doing (no, I'm not going to download the package and extract the source this morning), though I consider using "magic" to take much of the "simpler" benefit away from your idea.