sub debug_log
{
   @_ == 2 or confess "Incorrect number of arguments";

   my ($section, $action) = @_;
   my $userid = 0;
   my $string = 0;

   $userid = $globalUserID || "<nobody>";

   $string = sprintf ("%s %s %s:%s\n", scalar localtime, $userid, $section, $action);

   open (SINK, ">> /home/httpd/somedir/logfile") or confess "Can't open logfile";
   print SINK $string;
   close (SINK) or confess "Can't close logfile";
}