RE: cperl-mode: how to turn off autoinsertion of everything?

[Drew Adams]

> In the newer Emacsen there's one setting to tell
> Emacs to put those customizations in a separate file which
> is then included from the init file proper, which I think
> is a good idea.

Yes, it is a good idea.  But it is not something special for
"the newer Emacsen".  It has always been there, at least as
far back as Emacs 20.  The variable is `custom-file'.

And your `custom-file' is not included automatically from
your init file.  You must explicitly load it - from your
init file or somewhere else.