problem calling a file under mod_perl2

["Alicia Amadoz" <suppressed>]

Hi,

I have a problem loading a perl file under mode_perl2. I want to reuse
some subrutines that I have in 'perl_functions.pl' file and I am trying
to call this file from 'search.pl' file. 

I get this error:

Can't locate ../perl_functions.pl in @INC 

My configuration is the following:

In httpd.conf:

PerlPostConfigRequire
/usr/local/apache2/htdocs/www/p_scripts/perl-cgi/startup.pl

In startup.pl:

use lib
qw(/usr/local/apache2/htdocs/www/p_scripts/perl-cgi);

In search.pl:

require "../perl_functions.pl"; 

'startup.pl' and 'perl_functions.pl' are in the same folder but
'search.pl' is in a subfolder.

I would appreciate any suggestion regarding how to solve this error.
Thanks in advance.