Index: lib/MTT/Messages.pm
===================================================================
--- lib/MTT/Messages.pm	(revision 1360)
+++ lib/MTT/Messages.pm	(working copy)
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 use Text::Wrap;
 use vars qw(@EXPORT);
 use base qw(Exporter);
-@EXPORT = qw(Messages Error Warning BigWarning Abort Debug Verbose Trace DebugDump FuncName ModuleName);
+@EXPORT = qw(Messages Error Warning BigWarning Abort Debug Verbose Trace DebugDump FuncName ModuleName DebugDumpHead);

 # Is debugging enabled?
 my $_debug;
@@ -152,6 +152,26 @@
         if (defined($LOGFILE));
 }

+sub DebugDumpHead {
+    my $lines = shift;
+    my $d = new Data::Dumper([@_]);
+    $d->Purity(1)->Indent(1);
+    my $s = $d->Dump;
+
+    my @lines = split(/\n/, $s);
+    $s = undef;
+    while ($lines > 0 && $#lines >= 0) {
+        $s .= $lines[0] . "\n";
+        shift @lines;
+        --$lines;
+    }
+    $s .= "[...remaining $#lines snipped...]\n"
+        if ($#lines >= 0);
+    print $s;
+    print $LOGFILE $s
+        if (defined($LOGFILE));
+}
+
 sub Verbose {
     if ($_verbose) {
         my $str = "@_";
Index: lib/MTT/Util.pm
===================================================================
--- lib/MTT/Util.pm	(revision 1360)
+++ lib/MTT/Util.pm	(working copy)
@@ -393,12 +393,12 @@
 sub merge_hashes {
     my ($x, $y) = @_;

-    no strict;
     foreach my $k (keys %$y) {

-        # Abort and notify the user if they attempt to have two MTT clients run 
-        # the same INI section out of the same scratch directory (since doing so
-        # would entail overwriting the .dump file of one of the MTT clients)
+        # Abort and notify the user if they attempt to have two MTT
+        # clients run the same INI section out of the same scratch
+        # directory (since doing so would entail overwriting the .dump
+        # file of one of the MTT clients)
         if (($k eq "full_section_name") and 
             ($x->{$k} eq $y->{$k}) and 
             ($x->{"start_timestamp"} ne $y->{"start_timestamp"})) {
@@ -412,10 +412,21 @@
         if (!defined($x->{$k})) {
             $x->{$k} = $y->{$k};
         } else {
-            $x->{$k} = merge_hashes($x->{$k}, $y->{$k});
+            # If they're not the same type, just let $x win
+            if (ref($x->{$k}) ne ref($y->{$k})) {
+                Debug("REFS ARE DIFFERENT TYPES: " . ref($x->{$k}) . 
+                      " / " . ref($y->{$k}) . "\n");
+                next;
+            }
+            # If they're hashes, recurse down to compare individual keys
+            elsif (ref($x->{$k}) =~ /hash/i) {
+                Debug("RECURSING INTO MERGE HASHES... " . ref($y->{$k}) . "\n");
+                $x->{$k} = merge_hashes($x->{$k}, $y->{$k});
+            }
+            # All other types -- scalars, arrays, hashes, etc. -- just
+            # let $x win.
         }
     }
-    use strict;
     return $x;
 }

Index: lib/MTT/Test.pm
===================================================================
--- lib/MTT/Test.pm	(revision 1360)
+++ lib/MTT/Test.pm	(working copy)
@@ -61,13 +61,19 @@
     $MTT::Test::sources = undef;

     my @dumpfiles = glob("$dir/$sources_data_filename-*.$data_filename_extension");
+    my $i = 1;
     foreach my $dumpfile (@dumpfiles) {

         # If the file exists, read it in
-        my $data;
+        my $data = undef;
+        Verbose("=================================================================\n");
+        Verbose("Loading file $i: $dumpfile\n");
+        ++$i;
         MTT::Files::load_dumpfile($dumpfile, \$data);
+        Verbose("=================================================================\n");
         $MTT::Test::sources = MTT::Util::merge_hashes($MTT::Test::sources, $data->{VAR1});
     }
+    Verbose("**** DONE WITH LOAD SOURCES\n");

     # Rebuild the refcounts
     foreach my $test_key (keys(%{$MTT::Test::sources})) {
@@ -104,7 +110,7 @@
     foreach my $dumpfile (@dumpfiles) {

         # If the file exists, read it in
-        my $data;
+        my $data = undef;
         MTT::Files::load_dumpfile($dumpfile, \$data);
         $MTT::Test::builds = MTT::Util::merge_hashes($MTT::Test::builds, $data->{VAR1});
     }