Issue using SVN Perl bindings on Ubuntu 9.10 - TypeError

I'm trying to port some existing (crufty old) perl code from a Fedora
Core 5 server running Perl 5.8.8 and SVN 1.3.2, to a new server running
Ubuntu 9.10 with Perl 5.10.0 and SVN 1.6.5. The package for libsvn-perl
is 1.6.5dfsg-1ubuntu1. In each case, the local server is (normally)
accessing SVN on the local server.
 
The error reported is:
 
TypeError in method 'svn_auth_cred_simple_t_password_set', argument 2 of
type 'char const *'

when attempting to create a new client connection via:
 
 $ctx = new SVN::Client(
  auth => [SVN::Client::get_simple_provider(),
  SVN::Client::get_simple_prompt_provider(\&simple_prompt,2),
  SVN::Client::get_username_provider()],
  log_msg => [\&log_msg_provider]
  );
 
sub simple_prompt {
 my $cred = shift;
 my $realm = shift;
 my $default_username = shift;
 my $may_save = shift;
 my $pool = shift;
 my $username = lc($USERNAME);
 $cred->username($username);
 my $password = $PASSWORD;
 $cred->password($password);
}
 
The old server has no problem connecting to itself, or to the new server
using that code. The new server cannot connect either to itself or to
the old server, in both cases the TypeError error is generated.
 
I tried searching the mailing list, didn't see anything recent regarding
the perl bindings or SWIG that seemed relevant, nor did I find any
documentation changes to the call parameters.
 
Is there something I should be doing differently here? Suggestions as to
how to proceed?

--
Joe Kyle
--jjkd--