possible to include(global.php) in a class?

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Hello, here's my test case (php4):

Test.php

PHP Code:

<?
class Test {
    function Test() {
       $cwd = getcwd(); 
       chdir($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].'/talk');  
         include_once('global.php');
         chdir($cwd);
    }
    function Whoami() {
        global $vbulletin;
        return $vbulletin->userinfo["username"];
    }
}
?>

dotest.php

PHP Code:

<?
include("Test.php");
$dotest = new Test;
echo($dotest->Whoami());
?>

always dies with:

Fatal error: Call to a member function on a non-object in 
(snip)talk/includes/functions.php on line 1154

The constructor in the class always dies at the include statement, Whoami is never called.
Is it possible to create a $vbulletin registry object inside of a class?

I did a search and attempted using the solution proposed Here by kolita, and that gives me a vbulletin object that has all the standard properties and that I can enumerate, but only if I skip creating a session (meaning my userinfo array is empty), and this is useless for me.

i.e. if I comment out

define('SKIP_SESSIONCREATE', 1);

I get the same error as above.

Anyone have some insight? I'm trying to build a amfphp connector to vbulletin and i'm truly stumped. thanks