use POSIX ":sys_wait_h";

 sub startTheDB {
   (defined $pid = fork()) or die "Unable to fork!\n";
   if ( !$pid ) { 
     exec "StartTheDB" or die "Can't start the db!\n";
   } else {
     do {
       $kid = waitpid(-1, WNOHANG);
     } until $kid > 0;    
   }
 }