You know it might actauly be a nail in some cases. It is odd that you ask a question and then are soo rude when you get an answer. Databases can be the right tool and they might not be. That depends entirely on your situation. If you wanted to have 100 children spread over 100 computers then a database would be a perfect solution. You said you wanted "possibly non-blocking and reliable way". Database is *one* of the answers that fits the question. For instances I work on windows and linux boxes and never feel comforatble with forking or "traditional" IPC. However I am always working with databases and most scripts I write use databases for something (not out of habit, i work with large sets of scheduling and accounting data in a database). In my case lots of times a DB is the easiest, fastest and most comfortable route for my problems. As far as we knew you where already connected to a DB and this would be a good solution.

"Proposing additional and significant external dependencies for a nice self-contained program is not very smart." -- Considering we don't know the current dependencies of your program, we could hardly deduce that a database wouldn't fit your needs.

Ask a question, get lots of answers, don't critise an answer or mock the person giving it just because it doesn't fit your need. We can't read your mind or know your particular needs or desires unless you tell us first. Sorry for the rant but its realy hurts to see someone try to help and provide a fair answer and be treated the way you tried corion.