sub exitstatus {
##
# Exit Status Trap
# Arguments required: &exitstatus(cmd);
#
# Examples:
#   my ($output, $status) = &exitstatus('/bin/cp', '/somepath/somefile', '/some/new/location');
#   my ($output, $status) = &exitstatus($somecommand);
#
# Returns text output from the command as well as exit status.
##
    my $command = join ' ', @_ or die "No command specified\n";
    if ($debug) { print "command: $command\n"; }
    ($_ = qx{$command 2>&1}, $? >> 8); 
}