if ( ! defined($kidpid = fork() ) ) {
        # fork returned undef, so failed
        die "Cannot fork: $!";
    } elsif ($pid == 0) {
        # fork returned 0, so this branch is child
        # want to tun program like this:  ( time  exe < stdin > stdout ) >&! stdlog
        exec(   code to run program goes here....   );

        # if exec fails, fall through to the next statement
        die "can't exec date: $!";
    } else {
        # fork returned 0 nor undef so this branch is parent

        # run-time monitoring code goes here....


        waitpid($kidpid, 0);
    }