sub spider {
my $pid=fork();
if ($pid) {
 print "Parent.. returning\n";
 return;
}
use DBI;
my $sdbh =
  DBI->connect( "DBI:mysql:dbase;", 'username','password' )
  or die "Couldn't connect to database: " . DBI->errstr;
print "spider post-fork\n";
my    $string = "SELECT data FROM info WHERE name='spiders'";
my    $sth    = $sdbh->prepare($string);
#$sth->{InactiveDestroy}=1;
      $sth->execute;
my    $data = $sth->fetchrow_arrayref();
my    $p=$data->[0];
print "spider says P is $p\n";
for (my $i=1;$i<10;$i++) {
print "forking for ftpspider\n";
$pid=fork();
if (!$pid) {
print "child... calling ftpspider\n";
ftpspider($i);
}
print "parent... finishing loop\n";
$|++;
}
print "finishing up db connections\n";
$sth->finish;
$sdbh->disconnect;
}

sub ftpspider {
my $call=shift;
$|++;
print "ftpspider called with $call... we're the grandchild\n";
use DBI;
print "DBI used ok\n";
my $gdbh =
  DBI->connect( "DBI:mysql:dbase;", 'username','password' )
  or die "Couldn't connect to database: " . DBI->errstr;
print "gdbh created ok\n";
$gdbh->do("UPDATE info SET data=data+1 WHERE name='spiders'");
print "updated ok\n";
print "done updating grandchild... disconnecting\n";
$gdbh->disconnect;
print "grandchild done.... exiting\n";
exit;
}