sub run_command
  {
      # invoke system(@list) if more than one arg passed.
      ($#_) ? system(@_) : system($_[0]);
      
      if ($?)
      {
          my $rc = $? >> 8;
          die "Failed to run '$command': exit code $rc\n";
      }
  }
  # Easy arg passing with a list;
  run_command('blah' , '-v' , '-q');
  # Pass as scalar for shell interpretation of metachars
  run_command('tar cvf /dev/null /tmp/*.sock');