use strict;
use IO::Socket;
use threads;
use threads::shared;

my $numClients = shift;
my %thread_status : shared;
my $server_status : shared = 'threading';
$| = 1;
my $screen_output : shared = 1;

my $HOST = 'cdt-2x4w227x';
my $PORT = 7001;

# Launch clients in their own thread
print "Creating $numClients clients\n";
for (my $i=0; $i<$numClients; $i++) {
    my ($retries,$socket);

    $socket = IO::Socket::INET->new("$HOST:$PORT") || print "Socket creation error: $!\n";
    while (!$socket) {
        print "Retrying socket connection for client $i\n";
        $retries++;
        if ($retries > 5) {
            print "Exceeded retries while launching client $i\n";
            last;
        }
        sleep 1;
        $socket = IO::Socket::INET->new("$HOST:$PORT") || print "Socket creation error on retry $retries: $!\n";
    }
    if ($socket) { my $t = threads->new(\&handle_client,$socket,$i)->detach } else { print " Error creating socket: $i\n" }
    print ".";
}
print "Done creating clients\n";

sleep 1;
$server_status = 'ready';

print "Waiting for client threads to finish\n";
while (my @keys = keys %thread_status) {
    my $count = @keys;
    print &time_stamp," Waiting for [$count] threads from [@keys]\n";
    sleep 1;
}
sleep 1;

#<------------------------------------------------------------ handle_client -->
sub handle_client {
    my ($socket,$clientNum) = @_;
    my $line;
    my $tid = threads->self->tid;
    my $timeout = 2;

    $thread_status{$clientNum} = $clientNum;

    while ($server_status eq 'threading') { sleep 1 }

    #VINI
    print " $clientNum -> VINI\n" unless (!$screen_output);
    if ($socket) { $socket->send("VINI\n") || $socket->close && undef $socket && return }
    ^^^^^^ FAILS ON SEND ^^^^^^^
    $line = <$socket> if ($socket);
    print " $clientNum <- $line" unless (!$screen_output);
    sleep rand($timeout);

    lock %thread_status;
    delete $thread_status{$clientNum};
    $socket->close;
    threads->self->yield;
    return;
}