wrap_system(qw(perl -u -e 1)) or die "$@\n"
#perl exited with status 0 after receiving signal 6 (core dumped)

##</code><code>##

sub wrap_system {
    if ( 0 == system { $_[0] } @_ ) { return 1 }
    if ( -1 == $? ) { 
        $@ = "Unable to launch $_[0]: $!" 
    } else {
        $@ = "$_[0] exited with status " . ($? >> 8);
        if (my $sig = $? & 127) { $@ .= " after receiving signal $sig" }
        if ($? & 128) {$@ .= " (core dumped)" }
    }
    return;
}