sub process_request {
  my $self = shift;
  my $msg;

  eval {

      local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "Child server process timed out!\n" };
      my $timeout = $self->{spampd}->{childtimeout};

      # start a timeout alarm  
      alarm($timeout);

      # start an smtp server
      my $smtp_server = SpamPD::Server->new($self->{server}->{client});

      ...

                #close the temp file
                $smtp_server->{data}->close
                        or $self->log(1, ... );
      ...

    # close connections
    $client->{sock}->close
                        or die "Couldn't close client->{sock}: $!";
    $smtp_server->{sock}->close
                        or die "Couldn't close smtp_server->{sock}: $!";

        if ( $self->{spampd}->{debug} ) {
          $self->log(2, "Closed connections"); }

  }; # end eval block

  alarm(0);  # stop the timer
  # check for error in eval block
  if ($@ ne '') {
          chomp($@);
          $msg = "WARNING!! Error in process_request eval block: $@";
          $self->log(0, $msg);
          die ($msg . "\n");
  }

  $self->{spampd}->{instance}++;

}