package Bug::Destroy::System;
sub new {
   my $pkg = shift;
   bless {}, $pkg;
}

sub DESTROY {
    # we need to call some system routine
    system("echo hello");
}

package main;
my $t = Bug::Destroy::System->new();
die "Oh, no, bad thing happened!";

__END__

##</code><code>##

rtg$ perl5.8.8 system-destroy-bug.pl; echo $?
Oh, no, bad thing happened! at system-destroy-bug.pl line 15.
hello
0

##</code><code>##

...
waitpid(24613, [{WIFEXITED(s) && WEXITSTATUS(s) == 0}], 0) = 24613
rt_sigaction(SIGINT, {SIG_DFL}, NULL, 8) = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGQUIT, {SIG_DFL}, NULL, 8) = 0
read(3, "", 4)                          = 0
close(3)                                = 0
exit_group(0)                           = ?

##</code><code>##

...
wait4(12266, [{WIFSIGNALED(s) && WTERMSIG(s) == 121} | 0x65747300], 0, NULL) = 12266
syscall_416(0x2, 0xbfbfe4f0, 0)         = 0
syscall_416(0x3, 0xbfbfe4d0, 0)         = 0
read(3, "", 4)                          = 0
close(3)                                = 0
exit(0)                                 = ?