my $Worker_count = 2;

fork_workers();

sub autoflush { select((select(shift), $| = 1)[0]) }

sub fork_workers {
    # worker sends pid to boss when ready for more work
    pipe my $from_workers, my $to_boss;
    autoflush($to_boss);
    my %workers;
    foreach (1 .. $Worker_count) {
	# pipe for boss to send 'work' to worker
	pipe my $from_boss, my $to_worker;
	# pipe for worker to send message back to boss
	pipe my $from_worker2, my $to_boss2;
	autoflush($to_worker);
	autoflush($to_boss2);
	my $pid = fork;
	die "failed to fork: $!" unless defined $pid;
	if ($pid) {
	    $workers{$pid} = [$to_worker, $from_worker2];
	    close $from_boss;
	    close $to_boss2;
	} else {
	    close $from_workers;
	    close $from_worker2;
	    close $to_worker;
	    close STDIN;
	    send_msg($to_boss, $$);
	    worker($from_boss, $to_boss, $to_boss2);
	    exit;
	}
    }
    close $to_boss;

    my $INT_handler = $SIG{INT};
    local $SIG{INT} = sub {
	close $from_workers;
	for (keys %workers) {
	    my ($to_worker, $from_worker2) = @{$workers{$_}};
	    close $to_worker;
	    close $from_worker2;
	}
	$INT_handler->('INT');
    };

    my @work = get_work(); # ???

    while (my $pid = receive_msg($from_workers)) {
	my ($to_worker, $from_worker2) = @{$workers{$pid}};
	my $msg = receive_msg($from_worker2);
	if (@work) {
	    my $whatever = something(@work);
	    send_msg($to_worker, $whatever);
	    @work = ();
	} else {
	    close $to_worker;
	    close $from_worker2;
	    delete $workers{$pid};
	}
	if (length $msg) {
	    # something
	}
    }
    close $from_workers;
}


sub worker {
    my ($from_boss, $to_boss, $to_boss2) = @_;
    while (my $whatever = receive_msg($from_boss)) {
	my $msg = something_else($whatever);
	send_msg($to_boss, $$);
	send_msg($to_boss2, $msg);
    }
}


sub receive_msg {
    my $fh = shift;
    local $/ = "\003\000";
    my $msg = <$fh>;
    chomp $msg if defined $msg;
    return $msg;
}


sub send_msg {
    my ($fh, $msg) = @_;
    print $fh $msg, "\003\000";
}