use FileHandle;
our $LOGFH; #can't figure out a way around using a global var here

if ( $opt_s ) {
	$LOGFH = new_from_fd FileHandle fileno(STDOUT), 'a';
} else {
	$opt_l ||= $DEFAULT_LOG_FILE;
	$LOGFH = new FileHandle $opt_l, 'a';
}
( ! defined $LOGFH ) and croak 'Could not open logfile, aborting.';

autoflush $LOGFH 1;    #autoflush on

$LOGFH->print(scalar localtime, ": running MyProgram.\n") 
    or carp 'Could not print to log.';

##</code><code>##

 $opt_v and $LOGFH->print("$count records were processed.\n")
   or carp 'Could not print to log.';

##</code><code>##

if ( !$opt_s ) {
    $LOGFH->print(q{-} x 50, "\n") or carp 'Could not print to log.';
    close $LOGFH or croak "Could not close the logfile: $!";
}