my $pid = open(CMD, '-|');

die("cannot fork: $!") unless (defined $pid);

if ($pid == 0) {
	close(STDERR);
	open(STDERR, ">&STDOUT")
		or print "Unable to reopen STDOUT, errors may be lost: $!";
	exec('/bin/tar', 'czf', '/nonexistent/test.tar.gz', '.')
		or die("Unable to exec: $!")
}

local $/ = undef;
my $output .= <CMD>;

close (CMD);
my $result = $? >> 8;

print "result = $result\n";
print $output;

##</code><code>##

result = 0
/bin/tar: /nonexistent/test.tar.gz: Cannot open: No such file or directory
/bin/tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now