sub qxx {
    my( $cmd, @args ) = @_;
    my( $rout, $rerr, $wout, $werr, $proch );

    open my $stdout, '>&', \*STDOUT or tcroak( $! );
    pipe $rout, $wout  or tcroak( $! );
    binmode $rout, ':crlf';
    open STDOUT, '>&', $wout or tcroak( $! );

    open my $stderr, '>&', \*STDERR or tcroak( $! );
    pipe $rerr, $werr  or tcroak( $! );
    binmode $rerr, ':crlf';
    open STDERR, '>&', $werr or tcroak( $! );

    Win32::Process::Create(
        $proch, $cmd, join( ' ', $cmd, @args ),
        1, NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS, "."
    ) or tcroak( $^E );

    close $_ for $wout, $werr;

    open STDOUT, '>&', $stdout or tcroak( $! );
    open STDERR, '>&', $stderr or tcroak( $! );
    return $proch->GetProcessID(), $rout, $rerr;
}



##</code><code>##

#! perl -slw
use strict;
use Data::Dump qw[ pp ];
use Win32::Process qw( NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS );
use Time::HiRes qw[ sleep ];
use threads;
use threads::shared;
use Thread::Queue;

our $TIMEOUT //= 10;
our $THREADS //= 16;
our $PROCESSES //= 100;

open DEBUGOUT, '>', 'CON' or die $!;
select DEBUGOUT; $|++; select STDOUT;
my $semDEBUGOUT :shared;

sub tprint{
    my $tid = threads->tid;
    lock $semDEBUGOUT;
    printf DEBUGOUT "%3d: %s\n", $tid, @_;
}

sub tcroak{
    tprint( @_ );
    die scalar caller();
};

sub qxx {
    my( $cmd, @args ) = @_;
    my( $rout, $rerr, $wout, $werr, $proch );

    open my $stdout, '>&', \*STDOUT or tcroak( $! );
    pipe $rout, $wout  or tcroak( $! );
    binmode $rout, ':crlf';
    open STDOUT, '>&', $wout or tcroak( $! );

    open my $stderr, '>&', \*STDERR or tcroak( $! );
    pipe $rerr, $werr  or tcroak( $! );
    binmode $rerr, ':crlf';
    open STDERR, '>&', $werr or tcroak( $! );

    Win32::Process::Create(
        $proch, $cmd, join( ' ', $cmd, @args ),
        1, NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS, "."
    ) or tcroak( $^E );

    close $_ for $wout, $werr;

    open STDOUT, '>&', $stdout or tcroak( $! );
    open STDERR, '>&', $stderr or tcroak( $! );
    return $proch->GetProcessID(), $rout, $rerr;
}

sub worker {
    my $Q = shift;

    while( defined( my $time = $Q->dequeue ) ) {
        my $pid :shared;
        my( $th ) = threads->create( sub {
            my( $rout, $rerr );
            ( $pid, $rout, $rerr ) = qxx(
                'c:/perl64/bin/perl.exe',
                qq[ -le"warn qq/a warning\n/; sleep 1, print for 1 .. $time; print \$\$, ' done'"]
            );
            tcroak 'Failed to exec' unless $pid;
            my $out = join( '', <$rout> ) // '';
            my $err = join( '', <$rerr> ) // '';
            return $out, $err;
        } );
        sleep 1;
        $th->join && tcroak "Process failed to start" unless $pid;
        tprint "Started pid $pid for $time seconds";
        my $t = 0;
        sleep 0.1 while kill( 0, $pid ) and $t++ < ( 10 * $TIMEOUT );
        if( kill( 9, $pid ) ) {
            tprint "$pid timed out; killed";
        }
        else {
            tprint "$pid completed sucessfully";
        }
        my( $out, $err ) = $th->join;
        tprint "pid $pid returned:\nout:'$out'\nerr:'$err'";
        ## Check result;
    }
}

my $Q = new Thread::Queue;
my @workers = map async( \&worker, $Q ), 1 .. $THREADS;

$Q->enqueue( map int( rand 2 * $TIMEOUT ), 1 .. $PROCESSES );
$Q->enqueue( (undef) x $THREADS );

$_->join for @workers;

##</code><code>##

c:\test>857569-2 -THREADS=4 -PROCESSES=6 -TIMEOUT=3
  1: Started pid 4724 for 5 seconds
  2: Started pid 4992 for 3 seconds
  3: Started pid 3088 for 4 seconds
  4: Started pid 4456 for 3 seconds
  1: 4724 timed out; killed
  1: pid 4724 returned:
out:''
err:'a warning
'
  2: 4992 completed sucessfully
  3: 3088 timed out; killed
  2: pid 4992 returned:
out:'1
2
3
4992 done
'
err:'a warning
'
  4: 4456 completed sucessfully
  3: pid 3088 returned:
out:''
err:'a warning
'
  4: pid 4456 returned:
out:'1
2
3
4456 done
'
err:'a warning
'
  1: Started pid 1924 for 4 seconds
  2: Started pid 4784 for 2 seconds
  1: 1924 timed out; killed
  1: pid 1924 returned:
out:''
err:'a warning
'
  2: 4784 completed sucessfully
  2: pid 4784 returned:
out:'1
2
4784 done
'
err:'a warning
'