use strict;

my $JAVA_CLASSPATH = '...whatever';
my $java_command = "java -classpath $JAVA_CLASSPATH TextEntry";

my $kid;
defined($kid = fork()) or die "error: fork: $!";
if ($kid == 0) {
    ## child
    # Could redirect child stdout/stderr here if desired.
    #   open(STDOUT, '>', 'javastdout.tmp') or die "redirect stdout: $!";
    #   open(STDERR, '>', 'javastderr.tmp') or die "redirect stderr: $!";
    exec($java_command);
    die "error: exec: $!";
}
warn "parent continues ... child pid is $kid\n";
# Could wait for child to exit using waitpid if required.
#   waitpid($kid, 0);
# script continues...

END {
    # Update: should first check that $kid is still alive before killing it.
    # Something like: kill 0, $kid should do it (see "perldoc -f kill")
    if ($kid) {
        kill 9 => $kid; # bang
    };
};