$SIG{PIPE} = sub {close $active; exit (3)};
sub readn
{
   my ($socket, $bytes ) = @_;
   my $offset = 0;
   
   my $buf = "";
   while ($offset < $bytes)
   {
      my $nread;
      my $nleft = $bytes-$offset;
      
      $nread = sysread($socket,$buf,$nleft,$offset);
      kill 'PIPE',$$ unless (defined $nread);  ## undef is like -1 unix return
      last if ($nread ==0);                    ## EOF
      
      $offset += $nread;
   }
   
   return ($buf,$offset);
}

sub writen
{
   my ($socket, $buf) = @_;
   my $bytes = length $buf;
   my $offset =0;
     
   while ($offset < $bytes)
   {
       my $nwritten;
       my $nleft = $bytes-$offset;
       
       $nwritten = syswrite($socket,$buf,$nleft,$offset);
       kill 'PIPE',$$ unless (defined $nwritten);  # undef is like -1 unix return
       
       $offset += $nwritten;
   }
   
   return $offset;
}