The $self->{ua} is there because I hacked out _init() from the original .pm, and made it one of my methods so I could watch a bit closer. I like your call back idea, though. It means I don't have to understand why a server I thought is 1.1 compliant isn't. I probably need less than 4k. It was an arbitrary length I chose to transfer; tar will pull out what I need and complain to dev null about the rest. So, this response taught me something useful, and your subsequent posting looks amazing. Thanks.