Hotshot,

From perldoc -q SIG:

Because "system" and backticks block "SIGINT" and "SIGQUIT", killing t
+he program they're running doesn't actually interrupt your program.
[download]

My simple test on cygwin shows it also blocks SIGTSTP. By rolling your on perlfunc:fork/exec, you can bypass this behaviour.

update: Try to give a simple answer and look what happens. Of course clintp and steves are correct. Steves for pointing out that SIG_IGN is passed along on some systems and clintp for pointing out that you really should attack this problem through the terminal interface.

-derby