But that doesn't change whether DESTROY is called:

 $ perl -e "sub DESTROY{warn'dead'}\$x=bless{};"
dead during global destruction.
 $ exec perl -e "sub DESTROY{warn'dead'}\$x=bless{};"
dead during global destruction.
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BTW, in both of the cases above, perl is launched by using exec() [the subroutine from the C run-time library that wraps the kernel hook (or "system call")]. The difference is that the shell's "exec" command avoids the fork() before the exec().

        - tye (but my friends call me "Tye")