If you really want the output, you might want to go back to using backticks. You can get the return code from $? after the command has run and you can capture or print the output.

Also, keep in mind that the return code, both as returned by system() and as available in $? is actually the value returned by the wait() system call. You will need to shift it to the right by 8 bits (or divide by 256) to get the actual return code.

Something like this:

 
#!/usr/bin/perl
# This is minimal and hasn't been checked at all.  
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n"; 
print `/path/to/perl -w /path/to/script -opts`; # FIX THIS LINE
print "Exit value: ", $? >> 8;
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-sauoq
"My two cents aren't worth a dime.";