I usually use if/elsif/else when forking:

if (my $pid = fork) {
    # Parent
    local $SIG{INT}  = 'IGNORE';
    local $SIG{QUIT} = 'IGNORE';
    waitpid($pid, 0);
} elsif (defined $pid) {
    # Child
    exec 'date';
    die 'date not found'
} else {
    die "Can't fork: $!";
}
[download]

Which is the same thing, but in my opinion a little easier to read.

Why do you ignore those signals? I know near to nothing about signals and would like to learn (have only used HUP to reload configuration files, and Perl's __DIE__/__WARN__).

Juerd
- http://juerd.nl/
- spamcollector_perlmonks@juerd.nl (do not use).