Actually, that behavior depends on the Webserver and OS. As I recall you can close STDOUT and STDERR under Apache on a Unix'ish box and Apache will dump the other end. Tho a quick test reveals that it also kills the cgi too so it is of little use to the original poster =)

Does anyone remember if there is a way to make Apache leave the child alive after closing the connection? I have spent too much time in mod_perl so I may have that on the brain.

--
$you = new YOU;
honk() if $you->love(perl)