Also, just how "wrong" is it to use the 'system' command. Not portable and no easy way to verify success of the command.

No easy way to verify success? Huh? Check $? (or the return value from the system call) and, if it is zero you succeeded. If it is negative, check $! or if it is positive and you need more information, do the appropriate shifts and bitwise-ands on $? to get it.

Sure, it requires a slightly different approach than the copy(...) or die $! but it's still easy to do.

-sauoq
"My two cents aren't worth a dime.";