Well, upgrading the vm to perl 5.20.2 seems to have actually fixed the problem. So it looks like the bug was in perl 5.18, maybe specifically perl 5.18 on a VM or Server 2008? Dunno, very weird. At least it's an easy work around.

Also, this seemed to have solved my second question as well...no more hanging from the un-synchronized system commands. Go figure

Thank you for taking the time to help! Much appreciated

In reply to Re^6: Perl system command memory usage in threads by rmahin
in thread Perl system command memory usage in threads by rmahin

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