Sorry for necroposting, just pointing out that if (waitpid($pid, 0) > 0); should be: if (waitpid($pid, 0) > 0){

Here is the same code, with an additional timeout option from the parent:

#!/usr/bin/perl 
use strict;
use warnings;
 
my $timeout = 10;
my $parent_pid = $$;
my $child_pid = fork();

die "Can't fork() : $!\n" unless defined $child_pid;

if ($child_pid){
    # parent
    eval {
        local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "timed-out\n" };
        alarm $timeout;
        if (waitpid($child_pid, 0) > 0){
            my ($rc, $sig, $core) = ($? >> 8, $? & 127, $? & 128);
            if ($core){
                print "$child_pid dumped core\n";
            }elsif($sig == 9){
                print "$child_pid was murdered!\n";
            }else{
                print "$child_pid returned $rc";
                print ($sig?" after receiving signal $sig":"\n");
            }
        }else{
          print "$child_pid... um... disappeared...\n";
       }
       alarm 0;
   };
   if($@ eq "timed-out\n"){
        print "$child_pid... parent got bored waiting for it...\n";
   }else{
        print "$child_pid ran SUCCESSFULLY!!!\n";
   };
}else{
    # child
    unless (run_code()){
        exit 1;
    }
    exit 0;
}

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In reply to Re^2: Perl IPC: Checking Exit Status of Child Process by FreeBeerReekingMonk
in thread Perl IPC: Checking Exit Status of Child Process by bayruds

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