First I fire up ssh to see what the next directory will be for this project. The highest existing directory is 1.hound5, so I know that my script is going to want to create a directory 1.hound6 . Instead, I create a plain text file:

(uiserver):u61210220:~/pmimage$ ls >1.hound6
(uiserver):u61210220:~/pmimage$ stat 1.hound6
  File: ‘1.hound6’
  Size: 1151          Blocks: 8          IO Block: 4096   regular file
Device: 9405h/37893d    Inode: 1021987444  Links: 1
Access: (0604/-rw----r--)  Uid: (6042724/u61210220)   Gid: (  600/ftpu
+sers)
Access: 2018-11-22 00:23:27.844353135 -0500
Modify: 2018-11-22 00:23:27.844353135 -0500
Change: 2018-11-22 00:23:27.844353135 -0500
 Birth: -
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This is the output from the part of the script that uses sftp transfer:

Put file to server(y/n)?: y
server dir is perlmonks
return1 is Directory perlmonks already exists!
path3 is /home/bob/2.scripts/pages/1.hound/template_stuff/1.hound1.css
image dir is pmimage
return2 is Directory pmimage already exists!
Remove file(y/n)?: y
you got 35 seconds for process 16757
return3 is 1
1.hound1.pl,16750 -w ./1.hound1.pl
  |-1.hound1.pl,16757 -w ./1.hound1.pl
  |-pstree,16758 -Apal 16750
  `-ssh,16751 -p 22 -o NumberOfPasswordPrompts=1 -o PreferredAuthentic
+ations=keyboard-interactive,password -l u61210220 home349337426.1and1
+-data.host -s sftp
process 16757 executed here
16757 terminated
^C
$
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Here are the subroutines responsible for this part of the script (remember, I said these were a wreck):

sub createDir {
  use 5.011;
  use Net::SFTP::Foreign;
  my ( $dirName, $sftp ) = @_;
  if ( $sftp->test_e($dirName) ) {
    if ( !$sftp->test_d($dirName) ) {

      print "Remove file(y/n)?: ";
      my $prompt1 = <STDIN>;
      chomp $prompt1;

      if ( $prompt1 eq ( "y" | "Y" ) ) {

        my $start = time;
        if ( fork() == 0 ) {

          # arm the alarm clock
          alarm(35);
          say "you got 35 seconds for process $$";

          # create a child process
          my $return3 = $sftp->remove($dirName);
          say "return3 is remove file return: $return3";
          createDir( $dirName, $sftp );
          say "process $$ executed here";

          exit(0);
        }

        system("pstree -Apal $$");

        while ( ( my $pid = wait() ) != -1 ) {
          say "$pid terminated";
        }

        say time - $start, " seconds elapsed instead of a year";
      }

      #end if that tests  !$sftp->test_d($dirName) next brace
    }

    if ( $sftp->test_d($dirName) ) {

      return "Directory $dirName already exists!";
    }
    else {
      say "Can't create $dirName because there's a file in the way!";
      handleDirCreateError( @_, $sftp->error() );
    }
  }
  my $success = $sftp->mkdir($dirName)
    or handleDirCreateError( @_, $sftp->error() );
  return $success;
}

sub handleDirCreateError {
  use 5.011;
  use Net::SFTP::Foreign;
  my ( $dirName, $sftp, $error ) = @_;
  say "parameter array is @_";
  if ( fork() == 0 ) {

    # arm the alarm clock
    alarm(10);
    say "alarm set for ten in process $$ and pinging google";

    # create a child process
    my $trial = system("ping www.google.com");
    say "trial is $trial";
    exit(0);
  }
  print "Bounce wireless(y/n)?: ";
  my $prompt1 = <STDIN>;
  chomp $prompt1;

  if ( $prompt1 eq ( "y" | "Y" ) ) {
    if ( fork() == 0 ) {

      # arm the alarm clock
      alarm(35);
      say "alarm set for 35 in process $$ and restarting network";

      # create a child process

      my $trial2 = system("sudo service network-manager restart");
      say "trial2 is $trial2";
      sleep 30;
      say "sleeping 30";
      exit(0);
    }
  }
  print "Do you think you're ready now(y/n)?: ";
  my $prompt2 = <STDIN>;
  chomp $prompt2;

  if ( $prompt2 eq ( "y" | "Y" ) ) {

    my $return2 = createDir( $dirName, $sftp );
    say "return2 is $return2";
  }

  else {
    say "$error was too much this time: ceasing execution";
    die;
  }
  return "execution shouldn't get here";
}
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At the end, I do get my directory, but program execution has not continued so as to populate it.

(uiserver):u61210220:~/pmimage/1.hound6$ pwd
/kunden/homepages/9/d349337426/htdocs/pmimage/1.hound6
(uiserver):u61210220:~/pmimage/1.hound6$
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