I've tried -w, $!, and all that to try and catch any sort of error, but nothing happens ... The system call is just ignored. It's weird!

Show us how you're checking for errors.

The doc for system (perldoc -f system) suggests checking $? for details of how the child process dies.

Several factors could contribute to this no longer working. Over time, the dataset could have outgrown virtual memory, and over time there could be less virtual memory available for other reasons (e.g., more or bigger processes competing for space, disk space getting used up).


In reply to Re: vanishing system call by dws
in thread vanishing system call by Anonymous Monk

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