With the following code, I recently got a rash of failures this afternoon, all while closing the pipe file handle. 

    open(QSTAT, 'qstat|') or die("failed to start qstat ($!)");

    while (<QSTAT>) {
        # Parse output from qstat
    }

    close QSTAT or die("close qstat ($!)");

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(The qstat utility lists the jobs currently running on the Sun Grid Engine.) The result string $! was empty. Has anyone else seen this, or have any comments?

I have had a qstat window up and running (using watch) all day today, and it has never crashed, so I don't (much) suspect qstat.

--t. alex
Life is short: get busy!

In reply to Why might a close operation die? by talexb

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