Setting $SIG{CHLD} to 'IGNORE' will certainly allow zombies to be created. The reason they're there is because the parent has not (through omission or inability) called wait (or waitpid) to acknowledge the child's death. Something simple like this should work: 
$SIG{CHLD} = sub { wait };

[download]
This needs to be set before (execution-wise) any fork is done.

Update: I am working under the assumption that your description of "a zombie" being left behind was accurate. If there's a chance that you'll get multiple child deaths rapidly, merlyn explains below that this is not sufficient. Regardless, the "standard" REAPER function that you said you were using should have worked in the first place. I am suspicious that $SIG{CHLD} isn't being declared in the correct place or is being localized unnecessarily.

In reply to Re: nite of the living dead: perl and stunnel make zombies by Fastolfe
in thread nite of the living dead: perl and stunnel make zombies by jhanna

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.