I want to thank everyone for their help.

Here is the final product (I didn't use IPC or even File::Find, as they didn't really seem as simple as I needed).

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;
use Tk;

use POSIX qw(WNOHANG setsid);
use Errno qw(EAGAIN);
use constant DEBUG => 0;    # Change to 1 to enable debugging
use Quantum::Superpositions;
require Tk::ProgressBar;

## Establish global variables #######################################
my ( $location, $storage, $source, $home, $home_value );
my ( $exclude, $block, $exclusions );
## Done with global variables ######################################

# Spin the message loop
my $main = &create_ui;
MainLoop;

####################################################################
## Make a pretty menu
####################################################################
sub create_ui {

    # Create main window
    my $main = MainWindow->new;

    $main->geometry('+40+40');

    $main->title("Personal Synch Tool");

### Source Directory label and textbox
    $source = $main->Label(
        -text       => 'Source Directory (no trailing /)',
        -background => 'lightgreen',
        -relief     => 'ridge',
      )->pack(
        -expand => 1,
        -side   => 'left',
        -fill   => 'both',
      );

    $source->grid(
        -row        => 1,
        -column     => 0,
        -columnspan => 1,

        #-sticky     => 'w',
        -padx => 2,
        -pady => 4
    );

    $home = $main->Entry( -textvariable => "/home/jrobiso2" );
    $home->grid(
        -row        => 1,
        -column     => 1,
        -columnspan => 1,

        #-sticky     => 'w',
        -padx => 2,
        -pady => 4,
    );

### End Source label and textbox

### Exclusion listing label and textbox
    $exclude = $main->Label(
        -text       => 'Exclusions (seperate by space)',
        -background => 'PaleVioletRed',
        -relief     => 'ridge',
      )->pack(
        -expand => 1,
        -side   => 'left',
        -fill   => 'both',
      );

    $exclude->grid(
        -row        => 2,
        -column     => 0,
        -columnspan => 1,

        #-sticky     => 'w',
        -padx => 2,
        -pady => 4
    );

    $block = $main->Entry( -textvariable => "X Y W" );
    $block->grid(
        -row        => 2,
        -column     => 1,
        -columnspan => 1,

        #-sticky     => 'w',
        -padx => 2,
        -pady => 4,
    );

### End Exclusion listing label and textbox

### Target location label and textbox
    my $label = $main->Label(
        -text       => 'Target Location: ',
        -background => 'lightblue',
        -relief     => 'ridge',
      )->pack(
        -expand => 1,
        -side   => 'left',
        -fill   => 'both',
      );

    $label->grid(
        -row        => 3,
        -column     => 0,
        -columnspan => 1,

        #-sticky     => 'w',
        -padx => 2,
        -pady => 4
    );

    $location = $main->Entry( -textvariable => "/media/usbdisk/" );
    $location->grid(
        -row        => 3,
        -column     => 1,
        -columnspan => 1,

        #-sticky     => 'w',
        -padx => 2,
        -pady => 4,
    );

### End target label and textbox

### Start "Synch" Button
    my $go = $main->Button(
        -text       => 'Synch',
        -command    => \&synch,
        -background => 'green',
      )->pack(
        -expand => 1,
        -side   => 'left',
        -fill   => 'both',
      );
    $go->grid(
        -row        => 4,
        -column     => 0,
        -columnspan => 1,
        -sticky     => 'e w',
    );
### END Synch button

## Start Quit button
    my $quit = $main->Button(
        -text       => 'Quit',
        -justify    => 'right',
        -background => 'red',
        -command    => [ $main => 'destroy' ]
      )->pack(
        -expand => 1,
        -side   => 'right',
        -fill   => 'both',
      );

    $quit->grid(
        -row        => 4,
        -column     => 1,
        -columnspan => 1,
        -sticky     => 'e w',
    );
### END Quit button
}
############# END pretty menu ############################

sub synch {
    ## establish all values needed
    $storage    = $location->get();
    $exclusions = $block->get();
    $home_value = $home->get();
    chomp $storage;
    chomp $home_value;
    chomp $exclusions;

    ### Get exclusions, and add "." and ".." to it.
    my @exclusion_list = split( /\s/, $exclusions );
    push @exclusion_list, ".";
    push @exclusion_list, "..";

    opendir( HOME, $home_value ) || die "Cannot open $home_value: $!";
    my @SOURCE = readdir(HOME);
    closedir(HOME);

    my $tot = $#SOURCE - 1;

    #print "total items: $tot\n";

    unless ( -e $storage ) {
        my $response = $main->messageBox(
            -message => "$storage does not exist or is not mounted\n",
            -title   => "Error!",
            -icon    => 'error',
            -type    => 'RetryCancel',
        );
        if ( $response eq 'Retry' ) {
            synch();
        }
        else { return }
    }

## Progress Bar
    my $count = 0;
    my $mw = new MainWindow( -title => 'Copying Progress Bar' );
    $mw->geometry('+340+340');
    my $top = $mw->Frame()->pack( -expand => 1, -fill => 'both' );

    my $percent_done = 0;
    my $pb           = $top->ProgressBar(
        -width       => 20,
        -height      => 200,
        -from        => 0,
        -to          => 100,
        -blocks      => 20,
        -gap         => 0,
        -length      => 400,
        -colors      => [ 0, 'green', 50, 'green', 80, 'green' ],
        -troughcolor => 'red',
        -variable    => \$percent_done
    )->pack();
## End Progress Bar

    foreach my $file (@SOURCE) {
        next if ( $file eq any(@exclusion_list) );

        my $cmd = "cp -au $home_value\/\"$file\" $storage";

        #print "Executing: $cmd\n";

        ## Open a message box to inform regarding the command.
        while (`$cmd`) {    # $$ is the pid returned by the system com
+mand
            my $status = $main->messageBox(
                -message    => 'Executing $cmd',
                -background => 'lightgray',
                -title      => 'Update',
            );
        }
        ## Progress bar update
        $count++;

        #print $count;
        $percent_done = $count / $tot * 100;
        $pb->update;
    }
    ## END Progress Bar update
    ## Now close the progress bar
    $mw->destroy;

    my $response = $main->messageBox(
        -message => "Copying is complete!",
        -title   => "Complete!",
        -type    => 'OK',
    );
    if ( $response eq 'OK' ) {
        exit(0);
    }
    else { return }
}

[download]

Again, thanks to everyone. This version seems to run very smoothly (it copies an 87 level deep directory structure in less than a minute, progress bar and all). The progress bar comes up when and where I want it, it goes away when it's complete, and there is even a nice "OK moron, I'm done" message window.

If anyone thinks this a really stupid way to do this, please feel welcome to redo it in "better" perl and post to the code section of perlmonks. I used to code a lot of perl (even did it for a living around the turn of the century) but now I only do one or two scripts a year, so as you can see I am very very rusty. Improvements are always welcome.


What does this little button do . .<Click>; "USER HAS SIGNED OFF FOR THE DAY"

In reply to Re: Tk::ProgressBar and system cp by tame1
in thread Tk::ProgressBar and system cp by tame1

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