I was including $! in the error text because my Programming Perl, 3rd Edition book has the $! icon next to the readline function which is the implementation of the <FILEHANDLE> operator. If that's incorrect, then I'll omit it from the error message.

Does this pass muster: 
my $error = '';
if (!eof($PROG_STDERR)) {
    $error = join('', <$PROG_STDERR>) or die "Error reading data from 
+STDERR";
}
close($PROG_STDERR);
print "error: $error\n";

[download]
You've given me some insight into the problem I've been fighting with. Thank you.

In reply to Re^6: open3 and illegal seeks by brainsick
in thread open3 and illegal seeks by brainsick

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