Thanks for the info. I'll check Proc::Killfam out, though I try to avoid non-core dependencies when I can on this box as it's an Ubuntu server.

I think BrowserUK identified why I was creating strawmen in Re^3: Handling badly behaved system calls in threads - I'm still working through the code examples he's posted for avoiding invoking the shell. Not relying to feeding backticked system calls through regular expressions appeals to me greatly.

In reply to Re^2: Handling badly behaved system calls in threads by kennethk
in thread Handling badly behaved system calls in threads by kennethk

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