Sounds to me that you need to have a different signal handler in the top level dispatch loop and the launch script. Something like:

$SIG{CHILD} = 'IGNORE';

foreach my $job (@big_list_of_jobs)
{
    my $pid = fork()
    
    unless( $pid )
    {
        my $child_cleanup_func = sub
        {
            # Examine the child's output, update log files etc.
        };
        
        $SIG{CHILD} = $child_cleanup_func;
        
        exec $child_cmd, @args;
        
        print "Child did not start\n";
    }
    else
    {
        # parent
        # Forget about the child (launcher process from the fork above
+)
        # move on to the next job.
    }
}

[download]

I think it would also be a good idea to read perlipc

In reply to Re: double fork trick vs sig chld wait by chrestomanci
in thread double fork trick vs sig chld wait by Voronich

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