The consensus is that the instance of $new is going to cloned rather than shared. Bummer.. However, I don't see this as a problem yet..

The docs say that open filehandles will be dup-ed so that closing is handled properly. (one doesn't close the other) Although the seek pointer IS shared between the processes.

My problem is still that I have to lock them from reading at the same instant. Now to implement it.

( Keeping in mind I'd really like to stick with default/stock perl modules.)

My first thought is to use semaphores. But I don't see an easy interface such as pop/shift. Or am I making it too complicated. I'll keep working on it.

But if someone would like to chime in with an example of locking processes using semaphores, I'd appreciate it! 8)

Thx, SMF 8)