Good call.

defined( my $pid = open(CMD, '-|') )
    or die("Can't fork: $!\n");

if ($pid == 0) {
    close(STDERR);
    open(STDERR, ">&STDOUT")
        or print "Unable to reopen STDOUT, errors may be lost: $!";
    exec('/bin/tar', 'czf', '/nonexistent/test.tar.gz', '.')
        or die("Unable to exec: $!")
}

local $/ = undef;
my $output .= <CMD>;

close(CMD);

if    ($? == -1) { die("Can't close pipe: $!\n"); }
elsif ($? & 127) { die("tar died from signal ", ($? & 127), "\n"); }
elsif ($? >> 8)  { die("tar exited with error ", ($? >> 8), "\n"); }

print $output;
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tar died from signal 13
[download]