I've tried your suggestions and still have the problem. Am now using use strict; use warnings; $!=1;

The return codes with $? >> 8, $? & 127 and $? & 128 are always 0.
I get error messages running date via backticks and open(), which seems to indicate that there is no result from the command. (See below).

BUT - if I reduce the array size then all runs OK!
Reducing the array to about 5881 x 2562 then my demo script runs OK.
2562 is not 100% repeatable - seems to depend on what other programs are running.
Also - it isn't symmetrical. This means that 5881 x 2562 may work, but then 2562 x 5881 doesn't.

Further suggestions welcomed.

Cheers, Peter

Bad results snippet:

#Finished setup of two arrays 5761 x 2801
#After - using system("date");:  #exited with value ($? >> 8) = 0
#  #signal number ($? & 127) = 0
#  #dumped core ($? & 128) = 0
Use of uninitialized value $cmd in print at ./xpt3.pl line 67.
#After - using backticks: readline() on closed filehandle CMD at ./xpt
+3.pl line 71.
Use of uninitialized value $result in concatenation (.) or string at .
+/xpt3.pl line 72.
#After - using open:

#End
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#Finished setup of two arrays 5761 x 2001
#After - using system("date");: Wed Feb 17 13:13:24 GMT 2010
 #exited with value ($? >> 8) = 0
# Wed Feb 17 13:13:24 GMT 2010
 #signal number ($? & 127) = 0
# Wed Feb 17 13:13:24 GMT 2010
 #dumped core ($? & 128) = 0
#After - using backticks: Wed Feb 17 13:13:24 GMT 2010
#After - using open: Wed Feb 17 13:13:24 GMT 2010


#End
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Code snippet:

print "#Finished setup of two arrays $i x $j\n";

#Using system()
print '#After - using system("date");: ';
system("date");
if ( $? == -1 ) { print " #command failed: $!\n"; }
  else { print " #exited with value (\$? >> 8) = ",($? >> 8),"\n"; }

print "# ";
system("date");
if ( $? == -1 ) { print " #command failed: $!\n"; }
  else { print " #signal number (\$? & 127) = ",($? & 127),"\n"; }

print "# ";
system("date");
if ( $? == -1 ) { print " #command failed: $!\n"; }
  else { print " #dumped core (\$? & 128) = ",($? & 128),"\n"; }

#Using backticks
$cmd = `date 2>&1`;
print "#After - using backticks: ",$cmd;

#Using open()
open(CMD, "date 2>&1 |");
$result = <CMD>;
print "#After - using open: $result\n";
close(CMD);

print "\n#End\n";

exit;
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The array sizes you have imply a total allocation of around 2Gb on a 32-bit system, and around 2.5Gb on a 64-bit system. This might be some magical number that is causing the fork to fail. How much virtual memory do the two servers have? Try running the code under strace, and see if there are any interesting system call errors:

$ strace -f -o /tmp/strace.out perl foo.pl
$ grep '= -1 E' /tmp/strace.out
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Also, for debugging purposes, please just call date the one time and print the full unadulterated value of $?, rather than three times with three separate snippets, e.g.

system("date");
printf "\$?=0x%x \$!=%s\n", $?, $!;
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Dave.

Hi and thanks,
grep '= -1 E' /tmp/strace.out shows this as the final message:
5215  clone(child_stack=0, flags=CLONE_CHILD_CLEARTID|CLONE_CHILD_SETTID|SIGCHLD, child_tidptr=0x7fc213c1b780) = -1 ENOMEM (Cannot allocate memory)
$? and $! report:
Before array setup: $?=0x0 $!=Operation not permitted
After array setup: $?=0x0 $!=Cannot allocate memory

For details of free memory via free -m see below. Also ulimit -a

So my problem appears to be memory. I have 4Gb RAM and 2.4 Gb swap. I thought that on 64 bit the array would be swapped out to allow the system command to run. Seems it isn't.

On 32 bit there is just enough memory to allow the system command to run.

I do have in mind a crude workaround for the problem, involving a simple daemon to replace the system call to run PovRay, but I am still interested to understand why the system thinks it can't allocate memory when there's Gbytes of swap available.

Cheers, Peter

free -m before and after array setup
64 bit
Before:

         total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:      3948       1202       2746          0         63        418
-/+ buffers/cache:    720       3228
Swap:     2392          0       2392
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After:

         total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:      3948       3931         17          0          3         93
-/+ buffers/cache:   3834        114
Swap:     2392         51       2341
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32 bit
Before:

         total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:      3549        954       2594          0         77        362
-/+ buffers/cache:    514       3034
Swap:     2392          0       2392
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After:

         total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:      3549       3437        111          0         81        359
-/+ buffers/cache:   2996        553
Swap:     2392          0       2392
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64 bit:

ulimit -a
core file size          (blocks, -c) 0
data seg size           (kbytes, -d) unlimited
file size               (blocks, -f) unlimited
pending signals                 (-i) 36864
max locked memory       (kbytes, -l) 64
max memory size         (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files                      (-n) 1024
pipe size            (512 bytes, -p) 8
POSIX message queues     (bytes, -q) 819200
stack size              (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time               (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes              (-u) 36864
virtual memory          (kbytes, -v) unlimited
file locks                      (-x) unlimited
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Sorry, a typo. I meant $|.