Hi Monks, Wisdom needed. I have this code that uses a fork so that the parent will display a web message stating the request is being processed. Below is the code that I'm having problems with. 
} elsif ($url = $cgi->param('url')) {
    $session = get_session_id();
    $cache   = get_cache_handle();
    $cache->set($session, [0, ""]);

    #getting the parameters from the cgi object
    $type    = $cgi->param('type');
    $mudpit  = $cgi->param('mudpit');
    $url     = $cgi->param('url');
    $boldRed = $cgi->param('bold_red');
    $maxHits = $cgi->param('max_hits');

    if ($pid = fork) {
        $cgi->delete_all();
        $cgi->param('session', $session);
        print $cgi->redirect($cgi->self_url());
        
    } elsif (defined $pid) {
    close STDOUT;

    ($tmpDir, $resDir) = chk_dir($path);
        
    $buf = "";

        @urlList = split /\n/, $url;
        foreach (@urlList) {
            ($link, $fn) = which_svr($_);
            dl_file($link, $fn, $tmpDir);
            $buf .= "$fn\n";
            $cache->set($session, [0, $buf]);
        }

        #$cache->set($session, [1, $buf]);
        exit;
        
  } else {
    die "Cannot fork: $!";
  }

[download]
It seems my fork isn't working very well. The process seems to have to complete before anything is shown on the webpage. The webpage display part is below 
if ($session = $cgi->param('session')) {

    $cache = get_cache_handle();
    $data  = $cache->get($session);
    
    print $cgi->header,
                $cgi->start_html(
                    -title => 'Extract peptide masses',
                    -style => { src => '/stylesheet.css' },
                    ($data->[0] ? () : (-head => ["<meta http-equiv=re
+fresh content=5>"]))
                ); #generate HTML document start

print '<img src="/icons/title_banner.gif">';

print << 'HTML_END' unless $data->[0];
    <h3>
        <p>The system is now getting the required file(s) and extracti
+ng the required information.</p>
        <p>Please do not close this browser.</p>
        <p>Links to the result(s) will be displayed when the process i
+s done.</p>
    </h3>

HTML_END

print $cgi->pre($cgi->escapeHTML($data->[1]));
print $cgi->end_html;

[download]
I have $|=1 in my codes. Can anyone tell me what to do to allow the "hold on" page to be displayed while the process the running? Thanks. Desmond

In reply to fork problem by sandrider

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