Module:        Proc::Simple.pm    Version 1.12

Author:        Michael Schilli

Description:   Proc::Simple helps controlling background processes. It
              provides "Process Objects" that mimic their real world
              counterparts.

              A Process object can be activated, i.e. the corresponding
              process can be started either with a shell-like
              command line or by specifying a perl subroutine. The
              'start' Method of the process object is non-blocking, i.e.
              it returns immediately and runs the specified process in
              background mode. Every process object provides a 'poll' method
              that tells if the corresponding process is still running
              and the 'kill' method can be used to finally terminate it
              or send and arbitrary UNIX-signal.

Logic:
              use Proc::Simple;

              $myproc = Proc::Simple->new();        # New process object

              $myproc->start("sleep 10");           # Start Shell process
          OR
              $myproc->start(sub { sleep 10; });    # Start Perl Sub

              print "alive!\n" if $myproc->poll();  # Poll Process

              $myproc->kill("SIGUSR1");             # Send signal
              $myproc->kill();                      # Terminate


Changes:       from 1.1:  Process is now called Proc::Simple to fit in the
                         CPAN namespace, corrections Andreas Koenig suggested.
              from 1.11: binkley's error: threw out waitpid, wait is
                         performed by signal handler now.

Release Date:  96/05/22

Requirements:  Perl 5.002


Manpages:      Embedded in Proc/Simple.pm as usual:

              pod2man Proc/Simple.pm | nroff -man | more

Installation:

              perl Makefile.PL
              make
              make test
              make install

Copyright:     (c) 1996 Michael Schilli. All rights reserved. This program
              is free software, you can redistribute it and/or modify it
              under the same terms as Perl itself.

Have fun!

Michael Schilli [email protected]