Module:   Proc::Simple.pm    Version 1.14 (09/06/99)

Author:   Michael Schilli

Description:

         Proc::Simple helps controlling background processes in Perl. It
         provides "Process Objects" that mimic their real world
         counterparts. You don't have to deal with fork and wait and
         friends, Proc::Simple is very easy to use, you just start
         processes in background, poll their status once in a while and
         kill them if necessary.

         Proc::Simple is reportedly used in monitoring applications that
         fire up external programs, or software that batch processes user
         programs by launching them in parallel in order to put constant
         load on an expensive number-crunching machine.

Synopsis:
         use Proc::Simple;

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

         $myproc->start("shell-command-line"); # Launch a shell process
         $myproc->start(sub { ... });          # Launch a perl subroutine
         $myproc->start(\&subroutine);         # Launch a perl subroutine

         $running = $myproc->poll();           # Poll Running Process

         $proc->kill_on_destroy(1);            # Set kill on destroy
         $proc->signal_on_destroy("KILL");     # Specify signal to be sent
                                               # on destroy

         $myproc->kill();                      # Kill Process (SIGTERM)

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

         Proc::Simple::debug($level);          # Turn debug on

Changes:
         from 1.13: Replaced two erronous uses of 'exists' by 'defined'.
                    Thanks to [email protected] for pointing this
                    out.
         from 1.12: To fight problems with zombies, replaced the wait()
                    function by a NOWAIT waitpid on systems that
                    support it.

                    Tim Jenness <[email protected]> included
                    kill_on_destroy/sig_on_destroy/pid methods.

         from 1.11: binkley's error: threw out waitpid, wait is
                    performed by signal handler now.

         from 1.1:  Process is now called Proc::Simple to fit in the
                    CPAN namespace, corrections Andreas Koenig suggested.

Release Date:  96/05/22
Latest Update: 99/09/06

Requirements:  Perl 5.003


Manpages:      Embedded in Proc::Simple.pm as usual, just call:

              perldoc Proc::Simple

Installation:

              perl Makefile.PL
              make
              make test
              make install

Copyright:     (c) 1996-1999 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]