Perl Return Code -1
Nov 25th, 2009 by Alex
If your Perl system() calls are returning -1, be sure to check whether $SIG{CHLD} is set to IGNORE. While useful in some situations, it makes troubleshooting a bit tedious. Especially when the calls execute flawlessly on the console.
I ran into this while working on inherited code. I thought I was losing my mind for a time.