#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use warnings;
use strict;

###############
# CONFIG VARS #
###############

my $awhile = 45;        # Checking interval (sec)
my $my_watched_file = "/cygdrive/c/WATCHDOG/foobar";
my $EMailText=
'To: roboticus@a.fake.domain.com
Subject: JobToMonitor.pl fault!

Yecch!
';

#--------------------------------------------------
# Let watchdog know we're alive...
sub still_alive {
        open OF, '>>', $my_watched_file;
        print OF $EMailText;
        close OF;
}

unlink $my_watched_file;
my $next_time = 0;
my $count = 0;
while ($count < 999999999999) {

        # put this in a part that's likely to be OK
        if (time > $next_time) {
                &still_alive;
                $next_time = time + $awhile;
        }

        # smallish chunks of job that shouldn't take
        # too much time

        ++$count;

        # You can even use it for periodic logging!
        $EMailText = "$count reached at " . (localtime) . "\n"
                if $count % 1000000 == 0;
}
# Don't alert if we complete successfully
unlink $my_watched_file;