package ForkBlock;

use strict;
use vars qw/$CHILD_PID @ISA @EXPORT @EXPORT_OK %EXPORT_TAGS $VERSION/;
use Carp;
use Exporter;

@ISA=("Exporter");
@EXPORT=qw/Fork Parent Child Error/;
@EXPORT_OK=("DumbFork");
%EXPORT_TAGS=('all' => [qw/Fork Parent Child Error DumbFork/]);
$VERSION=0.02;

sub Fork {
    phork(@_) or croak "unable to fork: $!";
    exit(0);
}

sub DumbFork {
    phork(@_) or croak "unable to fork: $!";
}

sub Parent(&;%) { return "parent", @_ }
sub Child(&;%)  { return "child",  @_ }
sub Error(&;%)  { return "error",  @_ }

#private--implements the actual forking
sub phork {
    my %params=%{shift()};
    
    my $parent=$params{"parent"};
    my $child =$params{"child"} ;
    my $error =$params{"error"} ;
    
    local $!;

    FORK_IT: {
        if($CHILD_PID=fork()) {
            #i'm the parent
            &$parent;
        }
        elsif(defined($CHILD_PID)) {
            #i'm the child
            &$child;
        }
        else {
            #something went wrong
            if($! =~ /No more process/) {
                #recoverable, so wait a second and try again
                sleep 1;
                redo FORK_IT;
            }
            elsif(defined($error)) {
                    #something went wrong, but an Error block was defi
+ned
                    &$error;
            }
            else {
                #something went wrong, and the user forgot an Error bl
+ock
                return 0;
            }
        }
    }
    
    return 1;
}

1;
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