package Forking::Amazing; sub run ($&&@) { my ( $maxforks, $childcallback, $resultcallback, @ids ) = @_; use Storable qw( freeze thaw ); use IO::Select; my %fh2id; my $sel = IO::Select->new; while( @ids or $sel->count ) # unstarted or active { while( @ids and $sel->count < $maxforks ) # start all forks allowed { my $id = shift @ids; if( open my $fh, '-|' ) # forking open { $sel->add( $fh ); # parent $fh2id{$fh} = $id; } else # child code goes here { print freeze $childcallback->($id); exit; } } for my $fh ( $sel->can_read ) # collecting child data { $sel->remove( $fh ); $resultcallback->($fh2id{$fh}, thaw do { local $/; <$fh> }); } } } 1; __END__ =head1 EXAMPLE program use Forking::Amazing; # small example program use Data::Dump 'dd'; Forking::Amazing::run( 5, # max forks sub { +{id => pop, pid => $$} }, # runs in child sub {dd pop}, # process result of child in parent 'a'..'z'); # ids (one fork for each id) =cut