while(1) {  
  if (my $pid = fork) {
    open F, ">>run.log" or die "Can't open log file: $!";
    print F scalar(localtime(time)), " Launched process to play cards.\n";
    my ($user,$system,$cuser,$csystem) = times;    
    print F "user $user system $system children $cuser, $csystem\n";
    close F;
    waitpid($pid, 0);
    open F, ">>run.log" or die "Can't open log file: $!";
    print F scalar(localtime(time)), " Child process finished.\n";
    my ($user,$system,$cuser,$csystem) = times;    
    print F "user $user system $system children $cuser, $csystem\n";
    close F;
  } else {
    die "Cannot fork: $!" unless defined $pid;
    initialize();
    while ($current < $MAXMETRIC) {
      goodbye('INT') if -e $DIEFILE;
## etc
    }  ## end while ($current < $MAXMETRIC)
  }
}

##</code><code>##

Mon Jan 14 12:36:28 2008 Launched process to play cards.
user 0.031 system 0.031 children 0, 0
Mon Jan 14 16:29:34 2008 Child process finished.
user 9774.546 system 556.765 children 0, 0
Mon Jan 14 16:29:35 2008 Launched process to play cards.
user 9774.546 system 556.781 children 0, 0