While researching my problem using Perl 5.10, I came across another thread on the php.net site related to this issue as well. http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=44942 Using perl's backtick (ie: @files = `dir ../config /O:D /A:-D`;) command to do a system call hangs Apache's CGI. Once it hangs any other Perl script that uses a system call will hang leaving both 'cmd' and 'perl' process hung in memory. And any other Perl script that doesn't have a system call will execute, return the data, but the 'perl' process will stay resident in memory. Eventually if enough cmd and/or perl processes remain in memory the system CPU pegs at 100% or Apache completely locks up requiring a system reboot. A: No log or error messages are created B: Sometimes it goes 10 days without a hang or just two days, and sometimes scripts with system/exec calls will run fine 100 times, and then just 5 times, before hanging. C: After a hang, a sevice restart usually works to get everything working again. But occassionally a full system reboot is required. The above link to the PHP article refers to a similar problem with PHPs 'exec' system calls causing Apache to hang. PS: My apologies if this is already a documented issue, I searched bugzilla and found nothing similar in nature to what I (and the PHP users) are experiencing.
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