http://qs321.pair.com?node_id=225577


in reply to Win32::Process::Create and IO::Select bad interaction

Like in Unix, each file handle also has a bit saying whether or not it should be inheritted by another program.

In Unix it is called the "close-on-exec flag", can be controlled by fcntl() with F_SETFD, and (as the name implies) takes effect on exec since a forked child always inherits all open file handles.

In Windows it is just the "inherit flag" for the file handle, is initially set by the bInheritHandle field of the SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES struct argument to CreateFile() (and defaults to "don't inherit" if this argument is NULL), can be changed using SetHandleInformation() with HANDLE_FLAG_INHERIT, and takes effect when a new process is created [for example, via CreateProcess()].

If you create a process with the bInheritHandles parameter of CreateProcess() specified as TRUE, then that process will inherit only those handles that have their "inherit bit" set to TRUE. If you specify bInheritHandles as FALSE, then no handles are inheritted.

You should already have Win32API::File on your system so you can use SetHandleInformation() via it.

                - tye