system( @args ) == 0 or syscall_error( $?, "system @args" );

sub syscall_error(
  my $error = shift;
  my $name = shift;
  die "$name failed: $!" if $error == -1;
  die "$name returned error: ", $error >> 8,
    ", signal: ", $error & 127, 
    " and dumped_core: ", $error & 128;
}