The Proc::Simple package provides objects that model real-
       life processes from a user's point of view. A new process
       object is created by

          $myproc = Proc::Simple->new();

       Either shell-like command lines or references to perl
       subroutines can be specified for launching a process in
       background.  A 10-second sleep process, for example, can
       be started via the shell as

          $myproc->start("sleep 10");

       or, as a perl subroutine, with

          $myproc->start(sub { sleep(10); });

WWW: http://search.cpan.org/dist/Proc-Simple/