Perl script not executing some external calls - linux

Question

I have wrote this Perl script to automate my wireless connections:
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
my #modes = ("start", "stop");
my $mode = $modes[0];
my $kill_command = "sudo kill -TERM ";
sub check_args
{
if($#ARGV != 0)
{
print(STDERR "Wrong arguments\n");
print(STDERR "Usage: ./wicd.pl start|stop\n");
exit();
}
my #aux = grep(/^$ARGV[0]$/, #modes);
if (!#aux)
{
print(STDERR "Unknown argument\n");
print(STDERR "Usage: ./wicd.pl start|stop\n");
exit();
}
$mode = $ARGV[0];
}
check_args();
my #is_wicd_running = `ps -A | grep wicd`;
# START
if ($mode eq $modes[0])
{
if (!#is_wicd_running)
{
system("gksudo ifconfig wlan0 down");
system("sudo macchanger -r wlan0");
system("sudo wicd");
}
my #is_wicd_gui_running = grep(/wicd-client/, #is_wicd_running);
if (!#is_wicd_gui_running)
{
system("gksudo wicd-gtk &");
}
}
# STOP
else
{
for (#is_wicd_running)
{
my #aux = split(/ /, $_);
system("$kill_command$aux[1]");
}
system("sudo ifconfig wlan0 down");
}
The problem is that macchanger and sudo ifconfig wlan0 down are not executing (only those...). The weird thing is that those call do execute when calling the script through Perl debugger (perl -d). I thought this could be a timing problem and added some sleep() calls before those calls, but no change. I also tried with system() calls with no change as well.
EDIT: more strange, I've found that if I run the script as perl wicd.pl it runs properly, while ./wicd.pl does not (it runs but has the problem described above). I've attached the whole script. The Perl interpreter used on the header is the same that which perl command returns.
Any clues? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

More information may help, along with assuring that a \n always ends the output line. Try your running commands within
sub runx
{
foreach my $cmd ( #_ )
{
my $out = qx("$cmd 2>&1");
my $x = $?;
$out =~ s/\s*$/\n/s;
printf "\%s (0x\%0x):\n\%s", $cmd, $x, $out;
last if $x;
}
return $x;
}
No time to run this code this morning and can't delete my prior comment. But somethings running a "which" command can also assure your command is on PATH.