SPUG: Trapping LWP exceptions

[Sanford Morton]

I need to trap certain LWP exceptions. Is it more appropriate to
handle the __DIE__ signal or use an eval block on $ua->request($req)?

I'm using LWP and a user agent to repeatedly poll a web page looking
for updates:

    while (sleep 900) {
      $resp = $ua->request($req);
      &process_page( $resp->as_string );  

Occasionally the script dies with errors like

   500 (Internal Server Error) Can't connect to www.yahoo.com:80
   (Transport endpoint is not connected) Client-Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2000
   14:43:28 GMT

I think these are server hiccups, going offline for seconds or a few
minutes, so that the socket fails to connect. The user agent is
die'ing deep within LWP, maybe LWP::Protocol::http or IO::Socket.

I'd like to trap these exceptions, to go to sleep and try again later,
instead of die'ing. What's the best way to do that? Shall I handle the
__DIE__ signal or use an eval block on $ua->request($req)? It's not
clear to me what the difference is between these or which is more
appropriate in this instance.

Thx,
Sandy Morton


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