I don't think the code is to blame here.
I'm wondering if there is some compiler option that I'm not setting properly.

Remember the client code works fine.
I can execute it manually from the command line.
I can stick it into a shell script and execute it fine from there too.
I can run it from a program and it works great.
I can run is a differnt user, no problem.

The server code works fine too.
No problems with 400K launches per month, for the last 10 years.
It has no problems launching other binaries or shell or perl scripts.

Is there some option that "helps" compile a socket program that must run withing a socket program?
Like maybe I need to include some libraries on the compile line or some flags telling it "remember you have to live with some other sockets here"