Guys, observe these:- begin raise # or exit rescue FooUndefined end (hang forever) ... and begin exit(0) # or raise rescue fooundefined end (same) # ruby -v ruby 1.8.0 (2003-08-31) [i686-linux] ruby 1.8.0 (2003-09-02) [i386-freebsd4] ruby 1.8.0 (2003-09-02) [i386-mingw32]