curl_exec and DIE PLEASE

This is not a multi_curl_exec question.
I'm looking for a way to shard off a curl_exec which expects no return and then simply have my calling script die or return a value without waiting for (or reading) the response. I don't want to wait for the other server to do what it needs to do...it can call back to another script when it's ready. I just want to start an apache process over on the other server, and nothing else, without waiting for the response.

Is that possible with cURL? Am I better off using do_post_request? Doesn't that wait for the answer too, if the script it's calling takes a long time to run?

//edit...sorry. By do_post_request I'm talking about a remote fopen() which obviously has some problems...like most servers I'm going to run this code on won't support it.

Never mind. Solved it, I think. A combination of a short CURLOPT_TIMEOUT and a CURLOPT_MUTE seems to do the trick. Although it would be nice to have a "legitimate" way not to expect a result.