pl/perl setof function

i have a PL/PERL RETURN SETOF function which processes a few 10k records.

The processing takes quite some time and in order to display progress

I use a return_next after every few thousand records.

However, the function returns all messages when it completes and exists which is not really what i want. I also tried the elog NOTICE but then I only get the messages back to the psql.

I am calling the function from a perl script and would like to catch these progress messages.

Is there any way to solve my problem?

Thanks

Alex