run.txt

 > ps auxww | grep timeout-test ; sleep 1 ; ps auxww | grep timeout-test
eric     29741 92.1  5.2  66660 27444 pts/4    R+   20:50   0:38 ruby timeout-test.rb
eric     29741 92.2  5.2  66656 27708 pts/4    R+   20:50   0:39 ruby timeout-test.rb
 > ps auxww | grep timeout-test ; sleep 5 ; ps auxww | grep timeout-test
eric     29741 92.9  5.5  68704 29220 pts/4    R+   20:50   0:45 ruby timeout-test.rb
eric     29741 93.1  5.8  69728 30456 pts/4    R+   20:50   0:50 ruby timeout-test.rb
 > ps auxww | grep timeout-test ; sleep 5 ; ps auxww | grep timeout-test
eric     29741 92.3  5.9  70756 31340 pts/4    R+   20:50   0:53 ruby timeout-test.rb
eric     29741 92.4  6.2  71776 32528 pts/4    R+   20:50   0:58 ruby timeout-test.rb
> ruby -v
ruby 1.8.7 (2009-06-12 patchlevel 174) [x86_64-linux], MBARI 0x6770, Ruby Enterprise Edition 20090928

this-doesnt-leak.rb

loop do
  timeout(1) { 'x' * 100 }
end

this-leaks.rb

loop do
  timeout(1) { File.read("/proc/#{$$}/stat") }
end