process_timeout.py

import signal
import time
import os
from subprocess import check_output, Popen, CalledProcessError
def get_pid(name):
    return check_output(["pidof",name])


def handler(signum, frame):
   print "signal handler called with signal %s" % signum
   pid = int(get_pid('gedit').strip())
   os.kill(pid, signal.SIGKILL)

signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, handler)
signal.alarm(5)
try:
    check_output('gedit', shell=True)
except CalledProcessError as e:
    print "Process Exit"
signal.alarm(0)
print "Exit from Gedit"