timeout.pl

#!/usr/bin/perl
# A Perl rewrittement of binutils timeout.
# Sometimes binutils timeout makes MPlayer hanging for unknown reasons. This version doesn't.

$SIG{ALRM} = sub { 
        # Give no mercy neither to the process itself nor to it's child
        kill -9, $$; 
};

&print_usage() if !@ARGV;

alarm(shift @ARGV);
system(@ARGV);

sub print_usage {
        print STDERR "Usage: $0 <timeout> COMMAND [args]\n";
        exit(-1);
}