I write my Perl scripts on Debian and have started testing them on ActivePerl, in hopes of releasing them to Win32-only cow-orkers.

The snippet below shows the first obstacle in my cross-platform efforts - no SIGARLRM on Win32.   This shouldn't be a show-stopper, as there *must* be alternatives for user-input timeout.   So far I've found Term::Prompt.   Any monks used that module?   What other methods should I consider for timing-out on user input?

_{BTW, thanks to converter, mothra, dws and Petruchio for suggestions in CB of *cough* dubious practicality {grin}}

    cheers,
    Don
    striving toward Perl Adept
    (it's pronounced "why-bick")

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

# alarum.pl
# 2001-04-26

use strict;
use Term::ReadKey;

my $pass;

print "\n",
    "  Prompting for password\n",
    "    (*not* echoed to screen nor written to disk)\n\n",
    '    Enter password:';
ReadMode('noecho');
eval {
    local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "ALARUM" };
    alarm(60);
    chomp($pass = <STDIN>);
    alarm(0);
    };
if ($@ =~ /ALARUM/) {
    print "\n\n",
        "  Sorry - you waited too long before entering a password.\n",
        "  Try again, if you want.\n\n";
    ReadMode(0);
    exit;
    }
ReadMode(0);
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