# this is a direct c&p from a larger opus of code
# but you should get the idea.
# command is worked out earlier depending on the 
# platform we are running on

	my $timeout=60;
	my @sqlo;

        my $Q = new Thread::Queue;
        threads->create( 
            \&RunInThread, 
            $command,
            $Q
        );

	my $pid = $Q->dequeue;
	for (1..$timeout) {
	    sleep 1;
	    my $result=$Q->dequeue_nb; # non_block, return undef if nowt on queue
	    next unless $result;       # twas nowt on queue
	    if ($result eq "$pid is done") {
	        $trace->trace("SQL process finished within $_ seconds");
		last;
	    }
            push @sqlo, $result;
	}
	my $killed = kill 9, $pid if kill 0, $pid;  # kill child if still alive
	if ($killed) {
	    $trace->trace("Had to kill SQL process, taking more than $timeout secs");
	} 

sub RunInThread {
    my ( $cmd, $Q) = @_;
    my $pid = open CMD, "$cmd |" or $trace->die("$cmd : $!");
    $Q->enqueue($pid);
    $Q->enqueue( $_ ) while defined( $_ = <CMD> );
    $Q->enqueue("$pid is done");
}