sub texec {

    my $timeout = shift;
    my $out = [];

    eval {

        local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "timeout\n" };
        alarm ($timeout); # set timer .. hope the platform has signals

        my $cpid = open (my $fh, "-|") || exec (@_);
        $| = 1; # line buffer

        while (<$fh>) {
            chomp;
            push (@{$out}, $_);
        }

        close ($fh);
        alarm 0; # reset, we've got all the data and we're cool

    };

    # If something died in the eval, return a ref to a list containing
    # the output as well as the die text.  otherwise just the output.

    return (($@) ? [$out, $@] : $out);

}

##</code><code>##

 
my $res = texec (10, "/usr/bin/ls", "-al", "/");
if (ref ($res->[0])) {
    print "Error while executing: $res->[1]\nCommand output:\n";
    print Dumper ($res->[0]), "\n";
} else {
    print "Command output:\n";
    print Dumper ($res), "\n";
}