if ((my $pid == fork()) == 0) {
    exec 'ghostscript', @args;
} else {
    my $slept;
    while($slept++ < $alarmtime) {
        sleep 1;
        last unless kill 0, $pid; # see if it's still alive
    }
    kill 0, $pid or kill 15, $pid;
    wait;
}