local our $dbh = DBI->connect ("DBI:mysql:database=$db:host=$mysqlhost","user","pass")  
                        || die "Can't connect to database: $DBI::errstr\n";
$dbh->{RaiseError} = 1;    

local our $sth = $dbh->prepare ( "SELECT this from that;");


# Start of cronometer

   local our $t0;
   local our $t1;
   local our $elapsed;

   $t0 = gettimeofday; 


#########################
# Start of timeout #####
eval {
   local $SIG{ALRM} =
       sub { die "Sorry, time's up.\n" };
   alarm 1;
   # some operation that might take a long time to complete

#########################
#########################

   $sth->execute( );
   # sleep 3;
   
#########################  
   alarm 0;
};
die $@ if $@;
#########################
# End of timeout ########  

   # end of cronometer
   $t1 = gettimeofday; 
   $elapsed = $t1 - $t0; 

print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
print "Query took $elapsed seconds but the alarm didn't work!";