use threads;    
use Thread::Queue;
use threads::shared;
use IPC::Open2;

sub pipeCommand ($$$$;@) {
	my $uut   = shift;
	my $cmd   = shift;
	my $test  = shift;
	my $wd    = $homedir;
	$wd      .= shift;
	my @input = @_ ? @_ : ();

	my $thread = async {
		my $tid = threads->tid();
		my ( $out, $in );
		$cmd = "cd ".$wd."; ".$cmd;
		my $pid = open2( $out, $in, $cmd );
		print $in "$_\n" foreach (@input);
		close $in or warn "close of input: $! $?\n";
		my $err = 0;
		while (<$out>) {
			last if ($die);  #drops me out of loop and lets me exit cleanly
			chomp;
			$err = 1 if (/^thread failed/);
			next unless length $_;
			$Q->enqueue("$tid:$uut:$test:$_");
			last if ($err);
		}
		kill( 2, $pid ) if ($err or $die);
		close $out or warn "close of output: $! $?\n";
		my $kpid = waitpid ($pid, 0);
		$Q->enqueue("$tid:$uut:$test:ENDEND");
		return;
	};
	$thread->detach();

	return ( $thread->tid() );
}

##</code><code>##

my $tests = 7; # a number of tests

sub recv_results {

	my $done      = 0;
	my $err_count = 0;

	while (1) {
		if ( $Q->pending ) {
			my $line = $Q->dequeue;
			$_ = $line;
			chomp;
			if (/ENDEND$/) {
				$done++;
			}
			last if ( $done == $t_count );
			last if (/^DIEDIE$/);
			next if (/ENDEND$/);
                        
			if (/some pattern/) {
			     #log something
			} 
			else {
			     #log something else
			}
		}
		else {
			usleep 5000;
		}
	}

	return $err_count;
}

##</code><code>##

sub ALRM_handler {
	alarm 0;
	$Q->enqueue("DIEDIE");
	$die = 1;
}

##</code><code>##

my $time = 3600; #or some number of seconds

launch_tests();

$SIG{ALRM} = 'ALRM_handler';

my $alrm = $time + 35; #little extra time for init and close

alarm $alrm;
my $err_count = recv_results();

$die = 1;	#this will force any threads that are still stuck in the while loop to exit