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