Does anyone know why the timeout does not work when I use the `<system command>` for performing system commands?

No. I tested it with `cmd`, and it works fine for me. I am on Linux, and it sounds like you are on Win32, so maybe it's an OS thing with signals? *shrug*.

In the timeout_func function, is there a way of getting the function name from the coderef somehow ... ?

Not that I know of. You could get the name of the function from within the function itself with (caller 0)[3], but that won't help you in timeout_func (unless you set a package variable or something yucky like that). You could resort to using symbolic refs, though it's playing with fire...

timeout_func($timeout, 'myfunc', ...);

sub timeout_func
{
    my ($timeout, $func_name, @args) = @_;
    
    # ...

    eval
    {
        # ...
        {
            no strict 'refs';
            $func_name->(@args);
        }
    }
    
    if ($@)
    {
        die "$func_name died ($@)\n";
    }
}
[download]

Notice that you pass the name of the function to call, instead of a hard reference to the function (the \&myfunc syntax).

Hi edan,

Thanks for your posting.

I have tried both types of system command method and Linux and found the timeout to work. So it is a Windows32 problem.

Do you know how I can find out more about the timeout not working when I use the `<system command>` method?

I have read your suggestion about finding out the name of a function that has been passed into a function and am not sure on doing anything that is playing with fire.

Do you know what makes this method playing with fire?

Thank you. Richard Thomas.

Do you know how I can find out more about the timeout not working when I use the `<system command>` method?

You might want to look at your local (ActiveState?) perl documentation about the alarm function. Perhaps it's not implemented, or partially implemented? Or Google. Don't know what else to tell you.

Do you know what makes this method playing with fire?

Using symbolic references is generally considered a bit risky, unless you really know what you are doing, because (among other reasons) you can cause some very hard to find bugs when you start using them. Do a Super Search for 'symbolic references' (or 'refs', etc.) to find out what other Monks have to say about them. Here is a recent thread about them, to get you started: variables names used to define variables. Basically, they can be a handy feature, but only if you're careful, and there is frequently a better way to do things.

--
edan (formerly known as 3dan)

2) In the timeout_func function, is there a way of getting the function name from the coderef somehow, so that when this times out, I can log the function name of the function that has taken longer than the timeout value?