There are a couple of PM threads about this. I would suggest reading the updated section of Re: How to force a timeout on a system call? and also look bluto's pointer to another thread at Re: How to force a timeout on a system call? that discuss the use of open to get the pid of the child and also shows as a possiblity the "stopafter" tool suggested by Dominus.

In reply to Re: eval system timeout child process by Marshall
in thread eval system timeout child process by dasibre

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