I need to be able to kill a system call if it does not return within a reasonable time. I can set a signal alarm to let me know how much time has passed but I need the pid of the system call in order to kill it. I am also using backticks to capture the output. Any ideas. I am sending lpq systems calls to retrieve info through the web but if they do not return or they hang they cause problems.

In reply to kill system() call by Anonymous Monk

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