Don't do it with system directly, or you might generate zombies. fork(), do an exec() in the child, and then, in an eval block, setup an alarm handler that does a die(), set the alarm, waitpid() for your child, cancel the alarm. Outside the eval block, check for $@, if it indicates the alarm was triggered, kill the child and waitpid() for it.

No doubt there are some race conditions left in, but it's a start.

Abigail