if ((my $pid == fork()) == 0) {
    exec 'ghostscript', @args;
} else {
    my $slept;
    while($slept++ < $alarmtime) {
        sleep 1;
        last unless kill 0, $pid; # see if it's still alive
    }
    kill 0, $pid or kill 15, $pid;
    wait;
}
[download]

That way you wouldn't need signal handlers. Oh wait... SIGCHLD and the wait()...

--shmem

update: added loop

_($_=" "x(1<<5)."?\n".q·/)Oo.  G°\        /
                              /\_¯/(q    /
----------------------------  \__(m.====·.(_("always off the crowd"))."·
");sub _{s./.($e="'Itrs `mnsgdq Gdbj O`qkdq")=~y/"-y/#-z/;$e.e && print}