#!/usr/bin/perl
  # stopafter - run a command with a timeout
  my $time = shift;
  alarm($time);
  exec @ARGV;
  die "Couldn't exec @ARGV: $!; aborting";

##</code><code>##

	stopafter 300 command arg arg...

##</code><code>##

	open FH, "stopafter 10 command |" or die ...;