This script will allow a command to be run with a timeout, if it has not completed within the timeout passed to the command the process will be killed.

Usage:

./cmdtimeout "ssh server2 /usr/sbin/command_that_may_hang" 5

Will then SSH into server 2, run the command_that_may_hang and timeout after 5 seconds if it has not completed.

vim cmdtimeout
#!/bin/bash
command=$1
# run $command in background, sleep for our timeout then kill the process if it is running
$command &
pid=$!
echo "sleep $2; kill $pid" | at now
wait $pid &> /dev/null
if [ $? -eq 143 ]; then
echo "WARNING - command was terminated - timeout of $2 secs reached."
echo
fi

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Peter Burkholder  - Nice!   |2009-06-22 19:11:40 I needed this for a start on a cronjob that was causing me headaches. I've tweaked a bit so I don't need the 'at now' call. See ... http://typo.pburkholder.com/2009/06/22/bash-c ommand-timeout Reply 0   0

christian  - dont use at   |2009-07-22 07:48:02 Hi, nice little script, but it is not so good to use "at now", because it is possible that a normal user is not allowed to use it (on the Cluster i work, it is :-( So use: eval "sleep ; kill $pid" & Reply 1   0

andrea  - Alternative way   |2009-09-22 11:07:55 not a EshPERT. A much simpler method that worked for me: sleep timeout && command& command{ ,&} # w/ or w/o trailing "&", if you have time to wait or not Reply 0   0

andrea  - errata   |2009-09-22 13:14:44 simpler method that worked for me: sleep timeout && killall command& command{ ,&} # w/ or w/o trailing "&" Reply 0   0