Thread: how to do batch processing with time out?

but cronjob does not have a time out.

i found a code for shellscript on the internet:

Code:

my_command & sleep 5 
   kill -0 $! && kill $!

seems like I can run my algorithm, put it to sleep, and then kill it. but what does the parameters for kill mean? does anyone knows?

Someone posted this code below and I seek help from other forum. You guys know what it means? Sorry, I'm a newbie in shell scipt... =)

Code:

#!/bin/bash

# Signal handler for SIGALRM.
#
on_timeout()
{
	echo "Time out! Exit..."
	exit 3
}

# Timer function.
#  - First argument:  PID to send SIGALRM to.
#  - Second argument: time-out in seconds.
#
timeout_timer()
{
	sleep $2
	kill -s SIGALRM $1 >/dev/null 2>&1
}

# Set signal-handler function
#
trap 'on_timeout' ALRM


# Start time-out timer in the background.
# Set time-out to 4 seconds.
#
timeout_timer $$ 4 &

# Main part of the script, which will time out.
# Here: just looping forever, or until time-out
#
SEC=0
while true ; do
        sleep 1
        SEC=$((SEC+1))
        echo "I'm PID# $$, and I'm alive for $SEC seconds now!"
done

# We never get here.