On Wed, 2008-11-12 at 05:37 -0500, William L. Maltby wrote: > On Wed, 2008-11-12 at 11:54 +0200, Jussi Hirvi wrote: > > How could I make a script time out after nn minutes, if it's not finished by > > then? > ><snip> > Do "man bash" and search for "trap". For those not familiar, it can be a > little confusing, but it's well worth the effort, in terms of results > and learning. <*sigh*> Well, it seems that bash doesn't have some of the stuff ISTR from the original *IX stuff (builtin alarm? not sure anymore). Anyway, a google for "bash alarm trap" led to this and there are lots more. This was just the first and may not be the best for your needs. http://steve-parker.org/sh/trap.shtml Anyway, sans "alarm", a trap, sleep, SIGUSR* or SIGINT combination should do nicely. HTH -- Bill