Timeout on a function call

Question

I\'m calling a function in Python which I know may stall and force me to restart the script.

How do I call the function or what do I wrap it in so that if it takes

Answer 1

Here is a POSIX version that combines many of the previous answers to deliver following features:

1. Subprocesses blocking the execution.
2. Usage of the timeout function on class member functions.
3. Strict requirement on time-to-terminate.

Here is the code and some test cases:

import threading
import signal
import os
import time

class TerminateExecution(Exception):
    """
    Exception to indicate that execution has exceeded the preset running time.
    """


def quit_function(pid):
    # Killing all subprocesses
    os.setpgrp()
    os.killpg(0, signal.SIGTERM)

    # Killing the main thread
    os.kill(pid, signal.SIGTERM)


def handle_term(signum, frame):
    raise TerminateExecution()


def invoke_with_timeout(timeout, fn, *args, **kwargs):
    # Setting a sigterm handler and initiating a timer
    old_handler = signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, handle_term)
    timer = threading.Timer(timeout, quit_function, args=[os.getpid()])
    terminate = False

    # Executing the function
    timer.start()
    try:
        result = fn(*args, **kwargs)
    except TerminateExecution:
        terminate = True
    finally:
        # Restoring original handler and cancel timer
        signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, old_handler)
        timer.cancel()

    if terminate:
        raise BaseException("xxx")

    return result

### Test cases
def countdown(n):
    print('countdown started', flush=True)
    for i in range(n, -1, -1):
        print(i, end=', ', flush=True)
        time.sleep(1)
    print('countdown finished')
    return 1337


def really_long_function():
    time.sleep(10)


def really_long_function2():
    os.system("sleep 787")


# Checking that we can run a function as expected.
assert invoke_with_timeout(3, countdown, 1) == 1337

# Testing various scenarios
t1 = time.time()
try:
    print(invoke_with_timeout(1, countdown, 3))
    assert(False)
except BaseException:
    assert(time.time() - t1 < 1.1)
    print("All good", time.time() - t1)

t1 = time.time()
try:
    print(invoke_with_timeout(1, really_long_function2))
    assert(False)
except BaseException:
    assert(time.time() - t1 < 1.1)
    print("All good", time.time() - t1)


t1 = time.time()
try:
    print(invoke_with_timeout(1, really_long_function))
    assert(False)
except BaseException:
    assert(time.time() - t1 < 1.1)
    print("All good", time.time() - t1)

# Checking that classes are referenced and not
# copied (as would be the case with multiprocessing)


class X:
    def __init__(self):
        self.value = 0

    def set(self, v):
        self.value = v


x = X()
invoke_with_timeout(2, x.set, 9)
assert x.value == 9