How to limit execution time of a function call in Python

Question

There is a socket related function call in my code, that function is from another module thus out of my control, the problem is that it blocks for hours occasionally, which

Answer 1

Here's a timeout function I think I found via google and it works for me.

From: http://code.activestate.com/recipes/473878/

def timeout(func, args=(), kwargs={}, timeout_duration=1, default=None):
    '''This function will spwan a thread and run the given function using the args, kwargs and 
    return the given default value if the timeout_duration is exceeded 
    ''' 
    import threading
    class InterruptableThread(threading.Thread):
        def __init__(self):
            threading.Thread.__init__(self)
            self.result = default
        def run(self):
            try:
                self.result = func(*args, **kwargs)
            except:
                self.result = default
    it = InterruptableThread()
    it.start()
    it.join(timeout_duration)
    if it.isAlive():
        return it.result
    else:
        return it.result