Question

I a have third party function which I use in my program. I can’t replace it; it’s in a dynamic library, so I also can’t edit it. The problem is that it sometimes runs for too long.

So, can I do anything to stop this function from running if it runs more than 10 seconds for example? (It’s OK to close program in this scenario.)

PS. I have Linux, and this program won’t have to be ported anywhere else.

What I want is something like this:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

void func1 (void) // I can not change contents of this.
{
  int i; // random
  while (i % 2 == 0);
}

int main ()
{
  setTryTime(10000);
  timeTry{
     func1();
  } catchTime {
     puts("function executed too long, aborting..");
  }

  return 0;
}

Answer 1

Sure. And you’d do it just the way you suggested in your title: “signals”.

Specifically, an “alarm” signal:

• http://linux.die.net/man/2/alarm

• http://beej.us/guide/bgipc/output/html/multipage/signals.html