sub cmd_wrapper {
    my $timeout = shift;
    my $cmd     = shift;
    
    my @out;    # all lines of output
    my $return_code;
    
    eval { 
        local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "alarm\n" };
        alarm $timeout;
        @out = (`$cmd`);
        $return_code = $?;
        alarm 0;
    };
    
    if( $@ ) {
        die "Eval failed for $cmd for unknown/unexpected reasons" if $@ ne "alarm\n"; 
        die "Eval failed for $cmd because alarm timed out";
    }
    die "Return code undefined for $cmd" unless defined $return_code;
    return $return_code, @out if wantarray;
    return $return_code;
}

@cmdoutput = cmd_wrapper(15, "my_stubborn_shell -c $filename"); # Will timeout in 15 seconds
$cmd_ret_code = shift @cmdoutput;