{ package Medusa; # Fatal to look at use Carp 'croak'; use overload( '""' => sub { die $_[0] } ); sub new { my $self = 0; return bless \$self; } } my $timed_out = 0; eval { local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { warn "Time's up!\n"; die Medusa->new(); }; alarm( $seconds ); do_work(); alarm( 0 ); 1; } or do { alarm( 0 ); die $@ if "Medusa" ne ref($@); $@ = ''; $timed_out = 1; }; #### sub do_work { eval { eval { my $word = $ENV{WORD} || 'a'; $word++ while $word ne 'interrupt'; warn "Got: $word\n"; }; if( $@ ) { warn "Ignoring failure.\n"; } 1 } or do { my $e = $@ || 'Unknown error'; warn "Failed: $e\n"; }; } my $seconds = 2;