Exec a script in bash with a time limit

exec-with-time-limit

#!/bin/bash

# Get time limit (default is 60 seconds)
if [ $1 == "-t" ]; then
    shift
    time_limit=$1
    shift
else
    time_limit=60
fi

# Get command to execute
cmd=$@

echo "About to exec: $cmd"

$cmd &
pid=$!

echo "Starting process with $pid. Now waiting $time_limit seconds..."

sleep $time_limit

echo "Time is up. About to kill process $pid."
kill $pid
echo "Process $pid has been stopped"

To run a service for 1000 seconds, do this:

exec-with-time-limit -t 1000 path/to/service -a arg1 -b -arg2

This is useful with another service, like supervisord, which will force the process to restart after stopping, effectively causing the service to restart every N seconds. It can be a "quick fix" for memory leaks or connection issues. There are probably some other good uses. And it doesn't involve using cron.