A bash function to execute another function and kill it if it takes longer than a given timeout. Much like the timeout command, but works with functions.

watchdog.sh

#
#executes another function as a subprocess and kills it if takes longer than a given timeout
# $1 timeout
# $2 name of function
# $@ argument list for function 
function watchdog(){
   local T=$1
   local F=$2
   shift;shift

   $F $@ &
   PID=$!
 
   #check every second. If finished, return
   for S in $(seq 1 $T)
   do
     sleep 1
     if ! ps -p $PID >> /dev/null
     then
       return
      fi
   done  
 
   kill $PID 2> /dev/null
}

watchdog_test.sh

#!/bin/bash
source watchdog.sh

#
# This script executes the delayed_echo using the watchdog function.
# $1 timeout passed to watchdog
#

#
# Waits for a given time and writes a message to stdout
#
# $1 delay
# $2 message
function delayed_echo(){
  
   sleep $1
   echo "$2"
}


watchdog $1 delayed_echo $2 $3

watchdog_test_results

Execute with a timeout longer than the delay

>./watchdog_test.sh 10 5 "Echoed"
Echoed

Execute with a timeout shorter than delay
>./watchdog_test.sh 3 5 "Echoed"
>