IPC example by popen in ruby with timeout.

child.php

<?php

$num_iterates = $argv[1];

echo "iterates: $num_iterates\n";

foreach (range(1, $num_iterates) as $i) {
    sleep($i);
    echo "$i\n";
    echo "ping\n";
}

parent.rb

# parent.rb <timeout> <iterate>

timeout_sec = ARGV[0].to_i || 3
num_iterates = ARGV[1].to_i || 5

puts "timeout: #{timeout_sec}"
puts "iterates: #{num_iterates}"

io = IO.popen("php child.php #{num_iterates}", 'r+')
pid = io.pid
puts "popened: #{pid}"

begin
  is_loop_end = false
  until is_loop_end
    timeout(timeout_sec) do
      if line = io.gets
        case line.chomp
        when "ping"
          puts 'parent: ping received'
        else
          puts "child: #{line}"
        end
      else
        is_loop_end = true
      end
    end
  end
  puts 'parent: loop end'
rescue Timeout::Error
  puts 'parent: timeout!!! kill child'
  Process.kill(:kill, pid)
end