#!./perl BEGIN { chdir 't'; @INC = '../lib'; require './test.pl'; } BEGIN { use Config; if( !$Config{d_alarm} ) { skip_all("alarm() not implemented on this platform"); } } plan tests => 4; my $Perl = which_perl(); my $start_time = time; eval { local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "ALARM!\n" }; alarm 3; # perlfunc recommends against using sleep in combination with alarm. 1 while (time - $start_time < 6); }; alarm 0; my $diff = time - $start_time; # alarm time might be one second less than you said. is( $@, "ALARM!\n", 'alarm w/$SIG{ALRM} vs inf loop' ); ok( abs($diff - 3) <= 1, " right time" ); my $start_time = time; eval { local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "ALARM!\n" }; alarm 3; system(qq{$Perl -e "sleep 6"}); }; alarm 0; $diff = time - $start_time; # alarm time might be one second less than you said. is( $@, "ALARM!\n", 'alarm w/$SIG{ALRM} vs system()' ); { local $TODO = 'Why does system() block alarm() on VMS?' if $^O eq 'VMS'; ok( abs($diff - 3) <= 1, " right time (waited $diff secs for 3-sec alarm)" ); }