Killing a process after x amount of time...

virid · 06-11-2004, 03:05 PM

I want to run a command for 24 hours. After 24 hours I want to kill it. What are some recommended ways of doing this. I'm not looking for a cron job but something that I can do in just one command. Can anyone help??

For example, if I needed to run a process and log it's output for 24 hours but couldn't let it run any longer because the log would fill up all available hard disk space.

JJX · 06-11-2004, 03:08 PM

You can clean the log after some time (every 24h) [ cp /dev/null log_path ]

cron is exactly what u want

If u want to run more than one command create a script , give +x and execute it every 24hrs

vladmihaisima · 03-17-2006, 05:25 AM

I'm replying just because I had today the same problem and found a different solution nad maybe someone will also stumble on this post. This works for bash shell:

Code:

command &  PID=$! ; sleep 5 ; echo $PID ; kill $PID

The $! expands to the pid of the last command executed in background. Replace sleep 5 with the amount you want.

timmeke · 03-17-2006, 06:13 AM

If you don't want "sleep" to run for 24 hours, I recommend using "at" to kill the program instead.
Think of "at" like "cron", but executing the command only once (instead of repeatedly).

So, the code is something like (haven't tested it, but should work):

Code:

command &; PID=$!; echo "kill $PID" | at now + 24 hours;