[Nagiosplug-devel] Suggested code addition to perl Nagios::Plugin module - instance methods for starting and resetting a global alarm()

[William Leibzon]

I don't use Nagios::Plugin library but I have this type of code in half of
my plugins. I suggest not only adding to the library but actually making a
default or at least recommended in the docs. It comes real handy when your
plugin has to call external commands that may hang - you don't want any
extra zombie processes, etc.

On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 9:53 AM, Max <perldork at webwizarddesign.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> We use this extensively in our scripts, simple addition, but keeps
> code nice and clean.  I realize this is simplistic and will break if
> the user uses a module that sets alarm() after the plugin alarm is
> set, we mostly use this in my subclass of Nagios::Plugin,
> Nagios::Plugin::SNMP, but use it for some non-SNMP plugins as well.
>
> - Max
>
> Example use:
>
> my $plugin = Nagios::Plugin->new(...);
>
> #  Starts a timer only if the user provided a positive integer to
> --timeout;
> #  If timeout is reached, will exit with UNKNOWN and error message.
>
> $plugin->start_timer();
>
> ... code
> ... code
>
> # All done, reset so alarm is not triggered.
> $plugin->reset_timer();
>
> - Max
>
> Code:
>
> # -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> # NP - time out helpers
>
> # Start a global timer for the plugin
> sub start_timer {
>
>    my $self = shift;
>    my $timeout = $self->opts->get('timeout');
>
>    return if ((! defined $timeout) || ($timeout < 1));
>
>    $SIG{'ALRM'} = sub {
>        $self->nagios_exit(UNKNOWN, "Plugin timeout (${timeout}s)
> exceeded!");
>    };
>
>    alarm($timeout);
>
> }
>
> # Reset the global counter
> sub reset_timer {
>    my $self = shift;
>    alarm(0);
> }
>
>
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