---
name: "runalarm"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "cronutils"
version: "1.10-2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/runalarm"
---

# runalarm(1)

enforce a time limit on execution of a process

## NAME

runalarm - enforce a time limit on execution of a process

## SYNOPSYS

**runalarm** \[ **-h** \]

**runalarm** \[ **-d** \] \[ **-t** *timeout* \] *command* \[ *args* \]

## DESCRIPTION

**runalarm** tries to execute a command and, if the subprocess does not exit before a timer expires, tries to terminate that subprocess. Otherwise, the exit status of the command is returned.

## USAGE

- **-d**

  Debug mode; send log messages to standard error as well as to the system log.

- **-t** *timeout*

  Specifies the duration, in seconds, for **runalarm** to allow the command to run.  The default is 1d duration (86400 seconds).

- **-h**

  Prints some basic help.

## BUGS

Sending SIGALRM to **runalarm** before the timer has expired will cause the subprocess to be killed.

## SEE ALSO

[**runlock**(1)](/runlock/1.md), [**runstat**(1)](/runstat/1.md)

## AUTHOR

**runalarm** was written by Jamie Wilkinson \<jaq@google.com\>, based on some Python code by Craig Silverstein

## COPYRIGHT

This program is copyright (C) 2000-2010 Google, Inc.

It is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0