eval {
        local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "alarm\n" };       # NB \n required
        alarm 2;
        #my $return = `$text 2>&1`;
        my $return = system($text);
       # $nread = sysread SOCKET, $buffer, $size;
        alarm 0;
    };
    die if $@ && $@ ne "alarm\n";       # propagate errors
    if ($@) {
        # timed out
        print "\ntimeout, return: " . $return;
    }
    else {
        # didn't
    }