def run_with_timeout(command, timeout, tick)
      output = ''
      begin
        # Start task in another thread, which spawns a process
        stdin, stderrout, thread = Open3.popen2e(command)
        # Get the pid of the spawned process
        pid = thread[:pid]
        start = Time.now

        while (Time.now - start) < timeout and thread.alive?
          # Wait up to `tick` seconds for output/error data
          Kernel.select([stderrout], nil, nil, tick)
          # Try to read the data
          begin
            #output << stderrout.read_nonblock(BUFFER_SIZE)
          rescue IO::WaitReadable
            # A read would block, so loop around for another select
          rescue EOFError
            # Command has completed, not really an error...
            break
          end
        end
        # Give Ruby time to clean up the other thread
        sleep 1

        if thread.alive?
          # We need to kill the process, because killing the thread leaves
          # the process alive but detached, annoyingly enough.
          Process.kill("TERM", pid)
        end
      ensure
        stdin.close if stdin
        stderrout.close if stderrout
      end
      return output
    end
def run_with_timeout(command, timeout, tick)
      output = ''
      begin
        # Start task in another thread, which spawns a process
        stdin, stderrout, thread = Open3.popen2e(command)
        # Get the pid of the spawned process
        pid = thread[:pid]
        start = Time.now

        while (Time.now - start) < timeout and thread.alive?
          # Wait up to `tick` seconds for output/error data
          Kernel.select([stderrout], nil, nil, tick)
          # Try to read the data
          begin
            #output << stderrout.read_nonblock(BUFFER_SIZE)
          rescue IO::WaitReadable
            # A read would block, so loop around for another select
          rescue EOFError
            # Command has completed, not really an error...
            break
          end
        end
        # Give Ruby time to clean up the other thread
        sleep 1

        if thread.alive?
          # We need to kill the process, because killing the thread leaves
          # the process alive but detached, annoyingly enough.
          Process.kill("TERM", pid)
        end
      ensure
        stdin.close if stdin
        stderrout.close if stderrout
      end
      return output
    end
Runs a specified shell command in a separate thread.
 If it exceeds the given timeout in seconds, kills it.
 Returns any output produced by the command (stdout or stderr) as a String.
 Uses Kernel.select to wait up to the tick length (in seconds) between
 checks on the command's status

 If you've got a cleaner way of doing this, I'd be interested to see it.
 If you think you can do it with Ruby's Timeout module, think again.
 VIA https://gist.github.com/1032297