How to add a timeout value when using Java's Runtime.exec()?

Question

I have a method I am using to execute a command on the local host. I'd like to add a timeout parameter to the method so that if the command being called doesn't finish in a reasonable amount of time the method will return with an error code. Here's what it looks like so far, without the ability to timeout:

public static int executeCommandLine(final String commandLine,
                                     final boolean printOutput,
                                     final boolean printError)
    throws IOException, InterruptedException
{
    Runtime runtime = Runtime.getRuntime();
    Process process = runtime.exec(commandLine);

    if (printOutput)
    {
        BufferedReader outputReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));
        System.out.println("Output:  " + outputReader.readLine());
    }

    if (printError)
    {
        BufferedReader errorReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getErrorStream()));
        System.out.println("Error:  " + errorReader.readLine());
    }

    return process.waitFor();
}

Can anyone suggest a good way for me to implement a timeout parameter?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

--James

Answer 1

Implement as a delegate and fail the call if it takes above your threshold to complete.

Answer 2

Try using a Timer (or Sleep()), in a separate thread or in your event queue if you have one available.

Answer 3

You can launch a Thread that sleeps for the time you want and after the sleep changing a boolean that you loop on in your executeCommandLine method.

Something like that (not tested nor compiled, this solution is a prototype you should refactor it if it suit you needs):

public static int executeCommandLine(final String commandLine,
                                     final boolean printOutput,
                                     final boolean printError)
    throws IOException, InterruptedException
{
    Runtime runtime = Runtime.getRuntime();
    Process process = runtime.exec(commandLine);

    if (printOutput)
    {
        BufferedReader outputReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));
        System.out.println("Output:  " + outputReader.readLine());
    }

    if (printError)
    {
        BufferedReader errorReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getErrorStream()));
        System.out.println("Error:  " + errorReader.readLine());
    }

    ret = -1;
    final[] b = {true};
    new Thread(){
       public void run(){
           Thread.sleep(2000); //to adapt
           b[0] = false;
       }
    }.start();
    while(b[0])
    {
          ret = process.waitFor();
    }

    return ret;
}

Answer 4

public static int executeCommandLine(final String commandLine,
                                     final boolean printOutput,
                                     final boolean printError,
                                     final long timeout)
  throws IOException, InterruptedException, TimeoutException
{
  Runtime runtime = Runtime.getRuntime();
  Process process = runtime.exec(commandLine);
  /* Set up process I/O. */
  ... 
  Worker worker = new Worker(process);
  worker.start();
  try {
    worker.join(timeout);
    if (worker.exit != null)
      return worker.exit;
    else
      throw new TimeoutException();
  } catch(InterruptedException ex) {
    worker.interrupt();
    Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
    throw ex;
  } finally {
    process.destroy();
  }
}

private static class Worker extends Thread {
  private final Process process;
  private Integer exit;
  private Worker(Process process) {
    this.process = process;
  }
  public void run() {
    try { 
      exit = process.waitFor();
    } catch (InterruptedException ignore) {
      return;
    }
  }  
}

Answer 5

There are various ways to do this, but I'd consider using an Executor-- it just helps you encapsulate passing the exit value or exception from the thread back to the original caller.

    final Process p = ...        
    Callable<Integer> call = new Callable<Integer>() {
    public Integer call() throws Exception {
        p.waitFor();
        return p.exitValue();
      }
    };
    Future<Integer> ft = Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor().submit(call);
    try {
      int exitVal = ft.get(2000L, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
      return exitVal;
    } catch (TimeoutException to) {
      p.destroy();
      throw to;
    }

I think you can't get round the race condition whereby the wait times out, and then process terminates just before you call destroy().

Answer 6

Thanks so much for all of the helpful answers!

I implemented this using the three approaches suggested which came with detailed code examples (I am a novice with thread programming and these example codes were invaluable -- I would still be scratching my head as to how to do this if it was just explained in English without code). I will explain what I did below and give my initial impressions with some further questions, the answers to which may help me understand this problem better (and hopefully will benefit the next person who searches for an answer to this problem).

I implemented the utility class I'm using for this with the three methods for executing a command with a timeout like so:

package com.abc.network.lifecycle.util;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.util.concurrent.Callable;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
import java.util.concurrent.Future;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;

import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;

/**
 * Utility class for performing process related functions such as command line processing.
 */
public class ProcessUtility
{

    static Log log = LogFactory.getLog(ProcessUtility.class);

    /**
     * Thread class to be used as a worker
     */
    private static class Worker
        extends Thread
    {
        private final Process process;
        private Integer exitValue;

        Worker(final Process process)
        {
            this.process = process;
        }

        public Integer getExitValue()
        {
            return exitValue;
        }

        @Override
        public void run()
        {
            try
            {
                exitValue = process.waitFor();
            }
            catch (InterruptedException ignore)
            {
                return;
            }
        }
    }

    /**
     * Executes a command.
     * 
     * @param command
     * @param printOutput
     * @param printError
     * @param timeOut
     * @return
     * @throws java.io.IOException
     * @throws java.lang.InterruptedException
     */
    public static int executeCommandWithExecutors(final String command,
                                                  final boolean printOutput,
                                                  final boolean printError,
                                                  final long timeOut)
    {
        // validate the system and command line and get a system-appropriate command line 
        String massagedCommand = validateSystemAndMassageCommand(command);

        try
        {
            // create the process which will run the command
            Runtime runtime = Runtime.getRuntime();
            final Process process = runtime.exec(massagedCommand);

            // consume and display the error and output streams
            StreamGobbler outputGobbler = new StreamGobbler(process.getInputStream(), "OUTPUT", printOutput);
            StreamGobbler errorGobbler = new StreamGobbler(process.getErrorStream(), "ERROR", printError);
            outputGobbler.start();
            errorGobbler.start();

            // create a Callable for the command's Process which can be called by an Executor 
            Callable<Integer> call = new Callable<Integer>()
            {
                public Integer call()
                    throws Exception
                {
                    process.waitFor();
                    return process.exitValue();
                }
            };

            // submit the command's call and get the result from a 
            Future<Integer> futureResultOfCall = Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor().submit(call);
            try
            {
                int exitValue = futureResultOfCall.get(timeOut, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
                return exitValue;
            }
            catch (TimeoutException ex)
            {
                String errorMessage = "The command [" + command + "] timed out.";
                log.error(errorMessage, ex);
                throw new RuntimeException(errorMessage, ex);
            }
            catch (ExecutionException ex)
            {
                String errorMessage = "The command [" + command + "] did not complete due to an execution error.";
                log.error(errorMessage, ex);
                throw new RuntimeException(errorMessage, ex);
            }
        }
        catch (InterruptedException ex)
        {
            String errorMessage = "The command [" + command + "] did not complete due to an unexpected interruption.";
            log.error(errorMessage, ex);
            throw new RuntimeException(errorMessage, ex);
        }
        catch (IOException ex)
        {
            String errorMessage = "The command [" + command + "] did not complete due to an IO error.";
            log.error(errorMessage, ex);
            throw new RuntimeException(errorMessage, ex);
        }
    }

    /**
     * Executes a command.
     * 
     * @param command
     * @param printOutput
     * @param printError
     * @param timeOut
     * @return
     * @throws java.io.IOException
     * @throws java.lang.InterruptedException
     */
    public static int executeCommandWithSleep(final String command,
                                              final boolean printOutput,
                                              final boolean printError,
                                              final long timeOut)
    {
        // validate the system and command line and get a system-appropriate command line 
        String massagedCommand = validateSystemAndMassageCommand(command);

        try
        {
            // create the process which will run the command
            Runtime runtime = Runtime.getRuntime();
            Process process = runtime.exec(massagedCommand);

            // consume and display the error and output streams
            StreamGobbler outputGobbler = new StreamGobbler(process.getInputStream(), "OUTPUT", printOutput);
            StreamGobbler errorGobbler = new StreamGobbler(process.getErrorStream(), "ERROR", printError);
            outputGobbler.start();
            errorGobbler.start();

            // run a thread which will set a flag once it has slept for the timeout period
            final boolean[] flags = { true };
            new Thread()
            {
                @Override
                public void run()
                {
                    try
                    {
                        Thread.sleep(timeOut);
                    }
                    catch (InterruptedException ex)
                    {
                        String errorMessage = "Timeout loop thread unexpectedly interrupted.";
                        log.error(errorMessage, ex);
                        throw new RuntimeException(errorMessage, ex);
                    }
                    flags[0] = false;
                }
            }.start();

            // execute the command and wait 
            int returnValue = -1;
            while (flags[0] && (returnValue < 0))
            {
                returnValue = process.waitFor();
            }

            // if the command timed out then log it
            if (returnValue < 0)
            {
                log.warn("The command [" + command + "] did not complete before the timeout period expired (timeout: " +
                         timeOut + " ms)");
            }

            return returnValue;
        }
        catch (InterruptedException ex)
        {
            String errorMessage = "The command [" + command + "] did not complete due to an unexpected interruption.";
            log.error(errorMessage, ex);
            throw new RuntimeException(errorMessage, ex);
        }
        catch (IOException ex)
        {
            String errorMessage = "The command [" + command + "] did not complete due to an IO error.";
            log.error(errorMessage, ex);
            throw new RuntimeException(errorMessage, ex);
        }
    }

    /**
     * Executes a command.
     * 
     * @param command
     * @param printOutput
     * @param printError
     * @param timeOut
     * @return
     * @throws java.io.IOException
     * @throws java.lang.InterruptedException
     */
    public static int executeCommandWithWorker(final String command,
                                               final boolean printOutput,
                                               final boolean printError,
                                               final long timeOut)
    {
        // validate the system and command line and get a system-appropriate command line 
        String massagedCommand = validateSystemAndMassageCommand(command);

        try
        {
            // create the process which will run the command
            Runtime runtime = Runtime.getRuntime();
            Process process = runtime.exec(massagedCommand);

            // consume and display the error and output streams
            StreamGobbler outputGobbler = new StreamGobbler(process.getInputStream(), "OUTPUT", printOutput);
            StreamGobbler errorGobbler = new StreamGobbler(process.getErrorStream(), "ERROR", printError);
            outputGobbler.start();
            errorGobbler.start();

            // create and start a Worker thread which this thread will join for the timeout period 
            Worker worker = new Worker(process);
            worker.start();
            try
            {
                worker.join(timeOut);
                Integer exitValue = worker.getExitValue();
                if (exitValue != null)
                {
                    // the worker thread completed within the timeout period
                    return exitValue;
                }

                // if we get this far then we never got an exit value from the worker thread as a result of a timeout 
                String errorMessage = "The command [" + command + "] timed out.";
                log.error(errorMessage);
                throw new RuntimeException(errorMessage);
            }
            catch (InterruptedException ex)
            {
                worker.interrupt();
                Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
                throw ex;
            }
        }
        catch (InterruptedException ex)
        {
            String errorMessage = "The command [" + command + "] did not complete due to an unexpected interruption.";
            log.error(errorMessage, ex);
            throw new RuntimeException(errorMessage, ex);
        }
        catch (IOException ex)
        {
            String errorMessage = "The command [" + command + "] did not complete due to an IO error.";
            log.error(errorMessage, ex);
            throw new RuntimeException(errorMessage, ex);
        }
    }

    /**
     * Validates that the system is running a supported OS and returns a system-appropriate command line.
     * 
     * @param originalCommand
     * @return
     */
    private static String validateSystemAndMassageCommand(final String originalCommand)
    {
        // make sure that we have a command
        if (originalCommand.isEmpty() || (originalCommand.length() < 1))
        {
            String errorMessage = "Missing or empty command line parameter.";
            log.error(errorMessage);
            throw new RuntimeException(errorMessage);
        }

        // make sure that we are running on a supported system, and if so set the command line appropriately
        String massagedCommand;
        String osName = System.getProperty("os.name");
        if (osName.equals("Windows XP"))
        {
            massagedCommand = "cmd.exe /C " + originalCommand;
        }
        else if (osName.equals("Solaris") || osName.equals("SunOS") || osName.equals("Linux"))
        {
            massagedCommand = originalCommand;
        }
        else
        {
            String errorMessage = "Unable to run on this system which is not Solaris, Linux, or Windows XP (actual OS type: \'" +
                                  osName + "\').";
            log.error(errorMessage);
            throw new RuntimeException(errorMessage);
        }

        return massagedCommand;
    }
}

I created a class to consume and display the output and error streams from a command (taken from http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-12-2000/jw-1229-traps.html?page=4):

package com.abc.network.lifecycle.util;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;

import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;

/**
 * Utility thread class which consumes and displays stream input.
 * 
 * Original code taken from http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-12-2000/jw-1229-traps.html?page=4
 */
class StreamGobbler
    extends Thread
{
    static private Log log = LogFactory.getLog(StreamGobbler.class);
    private InputStream inputStream;
    private String streamType;
    private boolean displayStreamOutput;

    /**
     * Constructor.
     * 
     * @param inputStream the InputStream to be consumed
     * @param streamType the stream type (should be OUTPUT or ERROR)
     * @param displayStreamOutput whether or not to display the output of the stream being consumed
     */
    StreamGobbler(final InputStream inputStream,
                  final String streamType,
                  final boolean displayStreamOutput)
    {
        this.inputStream = inputStream;
        this.streamType = streamType;
        this.displayStreamOutput = displayStreamOutput;
    }

    /**
     * Consumes the output from the input stream and displays the lines consumed if configured to do so.
     */
    @Override
    public void run()
    {
        try
        {
            InputStreamReader inputStreamReader = new InputStreamReader(inputStream);
            BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(inputStreamReader);
            String line = null;
            while ((line = bufferedReader.readLine()) != null)
            {
                if (displayStreamOutput)
                {
                    System.out.println(streamType + ">" + line);
                }
            }
        }
        catch (IOException ex)
        {
            log.error("Failed to successfully consume and display the input stream of type " + streamType + ".", ex);
            ex.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

I created a test command which takes roughly 10 seconds to complete:

#!/bin/bash
sleep 10
echo 'TEST COMMAND RAN OK'

Then I created a test program to test the three different methods, calling each with a timeout value of 5 seconds (command should fail) and with a timeout value of 15 seconds (command should succeed):

package com.abc.network.lifecycle.util;

public class ProcessUtilityTester
{

    /**
     * @param args
     */
    public static void main(final String[] args)
    {
        try
        {
            String command = args[0];
            int exitValue = -1;
            System.out.println("\n\n5000ms timeout With Executors:");
            try
            {
                exitValue = -1;
                exitValue = ProcessUtility.executeCommandWithExecutors(command, true, true, 5000);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                ex.printStackTrace();
            }
            finally
            {
                System.out.println("\nExit value:" + exitValue);
            }
            System.out.println("\n\n5000ms timeout With Sleep:");
            try
            {
                exitValue = -1;
                exitValue = ProcessUtility.executeCommandWithSleep(command, true, true, 5000);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                ex.printStackTrace();
            }
            finally
            {
                System.out.println("\nExit value:" + exitValue);
            }
            System.out.println("\n\n5000ms timeout With Worker:");
            try
            {
                exitValue = -1;
                exitValue = ProcessUtility.executeCommandWithWorker(command, true, true, 5000);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                ex.printStackTrace();
            }
            finally
            {
                System.out.println("\nExit value:" + exitValue);
            }
            System.out.println("\n\n15000ms timeout With Executors:");
            try
            {
                exitValue = -1;
                exitValue = ProcessUtility.executeCommandWithExecutors(command, true, true, 15000);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                ex.printStackTrace();
            }
            finally
            {
                System.out.println("\nExit value:" + exitValue);
            }
            System.out.println("\n\n15000ms timeout With Sleep:");
            try
            {
                exitValue = -1;
                exitValue = ProcessUtility.executeCommandWithSleep(command, true, true, 15000);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                ex.printStackTrace();
            }
            finally
            {
                System.out.println("\nExit value:" + exitValue);
            }
            System.out.println("\n\n15000ms timeout With Worker:");
            try
            {
                exitValue = -1;
                exitValue = ProcessUtility.executeCommandWithWorker(command, true, true, 15000);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                ex.printStackTrace();
            }
            finally
            {
                System.out.println("\nExit value:" + exitValue);
            }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            ex.printStackTrace();
        }
        finally
        {
            System.exit(0);
        }
    }

}

Here's what I see when I run the test program:

5000ms timeout With Executors:
May 1, 2009 1:55:19 AM com.abc.network.lifecycle.util.ProcessUtility executeCommandWithExecutors
SEVERE: The command [/tmp/testcmd.sh] timed out.
java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException
        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerGet(FutureTask.java:228)
        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.get(FutureTask.java:91)
        at com.abc.network.lifecycle.util.ProcessUtility.executeCommandWithExecutors(ProcessUtility.java:179)
        at com.abc.network.lifecycle.util.ProcessUtilityTester.main(ProcessUtilityTester.java:19)
java.lang.RuntimeException: The command [/tmp/testcmd.sh] timed out.
        at com.abc.network.lifecycle.util.ProcessUtility.executeCommandWithExecutors(ProcessUtility.java:186)
        at com.abc.network.lifecycle.util.ProcessUtilityTester.main(ProcessUtilityTester.java:19)
Caused by: java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException
        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerGet(FutureTask.java:228)
        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.get(FutureTask.java:91)
        at com.abc.network.lifecycle.util.ProcessUtility.executeCommandWithExecutors(ProcessUtility.java:179)
        ... 1 more

Exit value:-1


5000ms timeout With Sleep:
OUTPUT>TEST COMMAND RAN OK
OUTPUT>TEST COMMAND RAN OK

Exit value:0


5000ms timeout With Worker:
May 1, 2009 1:55:34 AM com.abc.network.lifecycle.util.ProcessUtility executeCommandWithWorker
SEVERE: The command [/tmp/testcmd.sh] timed out.
java.lang.RuntimeException: The command [/tmp/testcmd.sh] timed out.
        at com.abc.network.lifecycle.util.ProcessUtility.executeCommandWithWorker(ProcessUtility.java:338)
        at com.abc.network.lifecycle.util.ProcessUtilityTester.main(ProcessUtilityTester.java:47)

Exit value:-1


15000ms timeout With Executors:
OUTPUT>TEST COMMAND RAN OK
OUTPUT>TEST COMMAND RAN OK

Exit value:0


15000ms timeout With Sleep:
OUTPUT>TEST COMMAND RAN OK

Exit value:0


15000ms timeout With Worker:
OUTPUT>TEST COMMAND RAN OK

Exit value:0

So from what I can tell the approach using a Worker thread class works the best, in that it gives the expected results in both cases. The approach using Executors works as expected as well, with the caveat that it appears to be running the command twice in the 15000ms timout case (i.e. I see the output for the command twice). The approach using the sleep() method does not timeout the command as expected in the 5000ms timeout case, and displays the output twice, but runs the command as expected in the 15000ms timeout case.

So two followup questions:

Why is the command apparently being run twice in the case of the Executor and sleep() approaches?

How can I end the executeCommand*() methods so that they don't leave the command's thread running? When I didn't conclude my test program with a System.exit(0) it never returned, and when I ran this in my debugger it did the same thing and showed the threads still alive in the JVM.

A huge thanks again to all of the original respondents and thanks in advance to anyone else who can clarify the confusion I still have on this topic.

--James

Answer 7

For everybody using the executor framework: you are all forgetting to shutdown the executor. So change it to the following:

ExecutorService service = Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor();
try {
    Future<Integer> ft = service.submit(call);
    try {
        int exitVal = ft.get(2000L, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
        return exitVal;
    } catch (TimeoutException to) {
        p.destroy();
        throw to;
    }
}
finally {
    service.shutdown();
}

If you don't your program will keep an active non-daemon thread, ensuring your program will never exit until you call System.exit

Answer 8

I also tested the worker implementation and works like a charm. Under handling process io, I added threads to handle stde and stdo. If the worker thread times out I also exit the io threads.

Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd.trim());

            //setup error and output stream threads
            CommandStreamThread eStream = new CommandStreamThread(p.getErrorStream(), "STDE");            
            CommandStreamThread oStream = new CommandStreamThread(p.getInputStream(), "STDO");

            // kick them off
            eStream.start();
            oStream.start();

            //setup a worker thread so we can time it out when we need
            CommandWorkerThread worker=new CommandWorkerThread(p);
            worker.start();

            try {
                worker.join(this.getTimeout());
                if (worker.getExit() != null)
                    return worker.getExit();
                else
                    throw new TimeoutException("Timeout reached:"+this.getTimeout()+" ms");
            } catch(InterruptedException ex) {
                eStream.interrupt();
                oStream.interrupt();
                worker.interrupt();
                Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
                throw ex;
            } finally {
                p.destroy();
            }

Answer 9

and here is the StreamThread public class CommandStreamThread extends Thread{ private InputStream iStream; private String cPrompt;

    CommandStreamThread (InputStream is, String cPrompt)
    {
        this.iStream = is;
        this.cPrompt = cPrompt;
    }

    public void run()
    {
        try
        {
            InputStreamReader streamReader= new InputStreamReader(this.iStream);
            BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(streamReader);


            String linesep=System.getProperty("line.separator");
            String line=null;
            while ((line=reader.readLine())!=null){
                System.out.println(line);
                //Process the next line seperately in case this is EOF is not preceded by EOL
                int in;
                char[] buffer=new char[linesep.length()];
                while ( (in = reader.read(buffer)) != -1){
                    String bufferValue=String.valueOf(buffer, 0, in);
                    System.out.print(bufferValue);
                    if (bufferValue.equalsIgnoreCase(linesep))
                        break;
                }
            }

            //Or the easy way out with commons utils!
            //IOUtils.copy(this.iStream, System.out);


          } catch (Exception e){
                e.printStackTrace();  
          }
    }

    public InputStream getIStream() {
        return iStream;
    }

    public void setIStream(InputStream stream) {
        iStream = stream;
    }

    public String getCPrompt() {
        return cPrompt;
    }

    public void setCPrompt(String prompt) {
        cPrompt = prompt;
    }

}