Adding timeouts to Internet sockets

[John Copella]

How have developers added timeout behavior to Internet sockets in Python?  I
am developing an application that uses ftplib, and I need to timeout if the
server is unavailable, etc.  I note that Tim O'Malley has a package out
(http://www.vex.net/parnassus/apyllo.py?i=87800233) that very cleverly and
transparently does this (or seems to).  Has anyone used it?  My application
will be mission-critical, and I would prefer to use whatever is considered
the current best practice.

Please reply via email, as my access to newsgroups is limited.  Any help on
this matter is greatly appreciated!

John Copella
Aerologic Inc.