How can I wait for all the threads I spawn for 5 minutes

[Bryan Olson]

herman wrote:

> In my python program, I would to like to spwan 5 threads, for the them
> for 5 minutes maximum and the continue. Here is my script:
> 
>             threads = []
> 
>             for j in range(5):
>                 t = MyThread()
>                 threads.append(t)
> 
>             for t in threads:
>                 t.join(60*5)
>                 print "thread join\n"
> 
>             # wait for 5 minutes for all the threads to complete , and
>             # then continue
> 
> But this code ends up waiting 5 minutes for **each** thread.  that is
> not what I want. I just want to wait for 5 minutes for all threads.
> how can I do that?

Untested:

     from time import time

     deadline = time() + 60*5
     for t in threads:
         t.join(max(0, deadline - time()))


> And after 5 minutes, i want to kill off all the threads I spawn
> earlier, how can I do that in python.

That's harder. Python has no threadicide method, and its
absence is not an oversight. Can you arrange for your threads
to check a flag periodically, or might they be hung? Your
other choice is to end the entire process.


-- 
--Bryan