timeoutcontext

2.0.0 verified Sat May 09 auth: no python

A signal-based timeout context manager for Python. Current version 2.0.0. Uses OS signals to interrupt long-running operations. Updated to require Python >=3.10. Release cadence is low (major versions separated by years).

pip install timeoutcontext

Common errors

error AttributeError: module 'signal' has no attribute 'SIGALRM' ↓

cause Running on Windows where SIGALRM is not available.

fix

timeoutcontext will silently not timeout on Windows. Use on Unix or handle unsupported OS explicitly.

error NameError: name 'Timeout' is not defined ↓

cause Version 2.0.0 renamed the exception to TimeoutError.

fix

Import TimeoutError from timeoutcontext: from timeoutcontext import TimeoutError or catch the built-in TimeoutError directly (Python 3.11+).

Warnings

breaking Version 2.0.0 dropped support for Python <3.10. The exception changed from `Timeout` (custom) to the built-in `TimeoutError`. ↓

fix Use `except TimeoutError` instead of `except Timeout`. Update Python requirement to >=3.10.

gotcha The context manager uses SIGALRM on Unix. On Windows, signal-based timeouts are not supported; it will gracefully fall back to no timeout. Do not rely on timeout behavior on Windows. ↓

fix Use on Unix/Linux/macOS for correct behavior. On Windows, consider alternative libraries like `stopit` or `threading.Timer`.

Imports

timeout
```
from timeoutcontext import timeout
```

Quickstart

Basic usage: wrap long-running operations in a `with timeout(seconds)` block. Raises TimeoutError if time exceeded.

from timeoutcontext import timeout
import time
try:
    with timeout(2):
        time.sleep(5)
        print('Completed')
except TimeoutError:
    print('Operation timed out')