PHP CLI script not timing out

Question

We have a node js script that runs a command to execute the following command:

/usr/local/bin/php -q /home/www/441.php {"id":"325241"}

This script does a lot of things, however it does not seem to respect the time limit. The first line of this file is:

set_time_limit(1800);

Yet if we check what processes are running on the server (ps -aux | grep php) we will see a lot of these commands that have been open since last week.

Any ideas on how we can clean this up?

GordonM · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-20 09:29:25Z

2

I found the following comment on the PHP user guide for max_execution_time

Keep in mind that for CLI SAPI max_execution_time is hardcoded to 0. So it seems to be changed by ini_set or set_time_limit but it isn't, actually. The only references I've found to this strange decision are deep in bugtracker (http://bugs.php.net/37306) and in php.ini (comments for 'max_execution_time' directive).

So it would seem that there's a bug in the CLI module that means max_execution_time is effectively ignored.

The commenter mentioned a page in the bug tracker about this at http://bugs.php.net/37306 but the tracker seems to be down.

edited Jun 20, 2011 at 9:29

answered Jun 20, 2011 at 9:13

GordonM

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Carlos Campderrós · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-20 09:14:25Z

1

set_time_limit only has meaning to the php part of the program. If you had a query on a database that takes 5h to finish, those 5h are not counted by php, so they fall out of scope of the set_time_limit limitation. Having said that, it seems weird that a php process is still running after a week, if it is not calling another program that runs forever (which, in this case, the set_time_limit neither affects that calling).

Also, what does the -q flag? I can't find it on man php nor php --help nor in php's command line options.

answered Jun 20, 2011 at 9:14

Carlos Campderrós

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2 Comments

fire Over a year ago

-q is quiet-mode. Suppress HTTP header output (CGI only).

fire Over a year ago

Thanks, I think the problem is with another piece of software that the PHP script calls, and that is hanging not the PHP itself which is why set_time_limit won't work.

Peter Kruithof · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-20 09:21:23Z

0

If you start the script in nodejs, why not kill it there too, after 1800s?

var pid = startPHPProcess();

setTimeout(function() {
    killPHPProcess(pid);
}, 1800);

answered Jun 20, 2011 at 9:21

Peter Kruithof

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