Limit pdflatex execution time

Question

Is there any way to limit pdflatex execution time ?

It would be nice if the value could be added to the texmf file.

Pdflatex runs for x seconds. If there was an infinite loop, then being able to limit execution time would stop the compile. — pmagunia, Oct 17 '13 at 23:12
@pmagunia: Why would there be an infinite loop when compiling? — Werner, Oct 17 '13 at 23:24
@Werner the inifite loop could be caused by accident or a possibly a malicious user — pmagunia, Oct 17 '13 at 23:28
@Werner perhaps someone on the internet suggested adding a\let\par\empty\hrule to your document. — David Carlisle, Oct 17 '13 at 23:30
@DavidCarlisle: You just became that "someone on the Internet"... — Werner, Oct 17 '13 at 23:33
Related Infinite loop case studies How to prolong compilation time while engaging in leisure activities? and Document requiring infinitely many compiler passes? — texenthusiast, Oct 17 '13 at 23:59
@Sigur It will make tex loop forever, but so long as you can kill the job that's not a problem. It won't destroy any files. — David Carlisle, Oct 18 '13 at 00:44

score 10 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:34

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Using arara: Refer Page 62 Chapter 7 there is an --timeout n flag that terminates the execution of any engine. I think there is no in built flag for pdftex engines I suppose

"This flag sets an execution timeout for every task. If the timeout is reached before the task ends, arara will kill it and interrupt the process- ing. The n value is expressed in milliseconds". From arara User Manual

arara has been integrated with IDE's (Chapter 4 of User Manual) and it's author is Paulo Cereda et al

Ex command line: arara file.tex --log --verbose --timeout 10 for 10 milli second run

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:34

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answered Oct 17 '13 at 23:23

texenthusiast

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Holy cow, I almost forgot arara had this option! :) Damn those authors. – Paulo Cereda Oct 17 '13 at 23:31
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@PauloCereda Credits to the Authors of arara manual that once read it goes directly into head and does not require multiple passes :) – texenthusiast Oct 17 '13 at 23:32
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@PauloCereda reading the manual is cheating :) – cmhughes Oct 17 '13 at 23:34
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@cmhughes: C'mon Chris, I can't even remember what I had for lunch today. :P – Paulo Cereda Oct 17 '13 at 23:50

Limit pdflatex execution time

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