Halfway to a fix..

Author: adamhjk

chef/lib/chef/mixin/command.rb

@@ -112,7 +112,16 @@ def run_command(args={})
         exec_processing_block = lambda do |pid, stdin, stdout, stderr|
           stdin.close
 
-          Timeout.timeout(Chef::Config[:run_command_stdout_timeout]) do
+          begin
+            Timeout.timeout(Chef::Config[:run_command_stdout_timeout]) do
+              while stdout.ready? == nil
+                Chef::Log.debug("Waiting for STDOUT to be ready..")
+                sleep 1
+              end
+            end
+          rescue Timeout::Error => e
+            Chef::Log.error("#{args[:command]} timed out reading STDOUT")
+          else
             stdout_string = stdout.gets(nil)
             if stdout_string
               command_stdout = stdout_string
@@ -121,7 +130,17 @@ def run_command(args={})
               Chef::Log.debug("---- End #{args[:command]} STDOUT ----")
             end
           end
-          Timeout.timeout(Chef::Config[:run_command_stderr_timeout]) do
+          
+          begin
+            Timeout.timeout(Chef::Config[:run_command_stderr_timeout]) do
+              while stderr.ready? == nil
+                Chef::Log.debug("Waiting for STDERR to be ready..")
+                sleep 1
+              end
+            end
+          rescue Timeout::Error => e
+            Chef::Log.error("#{args[:command]} timed out reading STDERR")
+          else
             stderr_string = stderr.gets(nil)
             if stderr_string
               command_stderr = stderr_string
@@ -130,6 +149,7 @@ def run_command(args={})
               Chef::Log.debug("---- End #{args[:command]} STDERR ----")
             end
           end
+          
         end
 
         args[:cwd] ||= Dir.tmpdir        
@@ -144,7 +164,7 @@ def run_command(args={})
               Timeout.timeout(args[:timeout]) do
                 status = popen4(args[:command], args, &exec_processing_block)
               end
-            rescue Exception => e
+            rescue Timeout::Error => e
               Chef::Log.error("#{args[:command_string]} exceeded timeout #{args[:timeout]}")
               raise(e)
             end

example-repository/cookbooks/CHEF-44/recipes/default.rb

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+#
+# Cookbook Name:: CHEF-44
+# Recipe:: default
+#
+# Copyright 2009, Opscode 
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+# 
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+# 
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+#
+
+
+execute "sleepy" do
+  Chef::Config[:run_command_stdout_timeout] = 1
+  Chef::Config[:run_command_stderr_timeout] = 1
+  command "sleep 5"
+end
+
+
+execute "sleepy2" do
+  Chef::Config[:run_command_stdout_timeout] = 120
+  Chef::Config[:run_command_stderr_timeout] = 120
+  command "sleep 5"
+end
+