1 files changed, 29 insertions, 5 deletions

diff --git a/NPTest.pm b/NPTest.pm
index 2baed0b0..f72ed2df 100644
--- a/NPTest.pm
+++ b/NPTest.pm
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ package NPTest;
 
 require Exporter;
 @ISA       = qw(Exporter);
-@EXPORT    = qw(getTestParameter checkCmd skipMissingCmd);
+@EXPORT    = qw(getTestParameter checkCmd skipMissingCmd skipMsg);
 @EXPORT_OK = qw(DetermineTestHarnessDirectory TestsFrom SetCacheFilename);
 
 use strict;
@@ -38,8 +38,8 @@ testing.
 
 =head1 FUNCTIONS
 
-This module defines three public functions, C<getTestParameter(...)>,
-C<checkCmd(...)> and C<skipMissingCmd(...)>.  These are exported by
+This module defines four public functions, C<getTestParameter(...)>,
+C<checkCmd(...)>, C<skipMissingCmd(...)> and C<skipMsg(...)>.  These are exported by
 default via the C<use NPTest;> statement.
 
 =over
@@ -185,6 +185,15 @@ of times.
 
 =back
 
+=item C<skipMsg(...)>
+
+If for any reason the test harness must C<Test::skip()> some
+or all of the tests in a given test harness this function provides a
+simple iterator to issue an appropriate message the requested number
+of times.
+
+=back
+
 =head1 SEE ALSO
 
 L<Test>
@@ -304,6 +313,20 @@ sub skipMissingCmd
   return $testStatus;
 }
 
+sub skipMsg
+{
+  my( $msg, $count ) = @_;
+
+  my $testStatus;
+
+  for ( 1 .. $count )
+  {
+    $testStatus += skip( $msg, 1 );
+  }
+
+  return $testStatus;
+}
+
 sub getTestParameter
 {
   my( $param, $envvar, $default, $brief, $scoped );
@@ -627,12 +650,13 @@ sub only_output {
 }
 
 sub testCmd {
-        my $class = shift;
+        my $class   = shift;
         my $command = shift or die "No command passed to testCmd";
+        my $timeout = shift || 120;
         my $object = $class->new;
 
         local $SIG{'ALRM'} = sub { die("timeout in command: $command"); };
-        alarm(120); # no test should take longer than 120 seconds
+        alarm($timeout); # no test should take longer than 120 seconds
 
         my $output = `$command`;
         $object->return_code($? >> 8);