How to add a timeout value when using Java's Runtime.exec()?

If you're using Java 8 or later you could simply use the new waitFor with timeout:

Process p = ...
if(!p.waitFor(1, TimeUnit.MINUTES)) {
    //timeout - kill the process. 
    p.destroy(); // consider using destroyForcibly instead
}

public static int executeCommandLine(final String commandLine,
                                     final boolean printOutput,
                                     final boolean printError,
                                     final long timeout)
      throws IOException, InterruptedException, TimeoutException {
  Runtime runtime = Runtime.getRuntime();
  Process process = runtime.exec(commandLine);
  /* Set up process I/O. */
  ... 
  Worker worker = new Worker(process);
  worker.start();
  try {
    worker.join(timeout);
    if (worker.exit != null)
      return worker.exit;
    else
      throw new TimeoutException();
  } catch(InterruptedException ex) {
    worker.interrupt();
    Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
    throw ex;
  } finally {
    process.destroyForcibly();
  }
}

private static class Worker extends Thread {
  private final Process process;
  private Integer exit;
  private Worker(Process process) {
    this.process = process;
  }
  public void run() {
    try { 
      exit = process.waitFor();
    } catch (InterruptedException ignore) {
      return;
    }
  }  
}

Following the answer by erickson, I created a more generic way to do the same thing.

public class ProcessWithTimeout extends Thread
{
    private Process m_process;
    private int m_exitCode = Integer.MIN_VALUE;

    public ProcessWithTimeout(Process p_process)
    {
        m_process = p_process;
    }

    public int waitForProcess(int p_timeoutMilliseconds)
    {
        this.start();

        try
        {
            this.join(p_timeoutMilliseconds);
        }
        catch (InterruptedException e)
        {
            this.interrupt();
        }

        return m_exitCode;
    }

    @Override
    public void run()
    {
        try
        { 
            m_exitCode = m_process.waitFor();
        }
        catch (InterruptedException ignore)
        {
            // Do nothing
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            // Unexpected exception
        }
    }
}

Now, all you have to do is as follows:

Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("<your command goes here>");
ProcessWithTimeout processWithTimeout = new ProcessWithTimeout(process);
int exitCode = processWithTimeout.waitForProcess(5000);

if (exitCode == Integer.MIN_VALUE)
{
    // Timeout
}
else
{
    // No timeout !
}