Index: src/trackerd/trackerd.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/gnome/tracker/src/trackerd/trackerd.c,v
retrieving revision 1.54
diff -u -p -r1.54 trackerd.c
--- src/trackerd/trackerd.c	5 Nov 2006 23:31:56 -0000	1.54
+++ src/trackerd/trackerd.c	15 Nov 2006 19:52:07 -0000
@@ -1247,9 +1247,10 @@ extract_metadata_thread (void)
 	DBConnection *blob_db_con;
 	DBConnection *cache_db_con;
 
-        /* block all signals in this thread */
-        sigfillset (&signal_set);
-        pthread_sigmask (SIG_BLOCK, &signal_set, NULL);
+	/* block all signals in this thread, except SIGALRM */
+	sigfillset (&signal_set);
+	sigdelset (&signal_set, SIGALRM);
+	pthread_sigmask (SIG_BLOCK, &signal_set, NULL);
 
 	g_mutex_lock (tracker->metadata_signal_mutex);
 	g_mutex_lock (tracker->metadata_stopped_mutex);
Index: src/trackerd/tracker-metadata.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/gnome/tracker/src/trackerd/tracker-metadata.c,v
retrieving revision 1.18
diff -u -p -r1.18 tracker-metadata.c
--- src/trackerd/tracker-metadata.c	16 Oct 2006 23:59:22 -0000	1.18
+++ src/trackerd/tracker-metadata.c	15 Nov 2006 19:52:20 -0000
@@ -127,6 +127,11 @@ char *development_mime_types[] = {
 				"text/x-tcl"
 };
 
+static void
+set_child_timeout_cb (gpointer user_data)
+{
+	alarm (30);
+}
 
 static MetadataFileType
 tracker_get_metadata_type (const char *mime)
@@ -287,7 +292,7 @@ tracker_metadata_get_text_file (const ch
 				  argv,
 				  NULL,
 				  G_SPAWN_STDOUT_TO_DEV_NULL | G_SPAWN_STDERR_TO_DEV_NULL,
-				  NULL,
+				  set_child_timeout_cb,
 				  NULL,
 				  NULL,
 				  NULL,
@@ -371,7 +376,7 @@ tracker_metadata_get_thumbnail (const ch
 				  argv,
 				  NULL,
 				  G_SPAWN_STDOUT_TO_DEV_NULL | G_SPAWN_STDERR_TO_DEV_NULL,
-				  NULL,
+				  set_child_timeout_cb,
 				  NULL,
 				  NULL,
 				  NULL,
@@ -444,7 +449,7 @@ tracker_metadata_get_embedded (const cha
 				  argv,
 				  NULL,
 				  G_SPAWN_SEARCH_PATH | G_SPAWN_STDERR_TO_DEV_NULL,
-				  NULL,
+				  set_child_timeout_cb,
 				  NULL,
 				  &value,
 				  NULL,