RequestTimeout Setting Affects CFThread Execution In Lucee CFML 5.3.6.61

Looks like this is a pretty old issue, Google finds this first mentioned in 2015:
https://dev.lucee.org/t/disabling-requesttimeout-when-using-cfthread/1989

Looks like the workaround is to use a super long timeout, like years. I'm surprised there isn't a way to detach a thread from the request.

Great article on a crucial subject. The ability to time out a thread has huge implications. For one thing, it can mean the difference between a rogue thread being stopped in its tracks or being free to hang about and hog memory for as long as it wants.

However, there are questions I should like to be able to answer. How is the thread timed out? What is the underlying mechanism?

I have searched the web, but am unable to find any documentation about the feature in Lucee 5.3.6.61 whereby RequestTimeout affects CFThread execution.

@Ben,
I have been looking some more into your discovery that, from Lucee 5.3.6.61 onwards, the following code will effectively stop the thread after the timeout period of 15 seconds:

thread name="testThread" {
    setting reqtestTimeout=15;
    // Do some thread stuff/
}

I still haven't found any docs on the underlying mechanism. Nevertheless, I have been able to demonstrate that the feature is present in recent Lucee versions, but not in recent Adobe ColdFusion versions.

The demonstration: run the following code on recent Lucee and Adobe ColdFusion versions

<cfscript>

void function runThreadDurationTest() {

     thread action="run" name="testThread"  {

     /* Does  this stop the thread after 15 seconds? */
     setting requestTimeout="15";

     /* Give thread something to do that exceeds the 15-second requestTimeout */
     for (i=1; 1 <= 20; i++) {

        sleep(1000);

     }

}    


/* Task to check thread status. The task runs for at least 30s. 
    That is, well beyond the 15-second requestTimeout in the thread.
    If the thread is still running after 30 seconds, it is terminated. */

  for (i=1; 1 <= 30; i++) {

         if (testThread.status is "running") {

                writedump(var=testThread, format="html",output="#expandPath('threadTestDump.html')#");

         }           

         sleep(1000);           

         if (i==30) {

              thread action="terminate" name="testThread" {}

              break;
         }

    }

}

writeoutput("Is done");

runThreadDurationTest();

</cfscript>

Result after running the code several times:

• On Lucee, the number of dumps ranged from 11 to 18. The total duration of the requests was between 12 and 18 seconds. This shows that the RequestTimeout setting has the effect of stopping the thread.

• On Adobe ColdFusion 2018 and 2021, the number of dumps ranged from 29 to 30. The thread's status in each dump was "running". The total duration of the requests was just over 30 seconds. This shows that the RequestTimeout setting does not have the effect of stopping the thread.

@Ben

My initial attempt to use the CFSetting tag
was trying to use the createTimeSpan() function
for the requestTimeout. It's been a long time since
I've even used this tag. But, it doesn't work that
way :D You have to provide a number of seconds,
not a time span

Indeed. The value of RequestTimeout is in seconds. Whereas, the return value of CreateTimeSpan() is number-of-days. That is, CreateTimeSpan(0,0,0,30) = 30/86400 = 0.0003472.

So, setting requestTimeout = createTimeSpan(0,0,0,30) is equivalent to setting a timeout of 0.0003472 seconds!