diff --git a/app/helpers/timeout_helper.rb b/app/helpers/timeout_helper.rb
index 19d461579..2131014e3 100644
--- a/app/helpers/timeout_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/timeout_helper.rb
@@ -25,12 +25,10 @@ def try_within(sec, timeout_message = 'operation')
   #
   def system_try_within(sec, timeout_message, command)
     # shell script to kill command after timeout
-    timeout_exec = Rails.root.join('lib/shell/timeout.sh')
-    result = false
-    try_within sec, timeout_message do
-      result = system "#{timeout_exec} -t #{sec} nice -n 10 #{command}"
-    end
-    result
+    system "timeout -k 2 #{sec} nice -n 10 #{command}"
+  rescue
+    logger.error "Timeout when #{timeout_message} after #{sec}s"
+    false
   end
 
   # Export functions as module functions
diff --git a/lib/shell/timeout.sh b/lib/shell/timeout.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index dfb7808a1..000000000
--- a/lib/shell/timeout.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,86 +0,0 @@
-##########################################################################
-# Shellscript:	timeout - set timeout for a command
-# Author     :	Heiner Steven <heiner.steven@odn.de>
-# Date       :	29.07.1999
-# Category   :	File Utilities
-# Requires   :	
-# SCCS-Id.   :	@(#) timeout	1.3 03/03/18
-##########################################################################
-# Description
-#    o	Runs a command, and terminates it (by sending a signal) after
-#	a specified time period
-#    o	This command first starts itself as a "watchdog" process in the
-#	background, and then runs the specified command.
-#	If the command did not terminate after the specified
-#	number of seconds, the "watchdog" process will terminate
-#	the command by sending a signal.
-#
-# Notes
-#    o	Uses the internal command line argument "-p" to specify the
-#	PID of the process to terminate after the timeout to the
-#	"watchdog" process.
-#    o	The "watchdog" process is invoked by the name "$0", so
-#	"$0" must be a valid path to the script.
-#    o	If this script runs in the environment of the login shell
-#	(i.e. it was invoked using ". timeout command...") it will
-#	terminate the login session.
-##########################################################################
- 
-PN=`basename "$0"`			# Program name
-VER='1.3'
- 
-TIMEOUT=5				# Default [seconds]
- 
-Usage () {
-    echo >&2 "$PN - set timeout for a command, $VER
-usage: $PN [-t timeout] command [argument ...]
-     -t: timeout (in seconds, default is $TIMEOUT)"
-    exit 1
-}
- 
-Msg () {
-    for MsgLine
-    do echo "$PN: $MsgLine" >&2
-    done
-}
- 
-Fatal () { Msg "$@"; exit 1; }
- 
-while [ $# -gt 0 ]
-do
-    case "$1" in
-	-p)	ParentPID=$2; shift;;	# Used internally!
-	-t)	Timeout="$2"; shift;;
-	--)	shift; break;;
-	-h)	Usage;;
-	-*)	Usage;;
-	*)	break;;			# First file name
-    esac
-    shift
-done
- 
-: ${Timeout:=$TIMEOUT}			# Set default [seconds]
- 
-if [ -z "$ParentPID" ]
-then
-    # This is the first invokation of this script.
-    # Start "watchdog" process, and then run the command.
-    [ $# -lt 1 ] && Fatal "please specify a command to execute"
-    "$0" -p $$ -t $Timeout &		# Start watchdog
-    #echo >&2 "DEBUG: process id is $$"
-    exec "$@"				# Run command
-    exit 2				# NOT REACHED
-else
-    # We run in "watchdog" mode, $ParentPID contains the PID
-    # of the process we should terminate after $Timeout seconds.
-    [ $# -ne 0 ] && Fatal "please do not use -p option interactively"
- 
-    #echo >&2 "DEBUG: $$: parent PID to terminate is $ParentPID"
- 
-    exec >/dev/null 0<&1 2>&1	# Suppress error messages
-    sleep $Timeout
-    kill $ParentPID &&			# Give process time to terminate
-    	(sleep 2; kill -1 $ParentPID) &&
-	(sleep 2; kill -9 $ParentPID)
-    exit 0
-fi