Index: stand/libsa/net.h
===================================================================
--- stand/libsa/net.h
+++ stand/libsa/net.h
@@ -61,6 +61,14 @@
 #define MAXTMO 120	/* seconds */
 #define MINTMO 2	/* seconds */
 
+/*
+ * Maximum wait time for sending and receiving before we give up and timeout.
+ * If set to 0, operations will eventually timeout completely, but send/recv
+ * timeouts must progress exponentially from MINTMO to MAXTMO before final
+ * timeout is hit.
+ */
+#define MAXWAIT 0	/* seconds */
+
 #define FNAME_SIZE 128
 #define	IFNAME_SIZE 16
 #define RECV_SIZE 1536	/* XXX delete this */
Index: stand/libsa/net.c
===================================================================
--- stand/libsa/net.c
+++ stand/libsa/net.c
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@
     void **pkt, void **payload, void *recv_extra)
 {
 	ssize_t cc;
-	time_t t, tmo, tlast;
+	time_t t, tmo, tlast, tref;
 	long tleft;
 
 #ifdef NET_DEBUG
@@ -87,8 +87,13 @@
 	tmo = MINTMO;
 	tlast = 0;
 	tleft = 0;
+	tref = getsecs();
 	t = getsecs();
 	for (;;) {
+		if (MAXWAIT > 0 && (getsecs() - tref) >= MAXWAIT) {
+			errno = ETIMEDOUT;
+			return -1;
+		}
 		if (tleft <= 0) {
 			if (tmo >= MAXTMO) {
 				errno = ETIMEDOUT;