diff --git a/proposal/myrmidon/src/java/org/apache/myrmidon/framework/exec/ProcessMonitor.java b/proposal/myrmidon/src/java/org/apache/myrmidon/framework/exec/ProcessMonitor.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9b1e74b10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/proposal/myrmidon/src/java/org/apache/myrmidon/framework/exec/ProcessMonitor.java
@@ -0,0 +1,242 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) The Apache Software Foundation. All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * This software is published under the terms of the Apache Software License
+ * version 1.1, a copy of which has been included  with this distribution in
+ * the LICENSE.txt file.
+ */
+package org.apache.myrmidon.framework.exec;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.OutputStream;
+import org.apache.avalon.framework.logger.AbstractLogEnabled;
+
+/**
+ * This class is responsible for monitoring a process.
+ * It will monitor a process and if it goes longer than its timeout
+ * then it will terminate it. The monitor will also read data from
+ * stdout and stderr of process and pass it onto user specified streams.
+ * It will also in the future do the same for stdin.
+ *
+ * @author <a href="mailto:peter@apache.org">Peter Donald</a>
+ * @version $Revision$ $Date$
+ */
+public class ProcessMonitor
+    extends AbstractLogEnabled
+    implements Runnable
+{
+    //Time to sleep in loop while processing output
+    //of command and monitoring for timeout
+    private final static int SLEEP_TIME = 5;
+
+    //State to indicate process is still running
+    private static final int STATE_RUNNING = 0;
+
+    //State to indicate process shutdown by itself
+    private static final int STATE_STOPPED = 1;
+
+    //State to indicate process was terminated due to timeout
+    private static final int STATE_TERMINATED = 2;
+
+    /**
+     * The state of the process monitor and thus
+     * the state of the underlying process.
+     */
+    private int m_state = STATE_RUNNING;
+
+    /**
+     * This is the process we are monitoring.
+     */
+    private final Process m_process;
+
+    /**
+     * This specifies the time at which this process will
+     * timeout. 0 implies no timeout.
+     */
+    private final long m_timeout;
+
+    /**
+     * Stream from which to read standard input.
+     */
+    private final InputStream m_input;
+
+    /**
+     * Stream to write standard output to.
+     */
+    private final OutputStream m_output;
+
+    /**
+     * Stream to write standard error to.
+     */
+    private final OutputStream m_error;
+
+    public ProcessMonitor( final Process process,
+                           final InputStream input,
+                           final OutputStream output,
+                           final OutputStream error,
+                           final long timeoutDuration )
+    {
+        if( null == process )
+        {
+            throw new NullPointerException( "process" );
+        }
+
+        if( 0 > timeoutDuration )
+        {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException( "timeoutDuration" );
+        }
+
+        final long now = System.currentTimeMillis();
+        long timeout = 0;
+        if( 0 != timeoutDuration )
+        {
+            timeout = now + timeoutDuration;
+        }
+
+        m_process = process;
+        m_input = input;
+        m_output = output;
+        m_error = error;
+        m_timeout = timeout;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Thread method to monitor the state of the process.
+     */
+    public void run()
+    {
+        while( STATE_RUNNING == m_state )
+        {
+            processStandardInput();
+            processStandardOutput();
+            processStandardError();
+
+            if( !isProcessStopped() )
+            {
+                checkTimeout();
+            }
+
+            try
+            {
+                Thread.sleep( SLEEP_TIME );
+            }
+            catch( final InterruptedException ie )
+            {
+                //swallow it
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Check if process has stopped. If it has then update state
+     * and return true, else return false.
+     */
+    private boolean isProcessStopped()
+    {
+        boolean stopped;
+        try
+        {
+            m_process.exitValue();
+            stopped = true;
+        }
+        catch( final IllegalThreadStateException itse )
+        {
+            stopped = false;
+        }
+
+        if( stopped )
+        {
+            m_state = STATE_STOPPED;
+        }
+
+        return stopped;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Check if the process has exceeded time allocated to it.
+     * If it has reached timeout then terminate the process
+     * and set state to <code>STATE_TERMINATED</code>.
+     */
+    private void checkTimeout()
+    {
+        if( 0 == m_timeout )
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        final long now = System.currentTimeMillis();
+        if( now > m_timeout )
+        {
+            m_state = STATE_TERMINATED;
+            m_process.destroy();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Process the standard input of process.
+     * Reading it from user specified stream and copy it
+     * to processes standard input stream.
+     */
+    private void processStandardInput()
+    {
+        if( null != m_input )
+        {
+            //Note can not do this as the process may block
+            //when written to which will result in this whole
+            //thread being blocked. Probably need to write to
+            //stdin in another thread
+            //copy( m_input, m_process.getOutputStream() );
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Process the standard output of process.
+     * Reading it and sending it to user specified stream
+     * or into the void.
+     */
+    private void processStandardOutput()
+    {
+        final InputStream input = m_process.getInputStream();
+        copy( input, m_output );
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Process the standard error of process.
+     * Reading it and sending it to user specified stream
+     * or into the void.
+     */
+    private void processStandardError()
+    {
+        final InputStream input = m_process.getInputStream();
+        copy( input, m_error );
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Copy data from specified input stream to output stream if
+     * output stream exists. The size of data that should be attempted
+     * to read is determined by calling available() on input stream.
+     */
+    private void copy( final InputStream input,
+                       final OutputStream output )
+    {
+        try
+        {
+            final int available = input.available();
+            if( 0 >= available ) return;
+
+            final byte[] data = new byte[ available ];
+            final int read = input.read( data );
+
+            if( null != output )
+            {
+                output.write( data, 0, read );
+            }
+        }
+        catch( final IOException ioe )
+        {
+            final String message = "Error processing streams";
+            getLogger().error( message, ioe );
+        }
+    }
+}