cmd/status: add --timeout to cloud-init status --wait

[koushik717]

Proposed Changes

Add an optional --timeout SECONDS argument to cloud-init status --wait.

When --timeout is given and cloud-init has not finished within that period, the command exits with return code 1 and prints:

Timed out waiting for cloud-init to complete after Xs

When --timeout is not passed, behavior is completely unchanged.

Closes #4059

Test Coverage

Three new unit tests added to tests/unittests/cmd/test_status.py:

• test_status_wait_timeout_completes_before_timeout finishes before deadline, exits 0
• • test_status_wait_timeout_expires deadline exceeded, exits 1 with message
• • test_status_wait_no_timeout_unchanged no --timeout passed, original behavior preserved
    All 47 tests in the status test suite pass.

Notes

Help text for --timeout includes the warning requested in the issue:

"Note: using --timeout means cloud-init may not have completed configuration at exit."

[holmanb]

What is your use case? Is there something that this accomplishes that you cannot achieve with something like the timeout utility? Please see my latest comment on the linked bug.

[koushik717]

What is your use case? Is there something that this accomplishes that you cannot achieve with something like the timeout utility? Please see my latest comment on the linked bug.

My main use case is provisioning scripts and CI pipelines where cloud-init needs to finish before the next step, but hanging indefinitely isn’t acceptable.
The timeout utility gets close but has a few issues: it exits with code 124 which conflicts with cloud-init’s existing exit codes and makes script error handling messy. It also isn’t available in all environments where cloud-init runs, particularly minimal containers. And since wait polls at intervals, timeout can fire a SIGTERM mid-poll rather than between cycles, which is less clean.
A native flag handles all of this and is self-contained and discoverable via help. That said, I saw your comment on the linked bug and happy to rework the approach if you