def settimeout(self, timeout):
self.timeout = timeout<EOL>
Set a timeout on blocking read/write operations.  The C{timeout}
argument can be a nonnegative float expressing seconds, or C{None}.  If
a float is given, subsequent channel read/write operations will raise
a timeout exception if the timeout period value has elapsed before the
operation has completed.  Setting a timeout of C{None} disables
timeouts on socket operations.

C{chan.settimeout(0.0)} is equivalent to C{chan.setblocking(0)};
C{chan.settimeout(None)} is equivalent to C{chan.setblocking(1)}.

@param timeout: seconds to wait for a pending read/write operation
    before raising C{socket.timeout}, or C{None} for no timeout.
@type timeout: float