adding timeouts to rrd_client

I'd like to add timeouts to all the network operations in rrd_client so 
one can set a deadline for getting a remote data series. I'm wondering 
whether there is a library I should use for that, currently the code 
mostly uses raw socket connect and stdio reads and I'd like to avoid 
descending down into raw select stuff and reimplement fgets and co. Any 
suggestions? I'm no longer aware of what's out there in the C world...
     Thorsten