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Revision 1.2 by root, Wed Apr 17 17:08:16 2013 UTC vs.
Revision 1.30 by root, Sun Aug 25 22:21:15 2013 UTC

12 ->require ("MyModule") 12 ->require ("MyModule")
13 ->AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::run ( 13 ->AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::run (
14 "MyModule::server", 14 "MyModule::server",
15 ); 15 );
16 16
17 use AnyEvent;
18
17 my $cv = AE::cv; 19 my $cv = AE::cv;
18 20
19 $rpc->(1, 2, 3, sub { 21 $rpc->(1, 2, 3, sub {
20 print "MyModule::server returned @_\n"; 22 print "MyModule::server returned @_\n";
21 $cv->send; 23 $cv->send;
24 $cv->recv; 26 $cv->recv;
25 27
26=head1 DESCRIPTION 28=head1 DESCRIPTION
27 29
28This module implements a simple RPC protocol and backend for processes 30This module implements a simple RPC protocol and backend for processes
29created via L<AnyEvent::Fork>, allowing you to call a function in the 31created via L<AnyEvent::Fork> or L<AnyEvent::Fork::Remote>, allowing you
30child process and receive its return values (up to 4GB serialised). 32to call a function in the child process and receive its return values (up
33to 4GB serialised).
31 34
32It implements two different backends: a synchronous one that works like a 35It implements two different backends: a synchronous one that works like a
33normal function call, and an asynchronous one that can run multiple jobs 36normal function call, and an asynchronous one that can run multiple jobs
34concurrently in the child, using AnyEvent. 37concurrently in the child, using AnyEvent.
35 38
36It also implements an asynchronous event mechanism from the child to the 39It also implements an asynchronous event mechanism from the child to the
37parent, that could be used for progress indications or other information. 40parent, that could be used for progress indications or other information.
38 41
42=head1 EXAMPLES
43
44=head2 Example 1: Synchronous Backend
45
46Here is a simple example that implements a backend that executes C<unlink>
47and C<rmdir> calls, and reports their status back. It also reports the
48number of requests it has processed every three requests, which is clearly
49silly, but illustrates the use of events.
50
51First the parent process:
52
53 use AnyEvent;
54 use AnyEvent::Fork;
55 use AnyEvent::Fork::RPC;
56
57 my $done = AE::cv;
58
59 my $rpc = AnyEvent::Fork
60 ->new
61 ->require ("MyWorker")
62 ->AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::run ("MyWorker::run",
63 on_error => sub { warn "ERROR: $_[0]"; exit 1 },
64 on_event => sub { warn "$_[0] requests handled\n" },
65 on_destroy => $done,
66 );
67
68 for my $id (1..6) {
69 $rpc->(rmdir => "/tmp/somepath/$id", sub {
70 $_[0]
71 or warn "/tmp/somepath/$id: $_[1]\n";
72 });
73 }
74
75 undef $rpc;
76
77 $done->recv;
78
79The parent creates the process, queues a few rmdir's. It then forgets
80about the C<$rpc> object, so that the child exits after it has handled the
81requests, and then it waits till the requests have been handled.
82
83The child is implemented using a separate module, C<MyWorker>, shown here:
84
85 package MyWorker;
86
87 my $count;
88
89 sub run {
90 my ($cmd, $path) = @_;
91
92 AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::event ($count)
93 unless ++$count % 3;
94
95 my $status = $cmd eq "rmdir" ? rmdir $path
96 : $cmd eq "unlink" ? unlink $path
97 : die "fatal error, illegal command '$cmd'";
98
99 $status or (0, "$!")
100 }
101
102 1
103
104The C<run> function first sends a "progress" event every three calls, and
105then executes C<rmdir> or C<unlink>, depending on the first parameter (or
106dies with a fatal error - obviously, you must never let this happen :).
107
108Eventually it returns the status value true if the command was successful,
109or the status value 0 and the stringified error message.
110
111On my system, running the first code fragment with the given
112F<MyWorker.pm> in the current directory yields:
113
114 /tmp/somepath/1: No such file or directory
115 /tmp/somepath/2: No such file or directory
116 3 requests handled
117 /tmp/somepath/3: No such file or directory
118 /tmp/somepath/4: No such file or directory
119 /tmp/somepath/5: No such file or directory
120 6 requests handled
121 /tmp/somepath/6: No such file or directory
122
123Obviously, none of the directories I am trying to delete even exist. Also,
124the events and responses are processed in exactly the same order as
125they were created in the child, which is true for both synchronous and
126asynchronous backends.
127
128Note that the parentheses in the call to C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::event> are
129not optional. That is because the function isn't defined when the code is
130compiled. You can make sure it is visible by pre-loading the correct
131backend module in the call to C<require>:
132
133 ->require ("AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::Sync", "MyWorker")
134
135Since the backend module declares the C<event> function, loading it first
136ensures that perl will correctly interpret calls to it.
137
138And as a final remark, there is a fine module on CPAN that can
139asynchronously C<rmdir> and C<unlink> and a lot more, and more efficiently
140than this example, namely L<IO::AIO>.
141
142=head3 Example 1a: the same with the asynchronous backend
143
144This example only shows what needs to be changed to use the async backend
145instead. Doing this is not very useful, the purpose of this example is
146to show the minimum amount of change that is required to go from the
147synchronous to the asynchronous backend.
148
149To use the async backend in the previous example, you need to add the
150C<async> parameter to the C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::run> call:
151
152 ->AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::run ("MyWorker::run",
153 async => 1,
154 ...
155
156And since the function call protocol is now changed, you need to adopt
157C<MyWorker::run> to the async API.
158
159First, you need to accept the extra initial C<$done> callback:
160
161 sub run {
162 my ($done, $cmd, $path) = @_;
163
164And since a response is now generated when C<$done> is called, as opposed
165to when the function returns, we need to call the C<$done> function with
166the status:
167
168 $done->($status or (0, "$!"));
169
170A few remarks are in order. First, it's quite pointless to use the async
171backend for this example - but it I<is> possible. Second, you can call
172C<$done> before or after returning from the function. Third, having both
173returned from the function and having called the C<$done> callback, the
174child process may exit at any time, so you should call C<$done> only when
175you really I<are> done.
176
177=head2 Example 2: Asynchronous Backend
178
179This example implements multiple count-downs in the child, using
180L<AnyEvent> timers. While this is a bit silly (one could use timers in te
181parent just as well), it illustrates the ability to use AnyEvent in the
182child and the fact that responses can arrive in a different order then the
183requests.
184
185It also shows how to embed the actual child code into a C<__DATA__>
186section, so it doesn't need any external files at all.
187
188And when your parent process is often busy, and you have stricter timing
189requirements, then running timers in a child process suddenly doesn't look
190so silly anymore.
191
192Without further ado, here is the code:
193
194 use AnyEvent;
195 use AnyEvent::Fork;
196 use AnyEvent::Fork::RPC;
197
198 my $done = AE::cv;
199
200 my $rpc = AnyEvent::Fork
201 ->new
202 ->require ("AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::Async")
203 ->eval (do { local $/; <DATA> })
204 ->AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::run ("run",
205 async => 1,
206 on_error => sub { warn "ERROR: $_[0]"; exit 1 },
207 on_event => sub { print $_[0] },
208 on_destroy => $done,
209 );
210
211 for my $count (3, 2, 1) {
212 $rpc->($count, sub {
213 warn "job $count finished\n";
214 });
215 }
216
217 undef $rpc;
218
219 $done->recv;
220
221 __DATA__
222
223 # this ends up in main, as we don't use a package declaration
224
225 use AnyEvent;
226
227 sub run {
228 my ($done, $count) = @_;
229
230 my $n;
231
232 AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::event "starting to count up to $count\n";
233
234 my $w; $w = AE::timer 1, 1, sub {
235 ++$n;
236
237 AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::event "count $n of $count\n";
238
239 if ($n == $count) {
240 undef $w;
241 $done->();
242 }
243 };
244 }
245
246The parent part (the one before the C<__DATA__> section) isn't very
247different from the earlier examples. It sets async mode, preloads
248the backend module (so the C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::event> function is
249declared), uses a slightly different C<on_event> handler (which we use
250simply for logging purposes) and then, instead of loading a module with
251the actual worker code, it C<eval>'s the code from the data section in the
252child process.
253
254It then starts three countdowns, from 3 to 1 seconds downwards, destroys
255the rpc object so the example finishes eventually, and then just waits for
256the stuff to trickle in.
257
258The worker code uses the event function to log some progress messages, but
259mostly just creates a recurring one-second timer.
260
261The timer callback increments a counter, logs a message, and eventually,
262when the count has been reached, calls the finish callback.
263
264On my system, this results in the following output. Since all timers fire
265at roughly the same time, the actual order isn't guaranteed, but the order
266shown is very likely what you would get, too.
267
268 starting to count up to 3
269 starting to count up to 2
270 starting to count up to 1
271 count 1 of 3
272 count 1 of 2
273 count 1 of 1
274 job 1 finished
275 count 2 of 2
276 job 2 finished
277 count 2 of 3
278 count 3 of 3
279 job 3 finished
280
281While the overall ordering isn't guaranteed, the async backend still
282guarantees that events and responses are delivered to the parent process
283in the exact same ordering as they were generated in the child process.
284
285And unless your system is I<very> busy, it should clearly show that the
286job started last will finish first, as it has the lowest count.
287
288This concludes the async example. Since L<AnyEvent::Fork> does not
289actually fork, you are free to use about any module in the child, not just
290L<AnyEvent>, but also L<IO::AIO>, or L<Tk> for example.
291
292=head2 Example 3: Asynchronous backend with Coro
293
294With L<Coro> you can create a nice asynchronous backend implementation by
295defining an rpc server function that creates a new Coro thread for every
296request that calls a function "normally", i.e. the parameters from the
297parent process are passed to it, and any return values are returned to the
298parent process, e.g.:
299
300 package My::Arith;
301
302 sub add {
303 return $_[0] + $_[1];
304 }
305
306 sub mul {
307 return $_[0] * $_[1];
308 }
309
310 sub run {
311 my ($done, $func, @arg) = @_;
312
313 Coro::async_pool {
314 $done->($func->(@arg));
315 };
316 }
317
318The C<run> function creates a new thread for every invocation, using the
319first argument as function name, and calls the C<$done> callback on it's
320return values. This makes it quite natural to define the C<add> and C<mul>
321functions to add or multiply two numbers and return the result.
322
323Since this is the asynchronous backend, it's quite possible to define RPC
324function that do I/O or wait for external events - their execution will
325overlap as needed.
326
327The above could be used like this:
328
329 my $rpc = AnyEvent::Fork
330 ->new
331 ->require ("MyWorker")
332 ->AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::run ("My::Arith::run",
333 on_error => ..., on_event => ..., on_destroy => ...,
334 );
335
336 $rpc->(add => 1, 3, Coro::rouse_cb); say Coro::rouse_wait;
337 $rpc->(mul => 3, 2, Coro::rouse_cb); say Coro::rouse_wait;
338
339The C<say>'s will print C<4> and C<6>.
340
341=head2 Example 4: Forward AnyEvent::Log messages using C<on_event>
342
343This partial example shows how to use the C<event> function to forward
344L<AnyEvent::Log> messages to the parent.
345
346For this, the parent needs to provide a suitable C<on_event>:
347
348 ->AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::run (
349 on_event => sub {
350 if ($_[0] eq "ae_log") {
351 my (undef, $level, $message) = @_;
352 AE::log $level, $message;
353 } else {
354 # other event types
355 }
356 },
357 )
358
359In the child, as early as possible, the following code should reconfigure
360L<AnyEvent::Log> to log via C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::event>:
361
362 $AnyEvent::Log::LOG->log_cb (sub {
363 my ($timestamp, $orig_ctx, $level, $message) = @{+shift};
364
365 if (defined &AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::event) {
366 AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::event (ae_log => $level, $message);
367 } else {
368 warn "[$$ before init] $message\n";
369 }
370 });
371
372There is an important twist - the C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::event> function
373is only defined when the child is fully initialised. If you redirect the
374log messages in your C<init> function for example, then the C<event>
375function might not yet be available. This is why the log callback checks
376whether the fucntion is there using C<defined>, and only then uses it to
377log the message.
378
39=head1 PARENT PROCESS USAGE 379=head1 PARENT PROCESS USAGE
40 380
41This module exports nothing, and only implements a single function: 381This module exports nothing, and only implements a single function:
42 382
43=over 4 383=over 4
50 390
51use Errno (); 391use Errno ();
52use Guard (); 392use Guard ();
53 393
54use AnyEvent; 394use AnyEvent;
55#use AnyEvent::Fork;
56 395
57our $VERSION = 0.1; 396our $VERSION = 1.1;
58 397
59=item my $rpc = AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::run $fork, $function, [key => value...] 398=item my $rpc = AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::run $fork, $function, [key => value...]
60 399
61The traditional way to call it. But it is way cooler to call it in the 400The traditional way to call it. But it is way cooler to call it in the
62following way: 401following way:
82Called on (fatal) errors, with a descriptive (hopefully) message. If 421Called on (fatal) errors, with a descriptive (hopefully) message. If
83this callback is not provided, but C<on_event> is, then the C<on_event> 422this callback is not provided, but C<on_event> is, then the C<on_event>
84callback is called with the first argument being the string C<error>, 423callback is called with the first argument being the string C<error>,
85followed by the error message. 424followed by the error message.
86 425
87If neither handler is provided it prints the error to STDERR and will 426If neither handler is provided, then the error is reported with loglevel
88start failing badly. 427C<error> via C<AE::log>.
89 428
90=item on_event => $cb->(...) 429=item on_event => $cb->(...)
91 430
92Called for every call to the C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::event> function in the 431Called for every call to the C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::event> function in the
93child, with the arguments of that function passed to the callback. 432child, with the arguments of that function passed to the callback.
94 433
95Also called on errors when no C<on_error> handler is provided. 434Also called on errors when no C<on_error> handler is provided.
435
436=item on_destroy => $cb->()
437
438Called when the C<$rpc> object has been destroyed and all requests have
439been successfully handled. This is useful when you queue some requests and
440want the child to go away after it has handled them. The problem is that
441the parent must not exit either until all requests have been handled, and
442this can be accomplished by waiting for this callback.
96 443
97=item init => $function (default none) 444=item init => $function (default none)
98 445
99When specified (by name), this function is called in the child as the very 446When specified (by name), this function is called in the child as the very
100first thing when taking over the process, with all the arguments normally 447first thing when taking over the process, with all the arguments normally
102socket. 449socket.
103 450
104It can be used to do one-time things in the child such as storing passed 451It can be used to do one-time things in the child such as storing passed
105parameters or opening database connections. 452parameters or opening database connections.
106 453
454It is called very early - before the serialisers are created or the
455C<$function> name is resolved into a function reference, so it could be
456used to load any modules that provide the serialiser or function. It can
457not, however, create events.
458
107=item async => $boolean (default: 0) 459=item async => $boolean (default: 0)
108 460
109The default server used in the child does all I/O blockingly, and only 461The default server used in the child does all I/O blockingly, and only
110allows a single RPC call to execute concurrently. 462allows a single RPC call to execute concurrently.
111 463
112Setting C<async> to a true value switches to another implementation that 464Setting C<async> to a true value switches to another implementation that
113uses L<AnyEvent> in the child and allows multiple concurrent RPC calls. 465uses L<AnyEvent> in the child and allows multiple concurrent RPC calls (it
466does not support recursion in the event loop however, blocking condvar
467calls will fail).
114 468
115The actual API in the child is documented in the section that describes 469The actual API in the child is documented in the section that describes
116the calling semantics of the returned C<$rpc> function. 470the calling semantics of the returned C<$rpc> function.
117 471
118If you want to pre-load the actual back-end modules to enable memory 472If you want to pre-load the actual back-end modules to enable memory
119sharing, then you should load C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::Sync> for 473sharing, then you should load C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::Sync> for
120synchronous, and C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::Async> for asynchronous mode. 474synchronous, and C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::Async> for asynchronous mode.
121 475
122=item serialiser => $string (default: '(sub { pack "(w/a*)*", @_ }, sub { unpack "(w/a*)*", shift })') 476If you use a template process and want to fork both sync and async
477children, then it is permissible to load both modules.
478
479=item serialiser => $string (default: $AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::STRING_SERIALISER)
123 480
124All arguments, result data and event data have to be serialised to be 481All arguments, result data and event data have to be serialised to be
125transferred between the processes. For this, they have to be frozen and 482transferred between the processes. For this, they have to be frozen and
126thawed in both parent and child processes. 483thawed in both parent and child processes.
127 484
128By default, only octet strings can be passed between the processes, which 485By default, only octet strings can be passed between the processes, which
129is reasonably fast and efficient. 486is reasonably fast and efficient and requires no extra modules.
130 487
131For more complicated use cases, you can provide your own freeze and thaw 488For more complicated use cases, you can provide your own freeze and thaw
132functions, by specifying a string with perl source code. It's supposed to 489functions, by specifying a string with perl source code. It's supposed to
133return two code references when evaluated: the first receives a list of 490return two code references when evaluated: the first receives a list of
134perl values and must return an octet string. The second receives the octet 491perl values and must return an octet string. The second receives the octet
136 493
137If you need an external module for serialisation, then you can either 494If you need an external module for serialisation, then you can either
138pre-load it into your L<AnyEvent::Fork> process, or you can add a C<use> 495pre-load it into your L<AnyEvent::Fork> process, or you can add a C<use>
139or C<require> statement into the serialiser string. Or both. 496or C<require> statement into the serialiser string. Or both.
140 497
498Here are some examples - some of them are also available as global
499variables that make them easier to use.
500
501=over 4
502
503=item octet strings - C<$AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::STRING_SERIALISER>
504
505This serialiser concatenates length-prefixes octet strings, and is the
506default. That means you can only pass (and return) strings containing
507character codes 0-255.
508
509Implementation:
510
511 (
512 sub { pack "(w/a*)*", @_ },
513 sub { unpack "(w/a*)*", shift }
514 )
515
516=item json - C<$AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::JSON_SERIALISER>
517
518This serialiser creates JSON arrays - you have to make sure the L<JSON>
519module is installed for this serialiser to work. It can be beneficial for
520sharing when you preload the L<JSON> module in a template process.
521
522L<JSON> (with L<JSON::XS> installed) is slower than the octet string
523serialiser, but usually much faster than L<Storable>, unless big chunks of
524binary data need to be transferred.
525
526Implementation:
527
528 use JSON ();
529 (
530 sub { JSON::encode_json \@_ },
531 sub { @{ JSON::decode_json shift } }
532 )
533
534=item storable - C<$AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::STORABLE_SERIALISER>
535
536This serialiser uses L<Storable>, which means it has high chance of
537serialising just about anything you throw at it, at the cost of having
538very high overhead per operation. It also comes with perl. It should be
539used when you need to serialise complex data structures.
540
541Implementation:
542
543 use Storable ();
544 (
545 sub { Storable::freeze \@_ },
546 sub { @{ Storable::thaw shift } }
547 )
548
549=item portable storable - C<$AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::NSTORABLE_SERIALISER>
550
551This serialiser also uses L<Storable>, but uses it's "network" format
552to serialise data, which makes it possible to talk to different
553perl binaries (for example, when talking to a process created with
554L<AnyEvent::Fork::Remote>).
555
556Implementation:
557
558 use Storable ();
559 (
560 sub { Storable::nfreeze \@_ },
561 sub { @{ Storable::thaw shift } }
562 )
563
141=back 564=back
142 565
566=back
567
568See the examples section earlier in this document for some actual
569examples.
570
143=cut 571=cut
144 572
145our $STRING_SERIALISER = '(sub { pack "(w/a*)*", @_ }, sub { unpack "(w/a*)*", shift })'; 573our $STRING_SERIALISER = '(sub { pack "(w/a*)*", @_ }, sub { unpack "(w/a*)*", shift })';
146 574our $JSON_SERIALISER = 'use JSON (); (sub { JSON::encode_json \@_ }, sub { @{ JSON::decode_json shift } })';
147# ideally, we want (SvLEN - SvCUR) || 1024 or somesuch... 575our $STORABLE_SERIALISER = 'use Storable (); (sub { Storable::freeze \@_ }, sub { @{ Storable::thaw shift } })';
148sub rlen($) { ($_[0] < 384 ? 512 + 16 : 2 << int +(log $_[0] + 512) / log 2) - $_[0] - 16 } 576our $NSTORABLE_SERIALISER = 'use Storable (); (sub { Storable::nfreeze \@_ }, sub { @{ Storable::thaw shift } })';
149 577
150sub run { 578sub run {
151 my ($self, $function, %arg) = @_; 579 my ($self, $function, %arg) = @_;
152 580
153 my $serialiser = delete $arg{serialiser} || $STRING_SERIALISER; 581 my $serialiser = delete $arg{serialiser} || $STRING_SERIALISER;
154 my $on_event = delete $arg{on_event}; 582 my $on_event = delete $arg{on_event};
155 my $on_error = delete $arg{on_error}; 583 my $on_error = delete $arg{on_error};
584 my $on_destroy = delete $arg{on_destroy};
156 585
157 # default for on_error is to on_event, if specified 586 # default for on_error is to on_event, if specified
158 $on_error ||= $on_event 587 $on_error ||= $on_event
159 ? sub { $on_event->(error => shift) } 588 ? sub { $on_event->(error => shift) }
160 : sub { die "AnyEvent::Fork::RPC: uncaught error: $_[0].\n" }; 589 : sub { AE::log die => "AnyEvent::Fork::RPC: uncaught error: $_[0]." };
161 590
162 # default for on_event is to raise an error 591 # default for on_event is to raise an error
163 $on_event ||= sub { $on_error->("event received, but no on_event handler") }; 592 $on_event ||= sub { $on_error->("event received, but no on_event handler") };
164 593
165 my ($f, $t) = eval $serialiser; die $@ if $@; 594 my ($f, $t) = eval $serialiser; die $@ if $@;
166 595
167 my (@rcb, $fh, $shutdown, $wbuf, $ww, $rbuf, $rw); 596 my (@rcb, %rcb, $fh, $shutdown, $wbuf, $ww);
597 my ($rlen, $rbuf, $rw) = 512 - 16;
168 598
169 my $wcb = sub { 599 my $wcb = sub {
170 my $len = syswrite $fh, $wbuf; 600 my $len = syswrite $fh, $wbuf;
171 601
172 if (!defined $len) { 602 unless (defined $len) {
173 if ($! != Errno::EAGAIN && $! != Errno::EWOULDBLOCK) { 603 if ($! != Errno::EAGAIN && $! != Errno::EWOULDBLOCK) {
174 undef $rw; undef $ww; # it ends here 604 undef $rw; undef $ww; # it ends here
175 $on_error->("$!"); 605 $on_error->("$!");
176 } 606 }
177 } 607 }
188 618
189 $self->require ($module) 619 $self->require ($module)
190 ->send_arg ($function, $arg{init}, $serialiser) 620 ->send_arg ($function, $arg{init}, $serialiser)
191 ->run ("$module\::run", sub { 621 ->run ("$module\::run", sub {
192 $fh = shift; 622 $fh = shift;
623
624 my ($id, $len);
193 $rw = AE::io $fh, 0, sub { 625 $rw = AE::io $fh, 0, sub {
626 $rlen = $rlen * 2 + 16 if $rlen - 128 < length $rbuf;
194 my $len = sysread $fh, $rbuf, rlen length $rbuf, length $rbuf; 627 $len = sysread $fh, $rbuf, $rlen - length $rbuf, length $rbuf;
195 628
196 if ($len) { 629 if ($len) {
197 while (5 <= length $rbuf) { 630 while (8 <= length $rbuf) {
198 $len = unpack "L", $rbuf; 631 ($id, $len) = unpack "NN", $rbuf;
199 4 + $len <= length $rbuf 632 8 + $len <= length $rbuf
200 or last; 633 or last;
201 634
202 my @r = $t->(substr $rbuf, 4, $len); 635 my @r = $t->(substr $rbuf, 8, $len);
203 substr $rbuf, 0, $len + 4, ""; 636 substr $rbuf, 0, 8 + $len, "";
637
638 if ($id) {
639 if (@rcb) {
640 (shift @rcb)->(@r);
641 } elsif (my $cb = delete $rcb{$id}) {
642 $cb->(@r);
643 } else {
644 undef $rw; undef $ww;
645 $on_error->("unexpected data from child");
204 646 }
205 if (pop @r) { 647 } else {
206 $on_event->(@r); 648 $on_event->(@r);
207 } elsif (@rcb) {
208 (shift @rcb)->(@r);
209 } else {
210 undef $rw; undef $ww;
211 $on_error->("unexpected data from child");
212 } 649 }
213 } 650 }
214 } elsif (defined $len) { 651 } elsif (defined $len) {
215 undef $rw; undef $ww; # it ends here 652 undef $rw; undef $ww; # it ends here
653
654 if (@rcb || %rcb) {
216 $on_error->("unexpected eof") 655 $on_error->("unexpected eof");
217 if @rcb; 656 } else {
657 $on_destroy->()
658 if $on_destroy;
659 }
218 } elsif ($! != Errno::EAGAIN && $! != Errno::EWOULDBLOCK) { 660 } elsif ($! != Errno::EAGAIN && $! != Errno::EWOULDBLOCK) {
219 undef $rw; undef $ww; # it ends here 661 undef $rw; undef $ww; # it ends here
220 $on_error->("read: $!"); 662 $on_error->("read: $!");
221 } 663 }
222 }; 664 };
224 $ww ||= AE::io $fh, 1, $wcb; 666 $ww ||= AE::io $fh, 1, $wcb;
225 }); 667 });
226 668
227 my $guard = Guard::guard { 669 my $guard = Guard::guard {
228 $shutdown = 1; 670 $shutdown = 1;
229 $ww ||= $fh && AE::io $fh, 1, $wcb; 671
672 shutdown $fh, 1 if $fh && !$ww;
230 }; 673 };
231 674
675 my $id;
676
677 $arg{async}
232 sub { 678 ? sub {
233 push @rcb, pop; 679 $id = ($id == 0xffffffff ? 0 : $id) + 1;
680 $id = ($id == 0xffffffff ? 0 : $id) + 1 while exists $rcb{$id}; # rarely loops
234 681
682 $rcb{$id} = pop;
683
235 $guard; # keep it alive 684 $guard if 0; # keep it alive
236 685
237 $wbuf .= pack "L/a*", &$f; 686 $wbuf .= pack "NN/a*", $id, &$f;
238 $ww ||= $fh && AE::io $fh, 1, $wcb; 687 $ww ||= $fh && AE::io $fh, 1, $wcb;
239 } 688 }
689 : sub {
690 push @rcb, pop;
691
692 $guard; # keep it alive
693
694 $wbuf .= pack "N/a*", &$f;
695 $ww ||= $fh && AE::io $fh, 1, $wcb;
696 }
240} 697}
241 698
699=item $rpc->(..., $cb->(...))
700
701The RPC object returned by C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::run> is actually a code
702reference. There are two things you can do with it: call it, and let it go
703out of scope (let it get destroyed).
704
705If C<async> was false when C<$rpc> was created (the default), then, if you
706call C<$rpc>, the C<$function> is invoked with all arguments passed to
707C<$rpc> except the last one (the callback). When the function returns, the
708callback will be invoked with all the return values.
709
710If C<async> was true, then the C<$function> receives an additional
711initial argument, the result callback. In this case, returning from
712C<$function> does nothing - the function only counts as "done" when the
713result callback is called, and any arguments passed to it are considered
714the return values. This makes it possible to "return" from event handlers
715or e.g. Coro threads.
716
717The other thing that can be done with the RPC object is to destroy it. In
718this case, the child process will execute all remaining RPC calls, report
719their results, and then exit.
720
721See the examples section earlier in this document for some actual
722examples.
723
242=back 724=back
243 725
244=head1 CHILD PROCESS USAGE 726=head1 CHILD PROCESS USAGE
245 727
246These functions are not available in this module. They are only available 728The following function is not available in this module. They are only
247in the namespace of this module when the child is running, without 729available in the namespace of this module when the child is running,
248having to load any extra module. They are part of the child-side API of 730without having to load any extra modules. They are part of the child-side
249L<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC>. 731API of L<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC>.
250 732
251=over 4 733=over 4
252
253=item AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::quit
254
255This function can be called to gracefully stop the child process when it
256is idle.
257
258After this function is called, the process stops handling incoming RPC
259requests, but outstanding events and function return values will be sent
260to the parent. When all data has been sent, the process calls C<exit>.
261
262Since the parent might not expect the child to exit at random points in
263time, it is often better to signal the parent by sending an C<event> and
264letting the parent close down the child process.
265 734
266=item AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::event ... 735=item AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::event ...
267 736
268Send an event to the parent. Events are a bit like RPC calls made by the 737Send an event to the parent. Events are a bit like RPC calls made by the
269child process to the parent, except that there is no notion of return 738child process to the parent, except that there is no notion of return
270values. 739values.
271 740
741See the examples section earlier in this document for some actual
742examples.
743
272=back 744=back
273 745
746=head1 ADVANCED TOPICS
747
748=head2 Choosing a backend
749
750So how do you decide which backend to use? Well, that's your problem to
751solve, but here are some thoughts on the matter:
752
753=over 4
754
755=item Synchronous
756
757The synchronous backend does not rely on any external modules (well,
758except L<common::sense>, which works around a bug in how perl's warning
759system works). This keeps the process very small, for example, on my
760system, an empty perl interpreter uses 1492kB RSS, which becomes 2020kB
761after C<use warnings; use strict> (for people who grew up with C64s around
762them this is probably shocking every single time they see it). The worker
763process in the first example in this document uses 1792kB.
764
765Since the calls are done synchronously, slow jobs will keep newer jobs
766from executing.
767
768The synchronous backend also has no overhead due to running an event loop
769- reading requests is therefore very efficient, while writing responses is
770less so, as every response results in a write syscall.
771
772If the parent process is busy and a bit slow reading responses, the child
773waits instead of processing further requests. This also limits the amount
774of memory needed for buffering, as never more than one response has to be
775buffered.
776
777The API in the child is simple - you just have to define a function that
778does something and returns something.
779
780It's hard to use modules or code that relies on an event loop, as the
781child cannot execute anything while it waits for more input.
782
783=item Asynchronous
784
785The asynchronous backend relies on L<AnyEvent>, which tries to be small,
786but still comes at a price: On my system, the worker from example 1a uses
7873420kB RSS (for L<AnyEvent>, which loads L<EV>, which needs L<XSLoader>
788which in turn loads a lot of other modules such as L<warnings>, L<strict>,
789L<vars>, L<Exporter>...).
790
791It batches requests and responses reasonably efficiently, doing only as
792few reads and writes as needed, but needs to poll for events via the event
793loop.
794
795Responses are queued when the parent process is busy. This means the child
796can continue to execute any queued requests. It also means that a child
797might queue a lot of responses in memory when it generates them and the
798parent process is slow accepting them.
799
800The API is not a straightforward RPC pattern - you have to call a
801"done" callback to pass return values and signal completion. Also, more
802importantly, the API starts jobs as fast as possible - when 1000 jobs
803are queued and the jobs are slow, they will all run concurrently. The
804child must implement some queueing/limiting mechanism if this causes
805problems. Alternatively, the parent could limit the amount of rpc calls
806that are outstanding.
807
808Blocking use of condvars is not supported.
809
810Using event-based modules such as L<IO::AIO>, L<Gtk2>, L<Tk> and so on is
811easy.
812
813=back
814
815=head2 Passing file descriptors
816
817Unlike L<AnyEvent::Fork>, this module has no in-built file handle or file
818descriptor passing abilities.
819
820The reason is that passing file descriptors is extraordinary tricky
821business, and conflicts with efficient batching of messages.
822
823There still is a method you can use: Create a
824C<AnyEvent::Util::portable_socketpair> and C<send_fh> one half of it to
825the process before you pass control to C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::run>.
826
827Whenever you want to pass a file descriptor, send an rpc request to the
828child process (so it expects the descriptor), then send it over the other
829half of the socketpair. The child should fetch the descriptor from the
830half it has passed earlier.
831
832Here is some (untested) pseudocode to that effect:
833
834 use AnyEvent::Util;
835 use AnyEvent::Fork;
836 use AnyEvent::Fork::RPC;
837 use IO::FDPass;
838
839 my ($s1, $s2) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_socketpair;
840
841 my $rpc = AnyEvent::Fork
842 ->new
843 ->send_fh ($s2)
844 ->require ("MyWorker")
845 ->AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::run ("MyWorker::run"
846 init => "MyWorker::init",
847 );
848
849 undef $s2; # no need to keep it around
850
851 # pass an fd
852 $rpc->("i'll send some fd now, please expect it!", my $cv = AE::cv);
853
854 IO::FDPass fileno $s1, fileno $handle_to_pass;
855
856 $cv->recv;
857
858The MyWorker module could look like this:
859
860 package MyWorker;
861
862 use IO::FDPass;
863
864 my $s2;
865
866 sub init {
867 $s2 = $_[0];
868 }
869
870 sub run {
871 if ($_[0] eq "i'll send some fd now, please expect it!") {
872 my $fd = IO::FDPass::recv fileno $s2;
873 ...
874 }
875 }
876
877Of course, this might be blocking if you pass a lot of file descriptors,
878so you might want to look into L<AnyEvent::FDpasser> which can handle the
879gory details.
880
881=head1 EXCEPTIONS
882
883There are no provisions whatsoever for catching exceptions at this time -
884in the child, exeptions might kill the process, causing calls to be lost
885and the parent encountering a fatal error. In the parent, exceptions in
886the result callback will not be caught and cause undefined behaviour.
887
274=head1 SEE ALSO 888=head1 SEE ALSO
275 889
276L<AnyEvent::Fork> (to create the processes in the first place), 890L<AnyEvent::Fork>, to create the processes in the first place.
891
892L<AnyEvent::Fork::Remote>, likewise, but helpful for remote processes.
893
277L<AnyEvent::Fork::Pool> (to manage whole pools of processes). 894L<AnyEvent::Fork::Pool>, to manage whole pools of processes.
278 895
279=head1 AUTHOR AND CONTACT INFORMATION 896=head1 AUTHOR AND CONTACT INFORMATION
280 897
281 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 898 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
282 http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/AnyEvent-Fork-RPC 899 http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/AnyEvent-Fork-RPC

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