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Revision 1.3 by root, Wed Apr 17 17:16:48 2013 UTC vs.
Revision 1.44 by root, Sat Sep 7 19:26:53 2019 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 the
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 function 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 = 1.24;
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
459=item done => $function (default C<CORE::exit>)
460
461The function to call when the asynchronous backend detects an end of file
462condition when reading from the communications socket I<and> there are no
463outstanding requests. It's ignored by the synchronous backend.
464
465By overriding this you can prolong the life of a RPC process after e.g.
466the parent has exited by running the event loop in the provided function
467(or simply calling it, for example, when your child process uses L<EV> you
468could provide L<EV::run> as C<done> function).
469
470Of course, in that case you are responsible for exiting at the appropriate
471time and not returning from
472
107=item async => $boolean (default: 0) 473=item async => $boolean (default: 0)
108 474
109The default server used in the child does all I/O blockingly, and only 475The default server used in the child does all I/O blockingly, and only
110allows a single RPC call to execute concurrently. 476allows a single RPC call to execute concurrently.
111 477
112Setting C<async> to a true value switches to another implementation that 478Setting C<async> to a true value switches to another implementation that
113uses L<AnyEvent> in the child and allows multiple concurrent RPC calls. 479uses L<AnyEvent> in the child and allows multiple concurrent RPC calls (it
480does not support recursion in the event loop however, blocking condvar
481calls will fail).
114 482
115The actual API in the child is documented in the section that describes 483The actual API in the child is documented in the section that describes
116the calling semantics of the returned C<$rpc> function. 484the calling semantics of the returned C<$rpc> function.
117 485
118If you want to pre-load the actual back-end modules to enable memory 486If you want to pre-load the actual back-end modules to enable memory
119sharing, then you should load C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::Sync> for 487sharing, then you should load C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::Sync> for
120synchronous, and C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::Async> for asynchronous mode. 488synchronous, and C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::Async> for asynchronous mode.
121 489
122=item serialiser => $string (default: '(sub { pack "(w/a*)*", @_ }, sub { unpack "(w/a*)*", shift })') 490If you use a template process and want to fork both sync and async
491children, then it is permissible to load both modules.
492
493=item serialiser => $string (default: $AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::STRING_SERIALISER)
123 494
124All arguments, result data and event data have to be serialised to be 495All arguments, result data and event data have to be serialised to be
125transferred between the processes. For this, they have to be frozen and 496transferred between the processes. For this, they have to be frozen and
126thawed in both parent and child processes. 497thawed in both parent and child processes.
127 498
128By default, only octet strings can be passed between the processes, which 499By default, only octet strings can be passed between the processes,
129is reasonably fast and efficient. 500which is reasonably fast and efficient and requires no extra modules
501(the C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC> distribution does not provide these extra
502serialiser modules).
130 503
131For more complicated use cases, you can provide your own freeze and thaw 504For 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 505functions, by specifying a string with perl source code. It's supposed to
133return two code references when evaluated: the first receives a list of 506return two code references when evaluated: the first receives a list of
134perl values and must return an octet string. The second receives the octet 507perl values and must return an octet string. The second receives the octet
136 509
137If you need an external module for serialisation, then you can either 510If 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> 511pre-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. 512or C<require> statement into the serialiser string. Or both.
140 513
514Here are some examples - all of them are also available as global
515variables that make them easier to use.
516
517=over 4
518
519=item C<$AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::STRING_SERIALISER> - octet strings only
520
521This serialiser (currently the default) concatenates length-prefixes octet
522strings, and is the default. That means you can only pass (and return)
523strings containing character codes 0-255.
524
525The main advantages of this serialiser are the high speed and that it
526doesn't need another module. The main disadvantage is that you are very
527limited in what you can pass - only octet strings.
528
529Implementation:
530
531 (
532 sub { pack "(w/a*)*", @_ },
533 sub { unpack "(w/a*)*", shift }
534 )
535
536=item C<$AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::CBOR_XS_SERIALISER> - uses L<CBOR::XS>
537
538This serialiser creates CBOR::XS arrays - you have to make sure the
539L<CBOR::XS> module is installed for this serialiser to work. It can be
540beneficial for sharing when you preload the L<CBOR::XS> module in a template
541process.
542
543L<CBOR::XS> is about as fast as the octet string serialiser, but supports
544complex data structures (similar to JSON) and is faster than any of the
545other serialisers. If you have the L<CBOR::XS> module available, it's the
546best choice.
547
548The encoder enables C<allow_sharing> (so this serialisation method can
549encode cyclic and self-referencing data structures).
550
551Implementation:
552
553 use CBOR::XS ();
554 (
555 sub { CBOR::XS::encode_cbor_sharing \@_ },
556 sub { @{ CBOR::XS::decode_cbor shift } }
557 )
558
559=item C<$AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::JSON_SERIALISER> - uses L<JSON::XS> or L<JSON>
560
561This serialiser creates JSON arrays - you have to make sure the L<JSON>
562module is installed for this serialiser to work. It can be beneficial for
563sharing when you preload the L<JSON> module in a template process.
564
565L<JSON> (with L<JSON::XS> installed) is slower than the octet string
566serialiser, but usually much faster than L<Storable>, unless big chunks of
567binary data need to be transferred.
568
569Implementation:
570
571 use JSON ();
572 (
573 sub { JSON::encode_json \@_ },
574 sub { @{ JSON::decode_json shift } }
575 )
576
577=item C<$AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::STORABLE_SERIALISER> - L<Storable>
578
579This serialiser uses L<Storable>, which means it has high chance of
580serialising just about anything you throw at it, at the cost of having
581very high overhead per operation. It also comes with perl. It should be
582used when you need to serialise complex data structures.
583
584Implementation:
585
586 use Storable ();
587 (
588 sub { Storable::freeze \@_ },
589 sub { @{ Storable::thaw shift } }
590 )
591
592=item C<$AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::NSTORABLE_SERIALISER> - portable Storable
593
594This serialiser also uses L<Storable>, but uses it's "network" format
595to serialise data, which makes it possible to talk to different
596perl binaries (for example, when talking to a process created with
597L<AnyEvent::Fork::Remote>).
598
599Implementation:
600
601 use Storable ();
602 (
603 sub { Storable::nfreeze \@_ },
604 sub { @{ Storable::thaw shift } }
605 )
606
141=back 607=back
142 608
609=back
610
611See the examples section earlier in this document for some actual
612examples.
613
143=cut 614=cut
144 615
145our $STRING_SERIALISER = '(sub { pack "(w/a*)*", @_ }, sub { unpack "(w/a*)*", shift })'; 616our $STRING_SERIALISER = '(sub { pack "(w/a*)*", @_ }, sub { unpack "(w/a*)*", shift })';
146 617our $CBOR_XS_SERIALISER = 'use CBOR::XS (); (sub { CBOR::XS::encode_cbor_sharing \@_ }, sub { @{ CBOR::XS::decode_cbor shift } })';
147# ideally, we want (SvLEN - SvCUR) || 1024 or somesuch... 618our $JSON_SERIALISER = 'use JSON (); (sub { JSON::encode_json \@_ }, sub { @{ JSON::decode_json shift } })';
148sub rlen($) { ($_[0] < 384 ? 512 + 16 : 2 << int +(log $_[0] + 512) / log 2) - $_[0] - 16 } 619our $STORABLE_SERIALISER = 'use Storable (); (sub { Storable::freeze \@_ }, sub { @{ Storable::thaw shift } })';
620our $NSTORABLE_SERIALISER = 'use Storable (); (sub { Storable::nfreeze \@_ }, sub { @{ Storable::thaw shift } })';
149 621
150sub run { 622sub run {
151 my ($self, $function, %arg) = @_; 623 my ($self, $function, %arg) = @_;
152 624
153 my $serialiser = delete $arg{serialiser} || $STRING_SERIALISER; 625 my $serialiser = delete $arg{serialiser} || $STRING_SERIALISER;
154 my $on_event = delete $arg{on_event}; 626 my $on_event = delete $arg{on_event};
155 my $on_error = delete $arg{on_error}; 627 my $on_error = delete $arg{on_error};
628 my $on_destroy = delete $arg{on_destroy};
156 629
157 # default for on_error is to on_event, if specified 630 # default for on_error is to on_event, if specified
158 $on_error ||= $on_event 631 $on_error ||= $on_event
159 ? sub { $on_event->(error => shift) } 632 ? sub { $on_event->(error => shift) }
160 : sub { die "AnyEvent::Fork::RPC: uncaught error: $_[0].\n" }; 633 : sub { AE::log die => "AnyEvent::Fork::RPC: uncaught error: $_[0]." };
161 634
162 # default for on_event is to raise an error 635 # default for on_event is to raise an error
163 $on_event ||= sub { $on_error->("event received, but no on_event handler") }; 636 $on_event ||= sub { $on_error->("event received, but no on_event handler") };
164 637
165 my ($f, $t) = eval $serialiser; die $@ if $@; 638 my ($f, $t) = eval $serialiser; die $@ if $@;
166 639
167 my (@rcb, $fh, $shutdown, $wbuf, $ww, $rbuf, $rw); 640 my (@rcb, %rcb, $fh, $shutdown, $wbuf, $ww);
641 my ($rlen, $rbuf, $rw) = 512 - 16;
168 642
169 my $wcb = sub { 643 my $wcb = sub {
170 my $len = syswrite $fh, $wbuf; 644 my $len = syswrite $fh, $wbuf;
171 645
172 if (!defined $len) { 646 unless (defined $len) {
173 if ($! != Errno::EAGAIN && $! != Errno::EWOULDBLOCK) { 647 if ($! != Errno::EAGAIN && $! != Errno::EWOULDBLOCK) {
174 undef $rw; undef $ww; # it ends here 648 undef $rw; undef $ww; # it ends here
175 $on_error->("$!"); 649 $on_error->("$!");
176 } 650 }
177 } 651 }
185 }; 659 };
186 660
187 my $module = "AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::" . ($arg{async} ? "Async" : "Sync"); 661 my $module = "AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::" . ($arg{async} ? "Async" : "Sync");
188 662
189 $self->require ($module) 663 $self->require ($module)
190 ->send_arg ($function, $arg{init}, $serialiser) 664 ->send_arg ($function, $arg{init}, $serialiser, $arg{done} || "$module\::do_exit")
191 ->run ("$module\::run", sub { 665 ->run ("$module\::run", sub {
192 $fh = shift; 666 $fh = shift
667 or return $on_error->("connection failed");
668
669 my ($id, $len);
193 $rw = AE::io $fh, 0, sub { 670 $rw = AE::io $fh, 0, sub {
671 $rlen = $rlen * 2 + 16 if $rlen - 128 < length $rbuf;
194 my $len = sysread $fh, $rbuf, rlen length $rbuf, length $rbuf; 672 $len = sysread $fh, $rbuf, $rlen - length $rbuf, length $rbuf;
195 673
196 if ($len) { 674 if ($len) {
197 while (5 <= length $rbuf) { 675 while (8 <= length $rbuf) {
198 $len = unpack "L", $rbuf; 676 ($id, $len) = unpack "NN", $rbuf;
199 4 + $len <= length $rbuf 677 8 + $len <= length $rbuf
200 or last; 678 or last;
201 679
202 my @r = $t->(substr $rbuf, 4, $len); 680 my @r = $t->(substr $rbuf, 8, $len);
203 substr $rbuf, 0, $len + 4, ""; 681 substr $rbuf, 0, 8 + $len, "";
682
683 if ($id) {
684 if (@rcb) {
685 (shift @rcb)->(@r);
686 } elsif (my $cb = delete $rcb{$id}) {
687 $cb->(@r);
688 } else {
689 undef $rw; undef $ww;
690 $on_error->("unexpected data from child");
204 691 }
205 if (pop @r) { 692 } else {
206 $on_event->(@r); 693 $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 } 694 }
213 } 695 }
214 } elsif (defined $len) { 696 } elsif (defined $len) {
215 undef $rw; undef $ww; # it ends here 697 undef $rw; undef $ww; # it ends here
698
699 if (@rcb || %rcb) {
216 $on_error->("unexpected eof") 700 $on_error->("unexpected eof");
217 if @rcb; 701 } else {
702 $on_destroy->()
703 if $on_destroy;
704 }
218 } elsif ($! != Errno::EAGAIN && $! != Errno::EWOULDBLOCK) { 705 } elsif ($! != Errno::EAGAIN && $! != Errno::EWOULDBLOCK) {
219 undef $rw; undef $ww; # it ends here 706 undef $rw; undef $ww; # it ends here
220 $on_error->("read: $!"); 707 $on_error->("read: $!");
221 } 708 }
222 }; 709 };
224 $ww ||= AE::io $fh, 1, $wcb; 711 $ww ||= AE::io $fh, 1, $wcb;
225 }); 712 });
226 713
227 my $guard = Guard::guard { 714 my $guard = Guard::guard {
228 $shutdown = 1; 715 $shutdown = 1;
229 $ww ||= $fh && AE::io $fh, 1, $wcb; 716
717 shutdown $fh, 1 if $fh && !$ww;
230 }; 718 };
231 719
720 my $id;
721
722 $arg{async}
232 sub { 723 ? sub {
233 push @rcb, pop; 724 $id = ($id == 0xffffffff ? 0 : $id) + 1;
725 $id = ($id == 0xffffffff ? 0 : $id) + 1 while exists $rcb{$id}; # rarely loops
234 726
727 $rcb{$id} = pop;
728
235 $guard; # keep it alive 729 $guard if 0; # keep it alive
236 730
237 $wbuf .= pack "L/a*", &$f; 731 $wbuf .= pack "NN/a*", $id, &$f;
238 $ww ||= $fh && AE::io $fh, 1, $wcb; 732 $ww ||= $fh && AE::io $fh, 1, $wcb;
239 } 733 }
734 : sub {
735 push @rcb, pop;
736
737 $guard; # keep it alive
738
739 $wbuf .= pack "N/a*", &$f;
740 $ww ||= $fh && AE::io $fh, 1, $wcb;
741 }
240} 742}
241 743
744=item $rpc->(..., $cb->(...))
745
746The RPC object returned by C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::run> is actually a code
747reference. There are two things you can do with it: call it, and let it go
748out of scope (let it get destroyed).
749
750If C<async> was false when C<$rpc> was created (the default), then, if you
751call C<$rpc>, the C<$function> is invoked with all arguments passed to
752C<$rpc> except the last one (the callback). When the function returns, the
753callback will be invoked with all the return values.
754
755If C<async> was true, then the C<$function> receives an additional
756initial argument, the result callback. In this case, returning from
757C<$function> does nothing - the function only counts as "done" when the
758result callback is called, and any arguments passed to it are considered
759the return values. This makes it possible to "return" from event handlers
760or e.g. Coro threads.
761
762The other thing that can be done with the RPC object is to destroy it. In
763this case, the child process will execute all remaining RPC calls, report
764their results, and then exit.
765
766See the examples section earlier in this document for some actual
767examples.
768
242=back 769=back
243 770
244=head1 CHILD PROCESS USAGE 771=head1 CHILD PROCESS USAGE
245 772
246These functions are not available in this module. They are only available 773The following function is not available in this module. They are only
247in the namespace of this module when the child is running, without 774available 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 775without having to load any extra modules. They are part of the child-side
249L<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC>. 776API of L<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC>.
250 777
251=over 4 778=over 4
252 779
253=item AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::event ... 780=item AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::event ...
254 781
255Send an event to the parent. Events are a bit like RPC calls made by the 782Send an event to the parent. Events are a bit like RPC calls made by the
256child process to the parent, except that there is no notion of return 783child process to the parent, except that there is no notion of return
257values. 784values.
258 785
786See the examples section earlier in this document for some actual
787examples.
788
789Note: the event data, like any data send to the parent, might not be sent
790immediatelly but queued for later sending, so there is no guarantee that
791the event has been sent to the parent when the call returns - when you
792e.g. exit directly after calling this function, the parent might never
793receive the event.
794
259=back 795=back
260 796
797=head2 PROCESS EXIT
798
799If and when the child process exits depends on the backend and
800configuration. Apart from explicit exits (e.g. by calling C<exit>) or
801runtime conditions (uncaught exceptions, signals etc.), the backends exit
802under these conditions:
803
804=over 4
805
806=item Synchronous Backend
807
808The synchronous backend is very simple: when the process waits for another
809request to arrive and the writing side (usually in the parent) is closed,
810it will exit normally, i.e. as if your main program reached the end of the
811file.
812
813That means that if your parent process exits, the RPC process will usually
814exit as well, either because it is idle anyway, or because it executes a
815request. In the latter case, you will likely get an error when the RPc
816process tries to send the results to the parent (because agruably, you
817shouldn't exit your parent while there are still outstanding requests).
818
819The process is usually quiescent when it happens, so it should rarely be a
820problem, and C<END> handlers can be used to clean up.
821
822=item Asynchronous Backend
823
824For the asynchronous backend, things are more complicated: Whenever it
825listens for another request by the parent, it might detect that the socket
826was closed (e.g. because the parent exited). It will sotp listening for
827new requests and instead try to write out any remaining data (if any) or
828simply check whether the socket can be written to. After this, the RPC
829process is effectively done - no new requests are incoming, no outstanding
830request data can be written back.
831
832Since chances are high that there are event watchers that the RPC server
833knows nothing about (why else would one use the async backend if not for
834the ability to register watchers?), the event loop would often happily
835continue.
836
837This is why the asynchronous backend explicitly calls C<CORE::exit> when
838it is done (under other circumstances, such as when there is an I/O error
839and there is outstanding data to write, it will log a fatal message via
840L<AnyEvent::Log>, also causing the program to exit).
841
842You can override this by specifying a function name to call via the C<done>
843parameter instead.
844
845=back
846
847=head1 ADVANCED TOPICS
848
849=head2 Choosing a backend
850
851So how do you decide which backend to use? Well, that's your problem to
852solve, but here are some thoughts on the matter:
853
854=over 4
855
856=item Synchronous
857
858The synchronous backend does not rely on any external modules (well,
859except L<common::sense>, which works around a bug in how perl's warning
860system works). This keeps the process very small, for example, on my
861system, an empty perl interpreter uses 1492kB RSS, which becomes 2020kB
862after C<use warnings; use strict> (for people who grew up with C64s around
863them this is probably shocking every single time they see it). The worker
864process in the first example in this document uses 1792kB.
865
866Since the calls are done synchronously, slow jobs will keep newer jobs
867from executing.
868
869The synchronous backend also has no overhead due to running an event loop
870- reading requests is therefore very efficient, while writing responses is
871less so, as every response results in a write syscall.
872
873If the parent process is busy and a bit slow reading responses, the child
874waits instead of processing further requests. This also limits the amount
875of memory needed for buffering, as never more than one response has to be
876buffered.
877
878The API in the child is simple - you just have to define a function that
879does something and returns something.
880
881It's hard to use modules or code that relies on an event loop, as the
882child cannot execute anything while it waits for more input.
883
884=item Asynchronous
885
886The asynchronous backend relies on L<AnyEvent>, which tries to be small,
887but still comes at a price: On my system, the worker from example 1a uses
8883420kB RSS (for L<AnyEvent>, which loads L<EV>, which needs L<XSLoader>
889which in turn loads a lot of other modules such as L<warnings>, L<strict>,
890L<vars>, L<Exporter>...).
891
892It batches requests and responses reasonably efficiently, doing only as
893few reads and writes as needed, but needs to poll for events via the event
894loop.
895
896Responses are queued when the parent process is busy. This means the child
897can continue to execute any queued requests. It also means that a child
898might queue a lot of responses in memory when it generates them and the
899parent process is slow accepting them.
900
901The API is not a straightforward RPC pattern - you have to call a
902"done" callback to pass return values and signal completion. Also, more
903importantly, the API starts jobs as fast as possible - when 1000 jobs
904are queued and the jobs are slow, they will all run concurrently. The
905child must implement some queueing/limiting mechanism if this causes
906problems. Alternatively, the parent could limit the amount of rpc calls
907that are outstanding.
908
909Blocking use of condvars is not supported (in the main thread, outside of
910e.g. L<Coro> threads).
911
912Using event-based modules such as L<IO::AIO>, L<Gtk2>, L<Tk> and so on is
913easy.
914
915=back
916
917=head2 Passing file descriptors
918
919Unlike L<AnyEvent::Fork>, this module has no in-built file handle or file
920descriptor passing abilities.
921
922The reason is that passing file descriptors is extraordinary tricky
923business, and conflicts with efficient batching of messages.
924
925There still is a method you can use: Create a
926C<AnyEvent::Util::portable_socketpair> and C<send_fh> one half of it to
927the process before you pass control to C<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::run>.
928
929Whenever you want to pass a file descriptor, send an rpc request to the
930child process (so it expects the descriptor), then send it over the other
931half of the socketpair. The child should fetch the descriptor from the
932half it has passed earlier.
933
934Here is some (untested) pseudocode to that effect:
935
936 use AnyEvent::Util;
937 use AnyEvent::Fork;
938 use AnyEvent::Fork::RPC;
939 use IO::FDPass;
940
941 my ($s1, $s2) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_socketpair;
942
943 my $rpc = AnyEvent::Fork
944 ->new
945 ->send_fh ($s2)
946 ->require ("MyWorker")
947 ->AnyEvent::Fork::RPC::run ("MyWorker::run"
948 init => "MyWorker::init",
949 );
950
951 undef $s2; # no need to keep it around
952
953 # pass an fd
954 $rpc->("i'll send some fd now, please expect it!", my $cv = AE::cv);
955
956 IO::FDPass fileno $s1, fileno $handle_to_pass;
957
958 $cv->recv;
959
960The MyWorker module could look like this:
961
962 package MyWorker;
963
964 use IO::FDPass;
965
966 my $s2;
967
968 sub init {
969 $s2 = $_[0];
970 }
971
972 sub run {
973 if ($_[0] eq "i'll send some fd now, please expect it!") {
974 my $fd = IO::FDPass::recv fileno $s2;
975 ...
976 }
977 }
978
979Of course, this might be blocking if you pass a lot of file descriptors,
980so you might want to look into L<AnyEvent::FDpasser> which can handle the
981gory details.
982
983=head1 EXCEPTIONS
984
985There are no provisions whatsoever for catching exceptions at this time -
986in the child, exceptions might kill the process, causing calls to be lost
987and the parent encountering a fatal error. In the parent, exceptions in
988the result callback will not be caught and cause undefined behaviour.
989
261=head1 SEE ALSO 990=head1 SEE ALSO
262 991
263L<AnyEvent::Fork> (to create the processes in the first place), 992L<AnyEvent::Fork>, to create the processes in the first place.
993
994L<AnyEvent::Fork::Remote>, likewise, but helpful for remote processes.
995
264L<AnyEvent::Fork::Pool> (to manage whole pools of processes). 996L<AnyEvent::Fork::Pool>, to manage whole pools of processes.
265 997
266=head1 AUTHOR AND CONTACT INFORMATION 998=head1 AUTHOR AND CONTACT INFORMATION
267 999
268 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 1000 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
269 http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/AnyEvent-Fork-RPC 1001 http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/AnyEvent-Fork-RPC

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