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Revision 1.56 by root, Sun Apr 28 13:47:52 2013 UTC

1=head1 NAME 1=head1 NAME
2 2
3AnyEvent::Fork - everything you wanted to use fork() for, but couldn't 3AnyEvent::Fork - everything you wanted to use fork() for, but couldn't
4 4
5ATTENTION, this is a very early release, and very untested. Consider it a
6technology preview.
7
8=head1 SYNOPSIS 5=head1 SYNOPSIS
9 6
10 use AnyEvent::Fork; 7 use AnyEvent::Fork;
11 8
12 ################################################################## 9 AnyEvent::Fork
10 ->new
11 ->require ("MyModule")
12 ->run ("MyModule::server", my $cv = AE::cv);
13
14 my $fh = $cv->recv;
15
16=head1 DESCRIPTION
17
18This module allows you to create new processes, without actually forking
19them from your current process (avoiding the problems of forking), but
20preserving most of the advantages of fork.
21
22It can be used to create new worker processes or new independent
23subprocesses for short- and long-running jobs, process pools (e.g. for use
24in pre-forked servers) but also to spawn new external processes (such as
25CGI scripts from a web server), which can be faster (and more well behaved)
26than using fork+exec in big processes.
27
28Special care has been taken to make this module useful from other modules,
29while still supporting specialised environments such as L<App::Staticperl>
30or L<PAR::Packer>.
31
32=head2 WHAT THIS MODULE IS NOT
33
34This module only creates processes and lets you pass file handles and
35strings to it, and run perl code. It does not implement any kind of RPC -
36there is no back channel from the process back to you, and there is no RPC
37or message passing going on.
38
39If you need some form of RPC, you could use the L<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC>
40companion module, which adds simple RPC/job queueing to a process created
41by this module.
42
43And if you need some automatic process pool management on top of
44L<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC>, you can look at the L<AnyEvent::Fork::Pool>
45companion module.
46
47Or you can implement it yourself in whatever way you like: use some
48message-passing module such as L<AnyEvent::MP>, some pipe such as
49L<AnyEvent::ZeroMQ>, use L<AnyEvent::Handle> on both sides to send
50e.g. JSON or Storable messages, and so on.
51
52=head2 COMPARISON TO OTHER MODULES
53
54There is an abundance of modules on CPAN that do "something fork", such as
55L<Parallel::ForkManager>, L<AnyEvent::ForkManager>, L<AnyEvent::Worker>
56or L<AnyEvent::Subprocess>. There are modules that implement their own
57process management, such as L<AnyEvent::DBI>.
58
59The problems that all these modules try to solve are real, however, none
60of them (from what I have seen) tackle the very real problems of unwanted
61memory sharing, efficiency, not being able to use event processing or
62similar modules in the processes they create.
63
64This module doesn't try to replace any of them - instead it tries to solve
65the problem of creating processes with a minimum of fuss and overhead (and
66also luxury). Ideally, most of these would use AnyEvent::Fork internally,
67except they were written before AnyEvent:Fork was available, so obviously
68had to roll their own.
69
70=head2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
71
72There are two traditional ways to implement parallel processing on UNIX
73like operating systems - fork and process, and fork+exec and process. They
74have different advantages and disadvantages that I describe below,
75together with how this module tries to mitigate the disadvantages.
76
77=over 4
78
79=item Forking from a big process can be very slow.
80
81A 5GB process needs 0.05s to fork on my 3.6GHz amd64 GNU/Linux box. This
82overhead is often shared with exec (because you have to fork first), but
83in some circumstances (e.g. when vfork is used), fork+exec can be much
84faster.
85
86This module can help here by telling a small(er) helper process to fork,
87which is faster then forking the main process, and also uses vfork where
88possible. This gives the speed of vfork, with the flexibility of fork.
89
90=item Forking usually creates a copy-on-write copy of the parent
91process.
92
93For example, modules or data files that are loaded will not use additional
94memory after a fork. When exec'ing a new process, modules and data files
95might need to be loaded again, at extra CPU and memory cost. But when
96forking, literally all data structures are copied - if the program frees
97them and replaces them by new data, the child processes will retain the
98old version even if it isn't used, which can suddenly and unexpectedly
99increase memory usage when freeing memory.
100
101The trade-off is between more sharing with fork (which can be good or
102bad), and no sharing with exec.
103
104This module allows the main program to do a controlled fork, and allows
105modules to exec processes safely at any time. When creating a custom
106process pool you can take advantage of data sharing via fork without
107risking to share large dynamic data structures that will blow up child
108memory usage.
109
110In other words, this module puts you into control over what is being
111shared and what isn't, at all times.
112
113=item Exec'ing a new perl process might be difficult.
114
115For example, it is not easy to find the correct path to the perl
116interpreter - C<$^X> might not be a perl interpreter at all.
117
118This module tries hard to identify the correct path to the perl
119interpreter. With a cooperative main program, exec'ing the interpreter
120might not even be necessary, but even without help from the main program,
121it will still work when used from a module.
122
123=item Exec'ing a new perl process might be slow, as all necessary modules
124have to be loaded from disk again, with no guarantees of success.
125
126Long running processes might run into problems when perl is upgraded
127and modules are no longer loadable because they refer to a different
128perl version, or parts of a distribution are newer than the ones already
129loaded.
130
131This module supports creating pre-initialised perl processes to be used as
132a template for new processes.
133
134=item Forking might be impossible when a program is running.
135
136For example, POSIX makes it almost impossible to fork from a
137multi-threaded program while doing anything useful in the child - in
138fact, if your perl program uses POSIX threads (even indirectly via
139e.g. L<IO::AIO> or L<threads>), you cannot call fork on the perl level
140anymore without risking corruption issues on a number of operating
141systems.
142
143This module can safely fork helper processes at any time, by calling
144fork+exec in C, in a POSIX-compatible way (via L<Proc::FastSpawn>).
145
146=item Parallel processing with fork might be inconvenient or difficult
147to implement. Modules might not work in both parent and child.
148
149For example, when a program uses an event loop and creates watchers it
150becomes very hard to use the event loop from a child program, as the
151watchers already exist but are only meaningful in the parent. Worse, a
152module might want to use such a module, not knowing whether another module
153or the main program also does, leading to problems.
154
155Apart from event loops, graphical toolkits also commonly fall into the
156"unsafe module" category, or just about anything that communicates with
157the external world, such as network libraries and file I/O modules, which
158usually don't like being copied and then allowed to continue in two
159processes.
160
161With this module only the main program is allowed to create new processes
162by forking (because only the main program can know when it is still safe
163to do so) - all other processes are created via fork+exec, which makes it
164possible to use modules such as event loops or window interfaces safely.
165
166=back
167
168=head1 EXAMPLES
169
13 # create a single new process, tell it to run your worker function 170=head2 Create a single new process, tell it to run your worker function.
14 171
15 AnyEvent::Fork 172 AnyEvent::Fork
16 ->new 173 ->new
17 ->require ("MyModule") 174 ->require ("MyModule")
18 ->run ("MyModule::worker, sub { 175 ->run ("MyModule::worker, sub {
20 177
21 # now $master_filehandle is connected to the 178 # now $master_filehandle is connected to the
22 # $slave_filehandle in the new process. 179 # $slave_filehandle in the new process.
23 }); 180 });
24 181
25 # MyModule::worker might look like this 182C<MyModule> might look like this:
183
184 package MyModule;
185
26 sub MyModule::worker { 186 sub worker {
27 my ($slave_filehandle) = @_; 187 my ($slave_filehandle) = @_;
28 188
29 # now $slave_filehandle is connected to the $master_filehandle 189 # now $slave_filehandle is connected to the $master_filehandle
30 # in the original prorcess. have fun! 190 # in the original prorcess. have fun!
31 } 191 }
32 192
33 ##################################################################
34 # create a pool of server processes all accepting on the same socket 193=head2 Create a pool of server processes all accepting on the same socket.
35 194
36 # create listener socket 195 # create listener socket
37 my $listener = ...; 196 my $listener = ...;
38 197
39 # create a pool template, initialise it and give it the socket 198 # create a pool template, initialise it and give it the socket
51 } 210 }
52 211
53 # now do other things - maybe use the filehandle provided by run 212 # now do other things - maybe use the filehandle provided by run
54 # to wait for the processes to die. or whatever. 213 # to wait for the processes to die. or whatever.
55 214
56 # My::Server::run might look like this 215C<My::Server> might look like this:
57 sub My::Server::run { 216
217 package My::Server;
218
219 sub run {
58 my ($slave, $listener, $id) = @_; 220 my ($slave, $listener, $id) = @_;
59 221
60 close $slave; # we do not use the socket, so close it to save resources 222 close $slave; # we do not use the socket, so close it to save resources
61 223
62 # we could go ballistic and use e.g. AnyEvent here, or IO::AIO, 224 # we could go ballistic and use e.g. AnyEvent here, or IO::AIO,
64 while (my $socket = $listener->accept) { 226 while (my $socket = $listener->accept) {
65 # do sth. with new socket 227 # do sth. with new socket
66 } 228 }
67 } 229 }
68 230
69=head1 DESCRIPTION 231=head2 use AnyEvent::Fork as a faster fork+exec
70 232
71This module allows you to create new processes, without actually forking 233This runs C</bin/echo hi>, with standard output redirected to F</tmp/log>
72them from your current process (avoiding the problems of forking), but 234and standard error redirected to the communications socket. It is usually
73preserving most of the advantages of fork. 235faster than fork+exec, but still lets you prepare the environment.
74 236
75It can be used to create new worker processes or new independent 237 open my $output, ">/tmp/log" or die "$!";
76subprocesses for short- and long-running jobs, process pools (e.g. for use
77in pre-forked servers) but also to spawn new external processes (such as
78CGI scripts from a webserver), which can be faster (and more well behaved)
79than using fork+exec in big processes.
80 238
81Special care has been taken to make this module useful from other modules, 239 AnyEvent::Fork
82while still supporting specialised environments such as L<App::Staticperl> 240 ->new
83or L<PAR::Packer>. 241 ->eval ('
242 # compile a helper function for later use
243 sub run {
244 my ($fh, $output, @cmd) = @_;
84 245
85=head1 PROBLEM STATEMENT 246 # perl will clear close-on-exec on STDOUT/STDERR
247 open STDOUT, ">&", $output or die;
248 open STDERR, ">&", $fh or die;
86 249
87There are two ways to implement parallel processing on UNIX like operating 250 exec @cmd;
88systems - fork and process, and fork+exec and process. They have different 251 }
89advantages and disadvantages that I describe below, together with how this 252 ')
90module tries to mitigate the disadvantages. 253 ->send_fh ($output)
254 ->send_arg ("/bin/echo", "hi")
255 ->run ("run", my $cv = AE::cv);
91 256
92=over 4 257 my $stderr = $cv->recv;
93 258
94=item Forking from a big process can be very slow (a 5GB process needs 259=head2 For stingy users: put the worker code into a C<DATA> section.
950.05s to fork on my 3.6GHz amd64 GNU/Linux box for example). This overhead
96is often shared with exec (because you have to fork first), but in some
97circumstances (e.g. when vfork is used), fork+exec can be much faster.
98 260
99This module can help here by telling a small(er) helper process to fork, 261When you want to be stingy with files, you cna put your code into the
100or fork+exec instead. 262C<DATA> section of your module (or program):
101 263
102=item Forking usually creates a copy-on-write copy of the parent 264 use AnyEvent::Fork;
103process. Memory (for example, modules or data files that have been
104will not take additional memory). When exec'ing a new process, modules
105and data files might need to be loaded again, at extra cpu and memory
106cost. Likewise when forking, all data structures are copied as well - if
107the program frees them and replaces them by new data, the child processes
108will retain the memory even if it isn't used.
109 265
110This module allows the main program to do a controlled fork, and allows 266 AnyEvent::Fork
111modules to exec processes safely at any time. When creating a custom 267 ->new
112process pool you can take advantage of data sharing via fork without 268 ->eval (do { local $/; <DATA> })
113risking to share large dynamic data structures that will blow up child 269 ->run ("doit", sub { ... });
114memory usage.
115 270
116=item Exec'ing a new perl process might be difficult and slow. For 271 __DATA__
117example, it is not easy to find the correct path to the perl interpreter,
118and all modules have to be loaded from disk again. Long running processes
119might run into problems when perl is upgraded for example.
120 272
121This module supports creating pre-initialised perl processes to be used 273 sub doit {
122as template, and also tries hard to identify the correct path to the perl 274 ... do something!
123interpreter. With a cooperative main program, exec'ing the interpreter 275 }
124might not even be necessary.
125 276
126=item Forking might be impossible when a program is running. For example, 277=head2 For stingy standalone programs: do not rely on external files at
127POSIX makes it almost impossible to fork from a multithreaded program and 278all.
128do anything useful in the child - strictly speaking, if your perl program
129uses posix threads (even indirectly via e.g. L<IO::AIO> or L<threads>),
130you cannot call fork on the perl level anymore, at all.
131 279
132This module can safely fork helper processes at any time, by caling 280For single-file scripts it can be inconvenient to rely on external
133fork+exec in C, in a POSIX-compatible way. 281files - even when using < C<DATA> section, you still need to C<exec>
282an external perl interpreter, which might not be available when using
283L<App::Staticperl>, L<Urlader> or L<PAR::Packer> for example.
134 284
135=item Parallel processing with fork might be inconvenient or difficult 285Two modules help here - L<AnyEvent::Fork::Early> forks a template process
136to implement. For example, when a program uses an event loop and creates 286for all further calls to C<new_exec>, and L<AnyEvent::Fork::Template>
137watchers it becomes very hard to use the event loop from a child 287forks the main program as a template process.
138program, as the watchers already exist but are only meaningful in the
139parent. Worse, a module might want to use such a system, not knowing
140whether another module or the main program also does, leading to problems.
141 288
142This module only lets the main program create pools by forking (because 289Here is how your main program should look like:
143only the main program can know when it is still safe to do so) - all other
144pools are created by fork+exec, after which such modules can again be
145loaded.
146 290
147=back 291 #! perl
292
293 # optional, as the very first thing.
294 # in case modules want to create their own processes.
295 use AnyEvent::Fork::Early;
296
297 # next, load all modules you need in your template process
298 use Example::My::Module
299 use Example::Whatever;
300
301 # next, put your run function definition and anything else you
302 # need, but do not use code outside of BEGIN blocks.
303 sub worker_run {
304 my ($fh, @args) = @_;
305 ...
306 }
307
308 # now preserve everything so far as AnyEvent::Fork object
309 # in §TEMPLATE.
310 use AnyEvent::Fork::Template;
311
312 # do not put code outside of BEGIN blocks until here
313
314 # now use the $TEMPLATE process in any way you like
315
316 # for example: create 10 worker processes
317 my @worker;
318 my $cv = AE::cv;
319 for (1..10) {
320 $cv->begin;
321 $TEMPLATE->fork->send_arg ($_)->run ("worker_run", sub {
322 push @worker, shift;
323 $cv->end;
324 });
325 }
326 $cv->recv;
148 327
149=head1 CONCEPTS 328=head1 CONCEPTS
150 329
151This module can create new processes either by executing a new perl 330This module can create new processes either by executing a new perl
152process, or by forking from an existing "template" process. 331process, or by forking from an existing "template" process.
332
333All these processes are called "child processes" (whether they are direct
334children or not), while the process that manages them is called the
335"parent process".
153 336
154Each such process comes with its own file handle that can be used to 337Each such process comes with its own file handle that can be used to
155communicate with it (it's actually a socket - one end in the new process, 338communicate with it (it's actually a socket - one end in the new process,
156one end in the main process), and among the things you can do in it are 339one end in the main process), and among the things you can do in it are
157load modules, fork new processes, send file handles to it, and execute 340load modules, fork new processes, send file handles to it, and execute
169needed the first time. Forking from this process shares the memory used 352needed the first time. Forking from this process shares the memory used
170for the perl interpreter with the new process, but loading modules takes 353for the perl interpreter with the new process, but loading modules takes
171time, and the memory is not shared with anything else. 354time, and the memory is not shared with anything else.
172 355
173This is ideal for when you only need one extra process of a kind, with the 356This is ideal for when you only need one extra process of a kind, with the
174option of starting and stipping it on demand. 357option of starting and stopping it on demand.
175 358
176Example: 359Example:
177 360
178 AnyEvent::Fork 361 AnyEvent::Fork
179 ->new 362 ->new
194modules you loaded) is shared between the processes, and each new process 377modules you loaded) is shared between the processes, and each new process
195consumes relatively little memory of its own. 378consumes relatively little memory of its own.
196 379
197The disadvantage of this approach is that you need to create a template 380The disadvantage of this approach is that you need to create a template
198process for the sole purpose of forking new processes from it, but if you 381process for the sole purpose of forking new processes from it, but if you
199only need a fixed number of proceses you can create them, and then destroy 382only need a fixed number of processes you can create them, and then destroy
200the template process. 383the template process.
201 384
202Example: 385Example:
203 386
204 my $template = AnyEvent::Fork->new->require ("Some::Module"); 387 my $template = AnyEvent::Fork->new->require ("Some::Module");
231 my ($fork_fh) = @_; 414 my ($fork_fh) = @_;
232 }); 415 });
233 416
234=back 417=back
235 418
236=head1 FUNCTIONS 419=head1 THE C<AnyEvent::Fork> CLASS
420
421This module exports nothing, and only implements a single class -
422C<AnyEvent::Fork>.
423
424There are two class constructors that both create new processes - C<new>
425and C<new_exec>. The C<fork> method creates a new process by forking an
426existing one and could be considered a third constructor.
427
428Most of the remaining methods deal with preparing the new process, by
429loading code, evaluating code and sending data to the new process. They
430usually return the process object, so you can chain method calls.
431
432If a process object is destroyed before calling its C<run> method, then
433the process simply exits. After C<run> is called, all responsibility is
434passed to the specified function.
435
436As long as there is any outstanding work to be done, process objects
437resist being destroyed, so there is no reason to store them unless you
438need them later - configure and forget works just fine.
237 439
238=over 4 440=over 4
239 441
240=cut 442=cut
241 443
242package AnyEvent::Fork; 444package AnyEvent::Fork;
243 445
244use common::sense; 446use common::sense;
245 447
246use Socket (); 448use Errno ();
247 449
248use AnyEvent; 450use AnyEvent;
249use AnyEvent::Fork::Util;
250use AnyEvent::Util (); 451use AnyEvent::Util ();
251 452
252our $PERL; # the path to the perl interpreter, deduces with various forms of magic 453use IO::FDPass;
253 454
254=item my $pool = new AnyEvent::Fork key => value... 455our $VERSION = 1.1;
255
256Create a new process pool. The following named parameters are supported:
257
258=over 4
259
260=back
261
262=cut
263 456
264# the early fork template process 457# the early fork template process
265our $EARLY; 458our $EARLY;
266 459
267# the empty template process 460# the empty template process
268our $TEMPLATE; 461our $TEMPLATE;
269 462
463sub QUEUE() { 0 }
464sub FH() { 1 }
465sub WW() { 2 }
466sub PID() { 3 }
467sub CB() { 4 }
468
469sub _new {
470 my ($self, $fh, $pid) = @_;
471
472 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking $fh, 1;
473
474 $self = bless [
475 [], # write queue - strings or fd's
476 $fh,
477 undef, # AE watcher
478 $pid,
479 ], $self;
480
481 $self
482}
483
270sub _cmd { 484sub _cmd {
271 my $self = shift; 485 my $self = shift;
272 486
273 #TODO: maybe append the packet to any existing string command already in the queue
274
275 # ideally, we would want to use "a (w/a)*" as format string, but perl versions 487 # ideally, we would want to use "a (w/a)*" as format string, but perl
276 # from at least 5.8.9 to 5.16.3 are all buggy and can't unpack it. 488 # versions from at least 5.8.9 to 5.16.3 are all buggy and can't unpack
277 push @{ $self->[2] }, pack "N/a", pack "(w/a)*", @_; 489 # it.
490 push @{ $self->[QUEUE] }, pack "a L/a*", $_[0], $_[1];
278 491
279 $self->[3] ||= AE::io $self->[1], 1, sub { 492 $self->[WW] ||= AE::io $self->[FH], 1, sub {
493 do {
280 # send the next "thing" in the queue - either a reference to an fh, 494 # send the next "thing" in the queue - either a reference to an fh,
281 # or a plain string. 495 # or a plain string.
282 496
283 if (ref $self->[2][0]) { 497 if (ref $self->[QUEUE][0]) {
284 # send fh 498 # send fh
285 AnyEvent::Fork::Util::fd_send fileno $self->[1], fileno ${ $self->[2][0] } 499 unless (IO::FDPass::send fileno $self->[FH], fileno ${ $self->[QUEUE][0] }) {
500 return if $! == Errno::EAGAIN || $! == Errno::EWOULDBLOCK;
501 undef $self->[WW];
502 die "AnyEvent::Fork: file descriptor send failure: $!";
503 }
504
286 and shift @{ $self->[2] }; 505 shift @{ $self->[QUEUE] };
287 506
288 } else { 507 } else {
289 # send string 508 # send string
290 my $len = syswrite $self->[1], $self->[2][0] 509 my $len = syswrite $self->[FH], $self->[QUEUE][0];
510
511 unless ($len) {
512 return if $! == Errno::EAGAIN || $! == Errno::EWOULDBLOCK;
513 undef $self->[WW];
291 or do { undef $self->[3]; die "AnyEvent::Fork: command write failure: $!" }; 514 die "AnyEvent::Fork: command write failure: $!";
515 }
292 516
293 substr $self->[2][0], 0, $len, ""; 517 substr $self->[QUEUE][0], 0, $len, "";
294 shift @{ $self->[2] } unless length $self->[2][0]; 518 shift @{ $self->[QUEUE] } unless length $self->[QUEUE][0];
295 } 519 }
520 } while @{ $self->[QUEUE] };
296 521
297 unless (@{ $self->[2] }) { 522 # everything written
298 undef $self->[3]; 523 undef $self->[WW];
524
299 # invoke run callback 525 # invoke run callback, if any
526 if ($self->[CB]) {
300 $self->[0]->($self->[1]) if $self->[0]; 527 $self->[CB]->($self->[FH]);
528 @$self = ();
301 } 529 }
302 }; 530 };
303}
304 531
305sub _new { 532 () # make sure we don't leak the watcher
306 my ($self, $fh) = @_;
307
308 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking $fh, 1;
309
310 $self = bless [
311 undef, # run callback
312 $fh,
313 [], # write queue - strings or fd's
314 undef, # AE watcher
315 ], $self;
316
317 $self
318} 533}
319 534
320# fork template from current process, used by AnyEvent::Fork::Early/Template 535# fork template from current process, used by AnyEvent::Fork::Early/Template
321sub _new_fork { 536sub _new_fork {
322 my ($fh, $slave) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_socketpair; 537 my ($fh, $slave) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_socketpair;
328 require AnyEvent::Fork::Serve; 543 require AnyEvent::Fork::Serve;
329 $AnyEvent::Fork::Serve::OWNER = $parent; 544 $AnyEvent::Fork::Serve::OWNER = $parent;
330 close $fh; 545 close $fh;
331 $0 = "$_[1] of $parent"; 546 $0 = "$_[1] of $parent";
332 AnyEvent::Fork::Serve::serve ($slave); 547 AnyEvent::Fork::Serve::serve ($slave);
333 AnyEvent::Fork::Util::_exit 0; 548 exit 0;
334 } elsif (!$pid) { 549 } elsif (!$pid) {
335 die "AnyEvent::Fork::Early/Template: unable to fork template process: $!"; 550 die "AnyEvent::Fork::Early/Template: unable to fork template process: $!";
336 } 551 }
337 552
338 AnyEvent::Fork->_new ($fh) 553 AnyEvent::Fork->_new ($fh, $pid)
339} 554}
340 555
341=item my $proc = new AnyEvent::Fork 556=item my $proc = new AnyEvent::Fork
342 557
343Create a new "empty" perl interpreter process and returns its process 558Create a new "empty" perl interpreter process and returns its process
344object for further manipulation. 559object for further manipulation.
345 560
346The new process is forked from a template process that is kept around 561The new process is forked from a template process that is kept around
347for this purpose. When it doesn't exist yet, it is created by a call to 562for this purpose. When it doesn't exist yet, it is created by a call to
348C<new_exec> and kept around for future calls. 563C<new_exec> first and then stays around for future calls.
349
350When the process object is destroyed, it will release the file handle
351that connects it with the new process. When the new process has not yet
352called C<run>, then the process will exit. Otherwise, what happens depends
353entirely on the code that is executed.
354 564
355=cut 565=cut
356 566
357sub new { 567sub new {
358 my $class = shift; 568 my $class = shift;
394reduces the amount of memory sharing that is possible, and is also slower. 604reduces the amount of memory sharing that is possible, and is also slower.
395 605
396You should use C<new> whenever possible, except when having a template 606You should use C<new> whenever possible, except when having a template
397process around is unacceptable. 607process around is unacceptable.
398 608
399The path to the perl interpreter is divined usign various methods - first 609The path to the perl interpreter is divined using various methods - first
400C<$^X> is investigated to see if the path ends with something that sounds 610C<$^X> is investigated to see if the path ends with something that sounds
401as if it were the perl interpreter. Failing this, the module falls back to 611as if it were the perl interpreter. Failing this, the module falls back to
402using C<$Config::Config{perlpath}>. 612using C<$Config::Config{perlpath}>.
403 613
614The path to perl can also be overriden by setting the global variable
615C<$AnyEvent::Fork::PERL> - it's value will be used for all subsequent
616invocations.
617
404=cut 618=cut
619
620our $PERL;
405 621
406sub new_exec { 622sub new_exec {
407 my ($self) = @_; 623 my ($self) = @_;
408 624
409 return $EARLY->fork 625 return $EARLY->fork
410 if $EARLY; 626 if $EARLY;
411 627
628 unless (defined $PERL) {
412 # first find path of perl 629 # first find path of perl
413 my $perl = $; 630 my $perl = $;
414 631
415 # first we try $^X, but the path must be absolute (always on win32), and end in sth. 632 # first we try $^X, but the path must be absolute (always on win32), and end in sth.
416 # that looks like perl. this obviously only works for posix and win32 633 # that looks like perl. this obviously only works for posix and win32
417 unless ( 634 unless (
418 (AnyEvent::Fork::Util::WIN32 || $perl =~ m%^/%) 635 ($^O eq "MSWin32" || $perl =~ m%^/%)
419 && $perl =~ m%[/\\]perl(?:[0-9]+(\.[0-9]+)+)?(\.exe)?$%i 636 && $perl =~ m%[/\\]perl(?:[0-9]+(\.[0-9]+)+)?(\.exe)?$%i
420 ) { 637 ) {
421 # if it doesn't look perlish enough, try Config 638 # if it doesn't look perlish enough, try Config
422 require Config; 639 require Config;
423 $perl = $Config::Config{perlpath}; 640 $perl = $Config::Config{perlpath};
424 $perl =~ s/(?:\Q$Config::Config{_exe}\E)?$/$Config::Config{_exe}/; 641 $perl =~ s/(?:\Q$Config::Config{_exe}\E)?$/$Config::Config{_exe}/;
642 }
643
644 $PERL = $perl;
425 } 645 }
426 646
427 require Proc::FastSpawn; 647 require Proc::FastSpawn;
428 648
429 my ($fh, $slave) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_socketpair; 649 my ($fh, $slave) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_socketpair;
434 Proc::FastSpawn::fd_inherit (fileno $fh, 0); 654 Proc::FastSpawn::fd_inherit (fileno $fh, 0);
435 655
436 # quick. also doesn't work in win32. of course. what did you expect 656 # quick. also doesn't work in win32. of course. what did you expect
437 #local $ENV{PERL5LIB} = join ":", grep !ref, @INC; 657 #local $ENV{PERL5LIB} = join ":", grep !ref, @INC;
438 my %env = %ENV; 658 my %env = %ENV;
439 $env{PERL5LIB} = join +(AnyEvent::Fork::Util::WIN32 ? ";" : ":"), grep !ref, @INC; 659 $env{PERL5LIB} = join +($^O eq "MSWin32" ? ";" : ":"), grep !ref, @INC;
440 660
441 Proc::FastSpawn::spawn ( 661 my $pid = Proc::FastSpawn::spawn (
442 $perl, 662 $PERL,
443 ["perl", "-MAnyEvent::Fork::Serve", "-e", "AnyEvent::Fork::Serve::me", fileno $slave, $$], 663 ["perl", "-MAnyEvent::Fork::Serve", "-e", "AnyEvent::Fork::Serve::me", fileno $slave, $$],
444 [map "$_=$env{$_}", keys %env], 664 [map "$_=$env{$_}", keys %env],
445 ) or die "unable to spawn AnyEvent::Fork server: $!"; 665 ) or die "unable to spawn AnyEvent::Fork server: $!";
446 666
447 $self->_new ($fh) 667 $self->_new ($fh, $pid)
668}
669
670=item $pid = $proc->pid
671
672Returns the process id of the process I<iff it is a direct child of the
673process running AnyEvent::Fork>, and C<undef> otherwise.
674
675Normally, only processes created via C<< AnyEvent::Fork->new_exec >> and
676L<AnyEvent::Fork::Template> are direct children, and you are responsible
677to clean up their zombies when they die.
678
679All other processes are not direct children, and will be cleaned up by
680AnyEvent::Fork itself.
681
682=cut
683
684sub pid {
685 $_[0][PID]
448} 686}
449 687
450=item $proc = $proc->eval ($perlcode, @args) 688=item $proc = $proc->eval ($perlcode, @args)
451 689
452Evaluates the given C<$perlcode> as ... perl code, while setting C<@_> to 690Evaluates the given C<$perlcode> as ... Perl code, while setting C<@_> to
453the strings specified by C<@args>. 691the strings specified by C<@args>, in the "main" package.
454 692
455This call is meant to do any custom initialisation that might be required 693This call is meant to do any custom initialisation that might be required
456(for example, the C<require> method uses it). It's not supposed to be used 694(for example, the C<require> method uses it). It's not supposed to be used
457to completely take over the process, use C<run> for that. 695to completely take over the process, use C<run> for that.
458 696
459The code will usually be executed after this call returns, and there is no 697The code will usually be executed after this call returns, and there is no
460way to pass anything back to the calling process. Any evaluation errors 698way to pass anything back to the calling process. Any evaluation errors
461will be reported to stderr and cause the process to exit. 699will be reported to stderr and cause the process to exit.
462 700
701If you want to execute some code (that isn't in a module) to take over the
702process, you should compile a function via C<eval> first, and then call
703it via C<run>. This also gives you access to any arguments passed via the
704C<send_xxx> methods, such as file handles. See the L<use AnyEvent::Fork as
705a faster fork+exec> example to see it in action.
706
463Returns the process object for easy chaining of method calls. 707Returns the process object for easy chaining of method calls.
464 708
465=cut 709=cut
466 710
467sub eval { 711sub eval {
468 my ($self, $code, @args) = @_; 712 my ($self, $code, @args) = @_;
469 713
470 $self->_cmd (e => $code, @args); 714 $self->_cmd (e => pack "(w/a*)*", $code, @args);
471 715
472 $self 716 $self
473} 717}
474 718
475=item $proc = $proc->require ($module, ...) 719=item $proc = $proc->require ($module, ...)
492=item $proc = $proc->send_fh ($handle, ...) 736=item $proc = $proc->send_fh ($handle, ...)
493 737
494Send one or more file handles (I<not> file descriptors) to the process, 738Send one or more file handles (I<not> file descriptors) to the process,
495to prepare a call to C<run>. 739to prepare a call to C<run>.
496 740
497The process object keeps a reference to the handles until this is done, 741The process object keeps a reference to the handles until they have
498so you must not explicitly close the handles. This is most easily 742been passed over to the process, so you must not explicitly close the
499accomplished by simply not storing the file handles anywhere after passing 743handles. This is most easily accomplished by simply not storing the file
500them to this method. 744handles anywhere after passing them to this method - when AnyEvent::Fork
745is finished using them, perl will automatically close them.
501 746
502Returns the process object for easy chaining of method calls. 747Returns the process object for easy chaining of method calls.
503 748
504Example: pass an fh to a process, and release it without closing. it will 749Example: pass a file handle to a process, and release it without
505be closed automatically when it is no longer used. 750closing. It will be closed automatically when it is no longer used.
506 751
507 $proc->send_fh ($my_fh); 752 $proc->send_fh ($my_fh);
508 undef $my_fh; # free the reference if you want, but DO NOT CLOSE IT 753 undef $my_fh; # free the reference if you want, but DO NOT CLOSE IT
509 754
510=cut 755=cut
512sub send_fh { 757sub send_fh {
513 my ($self, @fh) = @_; 758 my ($self, @fh) = @_;
514 759
515 for my $fh (@fh) { 760 for my $fh (@fh) {
516 $self->_cmd ("h"); 761 $self->_cmd ("h");
517 push @{ $self->[2] }, \$fh; 762 push @{ $self->[QUEUE] }, \$fh;
518 } 763 }
519 764
520 $self 765 $self
521} 766}
522 767
523=item $proc = $proc->send_arg ($string, ...) 768=item $proc = $proc->send_arg ($string, ...)
524 769
525Send one or more argument strings to the process, to prepare a call to 770Send one or more argument strings to the process, to prepare a call to
526C<run>. The strings can be any octet string. 771C<run>. The strings can be any octet strings.
527 772
773The protocol is optimised to pass a moderate number of relatively short
774strings - while you can pass up to 4GB of data in one go, this is more
775meant to pass some ID information or other startup info, not big chunks of
776data.
777
528Returns the process object for easy chaining of emthod calls. 778Returns the process object for easy chaining of method calls.
529 779
530=cut 780=cut
531 781
532sub send_arg { 782sub send_arg {
533 my ($self, @arg) = @_; 783 my ($self, @arg) = @_;
534 784
535 $self->_cmd (a => @arg); 785 $self->_cmd (a => pack "(w/a*)*", @arg);
536 786
537 $self 787 $self
538} 788}
539 789
540=item $proc->run ($func, $cb->($fh)) 790=item $proc->run ($func, $cb->($fh))
541 791
542Enter the function specified by the fully qualified name in C<$func> in 792Enter the function specified by the function name in C<$func> in the
543the process. The function is called with the communication socket as first 793process. The function is called with the communication socket as first
544argument, followed by all file handles and string arguments sent earlier 794argument, followed by all file handles and string arguments sent earlier
545via C<send_fh> and C<send_arg> methods, in the order they were called. 795via C<send_fh> and C<send_arg> methods, in the order they were called.
546 796
547If the called function returns, the process exits.
548
549Preparing the process can take time - when the process is ready, the
550callback is invoked with the local communications socket as argument.
551
552The process object becomes unusable on return from this function. 797The process object becomes unusable on return from this function - any
798further method calls result in undefined behaviour.
799
800The function name should be fully qualified, but if it isn't, it will be
801looked up in the C<main> package.
802
803If the called function returns, doesn't exist, or any error occurs, the
804process exits.
805
806Preparing the process is done in the background - when all commands have
807been sent, the callback is invoked with the local communications socket
808as argument. At this point you can start using the socket in any way you
809like.
553 810
554If the communication socket isn't used, it should be closed on both sides, 811If the communication socket isn't used, it should be closed on both sides,
555to save on kernel memory. 812to save on kernel memory.
556 813
557The socket is non-blocking in the parent, and blocking in the newly 814The socket is non-blocking in the parent, and blocking in the newly
558created process. The close-on-exec flag is set on both. Even if not used 815created process. The close-on-exec flag is set in both.
816
559otherwise, the socket can be a good indicator for the existance of the 817Even if not used otherwise, the socket can be a good indicator for the
560process - if the other process exits, you get a readable event on it, 818existence of the process - if the other process exits, you get a readable
561because exiting the process closes the socket (if it didn't create any 819event on it, because exiting the process closes the socket (if it didn't
562children using fork). 820create any children using fork).
563 821
564Example: create a template for a process pool, pass a few strings, some 822Example: create a template for a process pool, pass a few strings, some
565file handles, then fork, pass one more string, and run some code. 823file handles, then fork, pass one more string, and run some code.
566 824
567 my $pool = AnyEvent::Fork 825 my $pool = AnyEvent::Fork
575 ->send_arg ("str3") 833 ->send_arg ("str3")
576 ->run ("Some::function", sub { 834 ->run ("Some::function", sub {
577 my ($fh) = @_; 835 my ($fh) = @_;
578 836
579 # fh is nonblocking, but we trust that the OS can accept these 837 # fh is nonblocking, but we trust that the OS can accept these
580 # extra 3 octets anyway. 838 # few octets anyway.
581 syswrite $fh, "hi #$_\n"; 839 syswrite $fh, "hi #$_\n";
582 840
583 # $fh is being closed here, as we don't store it anywhere 841 # $fh is being closed here, as we don't store it anywhere
584 }); 842 });
585 } 843 }
587 # Some::function might look like this - all parameters passed before fork 845 # Some::function might look like this - all parameters passed before fork
588 # and after will be passed, in order, after the communications socket. 846 # and after will be passed, in order, after the communications socket.
589 sub Some::function { 847 sub Some::function {
590 my ($fh, $str1, $str2, $fh1, $fh2, $str3) = @_; 848 my ($fh, $str1, $str2, $fh1, $fh2, $str3) = @_;
591 849
592 print scalar <$fh>; # prints "hi 1\n" and "hi 2\n" 850 print scalar <$fh>; # prints "hi #1\n" and "hi #2\n" in any order
593 } 851 }
594 852
595=cut 853=cut
596 854
597sub run { 855sub run {
598 my ($self, $func, $cb) = @_; 856 my ($self, $func, $cb) = @_;
599 857
600 $self->[0] = $cb; 858 $self->[CB] = $cb;
601 $self->_cmd (r => $func); 859 $self->_cmd (r => $func);
602} 860}
861
862=back
863
864=head2 EXPERIMENTAL METHODS
865
866These methods might go away completely or change behaviour, at any time.
867
868=over 4
869
870=item $proc->to_fh ($cb->($fh)) # EXPERIMENTAL, MIGHT BE REMOVED
871
872Flushes all commands out to the process and then calls the callback with
873the communications socket.
874
875The process object becomes unusable on return from this function - any
876further method calls result in undefined behaviour.
877
878The point of this method is to give you a file handle thta you cna pass
879to another process. In that other process, you can call C<new_from_fh
880AnyEvent::Fork> to create a new C<AnyEvent::Fork> object from it, thereby
881effectively passing a fork object to another process.
882
883=cut
884
885sub to_fh {
886 my ($self, $cb) = @_;
887
888 $self->[CB] = $cb;
889
890 unless ($self->[WW]) {
891 $self->[CB]->($self->[FH]);
892 @$self = ();
893 }
894}
895
896=item new_from_fh AnyEvent::Fork $fh # EXPERIMENTAL, MIGHT BE REMOVED
897
898Takes a file handle originally rceeived by the C<to_fh> method and creates
899a new C<AnyEvent:Fork> object. The child process itself will not change in
900any way, i.e. it will keep all the modifications done to it before calling
901C<to_fh>.
902
903The new object is very much like the original object, except that the
904C<pid> method will return C<undef> even if the process is a direct child.
905
906=cut
907
908sub new_from_fh {
909 my ($class, $fh) = @_;
910
911 $class->_new ($fh)
912}
913
914=back
915
916=head1 PERFORMANCE
917
918Now for some unscientific benchmark numbers (all done on an amd64
919GNU/Linux box). These are intended to give you an idea of the relative
920performance you can expect, they are not meant to be absolute performance
921numbers.
922
923OK, so, I ran a simple benchmark that creates a socket pair, forks, calls
924exit in the child and waits for the socket to close in the parent. I did
925load AnyEvent, EV and AnyEvent::Fork, for a total process size of 5100kB.
926
927 2079 new processes per second, using manual socketpair + fork
928
929Then I did the same thing, but instead of calling fork, I called
930AnyEvent::Fork->new->run ("CORE::exit") and then again waited for the
931socket from the child to close on exit. This does the same thing as manual
932socket pair + fork, except that what is forked is the template process
933(2440kB), and the socket needs to be passed to the server at the other end
934of the socket first.
935
936 2307 new processes per second, using AnyEvent::Fork->new
937
938And finally, using C<new_exec> instead C<new>, using vforks+execs to exec
939a new perl interpreter and compile the small server each time, I get:
940
941 479 vfork+execs per second, using AnyEvent::Fork->new_exec
942
943So how can C<< AnyEvent->new >> be faster than a standard fork, even
944though it uses the same operations, but adds a lot of overhead?
945
946The difference is simply the process size: forking the 5MB process takes
947so much longer than forking the 2.5MB template process that the extra
948overhead is canceled out.
949
950If the benchmark process grows, the normal fork becomes even slower:
951
952 1340 new processes, manual fork of a 20MB process
953 731 new processes, manual fork of a 200MB process
954 235 new processes, manual fork of a 2000MB process
955
956What that means (to me) is that I can use this module without having a bad
957conscience because of the extra overhead required to start new processes.
958
959=head1 TYPICAL PROBLEMS
960
961This section lists typical problems that remain. I hope by recognising
962them, most can be avoided.
963
964=over 4
965
966=item leaked file descriptors for exec'ed processes
967
968POSIX systems inherit file descriptors by default when exec'ing a new
969process. While perl itself laudably sets the close-on-exec flags on new
970file handles, most C libraries don't care, and even if all cared, it's
971often not possible to set the flag in a race-free manner.
972
973That means some file descriptors can leak through. And since it isn't
974possible to know which file descriptors are "good" and "necessary" (or
975even to know which file descriptors are open), there is no good way to
976close the ones that might harm.
977
978As an example of what "harm" can be done consider a web server that
979accepts connections and afterwards some module uses AnyEvent::Fork for the
980first time, causing it to fork and exec a new process, which might inherit
981the network socket. When the server closes the socket, it is still open
982in the child (which doesn't even know that) and the client might conclude
983that the connection is still fine.
984
985For the main program, there are multiple remedies available -
986L<AnyEvent::Fork::Early> is one, creating a process early and not using
987C<new_exec> is another, as in both cases, the first process can be exec'ed
988well before many random file descriptors are open.
989
990In general, the solution for these kind of problems is to fix the
991libraries or the code that leaks those file descriptors.
992
993Fortunately, most of these leaked descriptors do no harm, other than
994sitting on some resources.
995
996=item leaked file descriptors for fork'ed processes
997
998Normally, L<AnyEvent::Fork> does start new processes by exec'ing them,
999which closes file descriptors not marked for being inherited.
1000
1001However, L<AnyEvent::Fork::Early> and L<AnyEvent::Fork::Template> offer
1002a way to create these processes by forking, and this leaks more file
1003descriptors than exec'ing them, as there is no way to mark descriptors as
1004"close on fork".
1005
1006An example would be modules like L<EV>, L<IO::AIO> or L<Gtk2>. Both create
1007pipes for internal uses, and L<Gtk2> might open a connection to the X
1008server. L<EV> and L<IO::AIO> can deal with fork, but Gtk2 might have
1009trouble with a fork.
1010
1011The solution is to either not load these modules before use'ing
1012L<AnyEvent::Fork::Early> or L<AnyEvent::Fork::Template>, or to delay
1013initialising them, for example, by calling C<init Gtk2> manually.
1014
1015=item exiting calls object destructors
1016
1017This only applies to users of L<AnyEvent::Fork:Early> and
1018L<AnyEvent::Fork::Template>, or when initialising code creates objects
1019that reference external resources.
1020
1021When a process created by AnyEvent::Fork exits, it might do so by calling
1022exit, or simply letting perl reach the end of the program. At which point
1023Perl runs all destructors.
1024
1025Not all destructors are fork-safe - for example, an object that represents
1026the connection to an X display might tell the X server to free resources,
1027which is inconvenient when the "real" object in the parent still needs to
1028use them.
1029
1030This is obviously not a problem for L<AnyEvent::Fork::Early>, as you used
1031it as the very first thing, right?
1032
1033It is a problem for L<AnyEvent::Fork::Template> though - and the solution
1034is to not create objects with nontrivial destructors that might have an
1035effect outside of Perl.
603 1036
604=back 1037=back
605 1038
606=head1 PORTABILITY NOTES 1039=head1 PORTABILITY NOTES
607 1040
608Native win32 perls are somewhat supported (AnyEvent::Fork::Early is a nop, 1041Native win32 perls are somewhat supported (AnyEvent::Fork::Early is a nop,
609and ::Template is not going to work), and it cost a lot of blood and sweat 1042and ::Template is not going to work), and it cost a lot of blood and sweat
610to make it so, mostly due to the bloody broken perl that nobody seems to 1043to make it so, mostly due to the bloody broken perl that nobody seems to
611care about. The fork emulation is a bad joke - I have yet to see something 1044care about. The fork emulation is a bad joke - I have yet to see something
612useful that you cna do with it without running into memory corruption 1045useful that you can do with it without running into memory corruption
613issues or other braindamage. Hrrrr. 1046issues or other braindamage. Hrrrr.
614 1047
615Cygwin perl is not supported at the moment, as it should implement fd 1048Since fork is endlessly broken on win32 perls (it doesn't even remotely
616passing, but doesn't, and rolling my own is hard, as cygwin doesn't 1049work within it's documented limits) and quite obviously it's not getting
617support enough functionality to do it. 1050improved any time soon, the best way to proceed on windows would be to
1051always use C<new_exec> and thus never rely on perl's fork "emulation".
618 1052
619=head1 AUTHOR 1053Cygwin perl is not supported at the moment due to some hilarious
1054shortcomings of its API - see L<IO::FDPoll> for more details. If you never
1055use C<send_fh> and always use C<new_exec> to create processes, it should
1056work though.
1057
1058=head1 SEE ALSO
1059
1060L<AnyEvent::Fork::Early>, to avoid executing a perl interpreter at all
1061(part of this distribution).
1062
1063L<AnyEvent::Fork::Template>, to create a process by forking the main
1064program at a convenient time (part of this distribution).
1065
1066L<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC>, for simple RPC to child processes (on CPAN).
1067
1068L<AnyEvent::Fork::Pool>, for simple worker process pool (on CPAN).
1069
1070=head1 AUTHOR AND CONTACT INFORMATION
620 1071
621 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 1072 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
622 http://home.schmorp.de/ 1073 http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/AnyEvent-Fork
623 1074
624=cut 1075=cut
625 1076
6261 10771
627 1078

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