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Revision: 1.83
Committed: Tue Sep 8 01:38:16 2009 UTC (14 years, 8 months ago) by root
Branch: MAIN
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# User Rev Content
1 root 1.1 =head1 NAME
2    
3     AnyEvent::MP - multi-processing/message-passing framework
4    
5     =head1 SYNOPSIS
6    
7     use AnyEvent::MP;
8    
9 root 1.75 $NODE # contains this node's node ID
10     NODE # returns this node's node ID
11 root 1.2
12 root 1.38 $SELF # receiving/own port id in rcv callbacks
13    
14 root 1.48 # initialise the node so it can send/receive messages
15 root 1.72 configure;
16 root 1.48
17 root 1.75 # ports are message destinations
18 root 1.38
19     # sending messages
20 root 1.2 snd $port, type => data...;
21 root 1.38 snd $port, @msg;
22     snd @msg_with_first_element_being_a_port;
23 root 1.2
24 root 1.50 # creating/using ports, the simple way
25 root 1.73 my $simple_port = port { my @msg = @_ };
26 root 1.22
27 root 1.52 # creating/using ports, tagged message matching
28 root 1.38 my $port = port;
29 root 1.73 rcv $port, ping => sub { snd $_[0], "pong" };
30     rcv $port, pong => sub { warn "pong received\n" };
31 root 1.2
32 root 1.48 # create a port on another node
33     my $port = spawn $node, $initfunc, @initdata;
34    
35 root 1.35 # monitoring
36     mon $port, $cb->(@msg) # callback is invoked on death
37     mon $port, $otherport # kill otherport on abnormal death
38     mon $port, $otherport, @msg # send message on death
39    
40 root 1.45 =head1 CURRENT STATUS
41    
42 root 1.71 bin/aemp - stable.
43     AnyEvent::MP - stable API, should work.
44 elmex 1.77 AnyEvent::MP::Intro - explains most concepts.
45 root 1.71 AnyEvent::MP::Kernel - mostly stable.
46 root 1.79 AnyEvent::MP::Global - stable but incomplete, protocol not yet final.
47 root 1.45
48 root 1.79 stay tuned.
49 root 1.45
50 root 1.1 =head1 DESCRIPTION
51    
52 root 1.2 This module (-family) implements a simple message passing framework.
53    
54     Despite its simplicity, you can securely message other processes running
55 root 1.67 on the same or other hosts, and you can supervise entities remotely.
56 root 1.2
57 root 1.23 For an introduction to this module family, see the L<AnyEvent::MP::Intro>
58 root 1.67 manual page and the examples under F<eg/>.
59 root 1.23
60 root 1.2 =head1 CONCEPTS
61    
62     =over 4
63    
64     =item port
65    
66 root 1.79 Not to be confused with a TCP port, a "port" is something you can send
67     messages to (with the C<snd> function).
68 root 1.29
69 root 1.53 Ports allow you to register C<rcv> handlers that can match all or just
70 root 1.64 some messages. Messages send to ports will not be queued, regardless of
71     anything was listening for them or not.
72 root 1.2
73 root 1.67 =item port ID - C<nodeid#portname>
74 root 1.2
75 root 1.67 A port ID is the concatenation of a node ID, a hash-mark (C<#>) as
76     separator, and a port name (a printable string of unspecified format).
77 root 1.2
78     =item node
79    
80 root 1.53 A node is a single process containing at least one port - the node port,
81 root 1.67 which enables nodes to manage each other remotely, and to create new
82 root 1.53 ports.
83 root 1.2
84 root 1.67 Nodes are either public (have one or more listening ports) or private
85     (no listening ports). Private nodes cannot talk to other private nodes
86     currently.
87 root 1.2
88 root 1.63 =item node ID - C<[a-za-Z0-9_\-.:]+>
89 root 1.2
90 root 1.64 A node ID is a string that uniquely identifies the node within a
91     network. Depending on the configuration used, node IDs can look like a
92     hostname, a hostname and a port, or a random string. AnyEvent::MP itself
93     doesn't interpret node IDs in any way.
94    
95     =item binds - C<ip:port>
96    
97     Nodes can only talk to each other by creating some kind of connection to
98     each other. To do this, nodes should listen on one or more local transport
99     endpoints - binds. Currently, only standard C<ip:port> specifications can
100     be used, which specify TCP ports to listen on.
101    
102 root 1.83 =item seed nodes
103 root 1.64
104     When a node starts, it knows nothing about the network. To teach the node
105     about the network it first has to contact some other node within the
106     network. This node is called a seed.
107    
108 root 1.83 Apart from the fact that other nodes know them as seed nodes and they have
109     to have fixed listening addresses, seed nodes are perfectly normal nodes -
110     any node can function as a seed node for others.
111    
112     In addition to discovering the network, seed nodes are also used to
113     maintain the network and to connect nodes that otherwise would have
114     trouble connecting. They form the backbone of the AnyEvent::MP network.
115    
116     Seed nodes are expected to be long-running, and at least one seed node
117     should always be available.
118    
119     =item seeds - C<host:port>
120    
121     Seeds are transport endpoint(s) (usually a hostname/IP address and a
122     TCP port) of nodes thta should be used as seed nodes.
123 root 1.29
124 root 1.83 The nodes listening on those endpoints are expected to be long-running,
125     and at least one of those should always be available. When nodes run out
126     of connections (e.g. due to a network error), they try to re-establish
127     connections to some seednodes again to join the network.
128 root 1.67
129 root 1.2 =back
130    
131 root 1.3 =head1 VARIABLES/FUNCTIONS
132 root 1.2
133     =over 4
134    
135 root 1.1 =cut
136    
137     package AnyEvent::MP;
138    
139 root 1.44 use AnyEvent::MP::Kernel;
140 root 1.2
141 root 1.1 use common::sense;
142    
143 root 1.2 use Carp ();
144    
145 root 1.1 use AE ();
146    
147 root 1.2 use base "Exporter";
148    
149 root 1.44 our $VERSION = $AnyEvent::MP::Kernel::VERSION;
150 root 1.43
151 root 1.8 our @EXPORT = qw(
152 root 1.59 NODE $NODE *SELF node_of after
153 root 1.72 configure
154 root 1.61 snd rcv mon mon_guard kil reg psub spawn
155 root 1.22 port
156 root 1.8 );
157 root 1.2
158 root 1.22 our $SELF;
159    
160     sub _self_die() {
161     my $msg = $@;
162     $msg =~ s/\n+$// unless ref $msg;
163     kil $SELF, die => $msg;
164     }
165    
166     =item $thisnode = NODE / $NODE
167    
168 root 1.67 The C<NODE> function returns, and the C<$NODE> variable contains, the node
169 root 1.64 ID of the node running in the current process. This value is initialised by
170 root 1.72 a call to C<configure>.
171 root 1.22
172 root 1.63 =item $nodeid = node_of $port
173 root 1.22
174 root 1.67 Extracts and returns the node ID from a port ID or a node ID.
175 root 1.34
176 root 1.78 =item configure $profile, key => value...
177    
178 root 1.72 =item configure key => value...
179 root 1.34
180 root 1.64 Before a node can talk to other nodes on the network (i.e. enter
181 root 1.72 "distributed mode") it has to configure itself - the minimum a node needs
182 root 1.64 to know is its own name, and optionally it should know the addresses of
183     some other nodes in the network to discover other nodes.
184 root 1.34
185 root 1.72 This function configures a node - it must be called exactly once (or
186 root 1.34 never) before calling other AnyEvent::MP functions.
187    
188 root 1.72 =over 4
189    
190     =item step 1, gathering configuration from profiles
191    
192     The function first looks up a profile in the aemp configuration (see the
193     L<aemp> commandline utility). The profile name can be specified via the
194 root 1.78 named C<profile> parameter or can simply be the first parameter). If it is
195     missing, then the nodename (F<uname -n>) will be used as profile name.
196 root 1.34
197 root 1.72 The profile data is then gathered as follows:
198 root 1.69
199 elmex 1.77 First, all remaining key => value pairs (all of which are conveniently
200 root 1.72 undocumented at the moment) will be interpreted as configuration
201     data. Then they will be overwritten by any values specified in the global
202     default configuration (see the F<aemp> utility), then the chain of
203     profiles chosen by the profile name (and any C<parent> attributes).
204    
205     That means that the values specified in the profile have highest priority
206     and the values specified directly via C<configure> have lowest priority,
207     and can only be used to specify defaults.
208 root 1.49
209 root 1.64 If the profile specifies a node ID, then this will become the node ID of
210     this process. If not, then the profile name will be used as node ID. The
211     special node ID of C<anon/> will be replaced by a random node ID.
212    
213 root 1.72 =item step 2, bind listener sockets
214    
215 root 1.64 The next step is to look up the binds in the profile, followed by binding
216     aemp protocol listeners on all binds specified (it is possible and valid
217     to have no binds, meaning that the node cannot be contacted form the
218     outside. This means the node cannot talk to other nodes that also have no
219     binds, but it can still talk to all "normal" nodes).
220    
221 root 1.70 If the profile does not specify a binds list, then a default of C<*> is
222 root 1.72 used, meaning the node will bind on a dynamically-assigned port on every
223     local IP address it finds.
224    
225     =item step 3, connect to seed nodes
226 root 1.64
227 root 1.72 As the last step, the seeds list from the profile is passed to the
228 root 1.64 L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> module, which will then use it to keep
229 root 1.72 connectivity with at least one node at any point in time.
230 root 1.64
231 root 1.72 =back
232    
233     Example: become a distributed node using the locla node name as profile.
234     This should be the most common form of invocation for "daemon"-type nodes.
235 root 1.34
236 root 1.72 configure
237 root 1.34
238 root 1.64 Example: become an anonymous node. This form is often used for commandline
239     clients.
240 root 1.34
241 root 1.72 configure nodeid => "anon/";
242    
243     Example: configure a node using a profile called seed, which si suitable
244     for a seed node as it binds on all local addresses on a fixed port (4040,
245     customary for aemp).
246    
247     # use the aemp commandline utility
248 root 1.74 # aemp profile seed nodeid anon/ binds '*:4040'
249 root 1.72
250     # then use it
251     configure profile => "seed";
252 root 1.34
253 root 1.72 # or simply use aemp from the shell again:
254     # aemp run profile seed
255 root 1.34
256 root 1.72 # or provide a nicer-to-remember nodeid
257     # aemp run profile seed nodeid "$(hostname)"
258 root 1.34
259 root 1.22 =item $SELF
260    
261     Contains the current port id while executing C<rcv> callbacks or C<psub>
262     blocks.
263 root 1.3
264 root 1.67 =item *SELF, SELF, %SELF, @SELF...
265 root 1.22
266     Due to some quirks in how perl exports variables, it is impossible to
267 root 1.67 just export C<$SELF>, all the symbols named C<SELF> are exported by this
268 root 1.22 module, but only C<$SELF> is currently used.
269 root 1.3
270 root 1.33 =item snd $port, type => @data
271 root 1.3
272 root 1.33 =item snd $port, @msg
273 root 1.3
274 root 1.67 Send the given message to the given port, which can identify either a
275     local or a remote port, and must be a port ID.
276 root 1.8
277 root 1.67 While the message can be almost anything, it is highly recommended to
278     use a string as first element (a port ID, or some word that indicates a
279     request type etc.) and to consist if only simple perl values (scalars,
280     arrays, hashes) - if you think you need to pass an object, think again.
281    
282     The message data logically becomes read-only after a call to this
283     function: modifying any argument (or values referenced by them) is
284     forbidden, as there can be considerable time between the call to C<snd>
285     and the time the message is actually being serialised - in fact, it might
286     never be copied as within the same process it is simply handed to the
287     receiving port.
288 root 1.3
289     The type of data you can transfer depends on the transport protocol: when
290     JSON is used, then only strings, numbers and arrays and hashes consisting
291     of those are allowed (no objects). When Storable is used, then anything
292     that Storable can serialise and deserialise is allowed, and for the local
293 root 1.67 node, anything can be passed. Best rely only on the common denominator of
294     these.
295 root 1.3
296 root 1.22 =item $local_port = port
297 root 1.2
298 root 1.50 Create a new local port object and returns its port ID. Initially it has
299     no callbacks set and will throw an error when it receives messages.
300 root 1.10
301 root 1.50 =item $local_port = port { my @msg = @_ }
302 root 1.15
303 root 1.50 Creates a new local port, and returns its ID. Semantically the same as
304     creating a port and calling C<rcv $port, $callback> on it.
305 root 1.15
306 root 1.50 The block will be called for every message received on the port, with the
307     global variable C<$SELF> set to the port ID. Runtime errors will cause the
308     port to be C<kil>ed. The message will be passed as-is, no extra argument
309     (i.e. no port ID) will be passed to the callback.
310 root 1.15
311 root 1.50 If you want to stop/destroy the port, simply C<kil> it:
312 root 1.15
313 root 1.50 my $port = port {
314     my @msg = @_;
315     ...
316     kil $SELF;
317 root 1.15 };
318 root 1.10
319     =cut
320    
321 root 1.33 sub rcv($@);
322    
323 root 1.50 sub _kilme {
324     die "received message on port without callback";
325     }
326    
327 root 1.22 sub port(;&) {
328     my $id = "$UNIQ." . $ID++;
329     my $port = "$NODE#$id";
330    
331 root 1.50 rcv $port, shift || \&_kilme;
332 root 1.10
333 root 1.22 $port
334 root 1.10 }
335    
336 root 1.50 =item rcv $local_port, $callback->(@msg)
337 root 1.31
338 root 1.50 Replaces the default callback on the specified port. There is no way to
339     remove the default callback: use C<sub { }> to disable it, or better
340     C<kil> the port when it is no longer needed.
341 root 1.3
342 root 1.33 The global C<$SELF> (exported by this module) contains C<$port> while
343 root 1.50 executing the callback. Runtime errors during callback execution will
344     result in the port being C<kil>ed.
345 root 1.22
346 root 1.50 The default callback received all messages not matched by a more specific
347     C<tag> match.
348 root 1.22
349 root 1.50 =item rcv $local_port, tag => $callback->(@msg_without_tag), ...
350 root 1.3
351 root 1.54 Register (or replace) callbacks to be called on messages starting with the
352     given tag on the given port (and return the port), or unregister it (when
353     C<$callback> is C<$undef> or missing). There can only be one callback
354     registered for each tag.
355 root 1.3
356 root 1.50 The original message will be passed to the callback, after the first
357     element (the tag) has been removed. The callback will use the same
358     environment as the default callback (see above).
359 root 1.3
360 root 1.36 Example: create a port and bind receivers on it in one go.
361    
362     my $port = rcv port,
363 root 1.50 msg1 => sub { ... },
364     msg2 => sub { ... },
365 root 1.36 ;
366    
367     Example: create a port, bind receivers and send it in a message elsewhere
368     in one go:
369    
370     snd $otherport, reply =>
371     rcv port,
372 root 1.50 msg1 => sub { ... },
373 root 1.36 ...
374     ;
375    
376 root 1.54 Example: temporarily register a rcv callback for a tag matching some port
377     (e.g. for a rpc reply) and unregister it after a message was received.
378    
379     rcv $port, $otherport => sub {
380     my @reply = @_;
381    
382     rcv $SELF, $otherport;
383     };
384    
385 root 1.3 =cut
386    
387     sub rcv($@) {
388 root 1.33 my $port = shift;
389 root 1.75 my ($nodeid, $portid) = split /#/, $port, 2;
390 root 1.3
391 root 1.75 $NODE{$nodeid} == $NODE{""}
392 root 1.33 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on local ports, caught";
393 root 1.22
394 root 1.50 while (@_) {
395     if (ref $_[0]) {
396     if (my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid}) {
397     "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
398     or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
399 root 1.33
400 root 1.50 $self->[2] = shift;
401     } else {
402     my $cb = shift;
403     $PORT{$portid} = sub {
404     local $SELF = $port;
405     eval { &$cb }; _self_die if $@;
406     };
407     }
408     } elsif (defined $_[0]) {
409     my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid} ||= do {
410     my $self = bless [$PORT{$port} || sub { }, { }, $port], "AnyEvent::MP::Port";
411    
412     $PORT{$portid} = sub {
413     local $SELF = $port;
414    
415     if (my $cb = $self->[1]{$_[0]}) {
416     shift;
417     eval { &$cb }; _self_die if $@;
418     } else {
419     &{ $self->[0] };
420 root 1.33 }
421     };
422 root 1.50
423     $self
424 root 1.33 };
425    
426 root 1.50 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
427     or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
428 root 1.22
429 root 1.50 my ($tag, $cb) = splice @_, 0, 2;
430 root 1.33
431 root 1.50 if (defined $cb) {
432     $self->[1]{$tag} = $cb;
433 root 1.33 } else {
434 root 1.50 delete $self->[1]{$tag};
435 root 1.33 }
436 root 1.22 }
437 root 1.3 }
438 root 1.31
439 root 1.33 $port
440 root 1.2 }
441    
442 root 1.22 =item $closure = psub { BLOCK }
443 root 1.2
444 root 1.22 Remembers C<$SELF> and creates a closure out of the BLOCK. When the
445     closure is executed, sets up the environment in the same way as in C<rcv>
446     callbacks, i.e. runtime errors will cause the port to get C<kil>ed.
447    
448     This is useful when you register callbacks from C<rcv> callbacks:
449    
450     rcv delayed_reply => sub {
451     my ($delay, @reply) = @_;
452     my $timer = AE::timer $delay, 0, psub {
453     snd @reply, $SELF;
454     };
455     };
456 root 1.3
457 root 1.8 =cut
458 root 1.3
459 root 1.22 sub psub(&) {
460     my $cb = shift;
461 root 1.3
462 root 1.22 my $port = $SELF
463     or Carp::croak "psub can only be called from within rcv or psub callbacks, not";
464 root 1.1
465 root 1.22 sub {
466     local $SELF = $port;
467 root 1.2
468 root 1.22 if (wantarray) {
469     my @res = eval { &$cb };
470     _self_die if $@;
471     @res
472     } else {
473     my $res = eval { &$cb };
474     _self_die if $@;
475     $res
476     }
477     }
478 root 1.2 }
479    
480 root 1.67 =item $guard = mon $port, $cb->(@reason) # call $cb when $port dies
481 root 1.32
482 root 1.67 =item $guard = mon $port, $rcvport # kill $rcvport when $port dies
483 root 1.36
484 root 1.67 =item $guard = mon $port # kill $SELF when $port dies
485 root 1.32
486 root 1.67 =item $guard = mon $port, $rcvport, @msg # send a message when $port dies
487 root 1.32
488 root 1.42 Monitor the given port and do something when the port is killed or
489     messages to it were lost, and optionally return a guard that can be used
490     to stop monitoring again.
491    
492 root 1.36 In the first form (callback), the callback is simply called with any
493     number of C<@reason> elements (no @reason means that the port was deleted
494 root 1.32 "normally"). Note also that I<< the callback B<must> never die >>, so use
495     C<eval> if unsure.
496    
497 root 1.43 In the second form (another port given), the other port (C<$rcvport>)
498 elmex 1.77 will be C<kil>'ed with C<@reason>, if a @reason was specified, i.e. on
499 root 1.36 "normal" kils nothing happens, while under all other conditions, the other
500     port is killed with the same reason.
501 root 1.32
502 root 1.36 The third form (kill self) is the same as the second form, except that
503     C<$rvport> defaults to C<$SELF>.
504    
505     In the last form (message), a message of the form C<@msg, @reason> will be
506     C<snd>.
507 root 1.32
508 root 1.79 Monitoring-actions are one-shot: once messages are lost (and a monitoring
509     alert was raised), they are removed and will not trigger again.
510    
511 root 1.37 As a rule of thumb, monitoring requests should always monitor a port from
512     a local port (or callback). The reason is that kill messages might get
513     lost, just like any other message. Another less obvious reason is that
514 elmex 1.77 even monitoring requests can get lost (for example, when the connection
515 root 1.37 to the other node goes down permanently). When monitoring a port locally
516     these problems do not exist.
517    
518 root 1.79 C<mon> effectively guarantees that, in the absence of hardware failures,
519     after starting the monitor, either all messages sent to the port will
520     arrive, or the monitoring action will be invoked after possible message
521     loss has been detected. No messages will be lost "in between" (after
522     the first lost message no further messages will be received by the
523     port). After the monitoring action was invoked, further messages might get
524     delivered again.
525    
526     Inter-host-connection timeouts and monitoring depend on the transport
527     used. The only transport currently implemented is TCP, and AnyEvent::MP
528     relies on TCP to detect node-downs (this can take 10-15 minutes on a
529     non-idle connection, and usually around two hours for idle conenctions).
530    
531     This means that monitoring is good for program errors and cleaning up
532     stuff eventually, but they are no replacement for a timeout when you need
533     to ensure some maximum latency.
534    
535 root 1.32 Example: call a given callback when C<$port> is killed.
536    
537     mon $port, sub { warn "port died because of <@_>\n" };
538    
539     Example: kill ourselves when C<$port> is killed abnormally.
540    
541 root 1.36 mon $port;
542 root 1.32
543 root 1.36 Example: send us a restart message when another C<$port> is killed.
544 root 1.32
545     mon $port, $self => "restart";
546    
547     =cut
548    
549     sub mon {
550 root 1.75 my ($nodeid, $port) = split /#/, shift, 2;
551 root 1.32
552 root 1.75 my $node = $NODE{$nodeid} || add_node $nodeid;
553 root 1.32
554 root 1.41 my $cb = @_ ? shift : $SELF || Carp::croak 'mon: called with one argument only, but $SELF not set,';
555 root 1.32
556     unless (ref $cb) {
557     if (@_) {
558     # send a kill info message
559 root 1.41 my (@msg) = ($cb, @_);
560 root 1.32 $cb = sub { snd @msg, @_ };
561     } else {
562     # simply kill other port
563     my $port = $cb;
564     $cb = sub { kil $port, @_ if @_ };
565     }
566     }
567    
568     $node->monitor ($port, $cb);
569    
570     defined wantarray
571     and AnyEvent::Util::guard { $node->unmonitor ($port, $cb) }
572     }
573    
574     =item $guard = mon_guard $port, $ref, $ref...
575    
576     Monitors the given C<$port> and keeps the passed references. When the port
577     is killed, the references will be freed.
578    
579     Optionally returns a guard that will stop the monitoring.
580    
581     This function is useful when you create e.g. timers or other watchers and
582 root 1.67 want to free them when the port gets killed (note the use of C<psub>):
583 root 1.32
584     $port->rcv (start => sub {
585 root 1.67 my $timer; $timer = mon_guard $port, AE::timer 1, 1, psub {
586 root 1.32 undef $timer if 0.9 < rand;
587     });
588     });
589    
590     =cut
591    
592     sub mon_guard {
593     my ($port, @refs) = @_;
594    
595 root 1.36 #TODO: mon-less form?
596    
597 root 1.32 mon $port, sub { 0 && @refs }
598     }
599    
600 root 1.33 =item kil $port[, @reason]
601 root 1.32
602     Kill the specified port with the given C<@reason>.
603    
604 root 1.67 If no C<@reason> is specified, then the port is killed "normally" (ports
605     monitoring other ports will not necessarily die because a port dies
606     "normally").
607 root 1.32
608     Otherwise, linked ports get killed with the same reason (second form of
609 root 1.67 C<mon>, see above).
610 root 1.32
611     Runtime errors while evaluating C<rcv> callbacks or inside C<psub> blocks
612     will be reported as reason C<< die => $@ >>.
613    
614     Transport/communication errors are reported as C<< transport_error =>
615     $message >>.
616    
617 root 1.38 =cut
618    
619     =item $port = spawn $node, $initfunc[, @initdata]
620    
621     Creates a port on the node C<$node> (which can also be a port ID, in which
622     case it's the node where that port resides).
623    
624 root 1.67 The port ID of the newly created port is returned immediately, and it is
625     possible to immediately start sending messages or to monitor the port.
626 root 1.38
627 root 1.67 After the port has been created, the init function is called on the remote
628     node, in the same context as a C<rcv> callback. This function must be a
629     fully-qualified function name (e.g. C<MyApp::Chat::Server::init>). To
630     specify a function in the main program, use C<::name>.
631 root 1.38
632     If the function doesn't exist, then the node tries to C<require>
633     the package, then the package above the package and so on (e.g.
634     C<MyApp::Chat::Server>, C<MyApp::Chat>, C<MyApp>) until the function
635     exists or it runs out of package names.
636    
637     The init function is then called with the newly-created port as context
638 root 1.82 object (C<$SELF>) and the C<@initdata> values as arguments. It I<must>
639     call one of the C<rcv> functions to set callbacks on C<$SELF>, otherwise
640     the port might not get created.
641 root 1.38
642 root 1.67 A common idiom is to pass a local port, immediately monitor the spawned
643     port, and in the remote init function, immediately monitor the passed
644     local port. This two-way monitoring ensures that both ports get cleaned up
645     when there is a problem.
646 root 1.38
647 root 1.80 C<spawn> guarantees that the C<$initfunc> has no visible effects on the
648     caller before C<spawn> returns (by delaying invocation when spawn is
649     called for the local node).
650    
651 root 1.38 Example: spawn a chat server port on C<$othernode>.
652    
653     # this node, executed from within a port context:
654     my $server = spawn $othernode, "MyApp::Chat::Server::connect", $SELF;
655     mon $server;
656    
657     # init function on C<$othernode>
658     sub connect {
659     my ($srcport) = @_;
660    
661     mon $srcport;
662    
663     rcv $SELF, sub {
664     ...
665     };
666     }
667    
668     =cut
669    
670     sub _spawn {
671     my $port = shift;
672     my $init = shift;
673    
674 root 1.82 # rcv will create the actual port
675 root 1.38 local $SELF = "$NODE#$port";
676     eval {
677     &{ load_func $init }
678     };
679     _self_die if $@;
680     }
681    
682     sub spawn(@) {
683 root 1.75 my ($nodeid, undef) = split /#/, shift, 2;
684 root 1.38
685     my $id = "$RUNIQ." . $ID++;
686    
687 root 1.39 $_[0] =~ /::/
688     or Carp::croak "spawn init function must be a fully-qualified name, caught";
689    
690 root 1.75 snd_to_func $nodeid, "AnyEvent::MP::_spawn" => $id, @_;
691 root 1.38
692 root 1.75 "$nodeid#$id"
693 root 1.38 }
694    
695 root 1.59 =item after $timeout, @msg
696    
697     =item after $timeout, $callback
698    
699     Either sends the given message, or call the given callback, after the
700     specified number of seconds.
701    
702 root 1.67 This is simply a utility function that comes in handy at times - the
703     AnyEvent::MP author is not convinced of the wisdom of having it, though,
704     so it may go away in the future.
705 root 1.59
706     =cut
707    
708     sub after($@) {
709     my ($timeout, @action) = @_;
710    
711     my $t; $t = AE::timer $timeout, 0, sub {
712     undef $t;
713     ref $action[0]
714     ? $action[0]()
715     : snd @action;
716     };
717     }
718    
719 root 1.8 =back
720    
721 root 1.26 =head1 AnyEvent::MP vs. Distributed Erlang
722    
723 root 1.35 AnyEvent::MP got lots of its ideas from distributed Erlang (Erlang node
724     == aemp node, Erlang process == aemp port), so many of the documents and
725     programming techniques employed by Erlang apply to AnyEvent::MP. Here is a
726 root 1.27 sample:
727    
728 root 1.35 http://www.Erlang.se/doc/programming_rules.shtml
729     http://Erlang.org/doc/getting_started/part_frame.html # chapters 3 and 4
730     http://Erlang.org/download/Erlang-book-part1.pdf # chapters 5 and 6
731     http://Erlang.org/download/armstrong_thesis_2003.pdf # chapters 4 and 5
732 root 1.27
733     Despite the similarities, there are also some important differences:
734 root 1.26
735     =over 4
736    
737 root 1.65 =item * Node IDs are arbitrary strings in AEMP.
738 root 1.26
739 root 1.65 Erlang relies on special naming and DNS to work everywhere in the same
740     way. AEMP relies on each node somehow knowing its own address(es) (e.g. by
741 elmex 1.77 configuration or DNS), but will otherwise discover other odes itself.
742 root 1.27
743 root 1.54 =item * Erlang has a "remote ports are like local ports" philosophy, AEMP
744 root 1.51 uses "local ports are like remote ports".
745    
746     The failure modes for local ports are quite different (runtime errors
747     only) then for remote ports - when a local port dies, you I<know> it dies,
748     when a connection to another node dies, you know nothing about the other
749     port.
750    
751     Erlang pretends remote ports are as reliable as local ports, even when
752     they are not.
753    
754     AEMP encourages a "treat remote ports differently" philosophy, with local
755     ports being the special case/exception, where transport errors cannot
756     occur.
757    
758 root 1.26 =item * Erlang uses processes and a mailbox, AEMP does not queue.
759    
760 root 1.51 Erlang uses processes that selectively receive messages, and therefore
761     needs a queue. AEMP is event based, queuing messages would serve no
762     useful purpose. For the same reason the pattern-matching abilities of
763     AnyEvent::MP are more limited, as there is little need to be able to
764 elmex 1.77 filter messages without dequeuing them.
765 root 1.26
766 root 1.35 (But see L<Coro::MP> for a more Erlang-like process model on top of AEMP).
767 root 1.26
768     =item * Erlang sends are synchronous, AEMP sends are asynchronous.
769    
770 root 1.51 Sending messages in Erlang is synchronous and blocks the process (and
771     so does not need a queue that can overflow). AEMP sends are immediate,
772     connection establishment is handled in the background.
773 root 1.26
774 root 1.51 =item * Erlang suffers from silent message loss, AEMP does not.
775 root 1.26
776     Erlang makes few guarantees on messages delivery - messages can get lost
777     without any of the processes realising it (i.e. you send messages a, b,
778     and c, and the other side only receives messages a and c).
779    
780 root 1.66 AEMP guarantees correct ordering, and the guarantee that after one message
781     is lost, all following ones sent to the same port are lost as well, until
782     monitoring raises an error, so there are no silent "holes" in the message
783     sequence.
784 root 1.26
785     =item * Erlang can send messages to the wrong port, AEMP does not.
786    
787 root 1.51 In Erlang it is quite likely that a node that restarts reuses a process ID
788     known to other nodes for a completely different process, causing messages
789     destined for that process to end up in an unrelated process.
790 root 1.26
791     AEMP never reuses port IDs, so old messages or old port IDs floating
792     around in the network will not be sent to an unrelated port.
793    
794     =item * Erlang uses unprotected connections, AEMP uses secure
795     authentication and can use TLS.
796    
797 root 1.66 AEMP can use a proven protocol - TLS - to protect connections and
798 root 1.26 securely authenticate nodes.
799    
800 root 1.28 =item * The AEMP protocol is optimised for both text-based and binary
801     communications.
802    
803 root 1.66 The AEMP protocol, unlike the Erlang protocol, supports both programming
804     language independent text-only protocols (good for debugging) and binary,
805 root 1.67 language-specific serialisers (e.g. Storable). By default, unless TLS is
806     used, the protocol is actually completely text-based.
807 root 1.28
808     It has also been carefully designed to be implementable in other languages
809 root 1.66 with a minimum of work while gracefully degrading functionality to make the
810 root 1.28 protocol simple.
811    
812 root 1.35 =item * AEMP has more flexible monitoring options than Erlang.
813    
814     In Erlang, you can chose to receive I<all> exit signals as messages
815     or I<none>, there is no in-between, so monitoring single processes is
816     difficult to implement. Monitoring in AEMP is more flexible than in
817     Erlang, as one can choose between automatic kill, exit message or callback
818     on a per-process basis.
819    
820 root 1.37 =item * Erlang tries to hide remote/local connections, AEMP does not.
821 root 1.35
822 root 1.67 Monitoring in Erlang is not an indicator of process death/crashes, in the
823     same way as linking is (except linking is unreliable in Erlang).
824 root 1.37
825     In AEMP, you don't "look up" registered port names or send to named ports
826     that might or might not be persistent. Instead, you normally spawn a port
827 root 1.67 on the remote node. The init function monitors you, and you monitor the
828     remote port. Since both monitors are local to the node, they are much more
829     reliable (no need for C<spawn_link>).
830 root 1.37
831     This also saves round-trips and avoids sending messages to the wrong port
832     (hard to do in Erlang).
833 root 1.35
834 root 1.26 =back
835    
836 root 1.46 =head1 RATIONALE
837    
838     =over 4
839    
840 root 1.67 =item Why strings for port and node IDs, why not objects?
841 root 1.46
842     We considered "objects", but found that the actual number of methods
843 root 1.67 that can be called are quite low. Since port and node IDs travel over
844 root 1.46 the network frequently, the serialising/deserialising would add lots of
845 root 1.67 overhead, as well as having to keep a proxy object everywhere.
846 root 1.46
847     Strings can easily be printed, easily serialised etc. and need no special
848     procedures to be "valid".
849    
850 root 1.67 And as a result, a miniport consists of a single closure stored in a
851     global hash - it can't become much cheaper.
852 root 1.47
853 root 1.67 =item Why favour JSON, why not a real serialising format such as Storable?
854 root 1.46
855     In fact, any AnyEvent::MP node will happily accept Storable as framing
856     format, but currently there is no way to make a node use Storable by
857 root 1.67 default (although all nodes will accept it).
858 root 1.46
859     The default framing protocol is JSON because a) JSON::XS is many times
860     faster for small messages and b) most importantly, after years of
861     experience we found that object serialisation is causing more problems
862 root 1.67 than it solves: Just like function calls, objects simply do not travel
863 root 1.46 easily over the network, mostly because they will always be a copy, so you
864     always have to re-think your design.
865    
866     Keeping your messages simple, concentrating on data structures rather than
867     objects, will keep your messages clean, tidy and efficient.
868    
869     =back
870    
871 root 1.1 =head1 SEE ALSO
872    
873 root 1.68 L<AnyEvent::MP::Intro> - a gentle introduction.
874    
875     L<AnyEvent::MP::Kernel> - more, lower-level, stuff.
876    
877     L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> - network maintainance and port groups, to find
878     your applications.
879    
880 root 1.81 L<AnyEvent::MP::LogCatcher> - simple service to display log messages from
881     all nodes.
882    
883 root 1.1 L<AnyEvent>.
884    
885     =head1 AUTHOR
886    
887     Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
888     http://home.schmorp.de/
889    
890     =cut
891    
892     1
893