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Revision: 1.86
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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 1.84 =item node ID - C<[A-Z_][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 root 1.86 trouble connecting. They form the backbone of an AnyEvent::MP network.
115 root 1.83
116     Seed nodes are expected to be long-running, and at least one seed node
117 root 1.85 should always be available. They should also be relatively responsive - a
118     seed node that blocks for long periods will slow down everybody else.
119 root 1.83
120     =item seeds - C<host:port>
121    
122     Seeds are transport endpoint(s) (usually a hostname/IP address and a
123     TCP port) of nodes thta should be used as seed nodes.
124 root 1.29
125 root 1.83 The nodes listening on those endpoints are expected to be long-running,
126     and at least one of those should always be available. When nodes run out
127     of connections (e.g. due to a network error), they try to re-establish
128     connections to some seednodes again to join the network.
129 root 1.67
130 root 1.2 =back
131    
132 root 1.3 =head1 VARIABLES/FUNCTIONS
133 root 1.2
134     =over 4
135    
136 root 1.1 =cut
137    
138     package AnyEvent::MP;
139    
140 root 1.44 use AnyEvent::MP::Kernel;
141 root 1.2
142 root 1.1 use common::sense;
143    
144 root 1.2 use Carp ();
145    
146 root 1.1 use AE ();
147    
148 root 1.2 use base "Exporter";
149    
150 root 1.44 our $VERSION = $AnyEvent::MP::Kernel::VERSION;
151 root 1.43
152 root 1.8 our @EXPORT = qw(
153 root 1.59 NODE $NODE *SELF node_of after
154 root 1.72 configure
155 root 1.61 snd rcv mon mon_guard kil reg psub spawn
156 root 1.22 port
157 root 1.8 );
158 root 1.2
159 root 1.22 our $SELF;
160    
161     sub _self_die() {
162     my $msg = $@;
163     $msg =~ s/\n+$// unless ref $msg;
164     kil $SELF, die => $msg;
165     }
166    
167     =item $thisnode = NODE / $NODE
168    
169 root 1.67 The C<NODE> function returns, and the C<$NODE> variable contains, the node
170 root 1.64 ID of the node running in the current process. This value is initialised by
171 root 1.72 a call to C<configure>.
172 root 1.22
173 root 1.63 =item $nodeid = node_of $port
174 root 1.22
175 root 1.67 Extracts and returns the node ID from a port ID or a node ID.
176 root 1.34
177 root 1.78 =item configure $profile, key => value...
178    
179 root 1.72 =item configure key => value...
180 root 1.34
181 root 1.64 Before a node can talk to other nodes on the network (i.e. enter
182 root 1.72 "distributed mode") it has to configure itself - the minimum a node needs
183 root 1.64 to know is its own name, and optionally it should know the addresses of
184     some other nodes in the network to discover other nodes.
185 root 1.34
186 root 1.72 This function configures a node - it must be called exactly once (or
187 root 1.34 never) before calling other AnyEvent::MP functions.
188    
189 root 1.72 =over 4
190    
191     =item step 1, gathering configuration from profiles
192    
193     The function first looks up a profile in the aemp configuration (see the
194     L<aemp> commandline utility). The profile name can be specified via the
195 root 1.78 named C<profile> parameter or can simply be the first parameter). If it is
196     missing, then the nodename (F<uname -n>) will be used as profile name.
197 root 1.34
198 root 1.72 The profile data is then gathered as follows:
199 root 1.69
200 elmex 1.77 First, all remaining key => value pairs (all of which are conveniently
201 root 1.72 undocumented at the moment) will be interpreted as configuration
202     data. Then they will be overwritten by any values specified in the global
203     default configuration (see the F<aemp> utility), then the chain of
204     profiles chosen by the profile name (and any C<parent> attributes).
205    
206     That means that the values specified in the profile have highest priority
207     and the values specified directly via C<configure> have lowest priority,
208     and can only be used to specify defaults.
209 root 1.49
210 root 1.64 If the profile specifies a node ID, then this will become the node ID of
211     this process. If not, then the profile name will be used as node ID. The
212     special node ID of C<anon/> will be replaced by a random node ID.
213    
214 root 1.72 =item step 2, bind listener sockets
215    
216 root 1.64 The next step is to look up the binds in the profile, followed by binding
217     aemp protocol listeners on all binds specified (it is possible and valid
218     to have no binds, meaning that the node cannot be contacted form the
219     outside. This means the node cannot talk to other nodes that also have no
220     binds, but it can still talk to all "normal" nodes).
221    
222 root 1.70 If the profile does not specify a binds list, then a default of C<*> is
223 root 1.72 used, meaning the node will bind on a dynamically-assigned port on every
224     local IP address it finds.
225    
226     =item step 3, connect to seed nodes
227 root 1.64
228 root 1.72 As the last step, the seeds list from the profile is passed to the
229 root 1.64 L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> module, which will then use it to keep
230 root 1.72 connectivity with at least one node at any point in time.
231 root 1.64
232 root 1.72 =back
233    
234     Example: become a distributed node using the locla node name as profile.
235     This should be the most common form of invocation for "daemon"-type nodes.
236 root 1.34
237 root 1.72 configure
238 root 1.34
239 root 1.64 Example: become an anonymous node. This form is often used for commandline
240     clients.
241 root 1.34
242 root 1.72 configure nodeid => "anon/";
243    
244     Example: configure a node using a profile called seed, which si suitable
245     for a seed node as it binds on all local addresses on a fixed port (4040,
246     customary for aemp).
247    
248     # use the aemp commandline utility
249 root 1.74 # aemp profile seed nodeid anon/ binds '*:4040'
250 root 1.72
251     # then use it
252     configure profile => "seed";
253 root 1.34
254 root 1.72 # or simply use aemp from the shell again:
255     # aemp run profile seed
256 root 1.34
257 root 1.72 # or provide a nicer-to-remember nodeid
258     # aemp run profile seed nodeid "$(hostname)"
259 root 1.34
260 root 1.22 =item $SELF
261    
262     Contains the current port id while executing C<rcv> callbacks or C<psub>
263     blocks.
264 root 1.3
265 root 1.67 =item *SELF, SELF, %SELF, @SELF...
266 root 1.22
267     Due to some quirks in how perl exports variables, it is impossible to
268 root 1.67 just export C<$SELF>, all the symbols named C<SELF> are exported by this
269 root 1.22 module, but only C<$SELF> is currently used.
270 root 1.3
271 root 1.33 =item snd $port, type => @data
272 root 1.3
273 root 1.33 =item snd $port, @msg
274 root 1.3
275 root 1.67 Send the given message to the given port, which can identify either a
276     local or a remote port, and must be a port ID.
277 root 1.8
278 root 1.67 While the message can be almost anything, it is highly recommended to
279     use a string as first element (a port ID, or some word that indicates a
280     request type etc.) and to consist if only simple perl values (scalars,
281     arrays, hashes) - if you think you need to pass an object, think again.
282    
283     The message data logically becomes read-only after a call to this
284     function: modifying any argument (or values referenced by them) is
285     forbidden, as there can be considerable time between the call to C<snd>
286     and the time the message is actually being serialised - in fact, it might
287     never be copied as within the same process it is simply handed to the
288     receiving port.
289 root 1.3
290     The type of data you can transfer depends on the transport protocol: when
291     JSON is used, then only strings, numbers and arrays and hashes consisting
292     of those are allowed (no objects). When Storable is used, then anything
293     that Storable can serialise and deserialise is allowed, and for the local
294 root 1.67 node, anything can be passed. Best rely only on the common denominator of
295     these.
296 root 1.3
297 root 1.22 =item $local_port = port
298 root 1.2
299 root 1.50 Create a new local port object and returns its port ID. Initially it has
300     no callbacks set and will throw an error when it receives messages.
301 root 1.10
302 root 1.50 =item $local_port = port { my @msg = @_ }
303 root 1.15
304 root 1.50 Creates a new local port, and returns its ID. Semantically the same as
305     creating a port and calling C<rcv $port, $callback> on it.
306 root 1.15
307 root 1.50 The block will be called for every message received on the port, with the
308     global variable C<$SELF> set to the port ID. Runtime errors will cause the
309     port to be C<kil>ed. The message will be passed as-is, no extra argument
310     (i.e. no port ID) will be passed to the callback.
311 root 1.15
312 root 1.50 If you want to stop/destroy the port, simply C<kil> it:
313 root 1.15
314 root 1.50 my $port = port {
315     my @msg = @_;
316     ...
317     kil $SELF;
318 root 1.15 };
319 root 1.10
320     =cut
321    
322 root 1.33 sub rcv($@);
323    
324 root 1.50 sub _kilme {
325     die "received message on port without callback";
326     }
327    
328 root 1.22 sub port(;&) {
329     my $id = "$UNIQ." . $ID++;
330     my $port = "$NODE#$id";
331    
332 root 1.50 rcv $port, shift || \&_kilme;
333 root 1.10
334 root 1.22 $port
335 root 1.10 }
336    
337 root 1.50 =item rcv $local_port, $callback->(@msg)
338 root 1.31
339 root 1.50 Replaces the default callback on the specified port. There is no way to
340     remove the default callback: use C<sub { }> to disable it, or better
341     C<kil> the port when it is no longer needed.
342 root 1.3
343 root 1.33 The global C<$SELF> (exported by this module) contains C<$port> while
344 root 1.50 executing the callback. Runtime errors during callback execution will
345     result in the port being C<kil>ed.
346 root 1.22
347 root 1.50 The default callback received all messages not matched by a more specific
348     C<tag> match.
349 root 1.22
350 root 1.50 =item rcv $local_port, tag => $callback->(@msg_without_tag), ...
351 root 1.3
352 root 1.54 Register (or replace) callbacks to be called on messages starting with the
353     given tag on the given port (and return the port), or unregister it (when
354     C<$callback> is C<$undef> or missing). There can only be one callback
355     registered for each tag.
356 root 1.3
357 root 1.50 The original message will be passed to the callback, after the first
358     element (the tag) has been removed. The callback will use the same
359     environment as the default callback (see above).
360 root 1.3
361 root 1.36 Example: create a port and bind receivers on it in one go.
362    
363     my $port = rcv port,
364 root 1.50 msg1 => sub { ... },
365     msg2 => sub { ... },
366 root 1.36 ;
367    
368     Example: create a port, bind receivers and send it in a message elsewhere
369     in one go:
370    
371     snd $otherport, reply =>
372     rcv port,
373 root 1.50 msg1 => sub { ... },
374 root 1.36 ...
375     ;
376    
377 root 1.54 Example: temporarily register a rcv callback for a tag matching some port
378     (e.g. for a rpc reply) and unregister it after a message was received.
379    
380     rcv $port, $otherport => sub {
381     my @reply = @_;
382    
383     rcv $SELF, $otherport;
384     };
385    
386 root 1.3 =cut
387    
388     sub rcv($@) {
389 root 1.33 my $port = shift;
390 root 1.75 my ($nodeid, $portid) = split /#/, $port, 2;
391 root 1.3
392 root 1.75 $NODE{$nodeid} == $NODE{""}
393 root 1.33 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on local ports, caught";
394 root 1.22
395 root 1.50 while (@_) {
396     if (ref $_[0]) {
397     if (my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid}) {
398     "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
399     or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
400 root 1.33
401 root 1.50 $self->[2] = shift;
402     } else {
403     my $cb = shift;
404     $PORT{$portid} = sub {
405     local $SELF = $port;
406     eval { &$cb }; _self_die if $@;
407     };
408     }
409     } elsif (defined $_[0]) {
410     my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid} ||= do {
411     my $self = bless [$PORT{$port} || sub { }, { }, $port], "AnyEvent::MP::Port";
412    
413     $PORT{$portid} = sub {
414     local $SELF = $port;
415    
416     if (my $cb = $self->[1]{$_[0]}) {
417     shift;
418     eval { &$cb }; _self_die if $@;
419     } else {
420     &{ $self->[0] };
421 root 1.33 }
422     };
423 root 1.50
424     $self
425 root 1.33 };
426    
427 root 1.50 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
428     or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
429 root 1.22
430 root 1.50 my ($tag, $cb) = splice @_, 0, 2;
431 root 1.33
432 root 1.50 if (defined $cb) {
433     $self->[1]{$tag} = $cb;
434 root 1.33 } else {
435 root 1.50 delete $self->[1]{$tag};
436 root 1.33 }
437 root 1.22 }
438 root 1.3 }
439 root 1.31
440 root 1.33 $port
441 root 1.2 }
442    
443 root 1.22 =item $closure = psub { BLOCK }
444 root 1.2
445 root 1.22 Remembers C<$SELF> and creates a closure out of the BLOCK. When the
446     closure is executed, sets up the environment in the same way as in C<rcv>
447     callbacks, i.e. runtime errors will cause the port to get C<kil>ed.
448    
449     This is useful when you register callbacks from C<rcv> callbacks:
450    
451     rcv delayed_reply => sub {
452     my ($delay, @reply) = @_;
453     my $timer = AE::timer $delay, 0, psub {
454     snd @reply, $SELF;
455     };
456     };
457 root 1.3
458 root 1.8 =cut
459 root 1.3
460 root 1.22 sub psub(&) {
461     my $cb = shift;
462 root 1.3
463 root 1.22 my $port = $SELF
464     or Carp::croak "psub can only be called from within rcv or psub callbacks, not";
465 root 1.1
466 root 1.22 sub {
467     local $SELF = $port;
468 root 1.2
469 root 1.22 if (wantarray) {
470     my @res = eval { &$cb };
471     _self_die if $@;
472     @res
473     } else {
474     my $res = eval { &$cb };
475     _self_die if $@;
476     $res
477     }
478     }
479 root 1.2 }
480    
481 root 1.67 =item $guard = mon $port, $cb->(@reason) # call $cb when $port dies
482 root 1.32
483 root 1.67 =item $guard = mon $port, $rcvport # kill $rcvport when $port dies
484 root 1.36
485 root 1.67 =item $guard = mon $port # kill $SELF when $port dies
486 root 1.32
487 root 1.67 =item $guard = mon $port, $rcvport, @msg # send a message when $port dies
488 root 1.32
489 root 1.42 Monitor the given port and do something when the port is killed or
490     messages to it were lost, and optionally return a guard that can be used
491     to stop monitoring again.
492    
493 root 1.36 In the first form (callback), the callback is simply called with any
494     number of C<@reason> elements (no @reason means that the port was deleted
495 root 1.32 "normally"). Note also that I<< the callback B<must> never die >>, so use
496     C<eval> if unsure.
497    
498 root 1.43 In the second form (another port given), the other port (C<$rcvport>)
499 elmex 1.77 will be C<kil>'ed with C<@reason>, if a @reason was specified, i.e. on
500 root 1.36 "normal" kils nothing happens, while under all other conditions, the other
501     port is killed with the same reason.
502 root 1.32
503 root 1.36 The third form (kill self) is the same as the second form, except that
504     C<$rvport> defaults to C<$SELF>.
505    
506     In the last form (message), a message of the form C<@msg, @reason> will be
507     C<snd>.
508 root 1.32
509 root 1.79 Monitoring-actions are one-shot: once messages are lost (and a monitoring
510     alert was raised), they are removed and will not trigger again.
511    
512 root 1.37 As a rule of thumb, monitoring requests should always monitor a port from
513     a local port (or callback). The reason is that kill messages might get
514     lost, just like any other message. Another less obvious reason is that
515 elmex 1.77 even monitoring requests can get lost (for example, when the connection
516 root 1.37 to the other node goes down permanently). When monitoring a port locally
517     these problems do not exist.
518    
519 root 1.79 C<mon> effectively guarantees that, in the absence of hardware failures,
520     after starting the monitor, either all messages sent to the port will
521     arrive, or the monitoring action will be invoked after possible message
522     loss has been detected. No messages will be lost "in between" (after
523     the first lost message no further messages will be received by the
524     port). After the monitoring action was invoked, further messages might get
525     delivered again.
526    
527     Inter-host-connection timeouts and monitoring depend on the transport
528     used. The only transport currently implemented is TCP, and AnyEvent::MP
529     relies on TCP to detect node-downs (this can take 10-15 minutes on a
530     non-idle connection, and usually around two hours for idle conenctions).
531    
532     This means that monitoring is good for program errors and cleaning up
533     stuff eventually, but they are no replacement for a timeout when you need
534     to ensure some maximum latency.
535    
536 root 1.32 Example: call a given callback when C<$port> is killed.
537    
538     mon $port, sub { warn "port died because of <@_>\n" };
539    
540     Example: kill ourselves when C<$port> is killed abnormally.
541    
542 root 1.36 mon $port;
543 root 1.32
544 root 1.36 Example: send us a restart message when another C<$port> is killed.
545 root 1.32
546     mon $port, $self => "restart";
547    
548     =cut
549    
550     sub mon {
551 root 1.75 my ($nodeid, $port) = split /#/, shift, 2;
552 root 1.32
553 root 1.75 my $node = $NODE{$nodeid} || add_node $nodeid;
554 root 1.32
555 root 1.41 my $cb = @_ ? shift : $SELF || Carp::croak 'mon: called with one argument only, but $SELF not set,';
556 root 1.32
557     unless (ref $cb) {
558     if (@_) {
559     # send a kill info message
560 root 1.41 my (@msg) = ($cb, @_);
561 root 1.32 $cb = sub { snd @msg, @_ };
562     } else {
563     # simply kill other port
564     my $port = $cb;
565     $cb = sub { kil $port, @_ if @_ };
566     }
567     }
568    
569     $node->monitor ($port, $cb);
570    
571     defined wantarray
572     and AnyEvent::Util::guard { $node->unmonitor ($port, $cb) }
573     }
574    
575     =item $guard = mon_guard $port, $ref, $ref...
576    
577     Monitors the given C<$port> and keeps the passed references. When the port
578     is killed, the references will be freed.
579    
580     Optionally returns a guard that will stop the monitoring.
581    
582     This function is useful when you create e.g. timers or other watchers and
583 root 1.67 want to free them when the port gets killed (note the use of C<psub>):
584 root 1.32
585     $port->rcv (start => sub {
586 root 1.67 my $timer; $timer = mon_guard $port, AE::timer 1, 1, psub {
587 root 1.32 undef $timer if 0.9 < rand;
588     });
589     });
590    
591     =cut
592    
593     sub mon_guard {
594     my ($port, @refs) = @_;
595    
596 root 1.36 #TODO: mon-less form?
597    
598 root 1.32 mon $port, sub { 0 && @refs }
599     }
600    
601 root 1.33 =item kil $port[, @reason]
602 root 1.32
603     Kill the specified port with the given C<@reason>.
604    
605 root 1.67 If no C<@reason> is specified, then the port is killed "normally" (ports
606     monitoring other ports will not necessarily die because a port dies
607     "normally").
608 root 1.32
609     Otherwise, linked ports get killed with the same reason (second form of
610 root 1.67 C<mon>, see above).
611 root 1.32
612     Runtime errors while evaluating C<rcv> callbacks or inside C<psub> blocks
613     will be reported as reason C<< die => $@ >>.
614    
615     Transport/communication errors are reported as C<< transport_error =>
616     $message >>.
617    
618 root 1.38 =cut
619    
620     =item $port = spawn $node, $initfunc[, @initdata]
621    
622     Creates a port on the node C<$node> (which can also be a port ID, in which
623     case it's the node where that port resides).
624    
625 root 1.67 The port ID of the newly created port is returned immediately, and it is
626     possible to immediately start sending messages or to monitor the port.
627 root 1.38
628 root 1.67 After the port has been created, the init function is called on the remote
629     node, in the same context as a C<rcv> callback. This function must be a
630     fully-qualified function name (e.g. C<MyApp::Chat::Server::init>). To
631     specify a function in the main program, use C<::name>.
632 root 1.38
633     If the function doesn't exist, then the node tries to C<require>
634     the package, then the package above the package and so on (e.g.
635     C<MyApp::Chat::Server>, C<MyApp::Chat>, C<MyApp>) until the function
636     exists or it runs out of package names.
637    
638     The init function is then called with the newly-created port as context
639 root 1.82 object (C<$SELF>) and the C<@initdata> values as arguments. It I<must>
640     call one of the C<rcv> functions to set callbacks on C<$SELF>, otherwise
641     the port might not get created.
642 root 1.38
643 root 1.67 A common idiom is to pass a local port, immediately monitor the spawned
644     port, and in the remote init function, immediately monitor the passed
645     local port. This two-way monitoring ensures that both ports get cleaned up
646     when there is a problem.
647 root 1.38
648 root 1.80 C<spawn> guarantees that the C<$initfunc> has no visible effects on the
649     caller before C<spawn> returns (by delaying invocation when spawn is
650     called for the local node).
651    
652 root 1.38 Example: spawn a chat server port on C<$othernode>.
653    
654     # this node, executed from within a port context:
655     my $server = spawn $othernode, "MyApp::Chat::Server::connect", $SELF;
656     mon $server;
657    
658     # init function on C<$othernode>
659     sub connect {
660     my ($srcport) = @_;
661    
662     mon $srcport;
663    
664     rcv $SELF, sub {
665     ...
666     };
667     }
668    
669     =cut
670    
671     sub _spawn {
672     my $port = shift;
673     my $init = shift;
674    
675 root 1.82 # rcv will create the actual port
676 root 1.38 local $SELF = "$NODE#$port";
677     eval {
678     &{ load_func $init }
679     };
680     _self_die if $@;
681     }
682    
683     sub spawn(@) {
684 root 1.75 my ($nodeid, undef) = split /#/, shift, 2;
685 root 1.38
686     my $id = "$RUNIQ." . $ID++;
687    
688 root 1.39 $_[0] =~ /::/
689     or Carp::croak "spawn init function must be a fully-qualified name, caught";
690    
691 root 1.75 snd_to_func $nodeid, "AnyEvent::MP::_spawn" => $id, @_;
692 root 1.38
693 root 1.75 "$nodeid#$id"
694 root 1.38 }
695    
696 root 1.59 =item after $timeout, @msg
697    
698     =item after $timeout, $callback
699    
700     Either sends the given message, or call the given callback, after the
701     specified number of seconds.
702    
703 root 1.67 This is simply a utility function that comes in handy at times - the
704     AnyEvent::MP author is not convinced of the wisdom of having it, though,
705     so it may go away in the future.
706 root 1.59
707     =cut
708    
709     sub after($@) {
710     my ($timeout, @action) = @_;
711    
712     my $t; $t = AE::timer $timeout, 0, sub {
713     undef $t;
714     ref $action[0]
715     ? $action[0]()
716     : snd @action;
717     };
718     }
719    
720 root 1.8 =back
721    
722 root 1.26 =head1 AnyEvent::MP vs. Distributed Erlang
723    
724 root 1.35 AnyEvent::MP got lots of its ideas from distributed Erlang (Erlang node
725     == aemp node, Erlang process == aemp port), so many of the documents and
726     programming techniques employed by Erlang apply to AnyEvent::MP. Here is a
727 root 1.27 sample:
728    
729 root 1.35 http://www.Erlang.se/doc/programming_rules.shtml
730     http://Erlang.org/doc/getting_started/part_frame.html # chapters 3 and 4
731     http://Erlang.org/download/Erlang-book-part1.pdf # chapters 5 and 6
732     http://Erlang.org/download/armstrong_thesis_2003.pdf # chapters 4 and 5
733 root 1.27
734     Despite the similarities, there are also some important differences:
735 root 1.26
736     =over 4
737    
738 root 1.65 =item * Node IDs are arbitrary strings in AEMP.
739 root 1.26
740 root 1.65 Erlang relies on special naming and DNS to work everywhere in the same
741     way. AEMP relies on each node somehow knowing its own address(es) (e.g. by
742 elmex 1.77 configuration or DNS), but will otherwise discover other odes itself.
743 root 1.27
744 root 1.54 =item * Erlang has a "remote ports are like local ports" philosophy, AEMP
745 root 1.51 uses "local ports are like remote ports".
746    
747     The failure modes for local ports are quite different (runtime errors
748     only) then for remote ports - when a local port dies, you I<know> it dies,
749     when a connection to another node dies, you know nothing about the other
750     port.
751    
752     Erlang pretends remote ports are as reliable as local ports, even when
753     they are not.
754    
755     AEMP encourages a "treat remote ports differently" philosophy, with local
756     ports being the special case/exception, where transport errors cannot
757     occur.
758    
759 root 1.26 =item * Erlang uses processes and a mailbox, AEMP does not queue.
760    
761 root 1.51 Erlang uses processes that selectively receive messages, and therefore
762     needs a queue. AEMP is event based, queuing messages would serve no
763     useful purpose. For the same reason the pattern-matching abilities of
764     AnyEvent::MP are more limited, as there is little need to be able to
765 elmex 1.77 filter messages without dequeuing them.
766 root 1.26
767 root 1.35 (But see L<Coro::MP> for a more Erlang-like process model on top of AEMP).
768 root 1.26
769     =item * Erlang sends are synchronous, AEMP sends are asynchronous.
770    
771 root 1.51 Sending messages in Erlang is synchronous and blocks the process (and
772     so does not need a queue that can overflow). AEMP sends are immediate,
773     connection establishment is handled in the background.
774 root 1.26
775 root 1.51 =item * Erlang suffers from silent message loss, AEMP does not.
776 root 1.26
777     Erlang makes few guarantees on messages delivery - messages can get lost
778     without any of the processes realising it (i.e. you send messages a, b,
779     and c, and the other side only receives messages a and c).
780    
781 root 1.66 AEMP guarantees correct ordering, and the guarantee that after one message
782     is lost, all following ones sent to the same port are lost as well, until
783     monitoring raises an error, so there are no silent "holes" in the message
784     sequence.
785 root 1.26
786     =item * Erlang can send messages to the wrong port, AEMP does not.
787    
788 root 1.51 In Erlang it is quite likely that a node that restarts reuses a process ID
789     known to other nodes for a completely different process, causing messages
790     destined for that process to end up in an unrelated process.
791 root 1.26
792     AEMP never reuses port IDs, so old messages or old port IDs floating
793     around in the network will not be sent to an unrelated port.
794    
795     =item * Erlang uses unprotected connections, AEMP uses secure
796     authentication and can use TLS.
797    
798 root 1.66 AEMP can use a proven protocol - TLS - to protect connections and
799 root 1.26 securely authenticate nodes.
800    
801 root 1.28 =item * The AEMP protocol is optimised for both text-based and binary
802     communications.
803    
804 root 1.66 The AEMP protocol, unlike the Erlang protocol, supports both programming
805     language independent text-only protocols (good for debugging) and binary,
806 root 1.67 language-specific serialisers (e.g. Storable). By default, unless TLS is
807     used, the protocol is actually completely text-based.
808 root 1.28
809     It has also been carefully designed to be implementable in other languages
810 root 1.66 with a minimum of work while gracefully degrading functionality to make the
811 root 1.28 protocol simple.
812    
813 root 1.35 =item * AEMP has more flexible monitoring options than Erlang.
814    
815     In Erlang, you can chose to receive I<all> exit signals as messages
816     or I<none>, there is no in-between, so monitoring single processes is
817     difficult to implement. Monitoring in AEMP is more flexible than in
818     Erlang, as one can choose between automatic kill, exit message or callback
819     on a per-process basis.
820    
821 root 1.37 =item * Erlang tries to hide remote/local connections, AEMP does not.
822 root 1.35
823 root 1.67 Monitoring in Erlang is not an indicator of process death/crashes, in the
824     same way as linking is (except linking is unreliable in Erlang).
825 root 1.37
826     In AEMP, you don't "look up" registered port names or send to named ports
827     that might or might not be persistent. Instead, you normally spawn a port
828 root 1.67 on the remote node. The init function monitors you, and you monitor the
829     remote port. Since both monitors are local to the node, they are much more
830     reliable (no need for C<spawn_link>).
831 root 1.37
832     This also saves round-trips and avoids sending messages to the wrong port
833     (hard to do in Erlang).
834 root 1.35
835 root 1.26 =back
836    
837 root 1.46 =head1 RATIONALE
838    
839     =over 4
840    
841 root 1.67 =item Why strings for port and node IDs, why not objects?
842 root 1.46
843     We considered "objects", but found that the actual number of methods
844 root 1.67 that can be called are quite low. Since port and node IDs travel over
845 root 1.46 the network frequently, the serialising/deserialising would add lots of
846 root 1.67 overhead, as well as having to keep a proxy object everywhere.
847 root 1.46
848     Strings can easily be printed, easily serialised etc. and need no special
849     procedures to be "valid".
850    
851 root 1.67 And as a result, a miniport consists of a single closure stored in a
852     global hash - it can't become much cheaper.
853 root 1.47
854 root 1.67 =item Why favour JSON, why not a real serialising format such as Storable?
855 root 1.46
856     In fact, any AnyEvent::MP node will happily accept Storable as framing
857     format, but currently there is no way to make a node use Storable by
858 root 1.67 default (although all nodes will accept it).
859 root 1.46
860     The default framing protocol is JSON because a) JSON::XS is many times
861     faster for small messages and b) most importantly, after years of
862     experience we found that object serialisation is causing more problems
863 root 1.67 than it solves: Just like function calls, objects simply do not travel
864 root 1.46 easily over the network, mostly because they will always be a copy, so you
865     always have to re-think your design.
866    
867     Keeping your messages simple, concentrating on data structures rather than
868     objects, will keep your messages clean, tidy and efficient.
869    
870     =back
871    
872 root 1.1 =head1 SEE ALSO
873    
874 root 1.68 L<AnyEvent::MP::Intro> - a gentle introduction.
875    
876     L<AnyEvent::MP::Kernel> - more, lower-level, stuff.
877    
878     L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> - network maintainance and port groups, to find
879     your applications.
880    
881 root 1.81 L<AnyEvent::MP::LogCatcher> - simple service to display log messages from
882     all nodes.
883    
884 root 1.1 L<AnyEvent>.
885    
886     =head1 AUTHOR
887    
888     Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
889     http://home.schmorp.de/
890    
891     =cut
892    
893     1
894