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Revision 1.18 by root, Mon Aug 3 21:35:03 2009 UTC vs.
Revision 1.77 by elmex, Thu Sep 3 07:57:30 2009 UTC

4 4
5=head1 SYNOPSIS 5=head1 SYNOPSIS
6 6
7 use AnyEvent::MP; 7 use AnyEvent::MP;
8 8
9 NODE # returns this node identifier
10 $NODE # contains this node identifier 9 $NODE # contains this node's node ID
10 NODE # returns this node's node ID
11 11
12 $SELF # receiving/own port id in rcv callbacks
13
14 # initialise the node so it can send/receive messages
15 configure;
16
17 # ports are message destinations
18
19 # sending messages
12 snd $port, type => data...; 20 snd $port, type => data...;
21 snd $port, @msg;
22 snd @msg_with_first_element_being_a_port;
13 23
14 rcv $port, smartmatch => $cb->($port, @msg); 24 # creating/using ports, the simple way
25 my $simple_port = port { my @msg = @_ };
15 26
16 # examples: 27 # creating/using ports, tagged message matching
28 my $port = port;
17 rcv $port2, ping => sub { snd $_[0], "pong"; 0 }; 29 rcv $port, ping => sub { snd $_[0], "pong" };
18 rcv $port1, pong => sub { warn "pong received\n" }; 30 rcv $port, pong => sub { warn "pong received\n" };
19 snd $port2, ping => $port1;
20 31
21 # more, smarter, matches (_any_ is exported by this module) 32 # create a port on another node
22 rcv $port, [child_died => $pid] => sub { ... 33 my $port = spawn $node, $initfunc, @initdata;
23 rcv $port, [_any_, _any_, 3] => sub { .. $_[2] is 3 34
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=head1 CURRENT STATUS
41
42 bin/aemp - stable.
43 AnyEvent::MP - stable API, should work.
44 AnyEvent::MP::Intro - explains most concepts.
45 AnyEvent::MP::Kernel - mostly stable.
46 AnyEvent::MP::Global - stable API, protocol not yet final.
47
48 stay tuned.
24 49
25=head1 DESCRIPTION 50=head1 DESCRIPTION
26 51
27This module (-family) implements a simple message passing framework. 52This module (-family) implements a simple message passing framework.
28 53
29Despite its simplicity, you can securely message other processes running 54Despite its simplicity, you can securely message other processes running
30on the same or other hosts. 55on the same or other hosts, and you can supervise entities remotely.
31 56
32At the moment, this module family is severly brokena nd underdocumented, 57For an introduction to this module family, see the L<AnyEvent::MP::Intro>
33so do not use. This was uploaded mainly to resreve the CPAN namespace - 58manual page and the examples under F<eg/>.
34stay tuned!
35 59
36=head1 CONCEPTS 60=head1 CONCEPTS
37 61
38=over 4 62=over 4
39 63
40=item port 64=item port
41 65
42A port is something you can send messages to with the C<snd> function, and 66A port is something you can send messages to (with the C<snd> function).
43you can register C<rcv> handlers with. All C<rcv> handlers will receive
44messages they match, messages will not be queued.
45 67
68Ports allow you to register C<rcv> handlers that can match all or just
69some messages. Messages send to ports will not be queued, regardless of
70anything was listening for them or not.
71
46=item port id - C<noderef#portname> 72=item port ID - C<nodeid#portname>
47 73
48A port id is always the noderef, a hash-mark (C<#>) as separator, followed 74A port ID is the concatenation of a node ID, a hash-mark (C<#>) as
49by a port name (a printable string of unspecified format). 75separator, and a port name (a printable string of unspecified format).
50 76
51=item node 77=item node
52 78
53A node is a single process containing at least one port - the node 79A node is a single process containing at least one port - the node port,
54port. You can send messages to node ports to let them create new ports, 80which enables nodes to manage each other remotely, and to create new
55among other things. 81ports.
56 82
57Initially, nodes are either private (single-process only) or hidden 83Nodes are either public (have one or more listening ports) or private
58(connected to a master node only). Only when they epxlicitly "become 84(no listening ports). Private nodes cannot talk to other private nodes
59public" can you send them messages from unrelated other nodes. 85currently.
60 86
61=item noderef - C<host:port,host:port...>, C<id@noderef>, C<id> 87=item node ID - C<[a-za-Z0-9_\-.:]+>
62 88
63A noderef is a string that either uniquely identifies a given node (for 89A node ID is a string that uniquely identifies the node within a
64private and hidden nodes), or contains a recipe on how to reach a given 90network. Depending on the configuration used, node IDs can look like a
65node (for public nodes). 91hostname, a hostname and a port, or a random string. AnyEvent::MP itself
92doesn't interpret node IDs in any way.
93
94=item binds - C<ip:port>
95
96Nodes can only talk to each other by creating some kind of connection to
97each other. To do this, nodes should listen on one or more local transport
98endpoints - binds. Currently, only standard C<ip:port> specifications can
99be used, which specify TCP ports to listen on.
100
101=item seeds - C<host:port>
102
103When a node starts, it knows nothing about the network. To teach the node
104about the network it first has to contact some other node within the
105network. This node is called a seed.
106
107Seeds are transport endpoint(s) of as many nodes as one wants. Those nodes
108are expected to be long-running, and at least one of those should always
109be available. When nodes run out of connections (e.g. due to a network
110error), they try to re-establish connections to some seednodes again to
111join the network.
112
113Apart from being sued for seeding, seednodes are not special in any way -
114every public node can be a seednode.
66 115
67=back 116=back
68 117
69=head1 VARIABLES/FUNCTIONS 118=head1 VARIABLES/FUNCTIONS
70 119
72 121
73=cut 122=cut
74 123
75package AnyEvent::MP; 124package AnyEvent::MP;
76 125
77use AnyEvent::MP::Base; 126use AnyEvent::MP::Kernel;
78 127
79use common::sense; 128use common::sense;
80 129
81use Carp (); 130use Carp ();
82 131
83use AE (); 132use AE ();
84 133
85use base "Exporter"; 134use base "Exporter";
86 135
87our $VERSION = '0.02'; 136our $VERSION = $AnyEvent::MP::Kernel::VERSION;
137
88our @EXPORT = qw( 138our @EXPORT = qw(
89 NODE $NODE $PORT snd rcv mon del _any_ 139 NODE $NODE *SELF node_of after
90 create_port create_port_on 140 configure
91 create_miniport 141 snd rcv mon mon_guard kil reg psub spawn
92 become_slave become_public 142 port
93); 143);
94 144
145our $SELF;
146
147sub _self_die() {
148 my $msg = $@;
149 $msg =~ s/\n+$// unless ref $msg;
150 kil $SELF, die => $msg;
151}
152
95=item NODE / $NODE 153=item $thisnode = NODE / $NODE
96 154
97The C<NODE ()> function and the C<$NODE> variable contain the noderef of 155The C<NODE> function returns, and the C<$NODE> variable contains, the node
98the local node. The value is initialised by a call to C<become_public> or 156ID of the node running in the current process. This value is initialised by
99C<become_slave>, after which all local port identifiers become invalid. 157a call to C<configure>.
100 158
159=item $nodeid = node_of $port
160
161Extracts and returns the node ID from a port ID or a node ID.
162
163=item configure key => value...
164
165Before a node can talk to other nodes on the network (i.e. enter
166"distributed mode") it has to configure itself - the minimum a node needs
167to know is its own name, and optionally it should know the addresses of
168some other nodes in the network to discover other nodes.
169
170This function configures a node - it must be called exactly once (or
171never) before calling other AnyEvent::MP functions.
172
173=over 4
174
175=item step 1, gathering configuration from profiles
176
177The function first looks up a profile in the aemp configuration (see the
178L<aemp> commandline utility). The profile name can be specified via the
179named C<profile> parameter. If it is missing, then the nodename (F<uname
180-n>) will be used as profile name.
181
182The profile data is then gathered as follows:
183
184First, all remaining key => value pairs (all of which are conveniently
185undocumented at the moment) will be interpreted as configuration
186data. Then they will be overwritten by any values specified in the global
187default configuration (see the F<aemp> utility), then the chain of
188profiles chosen by the profile name (and any C<parent> attributes).
189
190That means that the values specified in the profile have highest priority
191and the values specified directly via C<configure> have lowest priority,
192and can only be used to specify defaults.
193
194If the profile specifies a node ID, then this will become the node ID of
195this process. If not, then the profile name will be used as node ID. The
196special node ID of C<anon/> will be replaced by a random node ID.
197
198=item step 2, bind listener sockets
199
200The next step is to look up the binds in the profile, followed by binding
201aemp protocol listeners on all binds specified (it is possible and valid
202to have no binds, meaning that the node cannot be contacted form the
203outside. This means the node cannot talk to other nodes that also have no
204binds, but it can still talk to all "normal" nodes).
205
206If the profile does not specify a binds list, then a default of C<*> is
207used, meaning the node will bind on a dynamically-assigned port on every
208local IP address it finds.
209
210=item step 3, connect to seed nodes
211
212As the last step, the seeds list from the profile is passed to the
213L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> module, which will then use it to keep
214connectivity with at least one node at any point in time.
215
216=back
217
218Example: become a distributed node using the locla node name as profile.
219This should be the most common form of invocation for "daemon"-type nodes.
220
221 configure
222
223Example: become an anonymous node. This form is often used for commandline
224clients.
225
226 configure nodeid => "anon/";
227
228Example: configure a node using a profile called seed, which si suitable
229for a seed node as it binds on all local addresses on a fixed port (4040,
230customary for aemp).
231
232 # use the aemp commandline utility
233 # aemp profile seed nodeid anon/ binds '*:4040'
234
235 # then use it
236 configure profile => "seed";
237
238 # or simply use aemp from the shell again:
239 # aemp run profile seed
240
241 # or provide a nicer-to-remember nodeid
242 # aemp run profile seed nodeid "$(hostname)"
243
244=item $SELF
245
246Contains the current port id while executing C<rcv> callbacks or C<psub>
247blocks.
248
249=item *SELF, SELF, %SELF, @SELF...
250
251Due to some quirks in how perl exports variables, it is impossible to
252just export C<$SELF>, all the symbols named C<SELF> are exported by this
253module, but only C<$SELF> is currently used.
254
101=item snd $portid, type => @data 255=item snd $port, type => @data
102 256
103=item snd $portid, @msg 257=item snd $port, @msg
104 258
105Send the given message to the given port ID, which can identify either 259Send the given message to the given port, which can identify either a
106a local or a remote port, and can be either a string or soemthignt hat 260local or a remote port, and must be a port ID.
107stringifies a sa port ID (such as a port object :).
108 261
109While the message can be about anything, it is highly recommended to use a 262While the message can be almost anything, it is highly recommended to
110string as first element (a portid, or some word that indicates a request 263use a string as first element (a port ID, or some word that indicates a
111type etc.). 264request type etc.) and to consist if only simple perl values (scalars,
265arrays, hashes) - if you think you need to pass an object, think again.
112 266
113The message data effectively becomes read-only after a call to this 267The message data logically becomes read-only after a call to this
114function: modifying any argument is not allowed and can cause many 268function: modifying any argument (or values referenced by them) is
115problems. 269forbidden, as there can be considerable time between the call to C<snd>
270and the time the message is actually being serialised - in fact, it might
271never be copied as within the same process it is simply handed to the
272receiving port.
116 273
117The type of data you can transfer depends on the transport protocol: when 274The type of data you can transfer depends on the transport protocol: when
118JSON is used, then only strings, numbers and arrays and hashes consisting 275JSON is used, then only strings, numbers and arrays and hashes consisting
119of those are allowed (no objects). When Storable is used, then anything 276of those are allowed (no objects). When Storable is used, then anything
120that Storable can serialise and deserialise is allowed, and for the local 277that Storable can serialise and deserialise is allowed, and for the local
121node, anything can be passed. 278node, anything can be passed. Best rely only on the common denominator of
279these.
122 280
123=item mon $portid, sub { } 281=item $local_port = port
124 282
125#TODO monitor the given port 283Create a new local port object and returns its port ID. Initially it has
284no callbacks set and will throw an error when it receives messages.
285
286=item $local_port = port { my @msg = @_ }
287
288Creates a new local port, and returns its ID. Semantically the same as
289creating a port and calling C<rcv $port, $callback> on it.
290
291The block will be called for every message received on the port, with the
292global variable C<$SELF> set to the port ID. Runtime errors will cause the
293port to be C<kil>ed. The message will be passed as-is, no extra argument
294(i.e. no port ID) will be passed to the callback.
295
296If you want to stop/destroy the port, simply C<kil> it:
297
298 my $port = port {
299 my @msg = @_;
300 ...
301 kil $SELF;
302 };
303
304=cut
305
306sub rcv($@);
307
308sub _kilme {
309 die "received message on port without callback";
310}
311
312sub port(;&) {
313 my $id = "$UNIQ." . $ID++;
314 my $port = "$NODE#$id";
315
316 rcv $port, shift || \&_kilme;
317
318 $port
319}
320
321=item rcv $local_port, $callback->(@msg)
322
323Replaces the default callback on the specified port. There is no way to
324remove the default callback: use C<sub { }> to disable it, or better
325C<kil> the port when it is no longer needed.
326
327The global C<$SELF> (exported by this module) contains C<$port> while
328executing the callback. Runtime errors during callback execution will
329result in the port being C<kil>ed.
330
331The default callback received all messages not matched by a more specific
332C<tag> match.
333
334=item rcv $local_port, tag => $callback->(@msg_without_tag), ...
335
336Register (or replace) callbacks to be called on messages starting with the
337given tag on the given port (and return the port), or unregister it (when
338C<$callback> is C<$undef> or missing). There can only be one callback
339registered for each tag.
340
341The original message will be passed to the callback, after the first
342element (the tag) has been removed. The callback will use the same
343environment as the default callback (see above).
344
345Example: create a port and bind receivers on it in one go.
346
347 my $port = rcv port,
348 msg1 => sub { ... },
349 msg2 => sub { ... },
350 ;
351
352Example: create a port, bind receivers and send it in a message elsewhere
353in one go:
354
355 snd $otherport, reply =>
356 rcv port,
357 msg1 => sub { ... },
358 ...
359 ;
360
361Example: temporarily register a rcv callback for a tag matching some port
362(e.g. for a rpc reply) and unregister it after a message was received.
363
364 rcv $port, $otherport => sub {
365 my @reply = @_;
366
367 rcv $SELF, $otherport;
368 };
369
370=cut
371
372sub rcv($@) {
373 my $port = shift;
374 my ($nodeid, $portid) = split /#/, $port, 2;
375
376 $NODE{$nodeid} == $NODE{""}
377 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on local ports, caught";
378
379 while (@_) {
380 if (ref $_[0]) {
381 if (my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid}) {
382 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
383 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
384
385 $self->[2] = shift;
386 } else {
387 my $cb = shift;
388 $PORT{$portid} = sub {
389 local $SELF = $port;
390 eval { &$cb }; _self_die if $@;
391 };
392 }
393 } elsif (defined $_[0]) {
394 my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid} ||= do {
395 my $self = bless [$PORT{$port} || sub { }, { }, $port], "AnyEvent::MP::Port";
396
397 $PORT{$portid} = sub {
398 local $SELF = $port;
399
400 if (my $cb = $self->[1]{$_[0]}) {
401 shift;
402 eval { &$cb }; _self_die if $@;
403 } else {
404 &{ $self->[0] };
405 }
406 };
407
408 $self
409 };
410
411 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
412 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
413
414 my ($tag, $cb) = splice @_, 0, 2;
415
416 if (defined $cb) {
417 $self->[1]{$tag} = $cb;
418 } else {
419 delete $self->[1]{$tag};
420 }
421 }
422 }
423
424 $port
425}
426
427=item $closure = psub { BLOCK }
428
429Remembers C<$SELF> and creates a closure out of the BLOCK. When the
430closure is executed, sets up the environment in the same way as in C<rcv>
431callbacks, i.e. runtime errors will cause the port to get C<kil>ed.
432
433This is useful when you register callbacks from C<rcv> callbacks:
434
435 rcv delayed_reply => sub {
436 my ($delay, @reply) = @_;
437 my $timer = AE::timer $delay, 0, psub {
438 snd @reply, $SELF;
439 };
440 };
441
442=cut
443
444sub psub(&) {
445 my $cb = shift;
446
447 my $port = $SELF
448 or Carp::croak "psub can only be called from within rcv or psub callbacks, not";
449
450 sub {
451 local $SELF = $port;
452
453 if (wantarray) {
454 my @res = eval { &$cb };
455 _self_die if $@;
456 @res
457 } else {
458 my $res = eval { &$cb };
459 _self_die if $@;
460 $res
461 }
462 }
463}
464
465=item $guard = mon $port, $cb->(@reason) # call $cb when $port dies
466
467=item $guard = mon $port, $rcvport # kill $rcvport when $port dies
468
469=item $guard = mon $port # kill $SELF when $port dies
470
471=item $guard = mon $port, $rcvport, @msg # send a message when $port dies
472
473Monitor the given port and do something when the port is killed or
474messages to it were lost, and optionally return a guard that can be used
475to stop monitoring again.
476
477C<mon> effectively guarantees that, in the absence of hardware failures,
478after starting the monitor, either all messages sent to the port will
479arrive, or the monitoring action will be invoked after possible message
480loss has been detected. No messages will be lost "in between" (after
481the first lost message no further messages will be received by the
482port). After the monitoring action was invoked, further messages might get
483delivered again.
484
485Note that monitoring-actions are one-shot: once messages are lost (and a
486monitoring alert was raised), they are removed and will not trigger again.
487
488In the first form (callback), the callback is simply called with any
489number of C<@reason> elements (no @reason means that the port was deleted
490"normally"). Note also that I<< the callback B<must> never die >>, so use
491C<eval> if unsure.
492
493In the second form (another port given), the other port (C<$rcvport>)
494will be C<kil>'ed with C<@reason>, if a @reason was specified, i.e. on
495"normal" kils nothing happens, while under all other conditions, the other
496port is killed with the same reason.
497
498The third form (kill self) is the same as the second form, except that
499C<$rvport> defaults to C<$SELF>.
500
501In the last form (message), a message of the form C<@msg, @reason> will be
502C<snd>.
503
504As a rule of thumb, monitoring requests should always monitor a port from
505a local port (or callback). The reason is that kill messages might get
506lost, just like any other message. Another less obvious reason is that
507even monitoring requests can get lost (for example, when the connection
508to the other node goes down permanently). When monitoring a port locally
509these problems do not exist.
510
511Example: call a given callback when C<$port> is killed.
512
513 mon $port, sub { warn "port died because of <@_>\n" };
514
515Example: kill ourselves when C<$port> is killed abnormally.
516
517 mon $port;
518
519Example: send us a restart message when another C<$port> is killed.
520
521 mon $port, $self => "restart";
126 522
127=cut 523=cut
128 524
129sub mon { 525sub mon {
130 my ($noderef, $port) = split /#/, shift, 2; 526 my ($nodeid, $port) = split /#/, shift, 2;
131 527
132 my $node = AnyEvent::MP::Base::add_node $noderef; 528 my $node = $NODE{$nodeid} || add_node $nodeid;
133 529
134 my $cb = shift; 530 my $cb = @_ ? shift : $SELF || Carp::croak 'mon: called with one argument only, but $SELF not set,';
531
532 unless (ref $cb) {
533 if (@_) {
534 # send a kill info message
535 my (@msg) = ($cb, @_);
536 $cb = sub { snd @msg, @_ };
537 } else {
538 # simply kill other port
539 my $port = $cb;
540 $cb = sub { kil $port, @_ if @_ };
541 }
542 }
135 543
136 $node->monitor ($port, $cb); 544 $node->monitor ($port, $cb);
137 545
138 defined wantarray 546 defined wantarray
139 and AnyEvent::Util::guard { $node->unmonitor ($port, $cb) } 547 and AnyEvent::Util::guard { $node->unmonitor ($port, $cb) }
140} 548}
141 549
142=item $local_port = create_port 550=item $guard = mon_guard $port, $ref, $ref...
143 551
144Create a new local port object. See the next section for allowed methods. 552Monitors the given C<$port> and keeps the passed references. When the port
553is killed, the references will be freed.
145 554
146=cut 555Optionally returns a guard that will stop the monitoring.
147 556
148sub create_port { 557This function is useful when you create e.g. timers or other watchers and
149 my $id = "$AnyEvent::MP::Base::UNIQ." . $AnyEvent::MP::Base::ID++; 558want to free them when the port gets killed (note the use of C<psub>):
150 559
151 my $self = bless { 560 $port->rcv (start => sub {
152 id => "$NODE#$id", 561 my $timer; $timer = mon_guard $port, AE::timer 1, 1, psub {
153 names => [$id], 562 undef $timer if 0.9 < rand;
154 }, "AnyEvent::MP::Port"; 563 });
564 });
155 565
156 $AnyEvent::MP::Base::PORT{$id} = sub { 566=cut
157 unshift @_, $self;
158 567
159 for (@{ $self->{rc0}{$_[1]} }) { 568sub mon_guard {
160 $_ && &{$_->[0]} 569 my ($port, @refs) = @_;
161 && undef $_; 570
571 #TODO: mon-less form?
572
573 mon $port, sub { 0 && @refs }
574}
575
576=item kil $port[, @reason]
577
578Kill the specified port with the given C<@reason>.
579
580If no C<@reason> is specified, then the port is killed "normally" (ports
581monitoring other ports will not necessarily die because a port dies
582"normally").
583
584Otherwise, linked ports get killed with the same reason (second form of
585C<mon>, see above).
586
587Runtime errors while evaluating C<rcv> callbacks or inside C<psub> blocks
588will be reported as reason C<< die => $@ >>.
589
590Transport/communication errors are reported as C<< transport_error =>
591$message >>.
592
593=cut
594
595=item $port = spawn $node, $initfunc[, @initdata]
596
597Creates a port on the node C<$node> (which can also be a port ID, in which
598case it's the node where that port resides).
599
600The port ID of the newly created port is returned immediately, and it is
601possible to immediately start sending messages or to monitor the port.
602
603After the port has been created, the init function is called on the remote
604node, in the same context as a C<rcv> callback. This function must be a
605fully-qualified function name (e.g. C<MyApp::Chat::Server::init>). To
606specify a function in the main program, use C<::name>.
607
608If the function doesn't exist, then the node tries to C<require>
609the package, then the package above the package and so on (e.g.
610C<MyApp::Chat::Server>, C<MyApp::Chat>, C<MyApp>) until the function
611exists or it runs out of package names.
612
613The init function is then called with the newly-created port as context
614object (C<$SELF>) and the C<@initdata> values as arguments.
615
616A common idiom is to pass a local port, immediately monitor the spawned
617port, and in the remote init function, immediately monitor the passed
618local port. This two-way monitoring ensures that both ports get cleaned up
619when there is a problem.
620
621Example: spawn a chat server port on C<$othernode>.
622
623 # this node, executed from within a port context:
624 my $server = spawn $othernode, "MyApp::Chat::Server::connect", $SELF;
625 mon $server;
626
627 # init function on C<$othernode>
628 sub connect {
629 my ($srcport) = @_;
630
631 mon $srcport;
632
633 rcv $SELF, sub {
634 ...
162 } 635 };
636 }
163 637
164 for (@{ $self->{rcv}{$_[1]} }) { 638=cut
165 $_ && [@_[1 .. @{$_->[1]}]] ~~ $_->[1]
166 && &{$_->[0]}
167 && undef $_;
168 }
169 639
170 for (@{ $self->{any} }) { 640sub _spawn {
171 $_ && [@_[0 .. $#{$_->[1]}]] ~~ $_->[1] 641 my $port = shift;
172 && &{$_->[0]} 642 my $init = shift;
173 && undef $_; 643
174 } 644 local $SELF = "$NODE#$port";
645 eval {
646 &{ load_func $init }
175 }; 647 };
176 648 _self_die if $@;
177 $self
178} 649}
179 650
180=item $portid = miniport { my @msg = @_; $finished } 651sub spawn(@) {
652 my ($nodeid, undef) = split /#/, shift, 2;
181 653
182Creates a "mini port", that is, a very lightweight port without any 654 my $id = "$RUNIQ." . $ID++;
183pattern matching behind it, and returns its ID.
184 655
185The block will be called for every message received on the port. When the 656 $_[0] =~ /::/
186callback returns a true value its job is considered "done" and the port 657 or Carp::croak "spawn init function must be a fully-qualified name, caught";
187will be destroyed. Otherwise it will stay alive.
188 658
189The message will be passed as-is, no extra argument (i.e. no port id) will 659 snd_to_func $nodeid, "AnyEvent::MP::_spawn" => $id, @_;
190be passed to the callback.
191 660
192If you need the local port id in the callback, this works nicely: 661 "$nodeid#$id"
662}
193 663
194 my $port; $port = miniport { 664=item after $timeout, @msg
195 snd $otherport, reply => $port; 665
666=item after $timeout, $callback
667
668Either sends the given message, or call the given callback, after the
669specified number of seconds.
670
671This is simply a utility function that comes in handy at times - the
672AnyEvent::MP author is not convinced of the wisdom of having it, though,
673so it may go away in the future.
674
675=cut
676
677sub after($@) {
678 my ($timeout, @action) = @_;
679
680 my $t; $t = AE::timer $timeout, 0, sub {
681 undef $t;
682 ref $action[0]
683 ? $action[0]()
684 : snd @action;
196 }; 685 };
197
198=cut
199
200sub miniport(&) {
201 my $cb = shift;
202 my $id = "$AnyEvent::MP::Base::UNIQ." . $AnyEvent::MP::Base::ID++;
203
204 $AnyEvent::MP::Base::PORT{$id} = sub {
205 &$cb
206 and delete $AnyEvent::MP::Base::PORT{$id};
207 };
208
209 "$NODE#$id"
210} 686}
211
212package AnyEvent::MP::Port;
213 687
214=back 688=back
215 689
216=head1 METHODS FOR PORT OBJECTS 690=head1 AnyEvent::MP vs. Distributed Erlang
691
692AnyEvent::MP got lots of its ideas from distributed Erlang (Erlang node
693== aemp node, Erlang process == aemp port), so many of the documents and
694programming techniques employed by Erlang apply to AnyEvent::MP. Here is a
695sample:
696
697 http://www.Erlang.se/doc/programming_rules.shtml
698 http://Erlang.org/doc/getting_started/part_frame.html # chapters 3 and 4
699 http://Erlang.org/download/Erlang-book-part1.pdf # chapters 5 and 6
700 http://Erlang.org/download/armstrong_thesis_2003.pdf # chapters 4 and 5
701
702Despite the similarities, there are also some important differences:
217 703
218=over 4 704=over 4
219 705
220=item "$port" 706=item * Node IDs are arbitrary strings in AEMP.
221 707
222A port object stringifies to its port ID, so can be used directly for 708Erlang relies on special naming and DNS to work everywhere in the same
223C<snd> operations. 709way. AEMP relies on each node somehow knowing its own address(es) (e.g. by
710configuration or DNS), but will otherwise discover other odes itself.
224 711
225=cut 712=item * Erlang has a "remote ports are like local ports" philosophy, AEMP
713uses "local ports are like remote ports".
226 714
227use overload 715The failure modes for local ports are quite different (runtime errors
228 '""' => sub { $_[0]{id} }, 716only) then for remote ports - when a local port dies, you I<know> it dies,
229 fallback => 1; 717when a connection to another node dies, you know nothing about the other
718port.
230 719
231sub TO_JSON { $_[0]{id} } 720Erlang pretends remote ports are as reliable as local ports, even when
721they are not.
232 722
233=item $port->rcv (type => $callback->($port, @msg)) 723AEMP encourages a "treat remote ports differently" philosophy, with local
724ports being the special case/exception, where transport errors cannot
725occur.
234 726
235=item $port->rcv ($smartmatch => $callback->($port, @msg)) 727=item * Erlang uses processes and a mailbox, AEMP does not queue.
236 728
237=item $port->rcv ([$smartmatch...] => $callback->($port, @msg)) 729Erlang uses processes that selectively receive messages, and therefore
730needs a queue. AEMP is event based, queuing messages would serve no
731useful purpose. For the same reason the pattern-matching abilities of
732AnyEvent::MP are more limited, as there is little need to be able to
733filter messages without dequeuing them.
238 734
239Register a callback on the given port. 735(But see L<Coro::MP> for a more Erlang-like process model on top of AEMP).
240 736
241The callback has to return a true value when its work is done, after 737=item * Erlang sends are synchronous, AEMP sends are asynchronous.
242which is will be removed, or a false value in which case it will stay
243registered.
244 738
245If the match is an array reference, then it will be matched against the 739Sending messages in Erlang is synchronous and blocks the process (and
246first elements of the message, otherwise only the first element is being 740so does not need a queue that can overflow). AEMP sends are immediate,
247matched. 741connection establishment is handled in the background.
248 742
249Any element in the match that is specified as C<_any_> (a function 743=item * Erlang suffers from silent message loss, AEMP does not.
250exported by this module) matches any single element of the message.
251 744
252While not required, it is highly recommended that the first matching 745Erlang makes few guarantees on messages delivery - messages can get lost
253element is a string identifying the message. The one-string-only match is 746without any of the processes realising it (i.e. you send messages a, b,
254also the most efficient match (by far). 747and c, and the other side only receives messages a and c).
255 748
256=cut 749AEMP guarantees correct ordering, and the guarantee that after one message
750is lost, all following ones sent to the same port are lost as well, until
751monitoring raises an error, so there are no silent "holes" in the message
752sequence.
257 753
258sub rcv($@) { 754=item * Erlang can send messages to the wrong port, AEMP does not.
259 my ($self, $match, $cb) = @_;
260 755
261 if (!ref $match) { 756In Erlang it is quite likely that a node that restarts reuses a process ID
262 push @{ $self->{rc0}{$match} }, [$cb]; 757known to other nodes for a completely different process, causing messages
263 } elsif (("ARRAY" eq ref $match && !ref $match->[0])) { 758destined for that process to end up in an unrelated process.
264 my ($type, @match) = @$match;
265 @match
266 ? push @{ $self->{rcv}{$match->[0]} }, [$cb, \@match]
267 : push @{ $self->{rc0}{$match->[0]} }, [$cb];
268 } else {
269 push @{ $self->{any} }, [$cb, $match];
270 }
271}
272 759
273=item $port->register ($name) 760AEMP never reuses port IDs, so old messages or old port IDs floating
761around in the network will not be sent to an unrelated port.
274 762
275Registers the given port under the well known name C<$name>. If the name 763=item * Erlang uses unprotected connections, AEMP uses secure
276already exists it is replaced. 764authentication and can use TLS.
277 765
278A port can only be registered under one well known name. 766AEMP can use a proven protocol - TLS - to protect connections and
767securely authenticate nodes.
279 768
280=cut 769=item * The AEMP protocol is optimised for both text-based and binary
770communications.
281 771
282sub register { 772The AEMP protocol, unlike the Erlang protocol, supports both programming
283 my ($self, $name) = @_; 773language independent text-only protocols (good for debugging) and binary,
774language-specific serialisers (e.g. Storable). By default, unless TLS is
775used, the protocol is actually completely text-based.
284 776
285 $self->{wkname} = $name; 777It has also been carefully designed to be implementable in other languages
286 $AnyEvent::MP::Base::WKP{$name} = "$self"; 778with a minimum of work while gracefully degrading functionality to make the
287} 779protocol simple.
288 780
289=item $port->destroy 781=item * AEMP has more flexible monitoring options than Erlang.
290 782
291Explicitly destroy/remove/nuke/vaporise the port. 783In Erlang, you can chose to receive I<all> exit signals as messages
784or I<none>, there is no in-between, so monitoring single processes is
785difficult to implement. Monitoring in AEMP is more flexible than in
786Erlang, as one can choose between automatic kill, exit message or callback
787on a per-process basis.
292 788
293Ports are normally kept alive by there mere existance alone, and need to 789=item * Erlang tries to hide remote/local connections, AEMP does not.
294be destroyed explicitly.
295 790
296=cut 791Monitoring in Erlang is not an indicator of process death/crashes, in the
792same way as linking is (except linking is unreliable in Erlang).
297 793
298sub destroy { 794In AEMP, you don't "look up" registered port names or send to named ports
299 my ($self) = @_; 795that might or might not be persistent. Instead, you normally spawn a port
796on the remote node. The init function monitors you, and you monitor the
797remote port. Since both monitors are local to the node, they are much more
798reliable (no need for C<spawn_link>).
300 799
301 AnyEvent::MP::Base::del $self->{id}; 800This also saves round-trips and avoids sending messages to the wrong port
302 801(hard to do in Erlang).
303 delete $AnyEvent::MP::Base::WKP{ $self->{wkname} };
304
305 delete $AnyEvent::MP::Base::PORT{$_}
306 for @{ $self->{names} };
307}
308 802
309=back 803=back
310 804
311=head1 FUNCTIONS FOR NODES 805=head1 RATIONALE
312 806
313=over 4 807=over 4
314 808
315=item mon $noderef, $callback->($noderef, $status, $) 809=item Why strings for port and node IDs, why not objects?
316 810
317Monitors the given noderef. 811We considered "objects", but found that the actual number of methods
812that can be called are quite low. Since port and node IDs travel over
813the network frequently, the serialising/deserialising would add lots of
814overhead, as well as having to keep a proxy object everywhere.
318 815
319=item become_public endpoint... 816Strings can easily be printed, easily serialised etc. and need no special
817procedures to be "valid".
320 818
321Tells the node to become a public node, i.e. reachable from other nodes. 819And as a result, a miniport consists of a single closure stored in a
820global hash - it can't become much cheaper.
322 821
323If no arguments are given, or the first argument is C<undef>, then 822=item Why favour JSON, why not a real serialising format such as Storable?
324AnyEvent::MP tries to bind on port C<4040> on all IP addresses that the
325local nodename resolves to.
326 823
327Otherwise the first argument must be an array-reference with transport 824In fact, any AnyEvent::MP node will happily accept Storable as framing
328endpoints ("ip:port", "hostname:port") or port numbers (in which case the 825format, but currently there is no way to make a node use Storable by
329local nodename is used as hostname). The endpoints are all resolved and 826default (although all nodes will accept it).
330will become the node reference.
331 827
332=cut 828The default framing protocol is JSON because a) JSON::XS is many times
829faster for small messages and b) most importantly, after years of
830experience we found that object serialisation is causing more problems
831than it solves: Just like function calls, objects simply do not travel
832easily over the network, mostly because they will always be a copy, so you
833always have to re-think your design.
834
835Keeping your messages simple, concentrating on data structures rather than
836objects, will keep your messages clean, tidy and efficient.
333 837
334=back 838=back
335 839
336=head1 NODE MESSAGES
337
338Nodes understand the following messages sent to them. Many of them take
339arguments called C<@reply>, which will simply be used to compose a reply
340message - C<$reply[0]> is the port to reply to, C<$reply[1]> the type and
341the remaining arguments are simply the message data.
342
343=over 4
344
345=cut
346
347=item wkp => $name, @reply
348
349Replies with the port ID of the specified well-known port, or C<undef>.
350
351=item devnull => ...
352
353Generic data sink/CPU heat conversion.
354
355=item relay => $port, @msg
356
357Simply forwards the message to the given port.
358
359=item eval => $string[ @reply]
360
361Evaluates the given string. If C<@reply> is given, then a message of the
362form C<@reply, $@, @evalres> is sent.
363
364Example: crash another node.
365
366 snd $othernode, eval => "exit";
367
368=item time => @reply
369
370Replies the the current node time to C<@reply>.
371
372Example: tell the current node to send the current time to C<$myport> in a
373C<timereply> message.
374
375 snd $NODE, time => $myport, timereply => 1, 2;
376 # => snd $myport, timereply => 1, 2, <time>
377
378=back
379
380=head1 SEE ALSO 840=head1 SEE ALSO
841
842L<AnyEvent::MP::Intro> - a gentle introduction.
843
844L<AnyEvent::MP::Kernel> - more, lower-level, stuff.
845
846L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> - network maintainance and port groups, to find
847your applications.
381 848
382L<AnyEvent>. 849L<AnyEvent>.
383 850
384=head1 AUTHOR 851=head1 AUTHOR
385 852

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