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Revision 1.4 by root, Sat Aug 1 07:36:30 2009 UTC vs.
Revision 1.68 by root, Fri Aug 28 23:06:33 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 noderef
10 NODE # returns this node's noderef
11 NODE $port # returns the noderef of the port
11 12
13 $SELF # receiving/own port id in rcv callbacks
14
15 # initialise the node so it can send/receive messages
16 initialise_node;
17
18 # ports are message endpoints
19
20 # sending messages
12 snd $port, type => data...; 21 snd $port, type => data...;
22 snd $port, @msg;
23 snd @msg_with_first_element_being_a_port;
13 24
14 rcv $port, smartmatch => $cb->($port, @msg); 25 # creating/using ports, the simple way
26 my $simple_port = port { my @msg = @_; 0 };
15 27
16 # examples: 28 # creating/using ports, tagged message matching
29 my $port = port;
17 rcv $port2, ping => sub { snd $_[0], "pong"; 0 }; 30 rcv $port, ping => sub { snd $_[0], "pong"; 0 };
18 rcv $port1, pong => sub { warn "pong received\n" }; 31 rcv $port, pong => sub { warn "pong received\n"; 0 };
19 snd $port2, ping => $port1;
20 32
21 # more, smarter, matches (_any_ is exported by this module) 33 # create a port on another node
22 rcv $port, [child_died => $pid] => sub { ... 34 my $port = spawn $node, $initfunc, @initdata;
23 rcv $port, [_any_, _any_, 3] => sub { .. $_[2] is 3 35
36 # monitoring
37 mon $port, $cb->(@msg) # callback is invoked on death
38 mon $port, $otherport # kill otherport on abnormal death
39 mon $port, $otherport, @msg # send message on death
40
41=head1 CURRENT STATUS
42
43 AnyEvent::MP - stable API, should work
44 AnyEvent::MP::Intro - outdated
45 AnyEvent::MP::Kernel - mostly stable
46 AnyEvent::MP::Global - mostly stable
47 AnyEvent::MP::Node - mostly stable, but internal anyways
48 AnyEvent::MP::Transport - mostly stable, but internal anyways
49
50 stay tuned.
24 51
25=head1 DESCRIPTION 52=head1 DESCRIPTION
26 53
27This module (-family) implements a simple message passing framework. 54This module (-family) implements a simple message passing framework.
28 55
29Despite its simplicity, you can securely message other processes running 56Despite its simplicity, you can securely message other processes running
30on the same or other hosts. 57on the same or other hosts, and you can supervise entities remotely.
58
59For an introduction to this module family, see the L<AnyEvent::MP::Intro>
60manual page and the examples under F<eg/>.
61
62At the moment, this module family is a bit underdocumented.
31 63
32=head1 CONCEPTS 64=head1 CONCEPTS
33 65
34=over 4 66=over 4
35 67
36=item port 68=item port
37 69
38A port is something you can send messages to with the C<snd> function, and 70A port is something you can send messages to (with the C<snd> function).
39you can register C<rcv> handlers with. All C<rcv> handlers will receive
40messages they match, messages will not be queued.
41 71
72Ports allow you to register C<rcv> handlers that can match all or just
73some messages. Messages send to ports will not be queued, regardless of
74anything was listening for them or not.
75
42=item port id - C<noderef#portname> 76=item port ID - C<nodeid#portname>
43 77
44A port id is always the noderef, a hash-mark (C<#>) as separator, followed 78A port ID is the concatenation of a node ID, a hash-mark (C<#>) as
45by a port name (a printable string of unspecified format). 79separator, and a port name (a printable string of unspecified format).
46 80
47=item node 81=item node
48 82
49A node is a single process containing at least one port - the node 83A node is a single process containing at least one port - the node port,
50port. You can send messages to node ports to let them create new ports, 84which enables nodes to manage each other remotely, and to create new
51among other things. 85ports.
52 86
53Initially, nodes are either private (single-process only) or hidden 87Nodes are either public (have one or more listening ports) or private
54(connected to a master node only). Only when they epxlicitly "become 88(no listening ports). Private nodes cannot talk to other private nodes
55public" can you send them messages from unrelated other nodes. 89currently.
56 90
57=item noderef - C<host:port,host:port...>, C<id@noderef, C<id> 91=item node ID - C<[a-za-Z0-9_\-.:]+>
58 92
59A noderef is a string that either uniquely identifies a given node (for 93A node ID is a string that uniquely identifies the node within a
60private and hidden nodes), or contains a recipe on how to reach a given 94network. Depending on the configuration used, node IDs can look like a
61node (for public nodes). 95hostname, a hostname and a port, or a random string. AnyEvent::MP itself
96doesn't interpret node IDs in any way.
97
98=item binds - C<ip:port>
99
100Nodes can only talk to each other by creating some kind of connection to
101each other. To do this, nodes should listen on one or more local transport
102endpoints - binds. Currently, only standard C<ip:port> specifications can
103be used, which specify TCP ports to listen on.
104
105=item seeds - C<host:port>
106
107When a node starts, it knows nothing about the network. To teach the node
108about the network it first has to contact some other node within the
109network. This node is called a seed.
110
111Seeds are transport endpoint(s) of as many nodes as one wants. Those nodes
112are expected to be long-running, and at least one of those should always
113be available. When nodes run out of connections (e.g. due to a network
114error), they try to re-establish connections to some seednodes again to
115join the network.
116
117Apart from being sued for seeding, seednodes are not special in any way -
118every public node can be a seednode.
62 119
63=back 120=back
64 121
65=head1 VARIABLES/FUNCTIONS 122=head1 VARIABLES/FUNCTIONS
66 123
68 125
69=cut 126=cut
70 127
71package AnyEvent::MP; 128package AnyEvent::MP;
72 129
73use AnyEvent::MP::Util ();
74use AnyEvent::MP::Node; 130use AnyEvent::MP::Kernel;
75use AnyEvent::MP::Transport;
76 131
77use utf8;
78use common::sense; 132use common::sense;
79 133
80use Carp (); 134use Carp ();
81 135
82use AE (); 136use AE ();
83 137
84use base "Exporter"; 138use base "Exporter";
85 139
86our $VERSION = '0.0'; 140our $VERSION = $AnyEvent::MP::Kernel::VERSION;
87our @EXPORT = qw(NODE $NODE $PORT snd rcv _any_);
88 141
89our $DEFAULT_SECRET; 142our @EXPORT = qw(
90our $DEFAULT_PORT = "4040"; 143 NODE $NODE *SELF node_of after
144 initialise_node
145 snd rcv mon mon_guard kil reg psub spawn
146 port
147);
91 148
92our $CONNECT_INTERVAL = 5; # new connect every 5s, at least 149our $SELF;
93our $CONNECT_TIMEOUT = 30; # includes handshake
94 150
95sub default_secret { 151sub _self_die() {
96 unless (defined $DEFAULT_SECRET) { 152 my $msg = $@;
97 if (open my $fh, "<$ENV{HOME}/.aemp-secret") { 153 $msg =~ s/\n+$// unless ref $msg;
98 sysread $fh, $DEFAULT_SECRET, -s $fh; 154 kil $SELF, die => $msg;
99 } else {
100 $DEFAULT_SECRET = AnyEvent::MP::Util::nonce 32;
101 }
102 }
103
104 $DEFAULT_SECRET
105} 155}
106 156
107=item NODE / $NODE 157=item $thisnode = NODE / $NODE
108 158
109The C<NODE ()> function and the C<$NODE> variable contain the noderef of 159The C<NODE> function returns, and the C<$NODE> variable contains, the node
110the local node. The value is initialised by a call to C<become_public> or 160ID of the node running in the current process. This value is initialised by
111C<become_slave>, after which all local port identifiers become invalid. 161a call to C<initialise_node>.
112 162
113=cut 163=item $nodeid = node_of $port
114 164
115our $UNIQ = sprintf "%x.%x", $$, time; # per-process/node unique cookie 165Extracts and returns the node ID from a port ID or a node ID.
116our $PUBLIC = 0;
117our $NODE;
118our $PORT;
119 166
120our %NODE; # node id to transport mapping, or "undef", for local node 167=item initialise_node $profile_name
121our %PORT; # local ports
122our %LISTENER; # local transports
123 168
124sub NODE() { $NODE } 169Before a node can talk to other nodes on the network (i.e. enter
170"distributed mode") it has to initialise itself - the minimum a node needs
171to know is its own name, and optionally it should know the addresses of
172some other nodes in the network to discover other nodes.
125 173
126{ 174This function initialises a node - it must be called exactly once (or
127 use POSIX (); 175never) before calling other AnyEvent::MP functions.
128 my $nodename = (POSIX::uname)[1];
129 $NODE = "$$\@$nodename";
130}
131 176
132sub _ANY_() { 1 } 177The first argument is a profile name. If it is C<undef> or missing, then
133sub _any_() { \&_ANY_ } 178the current nodename will be used instead (i.e. F<uname -n>).
134 179
135sub add_node { 180The function then looks up the profile in the aemp configuration (see the
136 my ($noderef) = @_; 181L<aemp> commandline utility).
137 182
138 return $NODE{$noderef} 183If the profile specifies a node ID, then this will become the node ID of
139 if exists $NODE{$noderef}; 184this process. If not, then the profile name will be used as node ID. The
185special node ID of C<anon/> will be replaced by a random node ID.
140 186
141 for (split /,/, $noderef) { 187The next step is to look up the binds in the profile, followed by binding
142 return $NODE{$noderef} = $NODE{$_} 188aemp protocol listeners on all binds specified (it is possible and valid
143 if exists $NODE{$_}; 189to have no binds, meaning that the node cannot be contacted form the
144 } 190outside. This means the node cannot talk to other nodes that also have no
191binds, but it can still talk to all "normal" nodes).
145 192
146 # for indirect sends, use a different class 193If the profile does not specify a binds list, then the node ID will be
147 my $node = new AnyEvent::MP::Node::Direct $noderef; 194treated as if it were of the form C<host:port>, which will be resolved and
195used as binds list.
148 196
149 $NODE{$_} = $node 197Lastly, the seeds list from the profile is passed to the
150 for $noderef, split /,/, $noderef; 198L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> module, which will then use it to keep
199connectivity with at least on of those seed nodes at any point in time.
151 200
152 $node 201Example: become a distributed node listening on the guessed noderef, or
153} 202the one specified via C<aemp> for the current node. This should be the
203most common form of invocation for "daemon"-type nodes.
154 204
205 initialise_node;
206
207Example: become an anonymous node. This form is often used for commandline
208clients.
209
210 initialise_node "anon/";
211
212Example: become a distributed node. If there is no profile of the given
213name, or no binds list was specified, resolve C<localhost:4044> and bind
214on the resulting addresses.
215
216 initialise_node "localhost:4044";
217
218=item $SELF
219
220Contains the current port id while executing C<rcv> callbacks or C<psub>
221blocks.
222
223=item *SELF, SELF, %SELF, @SELF...
224
225Due to some quirks in how perl exports variables, it is impossible to
226just export C<$SELF>, all the symbols named C<SELF> are exported by this
227module, but only C<$SELF> is currently used.
228
155=item snd $portid, type => @data 229=item snd $port, type => @data
156 230
157=item snd $portid, @msg 231=item snd $port, @msg
158 232
159Send the given message to the given port ID, which can identify either a 233Send the given message to the given port, which can identify either a
160local or a remote port. 234local or a remote port, and must be a port ID.
161 235
162While the message can be about anything, it is highly recommended to use 236While the message can be almost anything, it is highly recommended to
163a constant string as first element. 237use a string as first element (a port ID, or some word that indicates a
238request type etc.) and to consist if only simple perl values (scalars,
239arrays, hashes) - if you think you need to pass an object, think again.
164 240
165The message data effectively becomes read-only after a call to this 241The message data logically becomes read-only after a call to this
166function: modifying any argument is not allowed and can cause many 242function: modifying any argument (or values referenced by them) is
167problems. 243forbidden, as there can be considerable time between the call to C<snd>
244and the time the message is actually being serialised - in fact, it might
245never be copied as within the same process it is simply handed to the
246receiving port.
168 247
169The type of data you can transfer depends on the transport protocol: when 248The type of data you can transfer depends on the transport protocol: when
170JSON is used, then only strings, numbers and arrays and hashes consisting 249JSON is used, then only strings, numbers and arrays and hashes consisting
171of those are allowed (no objects). When Storable is used, then anything 250of those are allowed (no objects). When Storable is used, then anything
172that Storable can serialise and deserialise is allowed, and for the local 251that Storable can serialise and deserialise is allowed, and for the local
173node, anything can be passed. 252node, anything can be passed. Best rely only on the common denominator of
253these.
174 254
175=cut 255=item $local_port = port
176 256
177sub snd(@) { 257Create a new local port object and returns its port ID. Initially it has
178 my ($noderef, $port) = split /#/, shift, 2; 258no callbacks set and will throw an error when it receives messages.
179 259
180 add_node $noderef 260=item $local_port = port { my @msg = @_ }
181 unless exists $NODE{$noderef};
182 261
183 $NODE{$noderef}->send (["$port", [@_]]); 262Creates a new local port, and returns its ID. Semantically the same as
184} 263creating a port and calling C<rcv $port, $callback> on it.
185 264
265The block will be called for every message received on the port, with the
266global variable C<$SELF> set to the port ID. Runtime errors will cause the
267port to be C<kil>ed. The message will be passed as-is, no extra argument
268(i.e. no port ID) will be passed to the callback.
269
270If you want to stop/destroy the port, simply C<kil> it:
271
272 my $port = port {
273 my @msg = @_;
274 ...
275 kil $SELF;
276 };
277
278=cut
279
280sub rcv($@);
281
282sub _kilme {
283 die "received message on port without callback";
284}
285
286sub port(;&) {
287 my $id = "$UNIQ." . $ID++;
288 my $port = "$NODE#$id";
289
290 rcv $port, shift || \&_kilme;
291
292 $port
293}
294
186=item rcv $portid, type => $callback->(@msg) 295=item rcv $local_port, $callback->(@msg)
187 296
188=item rcv $portid, $smartmatch => $callback->(@msg) 297Replaces the default callback on the specified port. There is no way to
298remove the default callback: use C<sub { }> to disable it, or better
299C<kil> the port when it is no longer needed.
189 300
190=item rcv $portid, [$smartmatch...] => $callback->(@msg) 301The global C<$SELF> (exported by this module) contains C<$port> while
302executing the callback. Runtime errors during callback execution will
303result in the port being C<kil>ed.
191 304
192Register a callback on the port identified by C<$portid>, which I<must> be 305The default callback received all messages not matched by a more specific
193a local port. 306C<tag> match.
194 307
195The callback has to return a true value when its work is done, after 308=item rcv $local_port, tag => $callback->(@msg_without_tag), ...
196which is will be removed, or a false value in which case it will stay
197registered.
198 309
199If the match is an array reference, then it will be matched against the 310Register (or replace) callbacks to be called on messages starting with the
200first elements of the message, otherwise only the first element is being 311given tag on the given port (and return the port), or unregister it (when
201matched. 312C<$callback> is C<$undef> or missing). There can only be one callback
313registered for each tag.
202 314
203Any element in the match that is specified as C<_any_> (a function 315The original message will be passed to the callback, after the first
204exported by this module) matches any single element of the message. 316element (the tag) has been removed. The callback will use the same
317environment as the default callback (see above).
205 318
206While not required, it is highly recommended that the first matching 319Example: create a port and bind receivers on it in one go.
207element is a string identifying the message. The one-string-only match is 320
208also the most efficient match (by far). 321 my $port = rcv port,
322 msg1 => sub { ... },
323 msg2 => sub { ... },
324 ;
325
326Example: create a port, bind receivers and send it in a message elsewhere
327in one go:
328
329 snd $otherport, reply =>
330 rcv port,
331 msg1 => sub { ... },
332 ...
333 ;
334
335Example: temporarily register a rcv callback for a tag matching some port
336(e.g. for a rpc reply) and unregister it after a message was received.
337
338 rcv $port, $otherport => sub {
339 my @reply = @_;
340
341 rcv $SELF, $otherport;
342 };
209 343
210=cut 344=cut
211 345
212sub rcv($@) { 346sub rcv($@) {
213 my ($port, $match, $cb) = @_; 347 my $port = shift;
214
215 my $port = $PORT{$port}
216 or do {
217 my ($noderef, $lport) = split /#/, $port; 348 my ($noderef, $portid) = split /#/, $port, 2;
218 "AnyEvent::MP::Node::Self" eq ref $NODE{$noderef} 349
350 $NODE{$noderef} == $NODE{""}
219 or Carp::croak "$port: can only rcv on local ports"; 351 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on local ports, caught";
220 352
221 $PORT{$lport} 353 while (@_) {
222 or Carp::croak "$port: port does not exist"; 354 if (ref $_[0]) {
223 355 if (my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid}) {
224 $PORT{$port} = $PORT{$lport} # also return 356 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
225 }; 357 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
226 358
227 if (!ref $match) { 359 $self->[2] = shift;
228 push @{ $port->{rc0}{$match} }, [$cb];
229 } elsif (("ARRAY" eq ref $match && !ref $match->[0])) {
230 my ($type, @match) = @$match;
231 @match
232 ? push @{ $port->{rcv}{$match->[0]} }, [$cb, \@match]
233 : push @{ $port->{rc0}{$match->[0]} }, [$cb];
234 } else { 360 } else {
235 push @{ $port->{any} }, [$cb, $match]; 361 my $cb = shift;
236 } 362 $PORT{$portid} = sub {
237} 363 local $SELF = $port;
238 364 eval { &$cb }; _self_die if $@;
239sub _inject {
240 my ($port, $msg) = @{+shift};
241
242 $port = $PORT{$port}
243 or return;
244
245 @_ = @$msg;
246
247 for (@{ $port->{rc0}{$msg->[0]} }) {
248 $_ && &{$_->[0]}
249 && undef $_;
250 }
251
252 for (@{ $port->{rcv}{$msg->[0]} }) {
253 $_ && [@_[1..$#{$_->[1]}]] ~~ $_->[1]
254 && &{$_->[0]}
255 && undef $_;
256 }
257
258 for (@{ $port->{any} }) {
259 $_ && [@_[0..$#{$_->[1]}]] ~~ $_->[1]
260 && &{$_->[0]}
261 && undef $_;
262 }
263}
264
265sub normalise_noderef($) {
266 my ($noderef) = @_;
267
268 my $cv = AE::cv;
269 my @res;
270
271 $cv->begin (sub {
272 my %seen;
273 my @refs;
274 for (sort { $a->[0] <=> $b->[0] } @res) {
275 push @refs, $_->[1] unless $seen{$_->[1]}++
276 }
277 shift->send (join ",", @refs);
278 });
279
280 $noderef = $DEFAULT_PORT unless length $noderef;
281
282 my $idx;
283 for my $t (split /,/, $noderef) {
284 my $pri = ++$idx;
285
286 #TODO: this should be outside normalise_noderef and in become_public
287 if ($t =~ /^\d*$/) {
288 my $nodename = (POSIX::uname)[1];
289
290 $cv->begin;
291 AnyEvent::Socket::resolve_sockaddr $nodename, $t || "aemp=$DEFAULT_PORT", "tcp", 0, undef, sub {
292 for (@_) {
293 my ($service, $host) = AnyEvent::Socket::unpack_sockaddr $_->[3];
294 push @res, [
295 $pri += 1e-5,
296 AnyEvent::Socket::format_hostport AnyEvent::Socket::format_address $host, $service
297 ];
298 } 365 };
299 $cv->end; 366 }
367 } elsif (defined $_[0]) {
368 my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid} ||= do {
369 my $self = bless [$PORT{$port} || sub { }, { }, $port], "AnyEvent::MP::Port";
370
371 $PORT{$portid} = sub {
372 local $SELF = $port;
373
374 if (my $cb = $self->[1]{$_[0]}) {
375 shift;
376 eval { &$cb }; _self_die if $@;
377 } else {
378 &{ $self->[0] };
379 }
380 };
381
382 $self
300 }; 383 };
301 384
302# my (undef, undef, undef, undef, @ipv4) = gethostbyname $nodename; 385 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
303# 386 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
304# for (@ipv4) { 387
305# push @res, [ 388 my ($tag, $cb) = splice @_, 0, 2;
306# $pri, 389
307# AnyEvent::Socket::format_hostport AnyEvent::Socket::format_address $_, $t || $DEFAULT_PORT, 390 if (defined $cb) {
308# ]; 391 $self->[1]{$tag} = $cb;
309# }
310 } else { 392 } else {
311 my ($host, $port) = AnyEvent::Socket::parse_hostport $t, "aemp=$DEFAULT_PORT" 393 delete $self->[1]{$tag};
312 or Carp::croak "$t: unparsable transport descriptor";
313
314 $cv->begin;
315 AnyEvent::Socket::resolve_sockaddr $host, $port, "tcp", 0, undef, sub {
316 for (@_) {
317 my ($service, $host) = AnyEvent::Socket::unpack_sockaddr $_->[3];
318 push @res, [
319 $pri += 1e-5,
320 AnyEvent::Socket::format_hostport AnyEvent::Socket::format_address $host, $service
321 ];
322 }
323 $cv->end;
324 } 394 }
325 } 395 }
326 } 396 }
327 397
328 $cv->end; 398 $port
329
330 $cv
331} 399}
332 400
333sub become_public { 401=item $closure = psub { BLOCK }
334 return if $PUBLIC;
335 402
336 my $noderef = join ",", ref $_[0] ? @{+shift} : shift; 403Remembers C<$SELF> and creates a closure out of the BLOCK. When the
337 my @args = @_; 404closure is executed, sets up the environment in the same way as in C<rcv>
405callbacks, i.e. runtime errors will cause the port to get C<kil>ed.
338 406
339 $NODE = (normalise_noderef $noderef)->recv; 407This is useful when you register callbacks from C<rcv> callbacks:
340 408
341 for my $t (split /,/, $NODE) { 409 rcv delayed_reply => sub {
342 $NODE{$t} = $NODE{""}; 410 my ($delay, @reply) = @_;
343 411 my $timer = AE::timer $delay, 0, psub {
344 my ($host, $port) = AnyEvent::Socket::parse_hostport $t; 412 snd @reply, $SELF;
345
346 $LISTENER{$t} = AnyEvent::MP::Transport::mp_server $host, $port,
347 @args,
348 on_error => sub {
349 die "on_error<@_>\n";#d#
350 },
351 on_connect => sub {
352 my ($tp) = @_;
353
354 $NODE{$tp->{remote_id}} = $_[0];
355 },
356 sub {
357 my ($tp) = @_;
358
359 $NODE{"$tp->{peerhost}:$tp->{peerport}"} = $tp;
360 },
361 ; 413 };
414 };
415
416=cut
417
418sub psub(&) {
419 my $cb = shift;
420
421 my $port = $SELF
422 or Carp::croak "psub can only be called from within rcv or psub callbacks, not";
423
424 sub {
425 local $SELF = $port;
426
427 if (wantarray) {
428 my @res = eval { &$cb };
429 _self_die if $@;
430 @res
431 } else {
432 my $res = eval { &$cb };
433 _self_die if $@;
434 $res
435 }
362 } 436 }
437}
363 438
364 $PUBLIC = 1; 439=item $guard = mon $port, $cb->(@reason) # call $cb when $port dies
440
441=item $guard = mon $port, $rcvport # kill $rcvport when $port dies
442
443=item $guard = mon $port # kill $SELF when $port dies
444
445=item $guard = mon $port, $rcvport, @msg # send a message when $port dies
446
447Monitor the given port and do something when the port is killed or
448messages to it were lost, and optionally return a guard that can be used
449to stop monitoring again.
450
451C<mon> effectively guarantees that, in the absence of hardware failures,
452after starting the monitor, either all messages sent to the port will
453arrive, or the monitoring action will be invoked after possible message
454loss has been detected. No messages will be lost "in between" (after
455the first lost message no further messages will be received by the
456port). After the monitoring action was invoked, further messages might get
457delivered again.
458
459Note that monitoring-actions are one-shot: once messages are lost (and a
460monitoring alert was raised), they are removed and will not trigger again.
461
462In the first form (callback), the callback is simply called with any
463number of C<@reason> elements (no @reason means that the port was deleted
464"normally"). Note also that I<< the callback B<must> never die >>, so use
465C<eval> if unsure.
466
467In the second form (another port given), the other port (C<$rcvport>)
468will be C<kil>'ed with C<@reason>, iff a @reason was specified, i.e. on
469"normal" kils nothing happens, while under all other conditions, the other
470port is killed with the same reason.
471
472The third form (kill self) is the same as the second form, except that
473C<$rvport> defaults to C<$SELF>.
474
475In the last form (message), a message of the form C<@msg, @reason> will be
476C<snd>.
477
478As a rule of thumb, monitoring requests should always monitor a port from
479a local port (or callback). The reason is that kill messages might get
480lost, just like any other message. Another less obvious reason is that
481even monitoring requests can get lost (for exmaple, when the connection
482to the other node goes down permanently). When monitoring a port locally
483these problems do not exist.
484
485Example: call a given callback when C<$port> is killed.
486
487 mon $port, sub { warn "port died because of <@_>\n" };
488
489Example: kill ourselves when C<$port> is killed abnormally.
490
491 mon $port;
492
493Example: send us a restart message when another C<$port> is killed.
494
495 mon $port, $self => "restart";
496
497=cut
498
499sub mon {
500 my ($noderef, $port) = split /#/, shift, 2;
501
502 my $node = $NODE{$noderef} || add_node $noderef;
503
504 my $cb = @_ ? shift : $SELF || Carp::croak 'mon: called with one argument only, but $SELF not set,';
505
506 unless (ref $cb) {
507 if (@_) {
508 # send a kill info message
509 my (@msg) = ($cb, @_);
510 $cb = sub { snd @msg, @_ };
511 } else {
512 # simply kill other port
513 my $port = $cb;
514 $cb = sub { kil $port, @_ if @_ };
515 }
516 }
517
518 $node->monitor ($port, $cb);
519
520 defined wantarray
521 and AnyEvent::Util::guard { $node->unmonitor ($port, $cb) }
522}
523
524=item $guard = mon_guard $port, $ref, $ref...
525
526Monitors the given C<$port> and keeps the passed references. When the port
527is killed, the references will be freed.
528
529Optionally returns a guard that will stop the monitoring.
530
531This function is useful when you create e.g. timers or other watchers and
532want to free them when the port gets killed (note the use of C<psub>):
533
534 $port->rcv (start => sub {
535 my $timer; $timer = mon_guard $port, AE::timer 1, 1, psub {
536 undef $timer if 0.9 < rand;
537 });
538 });
539
540=cut
541
542sub mon_guard {
543 my ($port, @refs) = @_;
544
545 #TODO: mon-less form?
546
547 mon $port, sub { 0 && @refs }
548}
549
550=item kil $port[, @reason]
551
552Kill the specified port with the given C<@reason>.
553
554If no C<@reason> is specified, then the port is killed "normally" (ports
555monitoring other ports will not necessarily die because a port dies
556"normally").
557
558Otherwise, linked ports get killed with the same reason (second form of
559C<mon>, see above).
560
561Runtime errors while evaluating C<rcv> callbacks or inside C<psub> blocks
562will be reported as reason C<< die => $@ >>.
563
564Transport/communication errors are reported as C<< transport_error =>
565$message >>.
566
567=cut
568
569=item $port = spawn $node, $initfunc[, @initdata]
570
571Creates a port on the node C<$node> (which can also be a port ID, in which
572case it's the node where that port resides).
573
574The port ID of the newly created port is returned immediately, and it is
575possible to immediately start sending messages or to monitor the port.
576
577After the port has been created, the init function is called on the remote
578node, in the same context as a C<rcv> callback. This function must be a
579fully-qualified function name (e.g. C<MyApp::Chat::Server::init>). To
580specify a function in the main program, use C<::name>.
581
582If the function doesn't exist, then the node tries to C<require>
583the package, then the package above the package and so on (e.g.
584C<MyApp::Chat::Server>, C<MyApp::Chat>, C<MyApp>) until the function
585exists or it runs out of package names.
586
587The init function is then called with the newly-created port as context
588object (C<$SELF>) and the C<@initdata> values as arguments.
589
590A common idiom is to pass a local port, immediately monitor the spawned
591port, and in the remote init function, immediately monitor the passed
592local port. This two-way monitoring ensures that both ports get cleaned up
593when there is a problem.
594
595Example: spawn a chat server port on C<$othernode>.
596
597 # this node, executed from within a port context:
598 my $server = spawn $othernode, "MyApp::Chat::Server::connect", $SELF;
599 mon $server;
600
601 # init function on C<$othernode>
602 sub connect {
603 my ($srcport) = @_;
604
605 mon $srcport;
606
607 rcv $SELF, sub {
608 ...
609 };
610 }
611
612=cut
613
614sub _spawn {
615 my $port = shift;
616 my $init = shift;
617
618 local $SELF = "$NODE#$port";
619 eval {
620 &{ load_func $init }
621 };
622 _self_die if $@;
623}
624
625sub spawn(@) {
626 my ($noderef, undef) = split /#/, shift, 2;
627
628 my $id = "$RUNIQ." . $ID++;
629
630 $_[0] =~ /::/
631 or Carp::croak "spawn init function must be a fully-qualified name, caught";
632
633 snd_to_func $noderef, "AnyEvent::MP::_spawn" => $id, @_;
634
635 "$noderef#$id"
636}
637
638=item after $timeout, @msg
639
640=item after $timeout, $callback
641
642Either sends the given message, or call the given callback, after the
643specified number of seconds.
644
645This is simply a utility function that comes in handy at times - the
646AnyEvent::MP author is not convinced of the wisdom of having it, though,
647so it may go away in the future.
648
649=cut
650
651sub after($@) {
652 my ($timeout, @action) = @_;
653
654 my $t; $t = AE::timer $timeout, 0, sub {
655 undef $t;
656 ref $action[0]
657 ? $action[0]()
658 : snd @action;
659 };
365} 660}
366 661
367=back 662=back
368 663
369=head1 NODE MESSAGES 664=head1 AnyEvent::MP vs. Distributed Erlang
370 665
371Nodes understand the following messages sent to them: 666AnyEvent::MP got lots of its ideas from distributed Erlang (Erlang node
667== aemp node, Erlang process == aemp port), so many of the documents and
668programming techniques employed by Erlang apply to AnyEvent::MP. Here is a
669sample:
670
671 http://www.Erlang.se/doc/programming_rules.shtml
672 http://Erlang.org/doc/getting_started/part_frame.html # chapters 3 and 4
673 http://Erlang.org/download/Erlang-book-part1.pdf # chapters 5 and 6
674 http://Erlang.org/download/armstrong_thesis_2003.pdf # chapters 4 and 5
675
676Despite the similarities, there are also some important differences:
372 677
373=over 4 678=over 4
374 679
375=cut 680=item * Node IDs are arbitrary strings in AEMP.
376 681
377############################################################################# 682Erlang relies on special naming and DNS to work everywhere in the same
378# self node code 683way. AEMP relies on each node somehow knowing its own address(es) (e.g. by
684configuraiton or DNS), but will otherwise discover other odes itself.
379 685
380sub _new_port($) { 686=item * Erlang has a "remote ports are like local ports" philosophy, AEMP
381 my ($name) = @_; 687uses "local ports are like remote ports".
382 688
383 my ($noderef, $portname) = split /#/, $name; 689The failure modes for local ports are quite different (runtime errors
690only) then for remote ports - when a local port dies, you I<know> it dies,
691when a connection to another node dies, you know nothing about the other
692port.
384 693
385 $PORT{$name} = 694Erlang pretends remote ports are as reliable as local ports, even when
386 $PORT{$portname} = { 695they are not.
387 names => [$name, $portname],
388 };
389}
390 696
391$NODE{""} = new AnyEvent::MP::Node::Self noderef => $NODE; 697AEMP encourages a "treat remote ports differently" philosophy, with local
392_new_port ""; 698ports being the special case/exception, where transport errors cannot
699occur.
393 700
394=item relay => $port, @msg 701=item * Erlang uses processes and a mailbox, AEMP does not queue.
395 702
396Simply forwards the message to the given port. 703Erlang uses processes that selectively receive messages, and therefore
704needs a queue. AEMP is event based, queuing messages would serve no
705useful purpose. For the same reason the pattern-matching abilities of
706AnyEvent::MP are more limited, as there is little need to be able to
707filter messages without dequeing them.
397 708
398=cut 709(But see L<Coro::MP> for a more Erlang-like process model on top of AEMP).
399 710
400rcv "", relay => \&snd; 711=item * Erlang sends are synchronous, AEMP sends are asynchronous.
401 712
402=item eval => $string[ @reply] 713Sending messages in Erlang is synchronous and blocks the process (and
714so does not need a queue that can overflow). AEMP sends are immediate,
715connection establishment is handled in the background.
403 716
404Evaluates the given string. If C<@reply> is given, then a message of the 717=item * Erlang suffers from silent message loss, AEMP does not.
405form C<@reply, $@, @evalres> is sent (C<$reply[0]> is the port to reply to).
406 718
407=cut 719Erlang makes few guarantees on messages delivery - messages can get lost
720without any of the processes realising it (i.e. you send messages a, b,
721and c, and the other side only receives messages a and c).
408 722
409rcv "", eval => sub { 723AEMP guarantees correct ordering, and the guarantee that after one message
410 my (undef, $string, @reply) = @_; 724is lost, all following ones sent to the same port are lost as well, until
411 my @res = eval $string; 725monitoring raises an error, so there are no silent "holes" in the message
412 snd @reply, "$@", @res if @reply; 726sequence.
413};
414 727
415=item time => @reply 728=item * Erlang can send messages to the wrong port, AEMP does not.
416 729
417Replies the the current node time to C<@reply>. 730In Erlang it is quite likely that a node that restarts reuses a process ID
731known to other nodes for a completely different process, causing messages
732destined for that process to end up in an unrelated process.
418 733
419=cut 734AEMP never reuses port IDs, so old messages or old port IDs floating
735around in the network will not be sent to an unrelated port.
420 736
421rcv "", time => sub { shift; snd @_, AE::time }; 737=item * Erlang uses unprotected connections, AEMP uses secure
738authentication and can use TLS.
739
740AEMP can use a proven protocol - TLS - to protect connections and
741securely authenticate nodes.
742
743=item * The AEMP protocol is optimised for both text-based and binary
744communications.
745
746The AEMP protocol, unlike the Erlang protocol, supports both programming
747language independent text-only protocols (good for debugging) and binary,
748language-specific serialisers (e.g. Storable). By default, unless TLS is
749used, the protocol is actually completely text-based.
750
751It has also been carefully designed to be implementable in other languages
752with a minimum of work while gracefully degrading functionality to make the
753protocol simple.
754
755=item * AEMP has more flexible monitoring options than Erlang.
756
757In Erlang, you can chose to receive I<all> exit signals as messages
758or I<none>, there is no in-between, so monitoring single processes is
759difficult to implement. Monitoring in AEMP is more flexible than in
760Erlang, as one can choose between automatic kill, exit message or callback
761on a per-process basis.
762
763=item * Erlang tries to hide remote/local connections, AEMP does not.
764
765Monitoring in Erlang is not an indicator of process death/crashes, in the
766same way as linking is (except linking is unreliable in Erlang).
767
768In AEMP, you don't "look up" registered port names or send to named ports
769that might or might not be persistent. Instead, you normally spawn a port
770on the remote node. The init function monitors you, and you monitor the
771remote port. Since both monitors are local to the node, they are much more
772reliable (no need for C<spawn_link>).
773
774This also saves round-trips and avoids sending messages to the wrong port
775(hard to do in Erlang).
422 776
423=back 777=back
424 778
779=head1 RATIONALE
780
781=over 4
782
783=item Why strings for port and node IDs, why not objects?
784
785We considered "objects", but found that the actual number of methods
786that can be called are quite low. Since port and node IDs travel over
787the network frequently, the serialising/deserialising would add lots of
788overhead, as well as having to keep a proxy object everywhere.
789
790Strings can easily be printed, easily serialised etc. and need no special
791procedures to be "valid".
792
793And as a result, a miniport consists of a single closure stored in a
794global hash - it can't become much cheaper.
795
796=item Why favour JSON, why not a real serialising format such as Storable?
797
798In fact, any AnyEvent::MP node will happily accept Storable as framing
799format, but currently there is no way to make a node use Storable by
800default (although all nodes will accept it).
801
802The default framing protocol is JSON because a) JSON::XS is many times
803faster for small messages and b) most importantly, after years of
804experience we found that object serialisation is causing more problems
805than it solves: Just like function calls, objects simply do not travel
806easily over the network, mostly because they will always be a copy, so you
807always have to re-think your design.
808
809Keeping your messages simple, concentrating on data structures rather than
810objects, will keep your messages clean, tidy and efficient.
811
812=back
813
425=head1 SEE ALSO 814=head1 SEE ALSO
815
816L<AnyEvent::MP::Intro> - a gentle introduction.
817
818L<AnyEvent::MP::Kernel> - more, lower-level, stuff.
819
820L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> - network maintainance and port groups, to find
821your applications.
426 822
427L<AnyEvent>. 823L<AnyEvent>.
428 824
429=head1 AUTHOR 825=head1 AUTHOR
430 826

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