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Revision 1.5 by root, Sat Aug 1 07:44:02 2009 UTC vs.
Revision 1.71 by root, Sun Aug 30 19:52:56 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 bin/aemp - stable.
44 AnyEvent::MP - stable API, should work.
45 AnyEvent::MP::Intro - uptodate, but incomplete.
46 AnyEvent::MP::Kernel - mostly stable.
47 AnyEvent::MP::Global - stable API, protocol not yet final.
48
49 stay tuned.
24 50
25=head1 DESCRIPTION 51=head1 DESCRIPTION
26 52
27This module (-family) implements a simple message passing framework. 53This module (-family) implements a simple message passing framework.
28 54
29Despite its simplicity, you can securely message other processes running 55Despite its simplicity, you can securely message other processes running
30on the same or other hosts. 56on the same or other hosts, and you can supervise entities remotely.
57
58For an introduction to this module family, see the L<AnyEvent::MP::Intro>
59manual page and the examples under F<eg/>.
60
61At the moment, this module family is a bit underdocumented.
31 62
32=head1 CONCEPTS 63=head1 CONCEPTS
33 64
34=over 4 65=over 4
35 66
36=item port 67=item port
37 68
38A port is something you can send messages to with the C<snd> function, and 69A 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 70
71Ports allow you to register C<rcv> handlers that can match all or just
72some messages. Messages send to ports will not be queued, regardless of
73anything was listening for them or not.
74
42=item port id - C<noderef#portname> 75=item port ID - C<nodeid#portname>
43 76
44A port id is always the noderef, a hash-mark (C<#>) as separator, followed 77A port ID is the concatenation of a node ID, a hash-mark (C<#>) as
45by a port name (a printable string of unspecified format). 78separator, and a port name (a printable string of unspecified format).
46 79
47=item node 80=item node
48 81
49A node is a single process containing at least one port - the node 82A 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, 83which enables nodes to manage each other remotely, and to create new
51among other things. 84ports.
52 85
53Initially, nodes are either private (single-process only) or hidden 86Nodes are either public (have one or more listening ports) or private
54(connected to a master node only). Only when they epxlicitly "become 87(no listening ports). Private nodes cannot talk to other private nodes
55public" can you send them messages from unrelated other nodes. 88currently.
56 89
57=item noderef - C<host:port,host:port...>, C<id@noderef>, C<id> 90=item node ID - C<[a-za-Z0-9_\-.:]+>
58 91
59A noderef is a string that either uniquely identifies a given node (for 92A 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 93network. Depending on the configuration used, node IDs can look like a
61node (for public nodes). 94hostname, a hostname and a port, or a random string. AnyEvent::MP itself
95doesn't interpret node IDs in any way.
96
97=item binds - C<ip:port>
98
99Nodes can only talk to each other by creating some kind of connection to
100each other. To do this, nodes should listen on one or more local transport
101endpoints - binds. Currently, only standard C<ip:port> specifications can
102be used, which specify TCP ports to listen on.
103
104=item seeds - C<host:port>
105
106When a node starts, it knows nothing about the network. To teach the node
107about the network it first has to contact some other node within the
108network. This node is called a seed.
109
110Seeds are transport endpoint(s) of as many nodes as one wants. Those nodes
111are expected to be long-running, and at least one of those should always
112be available. When nodes run out of connections (e.g. due to a network
113error), they try to re-establish connections to some seednodes again to
114join the network.
115
116Apart from being sued for seeding, seednodes are not special in any way -
117every public node can be a seednode.
62 118
63=back 119=back
64 120
65=head1 VARIABLES/FUNCTIONS 121=head1 VARIABLES/FUNCTIONS
66 122
68 124
69=cut 125=cut
70 126
71package AnyEvent::MP; 127package AnyEvent::MP;
72 128
73use AnyEvent::MP::Util ();
74use AnyEvent::MP::Node; 129use AnyEvent::MP::Kernel;
75use AnyEvent::MP::Transport;
76 130
77use utf8;
78use common::sense; 131use common::sense;
79 132
80use Carp (); 133use Carp ();
81 134
82use AE (); 135use AE ();
83 136
84use base "Exporter"; 137use base "Exporter";
85 138
86our $VERSION = '0.0'; 139our $VERSION = $AnyEvent::MP::Kernel::VERSION;
87our @EXPORT = qw(NODE $NODE $PORT snd rcv _any_);
88 140
89our $DEFAULT_SECRET; 141our @EXPORT = qw(
90our $DEFAULT_PORT = "4040"; 142 NODE $NODE *SELF node_of after
143 initialise_node
144 snd rcv mon mon_guard kil reg psub spawn
145 port
146);
91 147
92our $CONNECT_INTERVAL = 5; # new connect every 5s, at least 148our $SELF;
93our $CONNECT_TIMEOUT = 30; # includes handshake
94 149
95sub default_secret { 150sub _self_die() {
96 unless (defined $DEFAULT_SECRET) { 151 my $msg = $@;
97 if (open my $fh, "<$ENV{HOME}/.aemp-secret") { 152 $msg =~ s/\n+$// unless ref $msg;
98 sysread $fh, $DEFAULT_SECRET, -s $fh; 153 kil $SELF, die => $msg;
99 } else {
100 $DEFAULT_SECRET = AnyEvent::MP::Util::nonce 32;
101 }
102 }
103
104 $DEFAULT_SECRET
105} 154}
106 155
107=item NODE / $NODE 156=item $thisnode = NODE / $NODE
108 157
109The C<NODE ()> function and the C<$NODE> variable contain the noderef of 158The 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 159ID of the node running in the current process. This value is initialised by
111C<become_slave>, after which all local port identifiers become invalid. 160a call to C<initialise_node>.
112 161
113=cut 162=item $nodeid = node_of $port
114 163
115our $UNIQ = sprintf "%x.%x", $$, time; # per-process/node unique cookie 164Extracts and returns the node ID from a port ID or a node ID.
116our $PUBLIC = 0;
117our $NODE;
118our $PORT;
119 165
120our %NODE; # node id to transport mapping, or "undef", for local node 166=item initialise_node $profile_name, key => value...
121our %PORT; # local ports
122our %LISTENER; # local transports
123 167
124sub NODE() { $NODE } 168Before a node can talk to other nodes on the network (i.e. enter
169"distributed mode") it has to initialise itself - the minimum a node needs
170to know is its own name, and optionally it should know the addresses of
171some other nodes in the network to discover other nodes.
125 172
126{ 173This function initialises a node - it must be called exactly once (or
127 use POSIX (); 174never) before calling other AnyEvent::MP functions.
128 my $nodename = (POSIX::uname)[1];
129 $NODE = "$$\@$nodename";
130}
131 175
132sub _ANY_() { 1 } 176The first argument is a profile name. If it is C<undef> or missing, then
133sub _any_() { \&_ANY_ } 177the current nodename will be used instead (i.e. F<uname -n>).
134 178
135sub add_node { 179The function first looks up the profile in the aemp configuration (see the
136 my ($noderef) = @_; 180L<aemp> commandline utility). the profile is calculated as follows:
137 181
138 return $NODE{$noderef} 182First, all remaining key => value pairs (all of which are conviniently
139 if exists $NODE{$noderef}; 183undocumented at the moment) will be used. Then they will be overwritten by
184any values specified in the global default configuration (see the F<aemp>
185utility), then the chain of profiles selected, if any. That means that
186the values specified in the profile have highest priority and the values
187specified via C<initialise_node> have lowest priority.
140 188
141 for (split /,/, $noderef) { 189If the profile specifies a node ID, then this will become the node ID of
142 return $NODE{$noderef} = $NODE{$_} 190this process. If not, then the profile name will be used as node ID. The
143 if exists $NODE{$_}; 191special node ID of C<anon/> will be replaced by a random node ID.
144 }
145 192
146 # for indirect sends, use a different class 193The next step is to look up the binds in the profile, followed by binding
147 my $node = new AnyEvent::MP::Node::Direct $noderef; 194aemp protocol listeners on all binds specified (it is possible and valid
195to have no binds, meaning that the node cannot be contacted form the
196outside. This means the node cannot talk to other nodes that also have no
197binds, but it can still talk to all "normal" nodes).
148 198
149 $NODE{$_} = $node 199If the profile does not specify a binds list, then a default of C<*> is
150 for $noderef, split /,/, $noderef; 200used.
151 201
152 $node 202Lastly, the seeds list from the profile is passed to the
153} 203L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> module, which will then use it to keep
204connectivity with at least on of those seed nodes at any point in time.
154 205
206Example: become a distributed node listening on the guessed noderef, or
207the one specified via C<aemp> for the current node. This should be the
208most common form of invocation for "daemon"-type nodes.
209
210 initialise_node;
211
212Example: become an anonymous node. This form is often used for commandline
213clients.
214
215 initialise_node "anon/";
216
217Example: become a distributed node. If there is no profile of the given
218name, or no binds list was specified, resolve C<localhost:4044> and bind
219on the resulting addresses.
220
221 initialise_node "localhost:4044";
222
223=item $SELF
224
225Contains the current port id while executing C<rcv> callbacks or C<psub>
226blocks.
227
228=item *SELF, SELF, %SELF, @SELF...
229
230Due to some quirks in how perl exports variables, it is impossible to
231just export C<$SELF>, all the symbols named C<SELF> are exported by this
232module, but only C<$SELF> is currently used.
233
155=item snd $portid, type => @data 234=item snd $port, type => @data
156 235
157=item snd $portid, @msg 236=item snd $port, @msg
158 237
159Send the given message to the given port ID, which can identify either a 238Send the given message to the given port, which can identify either a
160local or a remote port. 239local or a remote port, and must be a port ID.
161 240
162While the message can be about anything, it is highly recommended to use 241While the message can be almost anything, it is highly recommended to
163a constant string as first element. 242use a string as first element (a port ID, or some word that indicates a
243request type etc.) and to consist if only simple perl values (scalars,
244arrays, hashes) - if you think you need to pass an object, think again.
164 245
165The message data effectively becomes read-only after a call to this 246The message data logically becomes read-only after a call to this
166function: modifying any argument is not allowed and can cause many 247function: modifying any argument (or values referenced by them) is
167problems. 248forbidden, as there can be considerable time between the call to C<snd>
249and the time the message is actually being serialised - in fact, it might
250never be copied as within the same process it is simply handed to the
251receiving port.
168 252
169The type of data you can transfer depends on the transport protocol: when 253The type of data you can transfer depends on the transport protocol: when
170JSON is used, then only strings, numbers and arrays and hashes consisting 254JSON is used, then only strings, numbers and arrays and hashes consisting
171of those are allowed (no objects). When Storable is used, then anything 255of those are allowed (no objects). When Storable is used, then anything
172that Storable can serialise and deserialise is allowed, and for the local 256that Storable can serialise and deserialise is allowed, and for the local
173node, anything can be passed. 257node, anything can be passed. Best rely only on the common denominator of
258these.
174 259
175=cut 260=item $local_port = port
176 261
177sub snd(@) { 262Create a new local port object and returns its port ID. Initially it has
178 my ($noderef, $port) = split /#/, shift, 2; 263no callbacks set and will throw an error when it receives messages.
179 264
180 add_node $noderef 265=item $local_port = port { my @msg = @_ }
181 unless exists $NODE{$noderef};
182 266
183 $NODE{$noderef}->send (["$port", [@_]]); 267Creates a new local port, and returns its ID. Semantically the same as
184} 268creating a port and calling C<rcv $port, $callback> on it.
185 269
270The block will be called for every message received on the port, with the
271global variable C<$SELF> set to the port ID. Runtime errors will cause the
272port to be C<kil>ed. The message will be passed as-is, no extra argument
273(i.e. no port ID) will be passed to the callback.
274
275If you want to stop/destroy the port, simply C<kil> it:
276
277 my $port = port {
278 my @msg = @_;
279 ...
280 kil $SELF;
281 };
282
283=cut
284
285sub rcv($@);
286
287sub _kilme {
288 die "received message on port without callback";
289}
290
291sub port(;&) {
292 my $id = "$UNIQ." . $ID++;
293 my $port = "$NODE#$id";
294
295 rcv $port, shift || \&_kilme;
296
297 $port
298}
299
186=item rcv $portid, type => $callback->(@msg) 300=item rcv $local_port, $callback->(@msg)
187 301
188=item rcv $portid, $smartmatch => $callback->(@msg) 302Replaces the default callback on the specified port. There is no way to
303remove the default callback: use C<sub { }> to disable it, or better
304C<kil> the port when it is no longer needed.
189 305
190=item rcv $portid, [$smartmatch...] => $callback->(@msg) 306The global C<$SELF> (exported by this module) contains C<$port> while
307executing the callback. Runtime errors during callback execution will
308result in the port being C<kil>ed.
191 309
192Register a callback on the port identified by C<$portid>, which I<must> be 310The default callback received all messages not matched by a more specific
193a local port. 311C<tag> match.
194 312
195The callback has to return a true value when its work is done, after 313=item rcv $local_port, tag => $callback->(@msg_without_tag), ...
196which is will be removed, or a false value in which case it will stay
197registered.
198 314
199If the match is an array reference, then it will be matched against the 315Register (or replace) callbacks to be called on messages starting with the
200first elements of the message, otherwise only the first element is being 316given tag on the given port (and return the port), or unregister it (when
201matched. 317C<$callback> is C<$undef> or missing). There can only be one callback
318registered for each tag.
202 319
203Any element in the match that is specified as C<_any_> (a function 320The original message will be passed to the callback, after the first
204exported by this module) matches any single element of the message. 321element (the tag) has been removed. The callback will use the same
322environment as the default callback (see above).
205 323
206While not required, it is highly recommended that the first matching 324Example: create a port and bind receivers on it in one go.
207element is a string identifying the message. The one-string-only match is 325
208also the most efficient match (by far). 326 my $port = rcv port,
327 msg1 => sub { ... },
328 msg2 => sub { ... },
329 ;
330
331Example: create a port, bind receivers and send it in a message elsewhere
332in one go:
333
334 snd $otherport, reply =>
335 rcv port,
336 msg1 => sub { ... },
337 ...
338 ;
339
340Example: temporarily register a rcv callback for a tag matching some port
341(e.g. for a rpc reply) and unregister it after a message was received.
342
343 rcv $port, $otherport => sub {
344 my @reply = @_;
345
346 rcv $SELF, $otherport;
347 };
209 348
210=cut 349=cut
211 350
212sub rcv($@) { 351sub rcv($@) {
213 my ($port, $match, $cb) = @_; 352 my $port = shift;
214
215 my $port = $PORT{$port}
216 or do {
217 my ($noderef, $lport) = split /#/, $port; 353 my ($noderef, $portid) = split /#/, $port, 2;
218 "AnyEvent::MP::Node::Self" eq ref $NODE{$noderef} 354
355 $NODE{$noderef} == $NODE{""}
219 or Carp::croak "$port: can only rcv on local ports"; 356 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on local ports, caught";
220 357
221 $PORT{$lport} 358 while (@_) {
222 or Carp::croak "$port: port does not exist"; 359 if (ref $_[0]) {
223 360 if (my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid}) {
224 $PORT{$port} = $PORT{$lport} # also return 361 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
225 }; 362 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
226 363
227 if (!ref $match) { 364 $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 { 365 } else {
235 push @{ $port->{any} }, [$cb, $match]; 366 my $cb = shift;
236 } 367 $PORT{$portid} = sub {
237} 368 local $SELF = $port;
238 369 eval { &$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 } 370 };
299 $cv->end; 371 }
372 } elsif (defined $_[0]) {
373 my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid} ||= do {
374 my $self = bless [$PORT{$port} || sub { }, { }, $port], "AnyEvent::MP::Port";
375
376 $PORT{$portid} = sub {
377 local $SELF = $port;
378
379 if (my $cb = $self->[1]{$_[0]}) {
380 shift;
381 eval { &$cb }; _self_die if $@;
382 } else {
383 &{ $self->[0] };
384 }
385 };
386
387 $self
300 }; 388 };
301 389
302# my (undef, undef, undef, undef, @ipv4) = gethostbyname $nodename; 390 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
303# 391 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
304# for (@ipv4) { 392
305# push @res, [ 393 my ($tag, $cb) = splice @_, 0, 2;
306# $pri, 394
307# AnyEvent::Socket::format_hostport AnyEvent::Socket::format_address $_, $t || $DEFAULT_PORT, 395 if (defined $cb) {
308# ]; 396 $self->[1]{$tag} = $cb;
309# }
310 } else { 397 } else {
311 my ($host, $port) = AnyEvent::Socket::parse_hostport $t, "aemp=$DEFAULT_PORT" 398 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 } 399 }
325 } 400 }
326 } 401 }
327 402
328 $cv->end; 403 $port
329
330 $cv
331} 404}
332 405
333sub become_public { 406=item $closure = psub { BLOCK }
334 return if $PUBLIC;
335 407
336 my $noderef = join ",", ref $_[0] ? @{+shift} : shift; 408Remembers C<$SELF> and creates a closure out of the BLOCK. When the
337 my @args = @_; 409closure is executed, sets up the environment in the same way as in C<rcv>
410callbacks, i.e. runtime errors will cause the port to get C<kil>ed.
338 411
339 $NODE = (normalise_noderef $noderef)->recv; 412This is useful when you register callbacks from C<rcv> callbacks:
340 413
341 for my $t (split /,/, $NODE) { 414 rcv delayed_reply => sub {
342 $NODE{$t} = $NODE{""}; 415 my ($delay, @reply) = @_;
343 416 my $timer = AE::timer $delay, 0, psub {
344 my ($host, $port) = AnyEvent::Socket::parse_hostport $t; 417 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 ; 418 };
419 };
420
421=cut
422
423sub psub(&) {
424 my $cb = shift;
425
426 my $port = $SELF
427 or Carp::croak "psub can only be called from within rcv or psub callbacks, not";
428
429 sub {
430 local $SELF = $port;
431
432 if (wantarray) {
433 my @res = eval { &$cb };
434 _self_die if $@;
435 @res
436 } else {
437 my $res = eval { &$cb };
438 _self_die if $@;
439 $res
440 }
362 } 441 }
442}
363 443
364 $PUBLIC = 1; 444=item $guard = mon $port, $cb->(@reason) # call $cb when $port dies
445
446=item $guard = mon $port, $rcvport # kill $rcvport when $port dies
447
448=item $guard = mon $port # kill $SELF when $port dies
449
450=item $guard = mon $port, $rcvport, @msg # send a message when $port dies
451
452Monitor the given port and do something when the port is killed or
453messages to it were lost, and optionally return a guard that can be used
454to stop monitoring again.
455
456C<mon> effectively guarantees that, in the absence of hardware failures,
457after starting the monitor, either all messages sent to the port will
458arrive, or the monitoring action will be invoked after possible message
459loss has been detected. No messages will be lost "in between" (after
460the first lost message no further messages will be received by the
461port). After the monitoring action was invoked, further messages might get
462delivered again.
463
464Note that monitoring-actions are one-shot: once messages are lost (and a
465monitoring alert was raised), they are removed and will not trigger again.
466
467In the first form (callback), the callback is simply called with any
468number of C<@reason> elements (no @reason means that the port was deleted
469"normally"). Note also that I<< the callback B<must> never die >>, so use
470C<eval> if unsure.
471
472In the second form (another port given), the other port (C<$rcvport>)
473will be C<kil>'ed with C<@reason>, iff a @reason was specified, i.e. on
474"normal" kils nothing happens, while under all other conditions, the other
475port is killed with the same reason.
476
477The third form (kill self) is the same as the second form, except that
478C<$rvport> defaults to C<$SELF>.
479
480In the last form (message), a message of the form C<@msg, @reason> will be
481C<snd>.
482
483As a rule of thumb, monitoring requests should always monitor a port from
484a local port (or callback). The reason is that kill messages might get
485lost, just like any other message. Another less obvious reason is that
486even monitoring requests can get lost (for exmaple, when the connection
487to the other node goes down permanently). When monitoring a port locally
488these problems do not exist.
489
490Example: call a given callback when C<$port> is killed.
491
492 mon $port, sub { warn "port died because of <@_>\n" };
493
494Example: kill ourselves when C<$port> is killed abnormally.
495
496 mon $port;
497
498Example: send us a restart message when another C<$port> is killed.
499
500 mon $port, $self => "restart";
501
502=cut
503
504sub mon {
505 my ($noderef, $port) = split /#/, shift, 2;
506
507 my $node = $NODE{$noderef} || add_node $noderef;
508
509 my $cb = @_ ? shift : $SELF || Carp::croak 'mon: called with one argument only, but $SELF not set,';
510
511 unless (ref $cb) {
512 if (@_) {
513 # send a kill info message
514 my (@msg) = ($cb, @_);
515 $cb = sub { snd @msg, @_ };
516 } else {
517 # simply kill other port
518 my $port = $cb;
519 $cb = sub { kil $port, @_ if @_ };
520 }
521 }
522
523 $node->monitor ($port, $cb);
524
525 defined wantarray
526 and AnyEvent::Util::guard { $node->unmonitor ($port, $cb) }
527}
528
529=item $guard = mon_guard $port, $ref, $ref...
530
531Monitors the given C<$port> and keeps the passed references. When the port
532is killed, the references will be freed.
533
534Optionally returns a guard that will stop the monitoring.
535
536This function is useful when you create e.g. timers or other watchers and
537want to free them when the port gets killed (note the use of C<psub>):
538
539 $port->rcv (start => sub {
540 my $timer; $timer = mon_guard $port, AE::timer 1, 1, psub {
541 undef $timer if 0.9 < rand;
542 });
543 });
544
545=cut
546
547sub mon_guard {
548 my ($port, @refs) = @_;
549
550 #TODO: mon-less form?
551
552 mon $port, sub { 0 && @refs }
553}
554
555=item kil $port[, @reason]
556
557Kill the specified port with the given C<@reason>.
558
559If no C<@reason> is specified, then the port is killed "normally" (ports
560monitoring other ports will not necessarily die because a port dies
561"normally").
562
563Otherwise, linked ports get killed with the same reason (second form of
564C<mon>, see above).
565
566Runtime errors while evaluating C<rcv> callbacks or inside C<psub> blocks
567will be reported as reason C<< die => $@ >>.
568
569Transport/communication errors are reported as C<< transport_error =>
570$message >>.
571
572=cut
573
574=item $port = spawn $node, $initfunc[, @initdata]
575
576Creates a port on the node C<$node> (which can also be a port ID, in which
577case it's the node where that port resides).
578
579The port ID of the newly created port is returned immediately, and it is
580possible to immediately start sending messages or to monitor the port.
581
582After the port has been created, the init function is called on the remote
583node, in the same context as a C<rcv> callback. This function must be a
584fully-qualified function name (e.g. C<MyApp::Chat::Server::init>). To
585specify a function in the main program, use C<::name>.
586
587If the function doesn't exist, then the node tries to C<require>
588the package, then the package above the package and so on (e.g.
589C<MyApp::Chat::Server>, C<MyApp::Chat>, C<MyApp>) until the function
590exists or it runs out of package names.
591
592The init function is then called with the newly-created port as context
593object (C<$SELF>) and the C<@initdata> values as arguments.
594
595A common idiom is to pass a local port, immediately monitor the spawned
596port, and in the remote init function, immediately monitor the passed
597local port. This two-way monitoring ensures that both ports get cleaned up
598when there is a problem.
599
600Example: spawn a chat server port on C<$othernode>.
601
602 # this node, executed from within a port context:
603 my $server = spawn $othernode, "MyApp::Chat::Server::connect", $SELF;
604 mon $server;
605
606 # init function on C<$othernode>
607 sub connect {
608 my ($srcport) = @_;
609
610 mon $srcport;
611
612 rcv $SELF, sub {
613 ...
614 };
615 }
616
617=cut
618
619sub _spawn {
620 my $port = shift;
621 my $init = shift;
622
623 local $SELF = "$NODE#$port";
624 eval {
625 &{ load_func $init }
626 };
627 _self_die if $@;
628}
629
630sub spawn(@) {
631 my ($noderef, undef) = split /#/, shift, 2;
632
633 my $id = "$RUNIQ." . $ID++;
634
635 $_[0] =~ /::/
636 or Carp::croak "spawn init function must be a fully-qualified name, caught";
637
638 snd_to_func $noderef, "AnyEvent::MP::_spawn" => $id, @_;
639
640 "$noderef#$id"
641}
642
643=item after $timeout, @msg
644
645=item after $timeout, $callback
646
647Either sends the given message, or call the given callback, after the
648specified number of seconds.
649
650This is simply a utility function that comes in handy at times - the
651AnyEvent::MP author is not convinced of the wisdom of having it, though,
652so it may go away in the future.
653
654=cut
655
656sub after($@) {
657 my ($timeout, @action) = @_;
658
659 my $t; $t = AE::timer $timeout, 0, sub {
660 undef $t;
661 ref $action[0]
662 ? $action[0]()
663 : snd @action;
664 };
365} 665}
366 666
367=back 667=back
368 668
369=head1 NODE MESSAGES 669=head1 AnyEvent::MP vs. Distributed Erlang
370 670
371Nodes understand the following messages sent to them. Many of them take 671AnyEvent::MP got lots of its ideas from distributed Erlang (Erlang node
372arguments called C<@reply>, which will simply be used to compose a reply 672== aemp node, Erlang process == aemp port), so many of the documents and
373message - C<$reply[0]> is the port to reply to, C<$reply[1]> the type and 673programming techniques employed by Erlang apply to AnyEvent::MP. Here is a
374the remaining arguments are simply the message data. 674sample:
675
676 http://www.Erlang.se/doc/programming_rules.shtml
677 http://Erlang.org/doc/getting_started/part_frame.html # chapters 3 and 4
678 http://Erlang.org/download/Erlang-book-part1.pdf # chapters 5 and 6
679 http://Erlang.org/download/armstrong_thesis_2003.pdf # chapters 4 and 5
680
681Despite the similarities, there are also some important differences:
375 682
376=over 4 683=over 4
377 684
378=cut 685=item * Node IDs are arbitrary strings in AEMP.
379 686
380############################################################################# 687Erlang relies on special naming and DNS to work everywhere in the same
381# self node code 688way. AEMP relies on each node somehow knowing its own address(es) (e.g. by
689configuraiton or DNS), but will otherwise discover other odes itself.
382 690
383sub _new_port($) { 691=item * Erlang has a "remote ports are like local ports" philosophy, AEMP
384 my ($name) = @_; 692uses "local ports are like remote ports".
385 693
386 my ($noderef, $portname) = split /#/, $name; 694The failure modes for local ports are quite different (runtime errors
695only) then for remote ports - when a local port dies, you I<know> it dies,
696when a connection to another node dies, you know nothing about the other
697port.
387 698
388 $PORT{$name} = 699Erlang pretends remote ports are as reliable as local ports, even when
389 $PORT{$portname} = { 700they are not.
390 names => [$name, $portname],
391 };
392}
393 701
394$NODE{""} = new AnyEvent::MP::Node::Self noderef => $NODE; 702AEMP encourages a "treat remote ports differently" philosophy, with local
395_new_port ""; 703ports being the special case/exception, where transport errors cannot
704occur.
396 705
397=item relay => $port, @msg 706=item * Erlang uses processes and a mailbox, AEMP does not queue.
398 707
399Simply forwards the message to the given port. 708Erlang uses processes that selectively receive messages, and therefore
709needs a queue. AEMP is event based, queuing messages would serve no
710useful purpose. For the same reason the pattern-matching abilities of
711AnyEvent::MP are more limited, as there is little need to be able to
712filter messages without dequeing them.
400 713
401=cut 714(But see L<Coro::MP> for a more Erlang-like process model on top of AEMP).
402 715
403rcv "", relay => \&snd; 716=item * Erlang sends are synchronous, AEMP sends are asynchronous.
404 717
405=item eval => $string[ @reply] 718Sending messages in Erlang is synchronous and blocks the process (and
719so does not need a queue that can overflow). AEMP sends are immediate,
720connection establishment is handled in the background.
406 721
407Evaluates the given string. If C<@reply> is given, then a message of the 722=item * Erlang suffers from silent message loss, AEMP does not.
408form C<@reply, $@, @evalres> is sent.
409 723
410Example: crash another node. 724Erlang makes few guarantees on messages delivery - messages can get lost
725without any of the processes realising it (i.e. you send messages a, b,
726and c, and the other side only receives messages a and c).
411 727
412 snd $othernode, eval => "exit"; 728AEMP guarantees correct ordering, and the guarantee that after one message
729is lost, all following ones sent to the same port are lost as well, until
730monitoring raises an error, so there are no silent "holes" in the message
731sequence.
413 732
414=cut 733=item * Erlang can send messages to the wrong port, AEMP does not.
415 734
416rcv "", eval => sub { 735In Erlang it is quite likely that a node that restarts reuses a process ID
417 my (undef, $string, @reply) = @_; 736known to other nodes for a completely different process, causing messages
418 my @res = eval $string; 737destined for that process to end up in an unrelated process.
419 snd @reply, "$@", @res if @reply;
420};
421 738
422=item time => @reply 739AEMP never reuses port IDs, so old messages or old port IDs floating
740around in the network will not be sent to an unrelated port.
423 741
424Replies the the current node time to C<@reply>. 742=item * Erlang uses unprotected connections, AEMP uses secure
743authentication and can use TLS.
425 744
426Example: tell the current node to send the current time to C<$myport> in a 745AEMP can use a proven protocol - TLS - to protect connections and
427C<timereply> message. 746securely authenticate nodes.
428 747
429 snd $NODE, time => $myport, timereply => 1, 2; 748=item * The AEMP protocol is optimised for both text-based and binary
430 # => snd $myport, timereply => 1, 2, <time> 749communications.
431 750
432=cut 751The AEMP protocol, unlike the Erlang protocol, supports both programming
752language independent text-only protocols (good for debugging) and binary,
753language-specific serialisers (e.g. Storable). By default, unless TLS is
754used, the protocol is actually completely text-based.
433 755
434rcv "", time => sub { shift; snd @_, AE::time }; 756It has also been carefully designed to be implementable in other languages
757with a minimum of work while gracefully degrading functionality to make the
758protocol simple.
759
760=item * AEMP has more flexible monitoring options than Erlang.
761
762In Erlang, you can chose to receive I<all> exit signals as messages
763or I<none>, there is no in-between, so monitoring single processes is
764difficult to implement. Monitoring in AEMP is more flexible than in
765Erlang, as one can choose between automatic kill, exit message or callback
766on a per-process basis.
767
768=item * Erlang tries to hide remote/local connections, AEMP does not.
769
770Monitoring in Erlang is not an indicator of process death/crashes, in the
771same way as linking is (except linking is unreliable in Erlang).
772
773In AEMP, you don't "look up" registered port names or send to named ports
774that might or might not be persistent. Instead, you normally spawn a port
775on the remote node. The init function monitors you, and you monitor the
776remote port. Since both monitors are local to the node, they are much more
777reliable (no need for C<spawn_link>).
778
779This also saves round-trips and avoids sending messages to the wrong port
780(hard to do in Erlang).
435 781
436=back 782=back
437 783
784=head1 RATIONALE
785
786=over 4
787
788=item Why strings for port and node IDs, why not objects?
789
790We considered "objects", but found that the actual number of methods
791that can be called are quite low. Since port and node IDs travel over
792the network frequently, the serialising/deserialising would add lots of
793overhead, as well as having to keep a proxy object everywhere.
794
795Strings can easily be printed, easily serialised etc. and need no special
796procedures to be "valid".
797
798And as a result, a miniport consists of a single closure stored in a
799global hash - it can't become much cheaper.
800
801=item Why favour JSON, why not a real serialising format such as Storable?
802
803In fact, any AnyEvent::MP node will happily accept Storable as framing
804format, but currently there is no way to make a node use Storable by
805default (although all nodes will accept it).
806
807The default framing protocol is JSON because a) JSON::XS is many times
808faster for small messages and b) most importantly, after years of
809experience we found that object serialisation is causing more problems
810than it solves: Just like function calls, objects simply do not travel
811easily over the network, mostly because they will always be a copy, so you
812always have to re-think your design.
813
814Keeping your messages simple, concentrating on data structures rather than
815objects, will keep your messages clean, tidy and efficient.
816
817=back
818
438=head1 SEE ALSO 819=head1 SEE ALSO
820
821L<AnyEvent::MP::Intro> - a gentle introduction.
822
823L<AnyEvent::MP::Kernel> - more, lower-level, stuff.
824
825L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> - network maintainance and port groups, to find
826your applications.
439 827
440L<AnyEvent>. 828L<AnyEvent>.
441 829
442=head1 AUTHOR 830=head1 AUTHOR
443 831

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