ViewVC Help
View File | Revision Log | Show Annotations | Download File
/cvs/AnyEvent-MP/MP.pm
(Generate patch)

Comparing AnyEvent-MP/MP.pm (file contents):
Revision 1.6 by root, Sat Aug 1 10:02:33 2009 UTC vs.
Revision 1.76 by root, Mon Aug 31 18:45:05 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 - epxlains 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::Util ();
78use AnyEvent::MP::Node; 126use AnyEvent::MP::Kernel;
79use AnyEvent::MP::Transport;
80 127
81use utf8;
82use common::sense; 128use common::sense;
83 129
84use Carp (); 130use Carp ();
85 131
86use AE (); 132use AE ();
87 133
88use base "Exporter"; 134use base "Exporter";
89 135
90our $VERSION = '0.01'; 136our $VERSION = $AnyEvent::MP::Kernel::VERSION;
91our @EXPORT = qw(NODE $NODE $PORT snd rcv _any_);
92 137
93our $DEFAULT_SECRET; 138our @EXPORT = qw(
94our $DEFAULT_PORT = "4040"; 139 NODE $NODE *SELF node_of after
140 configure
141 snd rcv mon mon_guard kil reg psub spawn
142 port
143);
95 144
96our $CONNECT_INTERVAL = 5; # new connect every 5s, at least 145our $SELF;
97our $CONNECT_TIMEOUT = 30; # includes handshake
98 146
99sub default_secret { 147sub _self_die() {
100 unless (defined $DEFAULT_SECRET) { 148 my $msg = $@;
101 if (open my $fh, "<$ENV{HOME}/.aemp-secret") { 149 $msg =~ s/\n+$// unless ref $msg;
102 sysread $fh, $DEFAULT_SECRET, -s $fh; 150 kil $SELF, die => $msg;
103 } else {
104 $DEFAULT_SECRET = AnyEvent::MP::Util::nonce 32;
105 }
106 }
107
108 $DEFAULT_SECRET
109} 151}
110 152
111=item NODE / $NODE 153=item $thisnode = NODE / $NODE
112 154
113The C<NODE ()> function and the C<$NODE> variable contain the noderef of 155The C<NODE> function returns, and the C<$NODE> variable contains, the node
114the 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
115C<become_slave>, after which all local port identifiers become invalid. 157a call to C<configure>.
116 158
117=cut 159=item $nodeid = node_of $port
118 160
119our $UNIQ = sprintf "%x.%x", $$, time; # per-process/node unique cookie 161Extracts and returns the node ID from a port ID or a node ID.
120our $ID = "a0";
121our $PUBLIC = 0;
122our $NODE;
123our $PORT;
124 162
125our %NODE; # node id to transport mapping, or "undef", for local node 163=item configure key => value...
126our %PORT; # local ports
127our %LISTENER; # local transports
128 164
129sub NODE() { $NODE } 165Before a node can talk to other nodes on the network (i.e. enter
166"distributed mode") it has to configure itself - the minimum a node needs
167to know is its own name, and optionally it should know the addresses of
168some other nodes in the network to discover other nodes.
130 169
131{ 170This function configures a node - it must be called exactly once (or
132 use POSIX (); 171never) before calling other AnyEvent::MP functions.
133 my $nodename = (POSIX::uname)[1];
134 $NODE = "$$\@$nodename";
135}
136 172
137sub _ANY_() { 1 } 173=over 4
138sub _any_() { \&_ANY_ }
139 174
140sub add_node { 175=item step 1, gathering configuration from profiles
141 my ($noderef) = @_;
142 176
143 return $NODE{$noderef} 177The function first looks up a profile in the aemp configuration (see the
144 if exists $NODE{$noderef}; 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.
145 181
146 for (split /,/, $noderef) { 182The profile data is then gathered as follows:
147 return $NODE{$noderef} = $NODE{$_}
148 if exists $NODE{$_};
149 }
150 183
151 # for indirect sends, use a different class 184First, all remaining key => value pairs (all of which are conviniently
152 my $node = new AnyEvent::MP::Node::Direct $noderef; 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).
153 189
154 $NODE{$_} = $node 190That means that the values specified in the profile have highest priority
155 for $noderef, split /,/, $noderef; 191and the values specified directly via C<configure> have lowest priority,
192and can only be used to specify defaults.
156 193
157 $node 194If the profile specifies a node ID, then this will become the node ID of
158} 195this process. If not, then the profile name will be used as node ID. The
196special node ID of C<anon/> will be replaced by a random node ID.
159 197
198=item step 2, bind listener sockets
199
200The next step is to look up the binds in the profile, followed by binding
201aemp protocol listeners on all binds specified (it is possible and valid
202to have no binds, meaning that the node cannot be contacted form the
203outside. This means the node cannot talk to other nodes that also have no
204binds, but it can still talk to all "normal" nodes).
205
206If the profile does not specify a binds list, then a default of C<*> is
207used, meaning the node will bind on a dynamically-assigned port on every
208local IP address it finds.
209
210=item step 3, connect to seed nodes
211
212As the last step, the seeds list from the profile is passed to the
213L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> module, which will then use it to keep
214connectivity with at least one node at any point in time.
215
216=back
217
218Example: become a distributed node using the locla node name as profile.
219This should be the most common form of invocation for "daemon"-type nodes.
220
221 configure
222
223Example: become an anonymous node. This form is often used for commandline
224clients.
225
226 configure nodeid => "anon/";
227
228Example: configure a node using a profile called seed, which si suitable
229for a seed node as it binds on all local addresses on a fixed port (4040,
230customary for aemp).
231
232 # use the aemp commandline utility
233 # aemp profile seed nodeid anon/ binds '*:4040'
234
235 # then use it
236 configure profile => "seed";
237
238 # or simply use aemp from the shell again:
239 # aemp run profile seed
240
241 # or provide a nicer-to-remember nodeid
242 # aemp run profile seed nodeid "$(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
160=item snd $portid, type => @data 255=item snd $port, type => @data
161 256
162=item snd $portid, @msg 257=item snd $port, @msg
163 258
164Send the given message to the given port ID, which can identify either a 259Send the given message to the given port, which can identify either a
165local or a remote port. 260local or a remote port, and must be a port ID.
166 261
167While the message can be about anything, it is highly recommended to use 262While the message can be almost anything, it is highly recommended to
168a constant string as first element. 263use a string as first element (a port ID, or some word that indicates a
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.
169 266
170The message data effectively becomes read-only after a call to this 267The message data logically becomes read-only after a call to this
171function: modifying any argument is not allowed and can cause many 268function: modifying any argument (or values referenced by them) is
172problems. 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.
173 273
174The 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
175JSON is used, then only strings, numbers and arrays and hashes consisting 275JSON is used, then only strings, numbers and arrays and hashes consisting
176of those are allowed (no objects). When Storable is used, then anything 276of those are allowed (no objects). When Storable is used, then anything
177that Storable can serialise and deserialise is allowed, and for the local 277that Storable can serialise and deserialise is allowed, and for the local
178node, anything can be passed. 278node, anything can be passed. Best rely only on the common denominator of
279these.
179 280
180=cut 281=item $local_port = port
181 282
182sub snd(@) { 283Create a new local port object and returns its port ID. Initially it has
183 my ($noderef, $port) = split /#/, shift, 2; 284no callbacks set and will throw an error when it receives messages.
184 285
185 add_node $noderef 286=item $local_port = port { my @msg = @_ }
186 unless exists $NODE{$noderef};
187 287
188 $NODE{$noderef}->send (["$port", [@_]]); 288Creates a new local port, and returns its ID. Semantically the same as
189} 289creating a port and calling C<rcv $port, $callback> on it.
190 290
291The block will be called for every message received on the port, with the
292global variable C<$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
191=item rcv $portid, type => $callback->(@msg) 321=item rcv $local_port, $callback->(@msg)
192 322
193=item rcv $portid, $smartmatch => $callback->(@msg) 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.
194 326
195=item rcv $portid, [$smartmatch...] => $callback->(@msg) 327The global C<$SELF> (exported by this module) contains C<$port> while
328executing the callback. Runtime errors during callback execution will
329result in the port being C<kil>ed.
196 330
197Register a callback on the port identified by C<$portid>, which I<must> be 331The default callback received all messages not matched by a more specific
198a local port. 332C<tag> match.
199 333
200The callback has to return a true value when its work is done, after 334=item rcv $local_port, tag => $callback->(@msg_without_tag), ...
201which is will be removed, or a false value in which case it will stay
202registered.
203 335
204If the match is an array reference, then it will be matched against the 336Register (or replace) callbacks to be called on messages starting with the
205first elements of the message, otherwise only the first element is being 337given tag on the given port (and return the port), or unregister it (when
206matched. 338C<$callback> is C<$undef> or missing). There can only be one callback
339registered for each tag.
207 340
208Any element in the match that is specified as C<_any_> (a function 341The original message will be passed to the callback, after the first
209exported by this module) matches any single element of the message. 342element (the tag) has been removed. The callback will use the same
343environment as the default callback (see above).
210 344
211While not required, it is highly recommended that the first matching 345Example: create a port and bind receivers on it in one go.
212element is a string identifying the message. The one-string-only match is 346
213also the most efficient match (by far). 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, $otherport;
368 };
214 369
215=cut 370=cut
216 371
217sub rcv($@) { 372sub rcv($@) {
218 my ($port, $match, $cb) = @_; 373 my $port = shift;
219
220 my $port = $PORT{$port}
221 or do {
222 my ($noderef, $lport) = split /#/, $port; 374 my ($nodeid, $portid) = split /#/, $port, 2;
223 "AnyEvent::MP::Node::Self" eq ref $NODE{$noderef} 375
376 $NODE{$nodeid} == $NODE{""}
224 or Carp::croak "$port: can only rcv on local ports"; 377 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on local ports, caught";
225 378
226 $PORT{$lport} 379 while (@_) {
227 or Carp::croak "$port: port does not exist"; 380 if (ref $_[0]) {
228 381 if (my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid}) {
229 $PORT{$port} = $PORT{$lport} # also return 382 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
230 }; 383 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
231 384
232 if (!ref $match) { 385 $self->[2] = shift;
233 push @{ $port->{rc0}{$match} }, [$cb];
234 } elsif (("ARRAY" eq ref $match && !ref $match->[0])) {
235 my ($type, @match) = @$match;
236 @match
237 ? push @{ $port->{rcv}{$match->[0]} }, [$cb, \@match]
238 : push @{ $port->{rc0}{$match->[0]} }, [$cb];
239 } else { 386 } else {
240 push @{ $port->{any} }, [$cb, $match]; 387 my $cb = shift;
241 } 388 $PORT{$portid} = sub {
242} 389 local $SELF = $port;
243 390 eval { &$cb }; _self_die if $@;
244sub _inject {
245 my ($port, $msg) = @{+shift};
246
247 $port = $PORT{$port}
248 or return;
249
250 @_ = @$msg;
251
252 for (@{ $port->{rc0}{$msg->[0]} }) {
253 $_ && &{$_->[0]}
254 && undef $_;
255 }
256
257 for (@{ $port->{rcv}{$msg->[0]} }) {
258 $_ && [@_[1..$#{$_->[1]}]] ~~ $_->[1]
259 && &{$_->[0]}
260 && undef $_;
261 }
262
263 for (@{ $port->{any} }) {
264 $_ && [@_[0..$#{$_->[1]}]] ~~ $_->[1]
265 && &{$_->[0]}
266 && undef $_;
267 }
268}
269
270sub normalise_noderef($) {
271 my ($noderef) = @_;
272
273 my $cv = AE::cv;
274 my @res;
275
276 $cv->begin (sub {
277 my %seen;
278 my @refs;
279 for (sort { $a->[0] <=> $b->[0] } @res) {
280 push @refs, $_->[1] unless $seen{$_->[1]}++
281 }
282 shift->send (join ",", @refs);
283 });
284
285 $noderef = $DEFAULT_PORT unless length $noderef;
286
287 my $idx;
288 for my $t (split /,/, $noderef) {
289 my $pri = ++$idx;
290
291 #TODO: this should be outside normalise_noderef and in become_public
292 if ($t =~ /^\d*$/) {
293 my $nodename = (POSIX::uname)[1];
294
295 $cv->begin;
296 AnyEvent::Socket::resolve_sockaddr $nodename, $t || "aemp=$DEFAULT_PORT", "tcp", 0, undef, sub {
297 for (@_) {
298 my ($service, $host) = AnyEvent::Socket::unpack_sockaddr $_->[3];
299 push @res, [
300 $pri += 1e-5,
301 AnyEvent::Socket::format_hostport AnyEvent::Socket::format_address $host, $service
302 ];
303 } 391 };
304 $cv->end; 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
305 }; 409 };
306 410
307# my (undef, undef, undef, undef, @ipv4) = gethostbyname $nodename; 411 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
308# 412 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
309# for (@ipv4) { 413
310# push @res, [ 414 my ($tag, $cb) = splice @_, 0, 2;
311# $pri, 415
312# AnyEvent::Socket::format_hostport AnyEvent::Socket::format_address $_, $t || $DEFAULT_PORT, 416 if (defined $cb) {
313# ]; 417 $self->[1]{$tag} = $cb;
314# }
315 } else { 418 } else {
316 my ($host, $port) = AnyEvent::Socket::parse_hostport $t, "aemp=$DEFAULT_PORT" 419 delete $self->[1]{$tag};
317 or Carp::croak "$t: unparsable transport descriptor";
318
319 $cv->begin;
320 AnyEvent::Socket::resolve_sockaddr $host, $port, "tcp", 0, undef, sub {
321 for (@_) {
322 my ($service, $host) = AnyEvent::Socket::unpack_sockaddr $_->[3];
323 push @res, [
324 $pri += 1e-5,
325 AnyEvent::Socket::format_hostport AnyEvent::Socket::format_address $host, $service
326 ];
327 }
328 $cv->end;
329 } 420 }
330 } 421 }
331 } 422 }
332 423
333 $cv->end; 424 $port
334
335 $cv
336} 425}
337 426
338sub become_public { 427=item $closure = psub { BLOCK }
339 return if $PUBLIC;
340 428
341 my $noderef = join ",", ref $_[0] ? @{+shift} : shift; 429Remembers C<$SELF> and creates a closure out of the BLOCK. When the
342 my @args = @_; 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.
343 432
344 $NODE = (normalise_noderef $noderef)->recv; 433This is useful when you register callbacks from C<rcv> callbacks:
345 434
346 for my $t (split /,/, $NODE) { 435 rcv delayed_reply => sub {
347 $NODE{$t} = $NODE{""}; 436 my ($delay, @reply) = @_;
348 437 my $timer = AE::timer $delay, 0, psub {
349 my ($host, $port) = AnyEvent::Socket::parse_hostport $t; 438 snd @reply, $SELF;
350
351 $LISTENER{$t} = AnyEvent::MP::Transport::mp_server $host, $port,
352 @args,
353 on_error => sub {
354 die "on_error<@_>\n";#d#
355 },
356 on_connect => sub {
357 my ($tp) = @_;
358
359 $NODE{$tp->{remote_id}} = $_[0];
360 },
361 sub {
362 my ($tp) = @_;
363
364 $NODE{"$tp->{peerhost}:$tp->{peerport}"} = $tp;
365 },
366 ; 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 }
367 } 462 }
463}
368 464
369 $PUBLIC = 1; 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>, iff 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 exmaple, 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, $self => "restart";
522
523=cut
524
525sub mon {
526 my ($nodeid, $port) = split /#/, shift, 2;
527
528 my $node = $NODE{$nodeid} || add_node $nodeid;
529
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 }
543
544 $node->monitor ($port, $cb);
545
546 defined wantarray
547 and AnyEvent::Util::guard { $node->unmonitor ($port, $cb) }
548}
549
550=item $guard = mon_guard $port, $ref, $ref...
551
552Monitors the given C<$port> and keeps the passed references. When the port
553is killed, the references will be freed.
554
555Optionally returns a guard that will stop the monitoring.
556
557This function is useful when you create e.g. timers or other watchers and
558want to free them when the port gets killed (note the use of C<psub>):
559
560 $port->rcv (start => sub {
561 my $timer; $timer = mon_guard $port, AE::timer 1, 1, psub {
562 undef $timer if 0.9 < rand;
563 });
564 });
565
566=cut
567
568sub mon_guard {
569 my ($port, @refs) = @_;
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 ...
635 };
636 }
637
638=cut
639
640sub _spawn {
641 my $port = shift;
642 my $init = shift;
643
644 local $SELF = "$NODE#$port";
645 eval {
646 &{ load_func $init }
647 };
648 _self_die if $@;
649}
650
651sub spawn(@) {
652 my ($nodeid, undef) = split /#/, shift, 2;
653
654 my $id = "$RUNIQ." . $ID++;
655
656 $_[0] =~ /::/
657 or Carp::croak "spawn init function must be a fully-qualified name, caught";
658
659 snd_to_func $nodeid, "AnyEvent::MP::_spawn" => $id, @_;
660
661 "$nodeid#$id"
662}
663
664=item after $timeout, @msg
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 ? $action[0]()
684 : snd @action;
685 };
370} 686}
371 687
372=back 688=back
373 689
374=head1 NODE MESSAGES 690=head1 AnyEvent::MP vs. Distributed Erlang
375 691
376Nodes understand the following messages sent to them. Many of them take 692AnyEvent::MP got lots of its ideas from distributed Erlang (Erlang node
377arguments called C<@reply>, which will simply be used to compose a reply 693== aemp node, Erlang process == aemp port), so many of the documents and
378message - C<$reply[0]> is the port to reply to, C<$reply[1]> the type and 694programming techniques employed by Erlang apply to AnyEvent::MP. Here is a
379the remaining arguments are simply the message data. 695sample:
696
697 http://www.Erlang.se/doc/programming_rules.shtml
698 http://Erlang.org/doc/getting_started/part_frame.html # chapters 3 and 4
699 http://Erlang.org/download/Erlang-book-part1.pdf # chapters 5 and 6
700 http://Erlang.org/download/armstrong_thesis_2003.pdf # chapters 4 and 5
701
702Despite the similarities, there are also some important differences:
380 703
381=over 4 704=over 4
382 705
383=cut 706=item * Node IDs are arbitrary strings in AEMP.
384 707
385############################################################################# 708Erlang relies on special naming and DNS to work everywhere in the same
386# self node code 709way. AEMP relies on each node somehow knowing its own address(es) (e.g. by
710configuraiton or DNS), but will otherwise discover other odes itself.
387 711
388sub _new_port($) { 712=item * Erlang has a "remote ports are like local ports" philosophy, AEMP
389 my ($name) = @_; 713uses "local ports are like remote ports".
390 714
391 my ($noderef, $portname) = split /#/, $name; 715The failure modes for local ports are quite different (runtime errors
716only) then for remote ports - when a local port dies, you I<know> it dies,
717when a connection to another node dies, you know nothing about the other
718port.
392 719
393 $PORT{$name} = 720Erlang pretends remote ports are as reliable as local ports, even when
394 $PORT{$portname} = { 721they are not.
395 names => [$name, $portname],
396 };
397}
398 722
399$NODE{""} = new AnyEvent::MP::Node::Self noderef => $NODE; 723AEMP encourages a "treat remote ports differently" philosophy, with local
400_new_port ""; 724ports being the special case/exception, where transport errors cannot
725occur.
401 726
402=item relay => $port, @msg 727=item * Erlang uses processes and a mailbox, AEMP does not queue.
403 728
404Simply forwards the message to the given port. 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 dequeing them.
405 734
406=cut 735(But see L<Coro::MP> for a more Erlang-like process model on top of AEMP).
407 736
408rcv "", relay => \&snd; 737=item * Erlang sends are synchronous, AEMP sends are asynchronous.
409 738
410=item eval => $string[ @reply] 739Sending messages in Erlang is synchronous and blocks the process (and
740so does not need a queue that can overflow). AEMP sends are immediate,
741connection establishment is handled in the background.
411 742
412Evaluates the given string. If C<@reply> is given, then a message of the 743=item * Erlang suffers from silent message loss, AEMP does not.
413form C<@reply, $@, @evalres> is sent.
414 744
415Example: crash another node. 745Erlang makes few guarantees on messages delivery - messages can get lost
746without any of the processes realising it (i.e. you send messages a, b,
747and c, and the other side only receives messages a and c).
416 748
417 snd $othernode, eval => "exit"; 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.
418 753
419=cut 754=item * Erlang can send messages to the wrong port, AEMP does not.
420 755
421rcv "", eval => sub { 756In Erlang it is quite likely that a node that restarts reuses a process ID
422 my (undef, $string, @reply) = @_; 757known to other nodes for a completely different process, causing messages
423 my @res = eval $string; 758destined for that process to end up in an unrelated process.
424 snd @reply, "$@", @res if @reply;
425};
426 759
427=item time => @reply 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.
428 762
429Replies the the current node time to C<@reply>. 763=item * Erlang uses unprotected connections, AEMP uses secure
764authentication and can use TLS.
430 765
431Example: tell the current node to send the current time to C<$myport> in a 766AEMP can use a proven protocol - TLS - to protect connections and
432C<timereply> message. 767securely authenticate nodes.
433 768
434 snd $NODE, time => $myport, timereply => 1, 2; 769=item * The AEMP protocol is optimised for both text-based and binary
435 # => snd $myport, timereply => 1, 2, <time> 770communications.
436 771
437=cut 772The AEMP protocol, unlike the Erlang protocol, supports both programming
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.
438 776
439rcv "", time => sub { shift; snd @_, AE::time }; 777It has also been carefully designed to be implementable in other languages
778with a minimum of work while gracefully degrading functionality to make the
779protocol simple.
780
781=item * AEMP has more flexible monitoring options than Erlang.
782
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.
788
789=item * Erlang tries to hide remote/local connections, AEMP does not.
790
791Monitoring in Erlang is not an indicator of process death/crashes, in the
792same way as linking is (except linking is unreliable in Erlang).
793
794In AEMP, you don't "look up" registered port names or send to named ports
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>).
799
800This also saves round-trips and avoids sending messages to the wrong port
801(hard to do in Erlang).
440 802
441=back 803=back
442 804
805=head1 RATIONALE
806
807=over 4
808
809=item Why strings for port and node IDs, why not objects?
810
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.
815
816Strings can easily be printed, easily serialised etc. and need no special
817procedures to be "valid".
818
819And as a result, a miniport consists of a single closure stored in a
820global hash - it can't become much cheaper.
821
822=item Why favour JSON, why not a real serialising format such as Storable?
823
824In fact, any AnyEvent::MP node will happily accept Storable as framing
825format, but currently there is no way to make a node use Storable by
826default (although all nodes will accept it).
827
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.
837
838=back
839
443=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.
444 848
445L<AnyEvent>. 849L<AnyEvent>.
446 850
447=head1 AUTHOR 851=head1 AUTHOR
448 852

Diff Legend

Removed lines
+ Added lines
< Changed lines
> Changed lines