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Revision 1.69 by root, Sun Aug 30 18:51:49 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44 AnyEvent::MP::Intro - outdated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
42=item port id - C<pid@host#portname> 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.
43 75
44A port id is always the node id, a hash-mark (C<#>) as separator, followed 76=item port ID - C<nodeid#portname>
45by a port name.
46 77
47A port name can be a well known port (basically an identifier/bareword), 78A port ID is the concatenation of a node ID, a hash-mark (C<#>) as
48or a generated name, consisting of node id, a dot (C<.>), and an 79separator, and a port name (a printable string of unspecified format).
49identifier.
50 80
51=item node 81=item node
52 82
53A 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,
54port. 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
55among other things. 85ports.
56 86
57Initially, nodes are either private (single-process only) or hidden 87Nodes are either public (have one or more listening ports) or private
58(connected to a father node only). Only when they epxlicitly "go public" 88(no listening ports). Private nodes cannot talk to other private nodes
59can you send them messages form unrelated other nodes. 89currently.
60 90
61Public nodes automatically connect to all other public nodes in a network 91=item node ID - C<[a-za-Z0-9_\-.:]+>
62when they connect, creating a full mesh.
63 92
64=item node id - C<host:port>, C<id@host>, C<id>
65
66A node ID is a string that either uniquely identifies a given node (For 93A node ID is a string that uniquely identifies the node within a
67private 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
68node (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.
69 119
70=back 120=back
71 121
72=head1 FUNCTIONS 122=head1 VARIABLES/FUNCTIONS
73 123
74=over 4 124=over 4
75 125
76=cut 126=cut
77 127
78package AnyEvent::MP; 128package AnyEvent::MP;
79 129
80use AnyEvent::MP::Util ();
81use AnyEvent::MP::Node; 130use AnyEvent::MP::Kernel;
82use AnyEvent::MP::Transport;
83 131
84use utf8;
85use common::sense; 132use common::sense;
86 133
87use Carp (); 134use Carp ();
88 135
89use AE (); 136use AE ();
90 137
91use base "Exporter"; 138use base "Exporter";
92 139
93our $VERSION = '0.0'; 140our $VERSION = $AnyEvent::MP::Kernel::VERSION;
94our @EXPORT = qw(NODE $NODE $PORT snd rcv _any_);
95 141
96our $DEFAULT_SECRET; 142our @EXPORT = qw(
97our $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);
98 148
99our $CONNECT_INTERVAL = 5; # new connect every 5s, at least 149our $SELF;
100our $CONNECT_TIMEOUT = 30; # includes handshake
101 150
102sub default_secret { 151sub _self_die() {
103 unless (defined $DEFAULT_SECRET) { 152 my $msg = $@;
104 if (open my $fh, "<$ENV{HOME}/.aemp-secret") { 153 $msg =~ s/\n+$// unless ref $msg;
105 sysread $fh, $DEFAULT_SECRET, -s $fh; 154 kil $SELF, die => $msg;
106 } else { 155}
107 $DEFAULT_SECRET = AnyEvent::MP::Util::nonce 32; 156
157=item $thisnode = NODE / $NODE
158
159The C<NODE> function returns, and the C<$NODE> variable contains, the node
160ID of the node running in the current process. This value is initialised by
161a call to C<initialise_node>.
162
163=item $nodeid = node_of $port
164
165Extracts and returns the node ID from a port ID or a node ID.
166
167=item initialise_node $profile_name, key => value...
168
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.
173
174This function initialises a node - it must be called exactly once (or
175never) before calling other AnyEvent::MP functions.
176
177The first argument is a profile name. If it is C<undef> or missing, then
178the current nodename will be used instead (i.e. F<uname -n>).
179
180The function first looks up the profile in the aemp configuration (see the
181L<aemp> commandline utility). the profile is calculated as follows:
182
183First, all remaining key => value pairs will be used. Then they will be
184overwritten by any values specified in the global default configuration
185(see the F<aemp> utility), then the chain of profiles selected, if
186any. That means that the values specified in the profile have highest
187priority and the values specified via C<initialise_node> have lowest
188priority.
189
190If the profile specifies a node ID, then this will become the node ID of
191this process. If not, then the profile name will be used as node ID. The
192special node ID of C<anon/> will be replaced by a random node ID.
193
194The next step is to look up the binds in the profile, followed by binding
195aemp protocol listeners on all binds specified (it is possible and valid
196to have no binds, meaning that the node cannot be contacted form the
197outside. This means the node cannot talk to other nodes that also have no
198binds, but it can still talk to all "normal" nodes).
199
200If the profile does not specify a binds list, then the node ID will be
201treated as if it were of the form C<host:port>, which will be resolved and
202used as binds list.
203
204Lastly, the seeds list from the profile is passed to the
205L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> module, which will then use it to keep
206connectivity with at least on of those seed nodes at any point in time.
207
208Example: become a distributed node listening on the guessed noderef, or
209the one specified via C<aemp> for the current node. This should be the
210most common form of invocation for "daemon"-type nodes.
211
212 initialise_node;
213
214Example: become an anonymous node. This form is often used for commandline
215clients.
216
217 initialise_node "anon/";
218
219Example: become a distributed node. If there is no profile of the given
220name, or no binds list was specified, resolve C<localhost:4044> and bind
221on the resulting addresses.
222
223 initialise_node "localhost:4044";
224
225=item $SELF
226
227Contains the current port id while executing C<rcv> callbacks or C<psub>
228blocks.
229
230=item *SELF, SELF, %SELF, @SELF...
231
232Due to some quirks in how perl exports variables, it is impossible to
233just export C<$SELF>, all the symbols named C<SELF> are exported by this
234module, but only C<$SELF> is currently used.
235
236=item snd $port, type => @data
237
238=item snd $port, @msg
239
240Send the given message to the given port, which can identify either a
241local or a remote port, and must be a port ID.
242
243While the message can be almost anything, it is highly recommended to
244use a string as first element (a port ID, or some word that indicates a
245request type etc.) and to consist if only simple perl values (scalars,
246arrays, hashes) - if you think you need to pass an object, think again.
247
248The message data logically becomes read-only after a call to this
249function: modifying any argument (or values referenced by them) is
250forbidden, as there can be considerable time between the call to C<snd>
251and the time the message is actually being serialised - in fact, it might
252never be copied as within the same process it is simply handed to the
253receiving port.
254
255The type of data you can transfer depends on the transport protocol: when
256JSON is used, then only strings, numbers and arrays and hashes consisting
257of those are allowed (no objects). When Storable is used, then anything
258that Storable can serialise and deserialise is allowed, and for the local
259node, anything can be passed. Best rely only on the common denominator of
260these.
261
262=item $local_port = port
263
264Create a new local port object and returns its port ID. Initially it has
265no callbacks set and will throw an error when it receives messages.
266
267=item $local_port = port { my @msg = @_ }
268
269Creates a new local port, and returns its ID. Semantically the same as
270creating a port and calling C<rcv $port, $callback> on it.
271
272The block will be called for every message received on the port, with the
273global variable C<$SELF> set to the port ID. Runtime errors will cause the
274port to be C<kil>ed. The message will be passed as-is, no extra argument
275(i.e. no port ID) will be passed to the callback.
276
277If you want to stop/destroy the port, simply C<kil> it:
278
279 my $port = port {
280 my @msg = @_;
108 } 281 ...
109 } 282 kil $SELF;
110
111 $DEFAULT_SECRET
112}
113
114our $UNIQ = sprintf "%x.%x", $$, time; # per-process/node unique cookie
115our $PUBLIC = 0;
116our $NODE;
117our $PORT;
118
119our %NODE; # node id to transport mapping, or "undef", for local node
120our %PORT; # local ports
121our %LISTENER; # local transports
122
123sub NODE() { $NODE }
124
125{
126 use POSIX ();
127 my $nodename = (POSIX::uname)[1];
128 $NODE = "$$\@$nodename";
129}
130
131sub _ANY_() { 1 }
132sub _any_() { \&_ANY_ }
133
134sub add_node {
135 my ($noderef) = @_;
136
137 return $NODE{$noderef}
138 if exists $NODE{$noderef};
139
140 for (split /,/, $noderef) {
141 return $NODE{$noderef} = $NODE{$_}
142 if exists $NODE{$_};
143 }
144
145 # for indirect sends, use a different class
146 my $node = new AnyEvent::MP::Node::Direct $noderef;
147
148 $NODE{$_} = $node
149 for $noderef, split /,/, $noderef;
150
151 $node
152}
153
154sub snd($@) {
155 my ($noderef, $port) = split /#/, shift, 2;
156
157 add_node $noderef
158 unless exists $NODE{$noderef};
159
160 $NODE{$noderef}->send ([$port, [@_]]);
161}
162
163sub _inject {
164 my ($port, $msg) = @{+shift};
165
166 $port = $PORT{$port}
167 or return;
168
169 use Data::Dumper;
170 warn Dumper $msg;
171}
172
173sub normalise_noderef($) {
174 my ($noderef) = @_;
175
176 my $cv = AE::cv;
177 my @res;
178
179 $cv->begin (sub {
180 my %seen;
181 my @refs;
182 for (sort { $a->[0] <=> $b->[0] } @res) {
183 push @refs, $_->[1] unless $seen{$_->[1]}++
184 }
185 shift->send (join ",", @refs);
186 }); 283 };
187 284
188 $noderef = $DEFAULT_PORT unless length $noderef; 285=cut
189 286
190 my $idx; 287sub rcv($@);
191 for my $t (split /,/, $noderef) {
192 my $pri = ++$idx;
193
194 #TODO: this should be outside normalise_noderef and in become_public
195 if ($t =~ /^\d*$/) {
196 my $nodename = (POSIX::uname)[1];
197 288
198 $cv->begin; 289sub _kilme {
199 AnyEvent::Socket::resolve_sockaddr $nodename, $t || "aemp=$DEFAULT_PORT", "tcp", 0, undef, sub { 290 die "received message on port without callback";
200 for (@_) { 291}
201 my ($service, $host) = AnyEvent::Socket::unpack_sockaddr $_->[3]; 292
202 push @res, [ 293sub port(;&) {
203 $pri += 1e-5, 294 my $id = "$UNIQ." . $ID++;
204 AnyEvent::Socket::format_hostport AnyEvent::Socket::format_address $host, $service 295 my $port = "$NODE#$id";
205 ]; 296
297 rcv $port, shift || \&_kilme;
298
299 $port
300}
301
302=item rcv $local_port, $callback->(@msg)
303
304Replaces the default callback on the specified port. There is no way to
305remove the default callback: use C<sub { }> to disable it, or better
306C<kil> the port when it is no longer needed.
307
308The global C<$SELF> (exported by this module) contains C<$port> while
309executing the callback. Runtime errors during callback execution will
310result in the port being C<kil>ed.
311
312The default callback received all messages not matched by a more specific
313C<tag> match.
314
315=item rcv $local_port, tag => $callback->(@msg_without_tag), ...
316
317Register (or replace) callbacks to be called on messages starting with the
318given tag on the given port (and return the port), or unregister it (when
319C<$callback> is C<$undef> or missing). There can only be one callback
320registered for each tag.
321
322The original message will be passed to the callback, after the first
323element (the tag) has been removed. The callback will use the same
324environment as the default callback (see above).
325
326Example: create a port and bind receivers on it in one go.
327
328 my $port = rcv port,
329 msg1 => sub { ... },
330 msg2 => sub { ... },
331 ;
332
333Example: create a port, bind receivers and send it in a message elsewhere
334in one go:
335
336 snd $otherport, reply =>
337 rcv port,
338 msg1 => sub { ... },
339 ...
340 ;
341
342Example: temporarily register a rcv callback for a tag matching some port
343(e.g. for a rpc reply) and unregister it after a message was received.
344
345 rcv $port, $otherport => sub {
346 my @reply = @_;
347
348 rcv $SELF, $otherport;
349 };
350
351=cut
352
353sub rcv($@) {
354 my $port = shift;
355 my ($noderef, $portid) = split /#/, $port, 2;
356
357 $NODE{$noderef} == $NODE{""}
358 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on local ports, caught";
359
360 while (@_) {
361 if (ref $_[0]) {
362 if (my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid}) {
363 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
364 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
365
366 $self->[2] = shift;
367 } else {
368 my $cb = shift;
369 $PORT{$portid} = sub {
370 local $SELF = $port;
371 eval { &$cb }; _self_die if $@;
206 } 372 };
207 $cv->end; 373 }
374 } elsif (defined $_[0]) {
375 my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid} ||= do {
376 my $self = bless [$PORT{$port} || sub { }, { }, $port], "AnyEvent::MP::Port";
377
378 $PORT{$portid} = sub {
379 local $SELF = $port;
380
381 if (my $cb = $self->[1]{$_[0]}) {
382 shift;
383 eval { &$cb }; _self_die if $@;
384 } else {
385 &{ $self->[0] };
386 }
387 };
388
389 $self
208 }; 390 };
209 391
210# my (undef, undef, undef, undef, @ipv4) = gethostbyname $nodename; 392 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
211# 393 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
212# for (@ipv4) { 394
213# push @res, [ 395 my ($tag, $cb) = splice @_, 0, 2;
214# $pri, 396
215# AnyEvent::Socket::format_hostport AnyEvent::Socket::format_address $_, $t || $DEFAULT_PORT, 397 if (defined $cb) {
216# ]; 398 $self->[1]{$tag} = $cb;
217# }
218 } else { 399 } else {
219 my ($host, $port) = AnyEvent::Socket::parse_hostport $t, "aemp=$DEFAULT_PORT" 400 delete $self->[1]{$tag};
220 or Carp::croak "$t: unparsable transport descriptor";
221
222 $cv->begin;
223 AnyEvent::Socket::resolve_sockaddr $host, $port, "tcp", 0, undef, sub {
224 for (@_) {
225 my ($service, $host) = AnyEvent::Socket::unpack_sockaddr $_->[3];
226 push @res, [
227 $pri += 1e-5,
228 AnyEvent::Socket::format_hostport AnyEvent::Socket::format_address $host, $service
229 ];
230 }
231 $cv->end;
232 } 401 }
233 } 402 }
234 } 403 }
235 404
236 $cv->end; 405 $port
237
238 $cv
239} 406}
240 407
241sub become_public { 408=item $closure = psub { BLOCK }
242 return if $PUBLIC;
243 409
244 my $noderef = join ",", ref $_[0] ? @{+shift} : shift; 410Remembers C<$SELF> and creates a closure out of the BLOCK. When the
245 my @args = @_; 411closure is executed, sets up the environment in the same way as in C<rcv>
412callbacks, i.e. runtime errors will cause the port to get C<kil>ed.
246 413
247 $NODE = (normalise_noderef $noderef)->recv; 414This is useful when you register callbacks from C<rcv> callbacks:
248 415
249 my $self = new AnyEvent::MP::Node::Self noderef => $NODE; 416 rcv delayed_reply => sub {
250 417 my ($delay, @reply) = @_;
251 $NODE{""} = $self; # empty string == local node 418 my $timer = AE::timer $delay, 0, psub {
252 419 snd @reply, $SELF;
253 for my $t (split /,/, $NODE) {
254 $NODE{$t} = $self;
255
256 my ($host, $port) = AnyEvent::Socket::parse_hostport $t;
257
258 $LISTENER{$t} = AnyEvent::MP::Transport::mp_server $host, $port,
259 @args,
260 on_error => sub {
261 die "on_error<@_>\n";#d#
262 },
263 on_connect => sub {
264 my ($tp) = @_;
265
266 $NODE{$tp->{remote_id}} = $_[0];
267 },
268 sub {
269 my ($tp) = @_;
270
271 $NODE{"$tp->{peerhost}:$tp->{peerport}"} = $tp;
272 },
273 ; 420 };
421 };
422
423=cut
424
425sub psub(&) {
426 my $cb = shift;
427
428 my $port = $SELF
429 or Carp::croak "psub can only be called from within rcv or psub callbacks, not";
430
431 sub {
432 local $SELF = $port;
433
434 if (wantarray) {
435 my @res = eval { &$cb };
436 _self_die if $@;
437 @res
438 } else {
439 my $res = eval { &$cb };
440 _self_die if $@;
441 $res
442 }
274 } 443 }
444}
275 445
276 $PUBLIC = 1; 446=item $guard = mon $port, $cb->(@reason) # call $cb when $port dies
447
448=item $guard = mon $port, $rcvport # kill $rcvport when $port dies
449
450=item $guard = mon $port # kill $SELF when $port dies
451
452=item $guard = mon $port, $rcvport, @msg # send a message when $port dies
453
454Monitor the given port and do something when the port is killed or
455messages to it were lost, and optionally return a guard that can be used
456to stop monitoring again.
457
458C<mon> effectively guarantees that, in the absence of hardware failures,
459after starting the monitor, either all messages sent to the port will
460arrive, or the monitoring action will be invoked after possible message
461loss has been detected. No messages will be lost "in between" (after
462the first lost message no further messages will be received by the
463port). After the monitoring action was invoked, further messages might get
464delivered again.
465
466Note that monitoring-actions are one-shot: once messages are lost (and a
467monitoring alert was raised), they are removed and will not trigger again.
468
469In the first form (callback), the callback is simply called with any
470number of C<@reason> elements (no @reason means that the port was deleted
471"normally"). Note also that I<< the callback B<must> never die >>, so use
472C<eval> if unsure.
473
474In the second form (another port given), the other port (C<$rcvport>)
475will be C<kil>'ed with C<@reason>, iff a @reason was specified, i.e. on
476"normal" kils nothing happens, while under all other conditions, the other
477port is killed with the same reason.
478
479The third form (kill self) is the same as the second form, except that
480C<$rvport> defaults to C<$SELF>.
481
482In the last form (message), a message of the form C<@msg, @reason> will be
483C<snd>.
484
485As a rule of thumb, monitoring requests should always monitor a port from
486a local port (or callback). The reason is that kill messages might get
487lost, just like any other message. Another less obvious reason is that
488even monitoring requests can get lost (for exmaple, when the connection
489to the other node goes down permanently). When monitoring a port locally
490these problems do not exist.
491
492Example: call a given callback when C<$port> is killed.
493
494 mon $port, sub { warn "port died because of <@_>\n" };
495
496Example: kill ourselves when C<$port> is killed abnormally.
497
498 mon $port;
499
500Example: send us a restart message when another C<$port> is killed.
501
502 mon $port, $self => "restart";
503
504=cut
505
506sub mon {
507 my ($noderef, $port) = split /#/, shift, 2;
508
509 my $node = $NODE{$noderef} || add_node $noderef;
510
511 my $cb = @_ ? shift : $SELF || Carp::croak 'mon: called with one argument only, but $SELF not set,';
512
513 unless (ref $cb) {
514 if (@_) {
515 # send a kill info message
516 my (@msg) = ($cb, @_);
517 $cb = sub { snd @msg, @_ };
518 } else {
519 # simply kill other port
520 my $port = $cb;
521 $cb = sub { kil $port, @_ if @_ };
522 }
523 }
524
525 $node->monitor ($port, $cb);
526
527 defined wantarray
528 and AnyEvent::Util::guard { $node->unmonitor ($port, $cb) }
529}
530
531=item $guard = mon_guard $port, $ref, $ref...
532
533Monitors the given C<$port> and keeps the passed references. When the port
534is killed, the references will be freed.
535
536Optionally returns a guard that will stop the monitoring.
537
538This function is useful when you create e.g. timers or other watchers and
539want to free them when the port gets killed (note the use of C<psub>):
540
541 $port->rcv (start => sub {
542 my $timer; $timer = mon_guard $port, AE::timer 1, 1, psub {
543 undef $timer if 0.9 < rand;
544 });
545 });
546
547=cut
548
549sub mon_guard {
550 my ($port, @refs) = @_;
551
552 #TODO: mon-less form?
553
554 mon $port, sub { 0 && @refs }
555}
556
557=item kil $port[, @reason]
558
559Kill the specified port with the given C<@reason>.
560
561If no C<@reason> is specified, then the port is killed "normally" (ports
562monitoring other ports will not necessarily die because a port dies
563"normally").
564
565Otherwise, linked ports get killed with the same reason (second form of
566C<mon>, see above).
567
568Runtime errors while evaluating C<rcv> callbacks or inside C<psub> blocks
569will be reported as reason C<< die => $@ >>.
570
571Transport/communication errors are reported as C<< transport_error =>
572$message >>.
573
574=cut
575
576=item $port = spawn $node, $initfunc[, @initdata]
577
578Creates a port on the node C<$node> (which can also be a port ID, in which
579case it's the node where that port resides).
580
581The port ID of the newly created port is returned immediately, and it is
582possible to immediately start sending messages or to monitor the port.
583
584After the port has been created, the init function is called on the remote
585node, in the same context as a C<rcv> callback. This function must be a
586fully-qualified function name (e.g. C<MyApp::Chat::Server::init>). To
587specify a function in the main program, use C<::name>.
588
589If the function doesn't exist, then the node tries to C<require>
590the package, then the package above the package and so on (e.g.
591C<MyApp::Chat::Server>, C<MyApp::Chat>, C<MyApp>) until the function
592exists or it runs out of package names.
593
594The init function is then called with the newly-created port as context
595object (C<$SELF>) and the C<@initdata> values as arguments.
596
597A common idiom is to pass a local port, immediately monitor the spawned
598port, and in the remote init function, immediately monitor the passed
599local port. This two-way monitoring ensures that both ports get cleaned up
600when there is a problem.
601
602Example: spawn a chat server port on C<$othernode>.
603
604 # this node, executed from within a port context:
605 my $server = spawn $othernode, "MyApp::Chat::Server::connect", $SELF;
606 mon $server;
607
608 # init function on C<$othernode>
609 sub connect {
610 my ($srcport) = @_;
611
612 mon $srcport;
613
614 rcv $SELF, sub {
615 ...
616 };
617 }
618
619=cut
620
621sub _spawn {
622 my $port = shift;
623 my $init = shift;
624
625 local $SELF = "$NODE#$port";
626 eval {
627 &{ load_func $init }
628 };
629 _self_die if $@;
630}
631
632sub spawn(@) {
633 my ($noderef, undef) = split /#/, shift, 2;
634
635 my $id = "$RUNIQ." . $ID++;
636
637 $_[0] =~ /::/
638 or Carp::croak "spawn init function must be a fully-qualified name, caught";
639
640 snd_to_func $noderef, "AnyEvent::MP::_spawn" => $id, @_;
641
642 "$noderef#$id"
643}
644
645=item after $timeout, @msg
646
647=item after $timeout, $callback
648
649Either sends the given message, or call the given callback, after the
650specified number of seconds.
651
652This is simply a utility function that comes in handy at times - the
653AnyEvent::MP author is not convinced of the wisdom of having it, though,
654so it may go away in the future.
655
656=cut
657
658sub after($@) {
659 my ($timeout, @action) = @_;
660
661 my $t; $t = AE::timer $timeout, 0, sub {
662 undef $t;
663 ref $action[0]
664 ? $action[0]()
665 : snd @action;
666 };
277} 667}
278 668
279=back 669=back
280 670
671=head1 AnyEvent::MP vs. Distributed Erlang
672
673AnyEvent::MP got lots of its ideas from distributed Erlang (Erlang node
674== aemp node, Erlang process == aemp port), so many of the documents and
675programming techniques employed by Erlang apply to AnyEvent::MP. Here is a
676sample:
677
678 http://www.Erlang.se/doc/programming_rules.shtml
679 http://Erlang.org/doc/getting_started/part_frame.html # chapters 3 and 4
680 http://Erlang.org/download/Erlang-book-part1.pdf # chapters 5 and 6
681 http://Erlang.org/download/armstrong_thesis_2003.pdf # chapters 4 and 5
682
683Despite the similarities, there are also some important differences:
684
685=over 4
686
687=item * Node IDs are arbitrary strings in AEMP.
688
689Erlang relies on special naming and DNS to work everywhere in the same
690way. AEMP relies on each node somehow knowing its own address(es) (e.g. by
691configuraiton or DNS), but will otherwise discover other odes itself.
692
693=item * Erlang has a "remote ports are like local ports" philosophy, AEMP
694uses "local ports are like remote ports".
695
696The failure modes for local ports are quite different (runtime errors
697only) then for remote ports - when a local port dies, you I<know> it dies,
698when a connection to another node dies, you know nothing about the other
699port.
700
701Erlang pretends remote ports are as reliable as local ports, even when
702they are not.
703
704AEMP encourages a "treat remote ports differently" philosophy, with local
705ports being the special case/exception, where transport errors cannot
706occur.
707
708=item * Erlang uses processes and a mailbox, AEMP does not queue.
709
710Erlang uses processes that selectively receive messages, and therefore
711needs a queue. AEMP is event based, queuing messages would serve no
712useful purpose. For the same reason the pattern-matching abilities of
713AnyEvent::MP are more limited, as there is little need to be able to
714filter messages without dequeing them.
715
716(But see L<Coro::MP> for a more Erlang-like process model on top of AEMP).
717
718=item * Erlang sends are synchronous, AEMP sends are asynchronous.
719
720Sending messages in Erlang is synchronous and blocks the process (and
721so does not need a queue that can overflow). AEMP sends are immediate,
722connection establishment is handled in the background.
723
724=item * Erlang suffers from silent message loss, AEMP does not.
725
726Erlang makes few guarantees on messages delivery - messages can get lost
727without any of the processes realising it (i.e. you send messages a, b,
728and c, and the other side only receives messages a and c).
729
730AEMP guarantees correct ordering, and the guarantee that after one message
731is lost, all following ones sent to the same port are lost as well, until
732monitoring raises an error, so there are no silent "holes" in the message
733sequence.
734
735=item * Erlang can send messages to the wrong port, AEMP does not.
736
737In Erlang it is quite likely that a node that restarts reuses a process ID
738known to other nodes for a completely different process, causing messages
739destined for that process to end up in an unrelated process.
740
741AEMP never reuses port IDs, so old messages or old port IDs floating
742around in the network will not be sent to an unrelated port.
743
744=item * Erlang uses unprotected connections, AEMP uses secure
745authentication and can use TLS.
746
747AEMP can use a proven protocol - TLS - to protect connections and
748securely authenticate nodes.
749
750=item * The AEMP protocol is optimised for both text-based and binary
751communications.
752
753The AEMP protocol, unlike the Erlang protocol, supports both programming
754language independent text-only protocols (good for debugging) and binary,
755language-specific serialisers (e.g. Storable). By default, unless TLS is
756used, the protocol is actually completely text-based.
757
758It has also been carefully designed to be implementable in other languages
759with a minimum of work while gracefully degrading functionality to make the
760protocol simple.
761
762=item * AEMP has more flexible monitoring options than Erlang.
763
764In Erlang, you can chose to receive I<all> exit signals as messages
765or I<none>, there is no in-between, so monitoring single processes is
766difficult to implement. Monitoring in AEMP is more flexible than in
767Erlang, as one can choose between automatic kill, exit message or callback
768on a per-process basis.
769
770=item * Erlang tries to hide remote/local connections, AEMP does not.
771
772Monitoring in Erlang is not an indicator of process death/crashes, in the
773same way as linking is (except linking is unreliable in Erlang).
774
775In AEMP, you don't "look up" registered port names or send to named ports
776that might or might not be persistent. Instead, you normally spawn a port
777on the remote node. The init function monitors you, and you monitor the
778remote port. Since both monitors are local to the node, they are much more
779reliable (no need for C<spawn_link>).
780
781This also saves round-trips and avoids sending messages to the wrong port
782(hard to do in Erlang).
783
784=back
785
786=head1 RATIONALE
787
788=over 4
789
790=item Why strings for port and node IDs, why not objects?
791
792We considered "objects", but found that the actual number of methods
793that can be called are quite low. Since port and node IDs travel over
794the network frequently, the serialising/deserialising would add lots of
795overhead, as well as having to keep a proxy object everywhere.
796
797Strings can easily be printed, easily serialised etc. and need no special
798procedures to be "valid".
799
800And as a result, a miniport consists of a single closure stored in a
801global hash - it can't become much cheaper.
802
803=item Why favour JSON, why not a real serialising format such as Storable?
804
805In fact, any AnyEvent::MP node will happily accept Storable as framing
806format, but currently there is no way to make a node use Storable by
807default (although all nodes will accept it).
808
809The default framing protocol is JSON because a) JSON::XS is many times
810faster for small messages and b) most importantly, after years of
811experience we found that object serialisation is causing more problems
812than it solves: Just like function calls, objects simply do not travel
813easily over the network, mostly because they will always be a copy, so you
814always have to re-think your design.
815
816Keeping your messages simple, concentrating on data structures rather than
817objects, will keep your messages clean, tidy and efficient.
818
819=back
820
281=head1 SEE ALSO 821=head1 SEE ALSO
822
823L<AnyEvent::MP::Intro> - a gentle introduction.
824
825L<AnyEvent::MP::Kernel> - more, lower-level, stuff.
826
827L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> - network maintainance and port groups, to find
828your applications.
282 829
283L<AnyEvent>. 830L<AnyEvent>.
284 831
285=head1 AUTHOR 832=head1 AUTHOR
286 833

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