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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
42=item port id - C<pid@host#portname> 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.
43 74
44A port id is always the node id, a hash-mark (C<#>) as separator, followed 75=item port ID - C<nodeid#portname>
45by a port name.
46 76
47A port name can be a well known port (basically an identifier/bareword), 77A 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 78separator, and a port name (a printable string of unspecified format).
49identifier.
50 79
51=item node 80=item node
52 81
53A 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,
54port. 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
55among other things. 84ports.
56 85
57Initially, nodes are either private (single-process only) or hidden 86Nodes are either public (have one or more listening ports) or private
58(connected to a father node only). Only when they epxlicitly "go public" 87(no listening ports). Private nodes cannot talk to other private nodes
59can you send them messages form unrelated other nodes. 88currently.
60 89
61Public nodes automatically connect to all other public nodes in a network 90=item node ID - C<[a-za-Z0-9_\-.:]+>
62when they connect, creating a full mesh.
63 91
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 92A 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 93network. Depending on the configuration used, node IDs can look like a
68node (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.
69 118
70=back 119=back
71 120
72=head1 FUNCTIONS 121=head1 VARIABLES/FUNCTIONS
73 122
74=over 4 123=over 4
75 124
76=cut 125=cut
77 126
78package AnyEvent::MP; 127package AnyEvent::MP;
79 128
80use AnyEvent::MP::Util ();
81use AnyEvent::MP::Node; 129use AnyEvent::MP::Kernel;
82use AnyEvent::MP::Transport;
83 130
84use utf8;
85use common::sense; 131use common::sense;
86 132
87use Carp (); 133use Carp ();
88 134
89use AE (); 135use AE ();
90 136
91use base "Exporter"; 137use base "Exporter";
92 138
93our $VERSION = '0.0'; 139our $VERSION = $AnyEvent::MP::Kernel::VERSION;
94our @EXPORT = qw(NODE $NODE $PORT snd rcv _any_);
95 140
96our $DEFAULT_SECRET; 141our @EXPORT = qw(
97our $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);
98 147
99our $CONNECT_INTERVAL = 5; # new connect every 5s, at least 148our $SELF;
100our $CONNECT_TIMEOUT = 30; # includes handshake
101 149
102sub default_secret { 150sub _self_die() {
103 unless (defined $DEFAULT_SECRET) { 151 my $msg = $@;
104 if (open my $fh, "<$ENV{HOME}/.aemp-secret") { 152 $msg =~ s/\n+$// unless ref $msg;
105 sysread $fh, $DEFAULT_SECRET, -s $fh; 153 kil $SELF, die => $msg;
106 } else { 154}
107 $DEFAULT_SECRET = AnyEvent::MP::Util::nonce 32; 155
156=item $thisnode = NODE / $NODE
157
158The C<NODE> function returns, and the C<$NODE> variable contains, the node
159ID of the node running in the current process. This value is initialised by
160a call to C<initialise_node>.
161
162=item $nodeid = node_of $port
163
164Extracts and returns the node ID from a port ID or a node ID.
165
166=item initialise_node $profile_name, key => value...
167
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.
172
173This function initialises a node - it must be called exactly once (or
174never) before calling other AnyEvent::MP functions.
175
176The first argument is a profile name. If it is C<undef> or missing, then
177the current nodename will be used instead (i.e. F<uname -n>).
178
179The function first looks up the profile in the aemp configuration (see the
180L<aemp> commandline utility). the profile is calculated as follows:
181
182First, all remaining key => value pairs (all of which are conviniently
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.
188
189If the profile specifies a node ID, then this will become the node ID of
190this process. If not, then the profile name will be used as node ID. The
191special node ID of C<anon/> will be replaced by a random node ID.
192
193The next step is to look up the binds in the profile, followed by binding
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).
198
199If the profile does not specify a binds list, then a default of C<*> is
200used.
201
202Lastly, the seeds list from the profile is passed to the
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.
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
234=item snd $port, type => @data
235
236=item snd $port, @msg
237
238Send the given message to the given port, which can identify either a
239local or a remote port, and must be a port ID.
240
241While the message can be almost anything, it is highly recommended to
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.
245
246The message data logically becomes read-only after a call to this
247function: modifying any argument (or values referenced by them) is
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.
252
253The type of data you can transfer depends on the transport protocol: when
254JSON is used, then only strings, numbers and arrays and hashes consisting
255of those are allowed (no objects). When Storable is used, then anything
256that Storable can serialise and deserialise is allowed, and for the local
257node, anything can be passed. Best rely only on the common denominator of
258these.
259
260=item $local_port = port
261
262Create a new local port object and returns its port ID. Initially it has
263no callbacks set and will throw an error when it receives messages.
264
265=item $local_port = port { my @msg = @_ }
266
267Creates a new local port, and returns its ID. Semantically the same as
268creating a port and calling C<rcv $port, $callback> on it.
269
270The block will be called for every message received on the port, with the
271global variable C<$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 = @_;
108 } 279 ...
109 } 280 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 }); 281 };
187 282
188 $noderef = $DEFAULT_PORT unless length $noderef; 283=cut
189 284
190 my $idx; 285sub rcv($@);
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];
197 286
198 $cv->begin; 287sub _kilme {
199 AnyEvent::Socket::resolve_sockaddr $nodename, $t || "aemp=$DEFAULT_PORT", "tcp", 0, undef, sub { 288 die "received message on port without callback";
200 for (@_) { 289}
201 my ($service, $host) = AnyEvent::Socket::unpack_sockaddr $_->[3]; 290
202 push @res, [ 291sub port(;&) {
203 $pri += 1e-5, 292 my $id = "$UNIQ." . $ID++;
204 AnyEvent::Socket::format_hostport AnyEvent::Socket::format_address $host, $service 293 my $port = "$NODE#$id";
205 ]; 294
295 rcv $port, shift || \&_kilme;
296
297 $port
298}
299
300=item rcv $local_port, $callback->(@msg)
301
302Replaces the default callback on the specified port. There is no way to
303remove the default callback: use C<sub { }> to disable it, or better
304C<kil> the port when it is no longer needed.
305
306The global C<$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.
309
310The default callback received all messages not matched by a more specific
311C<tag> match.
312
313=item rcv $local_port, tag => $callback->(@msg_without_tag), ...
314
315Register (or replace) callbacks to be called on messages starting with the
316given tag on the given port (and return the port), or unregister it (when
317C<$callback> is C<$undef> or missing). There can only be one callback
318registered for each tag.
319
320The original message will be passed to the callback, after the first
321element (the tag) has been removed. The callback will use the same
322environment as the default callback (see above).
323
324Example: create a port and bind receivers on it in one go.
325
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, $otherport;
347 };
348
349=cut
350
351sub rcv($@) {
352 my $port = shift;
353 my ($noderef, $portid) = split /#/, $port, 2;
354
355 $NODE{$noderef} == $NODE{""}
356 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on local ports, caught";
357
358 while (@_) {
359 if (ref $_[0]) {
360 if (my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid}) {
361 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
362 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
363
364 $self->[2] = shift;
365 } else {
366 my $cb = shift;
367 $PORT{$portid} = sub {
368 local $SELF = $port;
369 eval { &$cb }; _self_die if $@;
206 } 370 };
207 $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
208 }; 388 };
209 389
210# my (undef, undef, undef, undef, @ipv4) = gethostbyname $nodename; 390 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
211# 391 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
212# for (@ipv4) { 392
213# push @res, [ 393 my ($tag, $cb) = splice @_, 0, 2;
214# $pri, 394
215# AnyEvent::Socket::format_hostport AnyEvent::Socket::format_address $_, $t || $DEFAULT_PORT, 395 if (defined $cb) {
216# ]; 396 $self->[1]{$tag} = $cb;
217# }
218 } else { 397 } else {
219 my ($host, $port) = AnyEvent::Socket::parse_hostport $t, "aemp=$DEFAULT_PORT" 398 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 } 399 }
233 } 400 }
234 } 401 }
235 402
236 $cv->end; 403 $port
237
238 $cv
239} 404}
240 405
241sub become_public { 406=item $closure = psub { BLOCK }
242 return if $PUBLIC;
243 407
244 my $noderef = join ",", ref $_[0] ? @{+shift} : shift; 408Remembers C<$SELF> and creates a closure out of the BLOCK. When the
245 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.
246 411
247 $NODE = (normalise_noderef $noderef)->recv; 412This is useful when you register callbacks from C<rcv> callbacks:
248 413
249 my $self = new AnyEvent::MP::Node::Self noderef => $NODE; 414 rcv delayed_reply => sub {
250 415 my ($delay, @reply) = @_;
251 $NODE{""} = $self; # empty string == local node 416 my $timer = AE::timer $delay, 0, psub {
252 417 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 ; 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 }
274 } 441 }
442}
275 443
276 $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 };
277} 665}
278 666
279=back 667=back
280 668
669=head1 AnyEvent::MP vs. Distributed Erlang
670
671AnyEvent::MP got lots of its ideas from distributed Erlang (Erlang node
672== aemp node, Erlang process == aemp port), so many of the documents and
673programming techniques employed by Erlang apply to AnyEvent::MP. Here is a
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:
682
683=over 4
684
685=item * Node IDs are arbitrary strings in AEMP.
686
687Erlang relies on special naming and DNS to work everywhere in the same
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.
690
691=item * Erlang has a "remote ports are like local ports" philosophy, AEMP
692uses "local ports are like remote ports".
693
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.
698
699Erlang pretends remote ports are as reliable as local ports, even when
700they are not.
701
702AEMP encourages a "treat remote ports differently" philosophy, with local
703ports being the special case/exception, where transport errors cannot
704occur.
705
706=item * Erlang uses processes and a mailbox, AEMP does not queue.
707
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.
713
714(But see L<Coro::MP> for a more Erlang-like process model on top of AEMP).
715
716=item * Erlang sends are synchronous, AEMP sends are asynchronous.
717
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.
721
722=item * Erlang suffers from silent message loss, AEMP does not.
723
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).
727
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.
732
733=item * Erlang can send messages to the wrong port, AEMP does not.
734
735In Erlang it is quite likely that a node that restarts reuses a process ID
736known to other nodes for a completely different process, causing messages
737destined for that process to end up in an unrelated process.
738
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.
741
742=item * Erlang uses unprotected connections, AEMP uses secure
743authentication and can use TLS.
744
745AEMP can use a proven protocol - TLS - to protect connections and
746securely authenticate nodes.
747
748=item * The AEMP protocol is optimised for both text-based and binary
749communications.
750
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.
755
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).
781
782=back
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
281=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.
282 827
283L<AnyEvent>. 828L<AnyEvent>.
284 829
285=head1 AUTHOR 830=head1 AUTHOR
286 831

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