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Revision 1.74 by root, Mon Aug 31 11:11:27 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 configure;
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 = @_ };
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" };
18 rcv $port1, pong => sub { warn "pong received\n" }; 31 rcv $port, pong => sub { warn "pong received\n" };
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.
31 57
58For an introduction to this module family, see the L<AnyEvent::MP::Intro>
59manual page and the examples under F<eg/>.
60
32At the moment, this module family is severly brokena nd underdocumented, 61At the moment, this module family is a bit underdocumented.
33so do not use. This was uploaded mainly to resreve the CPAN namespace -
34stay tuned!
35 62
36=head1 CONCEPTS 63=head1 CONCEPTS
37 64
38=over 4 65=over 4
39 66
40=item port 67=item port
41 68
42A 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).
43you can register C<rcv> handlers with. All C<rcv> handlers will receive
44messages they match, messages will not be queued.
45 70
71Ports allow you to register C<rcv> handlers that can match all or just
72some messages. Messages send to ports will not be queued, regardless of
73anything was listening for them or not.
74
46=item port id - C<noderef#portname> 75=item port ID - C<nodeid#portname>
47 76
48A port id is always the noderef, a hash-mark (C<#>) as separator, followed 77A port ID is the concatenation of a node ID, a hash-mark (C<#>) as
49by a port name (a printable string of unspecified format). 78separator, and a port name (a printable string of unspecified format).
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 master node only). Only when they epxlicitly "become 87(no listening ports). Private nodes cannot talk to other private nodes
59public" can you send them messages from unrelated other nodes. 88currently.
60 89
61=item noderef - C<host:port,host:port...>, C<id@noderef>, C<id> 90=item node ID - C<[a-za-Z0-9_\-.:]+>
62 91
63A noderef is a string that either uniquely identifies a given node (for 92A node ID is a string that uniquely identifies the node within a
64private 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
65node (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.
66 118
67=back 119=back
68 120
69=head1 VARIABLES/FUNCTIONS 121=head1 VARIABLES/FUNCTIONS
70 122
72 124
73=cut 125=cut
74 126
75package AnyEvent::MP; 127package AnyEvent::MP;
76 128
77use AnyEvent::MP::Base; 129use AnyEvent::MP::Kernel;
78 130
79use common::sense; 131use common::sense;
80 132
81use Carp (); 133use Carp ();
82 134
83use AE (); 135use AE ();
84 136
85use base "Exporter"; 137use base "Exporter";
86 138
87our $VERSION = '0.02'; 139our $VERSION = $AnyEvent::MP::Kernel::VERSION;
140
88our @EXPORT = qw( 141our @EXPORT = qw(
89 NODE $NODE $PORT snd rcv _any_ 142 NODE $NODE *SELF node_of after
90 create_port create_port_on 143 configure
91 create_miniport 144 snd rcv mon mon_guard kil reg psub spawn
92 become_slave become_public 145 port
93); 146);
94 147
148our $SELF;
149
150sub _self_die() {
151 my $msg = $@;
152 $msg =~ s/\n+$// unless ref $msg;
153 kil $SELF, die => $msg;
154}
155
95=item NODE / $NODE 156=item $thisnode = NODE / $NODE
96 157
97The C<NODE ()> function and the C<$NODE> variable contain the noderef of 158The C<NODE> function returns, and the C<$NODE> variable contains, the node
98the local node. The value is initialised by a call to C<become_public> or 159ID of the node running in the current process. This value is initialised by
99C<become_slave>, after which all local port identifiers become invalid. 160a call to C<configure>.
100 161
162=item $nodeid = node_of $port
163
164Extracts and returns the node ID from a port ID or a node ID.
165
166=item configure key => value...
167
168Before a node can talk to other nodes on the network (i.e. enter
169"distributed mode") it has to configure 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 configures a node - it must be called exactly once (or
174never) before calling other AnyEvent::MP functions.
175
176=over 4
177
178=item step 1, gathering configuration from profiles
179
180The function first looks up a profile in the aemp configuration (see the
181L<aemp> commandline utility). The profile name can be specified via the
182named C<profile> parameter. If it is missing, then the nodename (F<uname
183-n>) will be used as profile name.
184
185The profile data is then gathered as follows:
186
187First, all remaining key => value pairs (all of which are conviniently
188undocumented at the moment) will be interpreted as configuration
189data. Then they will be overwritten by any values specified in the global
190default configuration (see the F<aemp> utility), then the chain of
191profiles chosen by the profile name (and any C<parent> attributes).
192
193That means that the values specified in the profile have highest priority
194and the values specified directly via C<configure> have lowest priority,
195and can only be used to specify defaults.
196
197If the profile specifies a node ID, then this will become the node ID of
198this process. If not, then the profile name will be used as node ID. The
199special node ID of C<anon/> will be replaced by a random node ID.
200
201=item step 2, bind listener sockets
202
203The next step is to look up the binds in the profile, followed by binding
204aemp protocol listeners on all binds specified (it is possible and valid
205to have no binds, meaning that the node cannot be contacted form the
206outside. This means the node cannot talk to other nodes that also have no
207binds, but it can still talk to all "normal" nodes).
208
209If the profile does not specify a binds list, then a default of C<*> is
210used, meaning the node will bind on a dynamically-assigned port on every
211local IP address it finds.
212
213=item step 3, connect to seed nodes
214
215As the last step, the seeds list from the profile is passed to the
216L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> module, which will then use it to keep
217connectivity with at least one node at any point in time.
218
219=back
220
221Example: become a distributed node using the locla node name as profile.
222This should be the most common form of invocation for "daemon"-type nodes.
223
224 configure
225
226Example: become an anonymous node. This form is often used for commandline
227clients.
228
229 configure nodeid => "anon/";
230
231Example: configure a node using a profile called seed, which si suitable
232for a seed node as it binds on all local addresses on a fixed port (4040,
233customary for aemp).
234
235 # use the aemp commandline utility
236 # aemp profile seed nodeid anon/ binds '*:4040'
237
238 # then use it
239 configure profile => "seed";
240
241 # or simply use aemp from the shell again:
242 # aemp run profile seed
243
244 # or provide a nicer-to-remember nodeid
245 # aemp run profile seed nodeid "$(hostname)"
246
247=item $SELF
248
249Contains the current port id while executing C<rcv> callbacks or C<psub>
250blocks.
251
252=item *SELF, SELF, %SELF, @SELF...
253
254Due to some quirks in how perl exports variables, it is impossible to
255just export C<$SELF>, all the symbols named C<SELF> are exported by this
256module, but only C<$SELF> is currently used.
257
101=item snd $portid, type => @data 258=item snd $port, type => @data
102 259
103=item snd $portid, @msg 260=item snd $port, @msg
104 261
105Send the given message to the given port ID, which can identify either 262Send the given message to the given port, which can identify either a
106a local or a remote port, and can be either a string or soemthignt hat 263local or a remote port, and must be a port ID.
107stringifies a sa port ID (such as a port object :).
108 264
109While the message can be about anything, it is highly recommended to use a 265While the message can be almost anything, it is highly recommended to
110string as first element (a portid, or some word that indicates a request 266use a string as first element (a port ID, or some word that indicates a
111type etc.). 267request type etc.) and to consist if only simple perl values (scalars,
268arrays, hashes) - if you think you need to pass an object, think again.
112 269
113The message data effectively becomes read-only after a call to this 270The message data logically becomes read-only after a call to this
114function: modifying any argument is not allowed and can cause many 271function: modifying any argument (or values referenced by them) is
115problems. 272forbidden, as there can be considerable time between the call to C<snd>
273and the time the message is actually being serialised - in fact, it might
274never be copied as within the same process it is simply handed to the
275receiving port.
116 276
117The type of data you can transfer depends on the transport protocol: when 277The type of data you can transfer depends on the transport protocol: when
118JSON is used, then only strings, numbers and arrays and hashes consisting 278JSON is used, then only strings, numbers and arrays and hashes consisting
119of those are allowed (no objects). When Storable is used, then anything 279of those are allowed (no objects). When Storable is used, then anything
120that Storable can serialise and deserialise is allowed, and for the local 280that Storable can serialise and deserialise is allowed, and for the local
121node, anything can be passed. 281node, anything can be passed. Best rely only on the common denominator of
282these.
122 283
123=item $local_port = create_port 284=item $local_port = port
124 285
125Create a new local port object. See the next section for allowed methods. 286Create a new local port object and returns its port ID. Initially it has
287no callbacks set and will throw an error when it receives messages.
126 288
127=cut 289=item $local_port = port { my @msg = @_ }
128 290
129sub create_port { 291Creates a new local port, and returns its ID. Semantically the same as
130 my $id = "$AnyEvent::MP::Base::UNIQ." . ++$AnyEvent::MP::Base::ID; 292creating a port and calling C<rcv $port, $callback> on it.
131 293
132 my $self = bless { 294The block will be called for every message received on the port, with the
133 id => "$NODE#$id", 295global variable C<$SELF> set to the port ID. Runtime errors will cause the
134 names => [$id], 296port to be C<kil>ed. The message will be passed as-is, no extra argument
135 }, "AnyEvent::MP::Port"; 297(i.e. no port ID) will be passed to the callback.
136 298
137 $AnyEvent::MP::Base::PORT{$id} = sub { 299If you want to stop/destroy the port, simply C<kil> it:
138 unshift @_, $self;
139 300
140 for (@{ $self->{rc0}{$_[1]} }) { 301 my $port = port {
141 $_ && &{$_->[0]} 302 my @msg = @_;
142 && undef $_; 303 ...
304 kil $SELF;
305 };
306
307=cut
308
309sub rcv($@);
310
311sub _kilme {
312 die "received message on port without callback";
313}
314
315sub port(;&) {
316 my $id = "$UNIQ." . $ID++;
317 my $port = "$NODE#$id";
318
319 rcv $port, shift || \&_kilme;
320
321 $port
322}
323
324=item rcv $local_port, $callback->(@msg)
325
326Replaces the default callback on the specified port. There is no way to
327remove the default callback: use C<sub { }> to disable it, or better
328C<kil> the port when it is no longer needed.
329
330The global C<$SELF> (exported by this module) contains C<$port> while
331executing the callback. Runtime errors during callback execution will
332result in the port being C<kil>ed.
333
334The default callback received all messages not matched by a more specific
335C<tag> match.
336
337=item rcv $local_port, tag => $callback->(@msg_without_tag), ...
338
339Register (or replace) callbacks to be called on messages starting with the
340given tag on the given port (and return the port), or unregister it (when
341C<$callback> is C<$undef> or missing). There can only be one callback
342registered for each tag.
343
344The original message will be passed to the callback, after the first
345element (the tag) has been removed. The callback will use the same
346environment as the default callback (see above).
347
348Example: create a port and bind receivers on it in one go.
349
350 my $port = rcv port,
351 msg1 => sub { ... },
352 msg2 => sub { ... },
353 ;
354
355Example: create a port, bind receivers and send it in a message elsewhere
356in one go:
357
358 snd $otherport, reply =>
359 rcv port,
360 msg1 => sub { ... },
361 ...
362 ;
363
364Example: temporarily register a rcv callback for a tag matching some port
365(e.g. for a rpc reply) and unregister it after a message was received.
366
367 rcv $port, $otherport => sub {
368 my @reply = @_;
369
370 rcv $SELF, $otherport;
371 };
372
373=cut
374
375sub rcv($@) {
376 my $port = shift;
377 my ($noderef, $portid) = split /#/, $port, 2;
378
379 $NODE{$noderef} == $NODE{""}
380 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on local ports, caught";
381
382 while (@_) {
383 if (ref $_[0]) {
384 if (my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid}) {
385 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
386 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
387
388 $self->[2] = shift;
389 } else {
390 my $cb = shift;
391 $PORT{$portid} = sub {
392 local $SELF = $port;
393 eval { &$cb }; _self_die if $@;
394 };
395 }
396 } elsif (defined $_[0]) {
397 my $self = $PORT_DATA{$portid} ||= do {
398 my $self = bless [$PORT{$port} || sub { }, { }, $port], "AnyEvent::MP::Port";
399
400 $PORT{$portid} = sub {
401 local $SELF = $port;
402
403 if (my $cb = $self->[1]{$_[0]}) {
404 shift;
405 eval { &$cb }; _self_die if $@;
406 } else {
407 &{ $self->[0] };
408 }
409 };
410
411 $self
412 };
413
414 "AnyEvent::MP::Port" eq ref $self
415 or Carp::croak "$port: rcv can only be called on message matching ports, caught";
416
417 my ($tag, $cb) = splice @_, 0, 2;
418
419 if (defined $cb) {
420 $self->[1]{$tag} = $cb;
421 } else {
422 delete $self->[1]{$tag};
423 }
143 } 424 }
425 }
144 426
145 for (@{ $self->{rcv}{$_[1]} }) { 427 $port
146 $_ && [@_[1 .. @{$_->[1]}]] ~~ $_->[1] 428}
147 && &{$_->[0]} 429
148 && undef $_; 430=item $closure = psub { BLOCK }
431
432Remembers C<$SELF> and creates a closure out of the BLOCK. When the
433closure is executed, sets up the environment in the same way as in C<rcv>
434callbacks, i.e. runtime errors will cause the port to get C<kil>ed.
435
436This is useful when you register callbacks from C<rcv> callbacks:
437
438 rcv delayed_reply => sub {
439 my ($delay, @reply) = @_;
440 my $timer = AE::timer $delay, 0, psub {
441 snd @reply, $SELF;
442 };
443 };
444
445=cut
446
447sub psub(&) {
448 my $cb = shift;
449
450 my $port = $SELF
451 or Carp::croak "psub can only be called from within rcv or psub callbacks, not";
452
453 sub {
454 local $SELF = $port;
455
456 if (wantarray) {
457 my @res = eval { &$cb };
458 _self_die if $@;
459 @res
460 } else {
461 my $res = eval { &$cb };
462 _self_die if $@;
463 $res
149 } 464 }
465 }
466}
150 467
151 for (@{ $self->{any} }) { 468=item $guard = mon $port, $cb->(@reason) # call $cb when $port dies
152 $_ && [@_[0 .. $#{$_->[1]}]] ~~ $_->[1] 469
153 && &{$_->[0]} 470=item $guard = mon $port, $rcvport # kill $rcvport when $port dies
154 && undef $_; 471
472=item $guard = mon $port # kill $SELF when $port dies
473
474=item $guard = mon $port, $rcvport, @msg # send a message when $port dies
475
476Monitor the given port and do something when the port is killed or
477messages to it were lost, and optionally return a guard that can be used
478to stop monitoring again.
479
480C<mon> effectively guarantees that, in the absence of hardware failures,
481after starting the monitor, either all messages sent to the port will
482arrive, or the monitoring action will be invoked after possible message
483loss has been detected. No messages will be lost "in between" (after
484the first lost message no further messages will be received by the
485port). After the monitoring action was invoked, further messages might get
486delivered again.
487
488Note that monitoring-actions are one-shot: once messages are lost (and a
489monitoring alert was raised), they are removed and will not trigger again.
490
491In the first form (callback), the callback is simply called with any
492number of C<@reason> elements (no @reason means that the port was deleted
493"normally"). Note also that I<< the callback B<must> never die >>, so use
494C<eval> if unsure.
495
496In the second form (another port given), the other port (C<$rcvport>)
497will be C<kil>'ed with C<@reason>, iff a @reason was specified, i.e. on
498"normal" kils nothing happens, while under all other conditions, the other
499port is killed with the same reason.
500
501The third form (kill self) is the same as the second form, except that
502C<$rvport> defaults to C<$SELF>.
503
504In the last form (message), a message of the form C<@msg, @reason> will be
505C<snd>.
506
507As a rule of thumb, monitoring requests should always monitor a port from
508a local port (or callback). The reason is that kill messages might get
509lost, just like any other message. Another less obvious reason is that
510even monitoring requests can get lost (for exmaple, when the connection
511to the other node goes down permanently). When monitoring a port locally
512these problems do not exist.
513
514Example: call a given callback when C<$port> is killed.
515
516 mon $port, sub { warn "port died because of <@_>\n" };
517
518Example: kill ourselves when C<$port> is killed abnormally.
519
520 mon $port;
521
522Example: send us a restart message when another C<$port> is killed.
523
524 mon $port, $self => "restart";
525
526=cut
527
528sub mon {
529 my ($noderef, $port) = split /#/, shift, 2;
530
531 my $node = $NODE{$noderef} || add_node $noderef;
532
533 my $cb = @_ ? shift : $SELF || Carp::croak 'mon: called with one argument only, but $SELF not set,';
534
535 unless (ref $cb) {
536 if (@_) {
537 # send a kill info message
538 my (@msg) = ($cb, @_);
539 $cb = sub { snd @msg, @_ };
540 } else {
541 # simply kill other port
542 my $port = $cb;
543 $cb = sub { kil $port, @_ if @_ };
155 } 544 }
545 }
546
547 $node->monitor ($port, $cb);
548
549 defined wantarray
550 and AnyEvent::Util::guard { $node->unmonitor ($port, $cb) }
551}
552
553=item $guard = mon_guard $port, $ref, $ref...
554
555Monitors the given C<$port> and keeps the passed references. When the port
556is killed, the references will be freed.
557
558Optionally returns a guard that will stop the monitoring.
559
560This function is useful when you create e.g. timers or other watchers and
561want to free them when the port gets killed (note the use of C<psub>):
562
563 $port->rcv (start => sub {
564 my $timer; $timer = mon_guard $port, AE::timer 1, 1, psub {
565 undef $timer if 0.9 < rand;
566 });
567 });
568
569=cut
570
571sub mon_guard {
572 my ($port, @refs) = @_;
573
574 #TODO: mon-less form?
575
576 mon $port, sub { 0 && @refs }
577}
578
579=item kil $port[, @reason]
580
581Kill the specified port with the given C<@reason>.
582
583If no C<@reason> is specified, then the port is killed "normally" (ports
584monitoring other ports will not necessarily die because a port dies
585"normally").
586
587Otherwise, linked ports get killed with the same reason (second form of
588C<mon>, see above).
589
590Runtime errors while evaluating C<rcv> callbacks or inside C<psub> blocks
591will be reported as reason C<< die => $@ >>.
592
593Transport/communication errors are reported as C<< transport_error =>
594$message >>.
595
596=cut
597
598=item $port = spawn $node, $initfunc[, @initdata]
599
600Creates a port on the node C<$node> (which can also be a port ID, in which
601case it's the node where that port resides).
602
603The port ID of the newly created port is returned immediately, and it is
604possible to immediately start sending messages or to monitor the port.
605
606After the port has been created, the init function is called on the remote
607node, in the same context as a C<rcv> callback. This function must be a
608fully-qualified function name (e.g. C<MyApp::Chat::Server::init>). To
609specify a function in the main program, use C<::name>.
610
611If the function doesn't exist, then the node tries to C<require>
612the package, then the package above the package and so on (e.g.
613C<MyApp::Chat::Server>, C<MyApp::Chat>, C<MyApp>) until the function
614exists or it runs out of package names.
615
616The init function is then called with the newly-created port as context
617object (C<$SELF>) and the C<@initdata> values as arguments.
618
619A common idiom is to pass a local port, immediately monitor the spawned
620port, and in the remote init function, immediately monitor the passed
621local port. This two-way monitoring ensures that both ports get cleaned up
622when there is a problem.
623
624Example: spawn a chat server port on C<$othernode>.
625
626 # this node, executed from within a port context:
627 my $server = spawn $othernode, "MyApp::Chat::Server::connect", $SELF;
628 mon $server;
629
630 # init function on C<$othernode>
631 sub connect {
632 my ($srcport) = @_;
633
634 mon $srcport;
635
636 rcv $SELF, sub {
637 ...
638 };
639 }
640
641=cut
642
643sub _spawn {
644 my $port = shift;
645 my $init = shift;
646
647 local $SELF = "$NODE#$port";
648 eval {
649 &{ load_func $init }
156 }; 650 };
157 651 _self_die if $@;
158 $self
159} 652}
160 653
161=item $portid = create_miniport { } 654sub spawn(@) {
655 my ($noderef, undef) = split /#/, shift, 2;
162 656
163Creates a "mini port", that is, a port without much #TODO 657 my $id = "$RUNIQ." . $ID++;
164 658
165=cut 659 $_[0] =~ /::/
660 or Carp::croak "spawn init function must be a fully-qualified name, caught";
166 661
167sub create_miniport(&) { 662 snd_to_func $noderef, "AnyEvent::MP::_spawn" => $id, @_;
168 my $cb = shift;
169 my $id = "$AnyEvent::MP::Base::UNIQ." . ++$AnyEvent::MP::Base::ID;
170 663
171 $AnyEvent::MP::Base::PORT{$id} = sub { 664 "$noderef#$id"
172# unshift @_, "$NODE#$id"; 665}
173 &$cb 666
174 and delete $AnyEvent::MP::Base::PORT{$id}; 667=item after $timeout, @msg
668
669=item after $timeout, $callback
670
671Either sends the given message, or call the given callback, after the
672specified number of seconds.
673
674This is simply a utility function that comes in handy at times - the
675AnyEvent::MP author is not convinced of the wisdom of having it, though,
676so it may go away in the future.
677
678=cut
679
680sub after($@) {
681 my ($timeout, @action) = @_;
682
683 my $t; $t = AE::timer $timeout, 0, sub {
684 undef $t;
685 ref $action[0]
686 ? $action[0]()
687 : snd @action;
175 }; 688 };
176
177 "$NODE#$id"
178} 689}
179
180package AnyEvent::MP::Port;
181 690
182=back 691=back
183 692
184=head1 METHODS FOR PORT OBJECTS 693=head1 AnyEvent::MP vs. Distributed Erlang
694
695AnyEvent::MP got lots of its ideas from distributed Erlang (Erlang node
696== aemp node, Erlang process == aemp port), so many of the documents and
697programming techniques employed by Erlang apply to AnyEvent::MP. Here is a
698sample:
699
700 http://www.Erlang.se/doc/programming_rules.shtml
701 http://Erlang.org/doc/getting_started/part_frame.html # chapters 3 and 4
702 http://Erlang.org/download/Erlang-book-part1.pdf # chapters 5 and 6
703 http://Erlang.org/download/armstrong_thesis_2003.pdf # chapters 4 and 5
704
705Despite the similarities, there are also some important differences:
185 706
186=over 4 707=over 4
187 708
188=item "$port" 709=item * Node IDs are arbitrary strings in AEMP.
189 710
190A port object stringifies to its port ID, so can be used directly for 711Erlang relies on special naming and DNS to work everywhere in the same
191C<snd> operations. 712way. AEMP relies on each node somehow knowing its own address(es) (e.g. by
713configuraiton or DNS), but will otherwise discover other odes itself.
192 714
193=cut 715=item * Erlang has a "remote ports are like local ports" philosophy, AEMP
716uses "local ports are like remote ports".
194 717
195use overload 718The failure modes for local ports are quite different (runtime errors
196 '""' => sub { $_[0]{id} }, 719only) then for remote ports - when a local port dies, you I<know> it dies,
197 fallback => 1; 720when a connection to another node dies, you know nothing about the other
721port.
198 722
199=item $port->rcv (type => $callback->($port, @msg)) 723Erlang pretends remote ports are as reliable as local ports, even when
724they are not.
200 725
201=item $port->rcv ($smartmatch => $callback->($port, @msg)) 726AEMP encourages a "treat remote ports differently" philosophy, with local
727ports being the special case/exception, where transport errors cannot
728occur.
202 729
203=item $port->rcv ([$smartmatch...] => $callback->($port, @msg)) 730=item * Erlang uses processes and a mailbox, AEMP does not queue.
204 731
205Register a callback on the given port. 732Erlang uses processes that selectively receive messages, and therefore
733needs a queue. AEMP is event based, queuing messages would serve no
734useful purpose. For the same reason the pattern-matching abilities of
735AnyEvent::MP are more limited, as there is little need to be able to
736filter messages without dequeing them.
206 737
207The callback has to return a true value when its work is done, after 738(But see L<Coro::MP> for a more Erlang-like process model on top of AEMP).
208which is will be removed, or a false value in which case it will stay
209registered.
210 739
211If the match is an array reference, then it will be matched against the 740=item * Erlang sends are synchronous, AEMP sends are asynchronous.
212first elements of the message, otherwise only the first element is being
213matched.
214 741
215Any element in the match that is specified as C<_any_> (a function 742Sending messages in Erlang is synchronous and blocks the process (and
216exported by this module) matches any single element of the message. 743so does not need a queue that can overflow). AEMP sends are immediate,
744connection establishment is handled in the background.
217 745
218While not required, it is highly recommended that the first matching 746=item * Erlang suffers from silent message loss, AEMP does not.
219element is a string identifying the message. The one-string-only match is
220also the most efficient match (by far).
221 747
222=cut 748Erlang makes few guarantees on messages delivery - messages can get lost
749without any of the processes realising it (i.e. you send messages a, b,
750and c, and the other side only receives messages a and c).
223 751
224sub rcv($@) { 752AEMP guarantees correct ordering, and the guarantee that after one message
225 my ($self, $match, $cb) = @_; 753is lost, all following ones sent to the same port are lost as well, until
754monitoring raises an error, so there are no silent "holes" in the message
755sequence.
226 756
227 if (!ref $match) { 757=item * Erlang can send messages to the wrong port, AEMP does not.
228 push @{ $self->{rc0}{$match} }, [$cb];
229 } elsif (("ARRAY" eq ref $match && !ref $match->[0])) {
230 my ($type, @match) = @$match;
231 @match
232 ? push @{ $self->{rcv}{$match->[0]} }, [$cb, \@match]
233 : push @{ $self->{rc0}{$match->[0]} }, [$cb];
234 } else {
235 push @{ $self->{any} }, [$cb, $match];
236 }
237}
238 758
239=item $port->register ($name) 759In Erlang it is quite likely that a node that restarts reuses a process ID
760known to other nodes for a completely different process, causing messages
761destined for that process to end up in an unrelated process.
240 762
241Registers the given port under the well known name C<$name>. If the name 763AEMP never reuses port IDs, so old messages or old port IDs floating
242already exists it is replaced. 764around in the network will not be sent to an unrelated port.
243 765
244A port can only be registered under one well known name. 766=item * Erlang uses unprotected connections, AEMP uses secure
767authentication and can use TLS.
245 768
246=cut 769AEMP can use a proven protocol - TLS - to protect connections and
770securely authenticate nodes.
247 771
248sub register { 772=item * The AEMP protocol is optimised for both text-based and binary
249 my ($self, $name) = @_; 773communications.
250 774
251 $self->{wkname} = $name; 775The AEMP protocol, unlike the Erlang protocol, supports both programming
252 $AnyEvent::MP::Base::WKP{$name} = "$self"; 776language independent text-only protocols (good for debugging) and binary,
253} 777language-specific serialisers (e.g. Storable). By default, unless TLS is
778used, the protocol is actually completely text-based.
254 779
255=item $port->destroy 780It has also been carefully designed to be implementable in other languages
781with a minimum of work while gracefully degrading functionality to make the
782protocol simple.
256 783
257Explicitly destroy/remove/nuke/vaporise the port. 784=item * AEMP has more flexible monitoring options than Erlang.
258 785
259Ports are normally kept alive by there mere existance alone, and need to 786In Erlang, you can chose to receive I<all> exit signals as messages
260be destroyed explicitly. 787or I<none>, there is no in-between, so monitoring single processes is
788difficult to implement. Monitoring in AEMP is more flexible than in
789Erlang, as one can choose between automatic kill, exit message or callback
790on a per-process basis.
261 791
262=cut 792=item * Erlang tries to hide remote/local connections, AEMP does not.
263 793
264sub destroy { 794Monitoring in Erlang is not an indicator of process death/crashes, in the
265 my ($self) = @_; 795same way as linking is (except linking is unreliable in Erlang).
266 796
267 delete $AnyEvent::MP::Base::WKP{ $self->{wkname} }; 797In AEMP, you don't "look up" registered port names or send to named ports
798that might or might not be persistent. Instead, you normally spawn a port
799on the remote node. The init function monitors you, and you monitor the
800remote port. Since both monitors are local to the node, they are much more
801reliable (no need for C<spawn_link>).
268 802
269 delete $AnyEvent::MP::Base::PORT{$_} 803This also saves round-trips and avoids sending messages to the wrong port
270 for @{ $self->{names} }; 804(hard to do in Erlang).
271}
272 805
273=back 806=back
274 807
275=head1 FUNCTIONS FOR NODES 808=head1 RATIONALE
276 809
277=over 4 810=over 4
278 811
279=item mon $noderef, $callback->($noderef, $status, $) 812=item Why strings for port and node IDs, why not objects?
280 813
281Monitors the given noderef. 814We considered "objects", but found that the actual number of methods
815that can be called are quite low. Since port and node IDs travel over
816the network frequently, the serialising/deserialising would add lots of
817overhead, as well as having to keep a proxy object everywhere.
282 818
283=item become_public endpoint... 819Strings can easily be printed, easily serialised etc. and need no special
820procedures to be "valid".
284 821
285Tells the node to become a public node, i.e. reachable from other nodes. 822And as a result, a miniport consists of a single closure stored in a
823global hash - it can't become much cheaper.
286 824
287If no arguments are given, or the first argument is C<undef>, then 825=item Why favour JSON, why not a real serialising format such as Storable?
288AnyEvent::MP tries to bind on port C<4040> on all IP addresses that the
289local nodename resolves to.
290 826
291Otherwise the first argument must be an array-reference with transport 827In fact, any AnyEvent::MP node will happily accept Storable as framing
292endpoints ("ip:port", "hostname:port") or port numbers (in which case the 828format, but currently there is no way to make a node use Storable by
293local nodename is used as hostname). The endpoints are all resolved and 829default (although all nodes will accept it).
294will become the node reference.
295 830
296=cut 831The default framing protocol is JSON because a) JSON::XS is many times
832faster for small messages and b) most importantly, after years of
833experience we found that object serialisation is causing more problems
834than it solves: Just like function calls, objects simply do not travel
835easily over the network, mostly because they will always be a copy, so you
836always have to re-think your design.
837
838Keeping your messages simple, concentrating on data structures rather than
839objects, will keep your messages clean, tidy and efficient.
297 840
298=back 841=back
299 842
300=head1 NODE MESSAGES
301
302Nodes understand the following messages sent to them. Many of them take
303arguments called C<@reply>, which will simply be used to compose a reply
304message - C<$reply[0]> is the port to reply to, C<$reply[1]> the type and
305the remaining arguments are simply the message data.
306
307=over 4
308
309=cut
310
311=item wkp => $name, @reply
312
313Replies with the port ID of the specified well-known port, or C<undef>.
314
315=item devnull => ...
316
317Generic data sink/CPU heat conversion.
318
319=item relay => $port, @msg
320
321Simply forwards the message to the given port.
322
323=item eval => $string[ @reply]
324
325Evaluates the given string. If C<@reply> is given, then a message of the
326form C<@reply, $@, @evalres> is sent.
327
328Example: crash another node.
329
330 snd $othernode, eval => "exit";
331
332=item time => @reply
333
334Replies the the current node time to C<@reply>.
335
336Example: tell the current node to send the current time to C<$myport> in a
337C<timereply> message.
338
339 snd $NODE, time => $myport, timereply => 1, 2;
340 # => snd $myport, timereply => 1, 2, <time>
341
342=back
343
344=head1 SEE ALSO 843=head1 SEE ALSO
844
845L<AnyEvent::MP::Intro> - a gentle introduction.
846
847L<AnyEvent::MP::Kernel> - more, lower-level, stuff.
848
849L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> - network maintainance and port groups, to find
850your applications.
345 851
346L<AnyEvent>. 852L<AnyEvent>.
347 853
348=head1 AUTHOR 854=head1 AUTHOR
349 855

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