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Revision 1.108 by root, Sat May 10 00:22:02 2008 UTC

1=head1 NAME 1=head1 NAME
2 2
3AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops 3AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops
4 4
5EV, Event, Coro::EV, Coro::Event, Glib, Tk, Perl - various supported event loops 5EV, Event, Glib, Tk, Perl, Event::Lib, Qt, POE - various supported event loops
6 6
7=head1 SYNOPSIS 7=head1 SYNOPSIS
8 8
9 use AnyEvent; 9 use AnyEvent;
10 10
15 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub { 15 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub {
16 ... 16 ...
17 }); 17 });
18 18
19 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged 19 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged
20 $w->wait; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->broadcast 20 $w->wait; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->send
21 $w->broadcast; # wake up current and all future wait's 21 $w->send; # wake up current and all future wait's
22 22
23=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT) 23=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT)
24 24
25Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen 25Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen
26nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent? 26nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?
66 66
67Of course, if you want lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat 67Of course, if you want lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat
68useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event 68useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event
69model, you should I<not> use this module. 69model, you should I<not> use this module.
70 70
71
72=head1 DESCRIPTION 71=head1 DESCRIPTION
73 72
74L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This 73L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This
75allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module 74allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module
76users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist 75users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist
79The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event> 78The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
80module. 79module.
81 80
82During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries 81During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries
83to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the 82to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the
84following modules is already loaded: L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>, L<EV>, 83following modules is already loaded: L<EV>,
85L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<Tk>. The first one found is used. If none are found, 84L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>,
86the module tries to load these modules in the stated order. The first one 85L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries
86to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl
87adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can
87that can be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none 88be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be
88could be found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl event loop, which 89found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl event loop, which is not
89is not very efficient, but should work everywhere. 90very efficient, but should work everywhere.
90 91
91Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading 92Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading
92an event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make 93an event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make
93that model the default. For example: 94that model the default. For example:
94 95
134 135
135Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl, 136Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,
136my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are 137my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are
137declared. 138declared.
138 139
139=head2 IO WATCHERS 140=head2 I/O WATCHERS
140 141
141You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method 142You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
142with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments: 143with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
143 144
144C<fh> the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) to watch for 145C<fh> the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) to watch
145events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, which 146for events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>,
146creates a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events, 147which creates a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events,
147respectively. C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle 148respectively. C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle
148becomes ready. 149becomes ready.
149 150
150File handles will be kept alive, so as long as the watcher exists, the 151Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
151file handle exists, too. 152presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
153callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
152 154
155The I/O watcher might use the underlying file descriptor or a copy of it.
153It is not allowed to close a file handle as long as any watcher is active 156You must not close a file handle as long as any watcher is active on the
154on the underlying file descriptor. 157underlying file descriptor.
155 158
156Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should 159Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should
157always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file 160always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file
158handles. 161handles.
159 162
170 173
171You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >> 174You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>
172method with the following mandatory arguments: 175method with the following mandatory arguments:
173 176
174C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are 177C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are
175supported) should the timer activate. C<cb> the callback to invoke in that 178supported) the callback should be invoked. C<cb> is the callback to invoke
176case. 179in that case.
180
181Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
182presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
183callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks.
177 184
178The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating 185The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating
179timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk 186timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk
180and Glib). 187and Glib).
181 188
206 213
207There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire 214There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire
208in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12 215in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12
209o'clock"). 216o'clock").
210 217
211While most event loops expect timers to specified in a relative way, they use 218While most event loops expect timers to specified in a relative way, they
212absolute time internally. This makes a difference when your clock "jumps", 219use absolute time internally. This makes a difference when your clock
213for example, when ntp decides to set your clock backwards from the wrong 2014-01-01 to 220"jumps", for example, when ntp decides to set your clock backwards from
2142008-01-01, a watcher that you created to fire "after" a second might actually take 221the wrong date of 2014-01-01 to 2008-01-01, a watcher that is supposed to
215six years to finally fire. 222fire "after" a second might actually take six years to finally fire.
216 223
217AnyEvent cannot compensate for this. The only event loop that is conscious 224AnyEvent cannot compensate for this. The only event loop that is conscious
218about these issues is L<EV>, which offers both relative (ev_timer) and 225about these issues is L<EV>, which offers both relative (ev_timer, based
219absolute (ev_periodic) timers. 226on true relative time) and absolute (ev_periodic, based on wallclock time)
227timers.
220 228
221AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the 229AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the
222AnyEvent API. 230AnyEvent API.
223 231
224=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS 232=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
225 233
226You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal 234You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
227I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl callback to 235I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl callback to
228be invoked whenever a signal occurs. 236be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
229 237
238Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
239presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
240callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
241
230Multiple signals occurances can be clumped together into one callback 242Multiple signal occurances can be clumped together into one callback
231invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. synchronous means 243invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. synchronous means
232that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process, 244that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
233but it is guarenteed not to interrupt any other callbacks. 245but it is guarenteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
234 246
235The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal 247The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
248 260
249The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it 261The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it
250watches for any child process exit). The watcher will trigger as often 262watches for any child process exit). The watcher will trigger as often
251as status change for the child are received. This works by installing a 263as status change for the child are received. This works by installing a
252signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with the pid 264signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with the pid
253and exit status (as returned by waitpid). 265and exit status (as returned by waitpid), so unlike other watcher types,
266you I<can> rely on child watcher callback arguments.
254 267
255Example: wait for pid 1333 268There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
269I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
270have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
271
272Not all event models handle this correctly (POE doesn't), but even for
273event models that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be
274loaded before the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place).
275
276This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first thing in an
277AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one watcher before you
278C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call C<AnyEvent::detect>).
279
280Example: fork a process and wait for it
281
282 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
283
284 AnyEvent::detect; # force event module to be initialised
285
286 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
256 287
257 my $w = AnyEvent->child ( 288 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
258 pid => 1333, 289 pid => $pid,
259 cb => sub { 290 cb => sub {
260 my ($pid, $status) = @_; 291 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
261 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status"; 292 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
293 $done->send;
262 }, 294 },
263 ); 295 );
264 296
297 # do something else, then wait for process exit
298 $done->wait;
299
265=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES 300=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
266 301
302If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
303require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
304will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
305
306AnyEvent is different, it expects somebody else to run the event loop and
307will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
308
309The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
310because they represent a condition that must become true.
311
267Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >> 312Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
268method without any arguments. 313>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
314C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
315becomes true.
269 316
270A condition variable waits for a condition - precisely that the C<< 317After creation, the conditon variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
271->broadcast >> method has been called. 318by calling the C<send> method.
272 319
273They are very useful to signal that a condition has been fulfilled, for 320Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
321optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
322in time where multiple outstandign events have been processed. And yet
323another way to call them is transations - each condition variable can be
324used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
325a result.
326
327Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
274example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests, 328for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
275then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the 329then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
276availability of results. 330availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
331called or can synchronously C<< ->wait >> for the results.
277 332
278You can also use condition variables to block your main program until 333You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
279an event occurs - for example, you could C<< ->wait >> in your main 334you can block your main program until an event occurs - for example, you
280program until the user clicks the Quit button in your app, which would C<< 335could C<< ->wait >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
281->broadcast >> the "quit" event. 336button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
282 337
283Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have 338Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
284two pirces of code that call C<< ->wait >> in a round-robbin fashion, you 339two pieces of code that call C<< ->wait >> in a round-robbin fashion, you
285lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but 340lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
286you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks, 341you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
287as this asks for trouble. 342as this asks for trouble.
288 343
289This object has two methods: 344Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
345used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
346easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
347AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
348it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
349
350There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
351eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
352for the send to occur.
353
354Example:
355
356 # wait till the result is ready
357 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
358
359 # do something such as adding a timer
360 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->send
361 # when the "result" is ready.
362 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
363 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
364 after => 1,
365 cb => sub { $result_ready->send },
366 );
367
368 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
369 # calls send
370 $result_ready->wait;
371
372=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
373
374These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
375code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
376the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
377uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
290 378
291=over 4 379=over 4
292 380
381=item $cv->send (...)
382
383Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further
384calls to C<wait> will (eventually) return after this method has been
385called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
386
387If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
388immediately from within send.
389
390Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
391future C<< ->wait >> calls.
392
393=item $cv->croak ($error)
394
395Similar to send, but causes all call's wait C<< ->wait >> to invoke
396C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
397
398This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
399user/consumer.
400
401=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
402
403=item $cv->end
404
405These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
406one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
407to use a condition variable for the whole process.
408
409Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
410C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
411>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed. That callback
412is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send >>, but that is not required. If no
413callback was set, C<send> will be called without any arguments.
414
415Let's clarify this with the ping example:
416
417 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
418
419 my %result;
420 $cv->begin (sub { $cv->send (\%result) });
421
422 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
423 $cv->begin;
424 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
425 $result{$host} = ...;
426 $cv->end;
427 };
428 }
429
430 $cv->end;
431
432This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
433C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
434order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
435each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
436it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
437results arrive is not relevant.
438
439There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
440loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
441to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
442C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
443doesn't execute once).
444
445This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple subrequests:
446use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set the callback and ensure C<end>
447is called at least once, and then, for each subrequest you start, call
448C<begin> and for eahc subrequest you finish, call C<end>.
449
450=back
451
452=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
453
454These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
455code awaits the condition.
456
457=over 4
458
293=item $cv->wait 459=item $cv->wait
294 460
295Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been 461Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
296called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally. 462>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
463normally.
297 464
298You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return 465You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
299immediately. 466will return immediately.
467
468If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
469function will call C<croak>.
470
471In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
472in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
300 473
301Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case 474Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
302(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are 475(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
303using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the 476using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the
304caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling 477caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
307while still suppporting blocking waits if the caller so desires). 480while still suppporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
308 481
309Another reason I<never> to C<< ->wait >> in a module is that you cannot 482Another reason I<never> to C<< ->wait >> in a module is that you cannot
310sensibly have two C<< ->wait >>'s in parallel, as that would require 483sensibly have two C<< ->wait >>'s in parallel, as that would require
311multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent> 484multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent>
312can supply (the coroutine-aware backends L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV> and 485can supply.
313L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent> explicitly support concurrent C<< ->wait >>'s
314from different coroutines, however).
315 486
316=item $cv->broadcast 487The L<Coro> module, however, I<can> and I<does> supply coroutines and, in
488fact, L<Coro::AnyEvent> replaces AnyEvent's condvars by coroutine-safe
489versions and also integrates coroutines into AnyEvent, making blocking
490C<< ->wait >> calls perfectly safe as long as they are done from another
491coroutine (one that doesn't run the event loop).
317 492
318Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further 493You can ensure that C<< -wait >> never blocks by setting a callback and
319calls to C<wait> will (eventually) return after this method has been 494only calling C<< ->wait >> from within that callback (or at a later
320called. If nobody is waiting the broadcast will be remembered.. 495time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
496waits otherwise.
497
498=item $bool = $cv->ready
499
500Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
501C<croak> have been called.
502
503=item $cb = $cv->cb ([new callback])
504
505This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
506replaces it before doing so.
507
508The callback will be called when the condition becomes "true", i.e. when
509C<send> or C<croak> are called. Calling C<wait> inside the callback
510or at any later time is guaranteed not to block.
321 511
322=back 512=back
323
324Example:
325
326 # wait till the result is ready
327 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
328
329 # do something such as adding a timer
330 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast
331 # when the "result" is ready.
332 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
333 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
334 after => 1,
335 cb => sub { $result_ready->broadcast },
336 );
337
338 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the watcher
339 # calls broadcast
340 $result_ready->wait;
341 513
342=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS 514=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
343 515
344=over 4 516=over 4
345 517
351C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case 523C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case
352AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>). 524AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>).
353 525
354The known classes so far are: 526The known classes so far are:
355 527
356 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV based on Coro::EV, best choice.
357 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent based on Coro::Event, second best choice.
358 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, also best choice). 528 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice).
359 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, also second best choice :) 529 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice.
530 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
360 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice. 531 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.
361 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice. 532 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
362 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient but portable. 533 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).
534 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
535 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, not generic enough for full support.
536
537There is no support for WxWidgets, as WxWidgets has no support for
538watching file handles. However, you can use WxWidgets through the
539POE Adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply polls 20 times per
540second, which was considered to be too horrible to even consider for
541AnyEvent. Likewise, other POE backends can be used by AnyEvent by using
542it's adaptor.
543
544AnyEvent knows about L<Prima> and L<Wx> and will try to use L<POE> when
545autodetecting them.
363 546
364=item AnyEvent::detect 547=item AnyEvent::detect
365 548
366Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model 549Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
367if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would 550if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
368have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at 551have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
369runtime. 552runtime.
370 553
554=item @AnyEvent::detect
555
556If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
557before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
558the event loop has been chosen.
559
560You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
561if it contains a true value then the event loop has already been detected,
562and the array will be ignored.
563
371=back 564=back
372 565
373=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE 566=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
374 567
375As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods 568As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods
379decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so 572decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
380by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module 573by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
381to load the event module first. 574to load the event module first.
382 575
383Never call C<< ->wait >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that 576Never call C<< ->wait >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
384the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been called on it already. This is 577the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
385because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using 578because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
386events is to stay interactive. 579events is to stay interactive.
387 580
388It is fine, however, to call C<< ->wait >> when the user of your module 581It is fine, however, to call C<< ->wait >> when the user of your module
389requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method 582requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
409 602
410You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by 603You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by
411loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar 604loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar
412behaviour everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose is generally better. 605behaviour everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose is generally better.
413 606
607=head1 OTHER MODULES
608
609The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
610AnyEvent and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent modules
611in the same program. Some of the modules come with AnyEvent, some are
612available via CPAN.
613
614=over 4
615
616=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
617
618Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
619functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
620
621=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
622
623Provide read and write buffers and manages watchers for reads and writes.
624
625=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
626
627Provides a means to do non-blocking connects, accepts etc.
628
629=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
630
631Provides a simple web application server framework.
632
633=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
634
635Provides asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities, beyond what
636L<AnyEvent::Util> offers.
637
638=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
639
640The fastest ping in the west.
641
642=item L<Net::IRC3>
643
644AnyEvent based IRC client module family.
645
646=item L<Net::XMPP2>
647
648AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family.
649
650=item L<Net::FCP>
651
652AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
653of AnyEvent.
654
655=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
656
657High level API for event-based execution flow control.
658
659=item L<Coro>
660
661Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
662
663=item L<IO::Lambda>
664
665The lambda approach to I/O - don't ask, look there. Can use AnyEvent.
666
667=item L<IO::AIO>
668
669Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
670programmer. Can be trivially made to use AnyEvent.
671
672=item L<BDB>
673
674Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. Can be trivially made to use
675AnyEvent.
676
677=back
678
414=cut 679=cut
415 680
416package AnyEvent; 681package AnyEvent;
417 682
418no warnings; 683no warnings;
419use strict; 684use strict;
420 685
421use Carp; 686use Carp;
422 687
423our $VERSION = '3.12'; 688our $VERSION = '3.4';
424our $MODEL; 689our $MODEL;
425 690
426our $AUTOLOAD; 691our $AUTOLOAD;
427our @ISA; 692our @ISA;
428 693
429our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1; 694our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
430 695
431our @REGISTRY; 696our @REGISTRY;
432 697
433my @models = ( 698my @models = (
434 [Coro::EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV::],
435 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent::],
436 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::], 699 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::],
437 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 700 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::],
701 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::],
702 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
703 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
704 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::],
705 # everything below here will not be autoprobed as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
438 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], 706 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::],
439 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], 707 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
440 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::], 708 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
709 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
441); 710);
442 711
443our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer condvar broadcast wait signal one_event DESTROY); 712our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer signal child condvar one_event DESTROY);
713
714our @detect;
444 715
445sub detect() { 716sub detect() {
446 unless ($MODEL) { 717 unless ($MODEL) {
447 no strict 'refs'; 718 no strict 'refs';
448 719
720 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
721 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
722 if (eval "require $model") {
723 $MODEL = $model;
724 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
725 } else {
726 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL):\n$@" if $verbose;
727 }
728 }
729
449 # check for already loaded models 730 # check for already loaded models
731 unless ($MODEL) {
450 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 732 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
451 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 733 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
452 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 734 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
453 if (eval "require $model") { 735 if (eval "require $model") {
454 $MODEL = $model; 736 $MODEL = $model;
455 warn "AnyEvent: found model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 737 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
456 last; 738 last;
739 }
457 } 740 }
458 } 741 }
459 }
460 742
461 unless ($MODEL) { 743 unless ($MODEL) {
462 # try to load a model 744 # try to load a model
463 745
464 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 746 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
465 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 747 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
466 if (eval "require $package" 748 if (eval "require $package"
467 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0 749 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
468 and eval "require $model") { 750 and eval "require $model") {
469 $MODEL = $model; 751 $MODEL = $model;
470 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed and loaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 752 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
471 last; 753 last;
754 }
472 } 755 }
756
757 $MODEL
758 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.";
473 } 759 }
474
475 $MODEL
476 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV (or Coro+EV), Event (or Coro+Event), Glib or Tk.";
477 } 760 }
478 761
479 unshift @ISA, $MODEL; 762 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
480 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base"; 763 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
764
765 (shift @detect)->() while @detect;
481 } 766 }
482 767
483 $MODEL 768 $MODEL
484} 769}
485 770
637 922
638=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 923=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
639 924
640The following environment variables are used by this module: 925The following environment variables are used by this module:
641 926
642C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE> when set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to 927=over 4
643report to STDERR which event model it chooses. 928
929=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
930
931By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
932conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
933talkative.
934
935When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
936conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
937C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
938
939When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
940model it chooses.
941
942=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
943
944This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
945autodetection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
946entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
947and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
948used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
949autodetection and -probing.
950
951This functionality might change in future versions.
952
953For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
954could start your program like this:
955
956 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
957
958=back
644 959
645=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM 960=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
646 961
647The following program uses an IO watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer 962The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
648to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the 963to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
649program when the user enters quit: 964program when the user enters quit:
650 965
651 use AnyEvent; 966 use AnyEvent;
652 967
796 $quit->broadcast; 1111 $quit->broadcast;
797 }); 1112 });
798 1113
799 $quit->wait; 1114 $quit->wait;
800 1115
1116
1117=head1 BENCHMARKS
1118
1119To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
1120over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
1121of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
1122
1123=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
1124
1125Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
1126through anyevent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
1127timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
1128which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
1129
1130Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
1131distribution.
1132
1133=head3 Explanation of the columns
1134
1135I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
1136different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
1137loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
1138and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
1139would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
1140of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
1141
1142I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
1143RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
1144and Perl-based overheads.
1145
1146I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
1147takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
1148all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
1149and memory usage is not included in the figures.
1150
1151I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
1152callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
1153invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->broadcast >> a condvar once to
1154signal the end of this phase.
1155
1156I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
1157watcher.
1158
1159=head3 Results
1160
1161 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
1162 EV/EV 400000 244 0.56 0.46 0.31 EV native interface
1163 EV/Any 100000 244 2.50 0.46 0.29 EV + AnyEvent watchers
1164 CoroEV/Any 100000 244 2.49 0.44 0.29 coroutines + Coro::Signal
1165 Perl/Any 100000 513 4.92 0.87 1.12 pure perl implementation
1166 Event/Event 16000 516 31.88 31.30 0.85 Event native interface
1167 Event/Any 16000 590 35.75 31.42 1.08 Event + AnyEvent watchers
1168 Glib/Any 16000 1357 98.22 12.41 54.00 quadratic behaviour
1169 Tk/Any 2000 1860 26.97 67.98 14.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
1170 POE/Event 2000 6644 108.64 736.02 14.73 via POE::Loop::Event
1171 POE/Select 2000 6343 94.13 809.12 565.96 via POE::Loop::Select
1172
1173=head3 Discussion
1174
1175The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
1176well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
1177can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
1178file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
1179the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
1180boost.
1181
1182Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
1183overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
1184the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
1185higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
1186
1187To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
1188benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
1189EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
1190cycles with POE.
1191
1192C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
1193maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, it uses
1194far less memory than any other event loop and is still faster than Event
1195natively.
1196
1197The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
1198constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
1199interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
1200adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
1201performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
1202them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
1203
1204The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
1205cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
1206
1207C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
1208faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
1209C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
1210watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
1211making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
1212(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
1213inefficiencies of C<poll> do not account for this).
1214
1215The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
1216more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
1217precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
1218file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
1219employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
1220hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
1221above).
1222
1223C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
1224select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
1225be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
1226memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
1227as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
1228requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
1229invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
1230implementation.
1231
1232The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
1233for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
1234small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
1235optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
1236using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
1237memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
1238design).
1239
1240=head3 Summary
1241
1242=over 4
1243
1244=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
1245(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
1246performance with or without AnyEvent.
1247
1248=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
1249the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
1250adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
1251
1252=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
1253reasonable memory usage.
1254
1255=back
1256
1257=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
1258
1259This benchmark atcually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
1260creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socketpair, a
1261timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
1262watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
1263watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
1264
1265The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
1266are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
1267fds for each loop iterstaion, but which fds these are is random). The
1268timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
1269most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
1270
1271In this benchmark, we use 10000 socketpairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
1272(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
1273connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
1274
1275Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
1276distribution.
1277
1278=head3 Explanation of the columns
1279
1280I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
1281each server has a read and write socket end).
1282
1283I<create> is the time it takes to create a socketpair (which is
1284nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
1285
1286I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
1287single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
1288it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
1289a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
1290
1291=head3 Results
1292
1293 name sockets create request
1294 EV 20000 69.01 11.16
1295 Perl 20000 73.32 35.87
1296 Event 20000 212.62 257.32
1297 Glib 20000 651.16 1896.30
1298 POE 20000 349.67 12317.24 uses POE::Loop::Event
1299
1300=head3 Discussion
1301
1302This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
1303particular event loop.
1304
1305EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
1306is relatively high, though.
1307
1308Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
1309loops Event and Glib.
1310
1311Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
1312understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
1313the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
1314uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
1315
1316Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
1317clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
1318
1319POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
1320as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
1321it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
1322
1323=head3 Summary
1324
1325=over 4
1326
1327=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
1328
1329=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
1330
1331=back
1332
1333=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
1334
1335While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
1336large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
1337I/O watchers.
1338
1339In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
1340case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
1341one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
1342well.
1343
1344The columns are identical to the previous table.
1345
1346=head3 Results
1347
1348 name sockets create request
1349 EV 16 20.00 6.54
1350 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
1351 Event 16 81.27 35.86
1352 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
1353 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
1354
1355=head3 Discussion
1356
1357The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
1358server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
1359in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
1360to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
1361speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
1362them).
1363
1364EV is again fastest.
1365
1366Perl again comes second. It is noticably faster than the C-based event
1367loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
1368matter.
1369
1370POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
1371others.
1372
1373=head3 Summary
1374
1375=over 4
1376
1377=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
1378watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
1379
1380=back
1381
1382
1383=head1 FORK
1384
1385Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
1386because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
1387calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
1388
1389If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
1390watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child.
1391
1392
1393=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
1394
1395AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
1396$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to
1397execute arbitrary code or directly gain access, it can easily be used to
1398make the program hang or malfunction in subtle ways, as AnyEvent watchers
1399will not be active when the program uses a different event model than
1400specified in the variable.
1401
1402You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
1403before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
1404
1405 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
1406
1407 use AnyEvent;
1408
1409Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
1410be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
1411probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL).
1412
1413
801=head1 SEE ALSO 1414=head1 SEE ALSO
802 1415
803Event modules: L<Coro::EV>, L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, 1416Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
804L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>, L<Coro>, L<Tk>. 1417L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
805 1418
806Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>,
807L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, 1419Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
808L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. 1420L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
1421L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
1422L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>.
1423
1424Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>,
809 1425
810Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>. 1426Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>.
1427
811 1428
812=head1 AUTHOR 1429=head1 AUTHOR
813 1430
814 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 1431 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
815 http://home.schmorp.de/ 1432 http://home.schmorp.de/

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