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Revision 1.55 by root, Wed Apr 23 11:25:42 2008 UTC vs.
Revision 1.141 by root, Mon May 26 17:45:05 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, Event::Lib - 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->send; # wake up current and all future recv's
20 $w->wait; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->broadcast 21 $w->recv; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->send
21 $w->broadcast; # 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?
57as those use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new 57as those use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new
58event loops to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof). 58event loops to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof).
59 59
60In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event 60In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event
61model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar 61model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar
62modules, you get an enourmous amount of code and strict rules you have to 62modules, you get an enormous amount of code and strict rules you have to
63follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only 63follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only
64offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as 64offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as
65technically possible. 65technically possible.
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
71 70
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
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
107 108
108=head1 WATCHERS 109=head1 WATCHERS
109 110
110AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that 111AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that
111stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as 112stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as
112the callback to call, the filehandle to watch, etc. 113the callback to call, the file handle to watch, etc.
113 114
114These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After 115These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
115creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the 116creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the
116callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model 117callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model
117is in control). 118is in control).
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 occurrences 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 guaranteed 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
236between multiple watchers. 248between multiple watchers.
237 249
238This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals 250This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals
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 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
256 285
257 my $w = AnyEvent->child ( 286 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
258 pid => 1333, 287 pid => $pid,
259 cb => sub { 288 cb => sub {
260 my ($pid, $status) = @_; 289 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
261 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status"; 290 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
291 $done->send;
262 }, 292 },
263 ); 293 );
264 294
295 # do something else, then wait for process exit
296 $done->recv;
297
265=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES 298=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
266 299
300If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
301require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
302will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
303
304AnyEvent is different, it expects somebody else to run the event loop and
305will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
306
307The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
308because they represent a condition that must become true.
309
267Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >> 310Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
268method without any arguments. 311>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
312C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
313becomes true.
269 314
270A condition variable waits for a condition - precisely that the C<< 315After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
271->broadcast >> method has been called. 316by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
317were a callback, read about the caveats in the description for the C<<
318->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 outstanding events have been processed. And yet
323another way to call them is transactions - 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<< ->recv >> 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<< ->recv >> 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<< ->recv >> in a round-robin 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: wait for a timer.
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->recv;
371
372Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that
373condition variables are also code references.
374
375 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
376 my $delay = AnyEvent->timer (after => 5, cb => $done);
377 $done->recv;
378
379=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
380
381These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
382code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
383the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
384uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
290 385
291=over 4 386=over 4
292 387
388=item $cv->send (...)
389
390Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
391calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
392called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
393
394If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
395immediately from within send.
396
397Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
398future C<< ->recv >> calls.
399
400Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly
401(as a code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling
402C<send>. Note, however, that many C-based event loops do not handle
403overloading, so as tempting as it may be, passing a condition variable
404instead of a callback does not work. Both the pure perl and EV loops
405support overloading, however, as well as all functions that use perl to
406invoke a callback (as in L<AnyEvent::Socket> and L<AnyEvent::DNS> for
407example).
408
409=item $cv->croak ($error)
410
411Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
412C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
413
414This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
415user/consumer.
416
417=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
418
293=item $cv->wait 419=item $cv->end
294 420
295Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been 421These two methods are EXPERIMENTAL and MIGHT CHANGE.
422
423These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
424one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
425to use a condition variable for the whole process.
426
427Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
428C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
429>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed. That callback
430is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send >>, but that is not required. If no
431callback was set, C<send> will be called without any arguments.
432
433Let's clarify this with the ping example:
434
435 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
436
437 my %result;
438 $cv->begin (sub { $cv->send (\%result) });
439
440 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
441 $cv->begin;
442 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
443 $result{$host} = ...;
444 $cv->end;
445 };
446 }
447
448 $cv->end;
449
450This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
451C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
452order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
453each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
454it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
455results arrive is not relevant.
456
457There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
458loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
459to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
460C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
461doesn't execute once).
462
463This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple subrequests:
464use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set the callback and ensure C<end>
465is called at least once, and then, for each subrequest you start, call
466C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish, call C<end>.
467
468=back
469
470=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
471
472These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
473code awaits the condition.
474
475=over 4
476
477=item $cv->recv
478
479Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
296called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally. 480>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
481normally.
297 482
298You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return 483You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
299immediately. 484will return immediately.
485
486If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
487function will call C<croak>.
488
489In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
490in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
300 491
301Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case 492Not 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 493(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 494using 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 495caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
305condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting 496condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
306callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block, 497callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
307while still suppporting blocking waits if the caller so desires). 498while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
308 499
309Another reason I<never> to C<< ->wait >> in a module is that you cannot 500Another reason I<never> to C<< ->recv >> in a module is that you cannot
310sensibly have two C<< ->wait >>'s in parallel, as that would require 501sensibly have two C<< ->recv >>'s in parallel, as that would require
311multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent> 502multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent>
312can supply (the coroutine-aware backends L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV> and 503can supply.
313L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent> explicitly support concurrent C<< ->wait >>'s
314from different coroutines, however).
315 504
316=item $cv->broadcast 505The L<Coro> module, however, I<can> and I<does> supply coroutines and, in
506fact, L<Coro::AnyEvent> replaces AnyEvent's condvars by coroutine-safe
507versions and also integrates coroutines into AnyEvent, making blocking
508C<< ->recv >> calls perfectly safe as long as they are done from another
509coroutine (one that doesn't run the event loop).
317 510
318Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further 511You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
319calls to C<wait> will (eventually) return after this method has been 512only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
320called. If nobody is waiting the broadcast will be remembered.. 513time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
514waits otherwise.
515
516=item $bool = $cv->ready
517
518Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
519C<croak> have been called.
520
521=item $cb = $cv->cb ([new callback])
522
523This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
524replaces it before doing so.
525
526The callback will be called when the condition becomes "true", i.e. when
527C<send> or C<croak> are called. Calling C<recv> inside the callback
528or at any later time is guaranteed not to block.
321 529
322=back 530=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;
341 531
342=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS 532=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
343 533
344=over 4 534=over 4
345 535
351C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case 541C<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>). 542AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>).
353 543
354The known classes so far are: 544The known classes so far are:
355 545
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). 546 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice).
359 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, also second best choice :) 547 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice.
548 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
360 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice. 549 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.
361 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice. 550 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
362 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient but portable. 551 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).
363 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse. 552 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
553 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, not generic enough for full support.
554
555There is no support for WxWidgets, as WxWidgets has no support for
556watching file handles. However, you can use WxWidgets through the
557POE Adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply polls 20 times per
558second, which was considered to be too horrible to even consider for
559AnyEvent. Likewise, other POE backends can be used by AnyEvent by using
560it's adaptor.
561
562AnyEvent knows about L<Prima> and L<Wx> and will try to use L<POE> when
563autodetecting them.
364 564
365=item AnyEvent::detect 565=item AnyEvent::detect
366 566
367Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model 567Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
368if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would 568if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
369have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at 569have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
370runtime. 570runtime.
371 571
572=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
573
574Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
575autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
576
577If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
578that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed. See
579L<Coro::BDB> for a case where this is useful.
580
581=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
582
583If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
584before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
585the event loop has been chosen.
586
587You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
588if it contains a true value then the event loop has already been detected,
589and the array will be ignored.
590
591Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> instead.
592
372=back 593=back
373 594
374=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE 595=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
375 596
376As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods 597As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods
379Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will 600Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
380decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so 601decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
381by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module 602by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
382to load the event module first. 603to load the event module first.
383 604
384Never call C<< ->wait >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that 605Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
385the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been called on it already. This is 606the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
386because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using 607because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
387events is to stay interactive. 608events is to stay interactive.
388 609
389It is fine, however, to call C<< ->wait >> when the user of your module 610It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
390requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method 611requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
391called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->wait >> 612called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
392freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always). 613freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
393 614
394=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM 615=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
395 616
396There will always be a single main program - the only place that should 617There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
398 619
399If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not 620If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not
400do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent 621do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
401decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it. 622decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
402 623
403If the main program relies on a specific event model. For example, in 624If the main program relies on a specific event model - for example, in
404Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module. You should load the 625Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module - you should load the
405event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally 626event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
406speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that 627speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
407modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will 628modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
408decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it 629decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
409might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself. 630might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
410 631
411You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by 632You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
412loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar 633C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
413behaviour everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose is generally better. 634everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
635
636=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
637
638Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
639only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
640
641In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
642
643 AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
644
645This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
646
647Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
648it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
649variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
650exit cleanly.
651
652
653=head1 OTHER MODULES
654
655The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
656AnyEvent and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent modules
657in the same program. Some of the modules come with AnyEvent, some are
658available via CPAN.
659
660=over 4
661
662=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
663
664Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
665functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
666
667=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
668
669Provide read and write buffers and manages watchers for reads and writes.
670
671=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
672
673Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
674addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
675connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
676
677=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
678
679Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
680
681=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
682
683Provides a simple web application server framework.
684
685=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
686
687The fastest ping in the west.
688
689=item L<Net::IRC3>
690
691AnyEvent based IRC client module family.
692
693=item L<Net::XMPP2>
694
695AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family.
696
697=item L<Net::FCP>
698
699AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
700of AnyEvent.
701
702=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
703
704High level API for event-based execution flow control.
705
706=item L<Coro>
707
708Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
709
710=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>, L<IO::AIO>
711
712Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
713programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses IO::AIO and AnyEvent
714together.
715
716=item L<AnyEvent::BDB>, L<BDB>
717
718Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses
719IO::AIO and AnyEvent together.
720
721=item L<IO::Lambda>
722
723The lambda approach to I/O - don't ask, look there. Can use AnyEvent.
724
725=back
414 726
415=cut 727=cut
416 728
417package AnyEvent; 729package AnyEvent;
418 730
419no warnings; 731no warnings;
420use strict; 732use strict;
421 733
422use Carp; 734use Carp;
423 735
424our $VERSION = '3.12'; 736our $VERSION = '4.05';
425our $MODEL; 737our $MODEL;
426 738
427our $AUTOLOAD; 739our $AUTOLOAD;
428our @ISA; 740our @ISA;
429 741
742our @REGISTRY;
743
744our $WIN32;
745
746BEGIN {
747 my $win32 = ! ! ($^O =~ /mswin32/i);
748 eval "sub WIN32(){ $win32 }";
749}
750
430our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1; 751our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
431 752
432our @REGISTRY; 753our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2), higher numbers are preferred
754
755{
756 my $idx;
757 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
758 for reverse split /\s*,\s*/,
759 $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
760}
433 761
434my @models = ( 762my @models = (
435 [Coro::EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV::],
436 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent::],
437 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::], 763 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::],
438 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 764 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::],
439 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::],
440 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::],
441 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::], 765 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::],
766 # everything below here will not be autoprobed
767 # as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
768 # and is usually faster
769 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], # crashes with many handles
770 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], # becomes extremely slow with many watchers
442 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], 771 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
772 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
773 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
774 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
775 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
443); 776);
444 777
445our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer condvar broadcast wait signal one_event DESTROY); 778our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer signal child condvar one_event DESTROY);
779
780our @post_detect;
781
782sub post_detect(&) {
783 my ($cb) = @_;
784
785 if ($MODEL) {
786 $cb->();
787
788 1
789 } else {
790 push @post_detect, $cb;
791
792 defined wantarray
793 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::PostDetect"
794 : ()
795 }
796}
797
798sub AnyEvent::Util::PostDetect::DESTROY {
799 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
800}
446 801
447sub detect() { 802sub detect() {
448 unless ($MODEL) { 803 unless ($MODEL) {
449 no strict 'refs'; 804 no strict 'refs';
805 local $SIG{__DIE__};
450 806
451 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) { 807 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
452 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1"; 808 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
453 if (eval "require $model") { 809 if (eval "require $model") {
454 $MODEL = $model; 810 $MODEL = $model;
455 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 811 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
812 } else {
813 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL):\n$@" if $verbose;
456 } 814 }
457 } 815 }
458 816
459 # check for already loaded models 817 # check for already loaded models
460 unless ($MODEL) { 818 unless ($MODEL) {
482 last; 840 last;
483 } 841 }
484 } 842 }
485 843
486 $MODEL 844 $MODEL
487 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) or Glib."; 845 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.";
488 } 846 }
489 } 847 }
490 848
491 unshift @ISA, $MODEL; 849 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
492 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base"; 850 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
851
852 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
493 } 853 }
494 854
495 $MODEL 855 $MODEL
496} 856}
497 857
507 $class->$func (@_); 867 $class->$func (@_);
508} 868}
509 869
510package AnyEvent::Base; 870package AnyEvent::Base;
511 871
512# default implementation for ->condvar, ->wait, ->broadcast 872# default implementation for ->condvar
513 873
514sub condvar { 874sub condvar {
515 bless \my $flag, "AnyEvent::Base::CondVar" 875 bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, AnyEvent::CondVar::
516}
517
518sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::broadcast {
519 ${$_[0]}++;
520}
521
522sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::wait {
523 AnyEvent->one_event while !${$_[0]};
524} 876}
525 877
526# default implementation for ->signal 878# default implementation for ->signal
527 879
528our %SIG_CB; 880our %SIG_CB;
581 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing"; 933 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing";
582 934
583 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 935 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
584 936
585 unless ($WNOHANG) { 937 unless ($WNOHANG) {
586 $WNOHANG = eval { require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1; 938 $WNOHANG = eval { local $SIG{__DIE__}; require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;
587 } 939 }
588 940
589 unless ($CHLD_W) { 941 unless ($CHLD_W) {
590 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld); 942 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld);
591 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round 943 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
601 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb}; 953 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb};
602 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} }; 954 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
603 955
604 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB; 956 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
605} 957}
958
959package AnyEvent::CondVar;
960
961our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
962
963package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
964
965use overload
966 '&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
967 fallback => 1;
968
969sub _send {
970 # nop
971}
972
973sub send {
974 my $cv = shift;
975 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
976 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
977 $cv->_send;
978}
979
980sub croak {
981 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
982 $_[0]->send;
983}
984
985sub ready {
986 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
987}
988
989sub _wait {
990 AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
991}
992
993sub recv {
994 $_[0]->_wait;
995
996 Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
997 wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
998}
999
1000sub cb {
1001 $_[0]{_ae_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1002 $_[0]{_ae_cb}
1003}
1004
1005sub begin {
1006 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1007 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1008}
1009
1010sub end {
1011 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1012 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
1013}
1014
1015# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
1016*broadcast = \&send;
1017*wait = \&_wait;
606 1018
607=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 1019=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
608 1020
609This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in 1021This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
610a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to 1022a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
653 1065
654=over 4 1066=over 4
655 1067
656=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE> 1068=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
657 1069
1070By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
1071conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
1072talkative.
1073
1074When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
1075conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
1076C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
1077
658When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event 1078When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
659model it chooses. 1079model it chooses.
660 1080
661=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL> 1081=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
662 1082
663This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before 1083This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
664autodetection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting 1084auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
665entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended 1085entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
666and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful, 1086and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
667used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with 1087used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
668autodetection and -probing. 1088auto detection and -probing.
669 1089
670This functionality might change in future versions. 1090This functionality might change in future versions.
671 1091
672For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you 1092For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
673could start your program like this: 1093could start your program like this:
674 1094
675 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ... 1095 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
676 1096
1097=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
1098
1099Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
1100for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
1101of auto probing).
1102
1103Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
1104current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
1105used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
1106list.
1107
1108This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
1109against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
1110small, as the program has to handle connection errors already-
1111
1112Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
1113but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
1114- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
1115addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
1116IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
1117
1118=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
1119
1120Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
1121for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
1122some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
1123default.
1124
1125Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
1126EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
1127
677=back 1128=back
678 1129
679=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM 1130=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
680 1131
681The following program uses an IO watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer 1132The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
682to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the 1133to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
683program when the user enters quit: 1134program when the user enters quit:
684 1135
685 use AnyEvent; 1136 use AnyEvent;
686 1137
691 poll => 'r', 1142 poll => 'r',
692 cb => sub { 1143 cb => sub {
693 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 1144 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
694 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 1145 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
695 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 1146 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
696 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 1147 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
697 }, 1148 },
698 ); 1149 );
699 1150
700 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once 1151 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
701 1152
706 }); 1157 });
707 } 1158 }
708 1159
709 new_timer; # create first timer 1160 new_timer; # create first timer
710 1161
711 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 1162 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
712 1163
713=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 1164=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
714 1165
715Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 1166Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
716API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 1167API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
766 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 1217 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
767 or die "connection or write error"; 1218 or die "connection or write error";
768 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 1219 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
769 1220
770Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 1221Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
771result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished: 1222result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
772 1223
773 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 1224 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
774 1225
775 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 1226 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
776 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 1227 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
777 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 1228 $txn->{finished}->send;
778 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 1229 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
779 } 1230 }
780 1231
781The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 1232The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
782request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the 1233request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
783data: 1234data:
784 1235
785 $txn->{finished}->wait; 1236 $txn->{finished}->recv;
786 return $txn->{result}; 1237 return $txn->{result};
787 1238
788The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 1239The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
789that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 1240that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
790whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 1241whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
791and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 1242and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
792problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a 1243problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
793random callback. 1244random callback.
794 1245
825 1276
826 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 1277 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
827 1278
828 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 1279 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
829 ... 1280 ...
830 $quit->broadcast; 1281 $quit->send;
831 }); 1282 });
832 1283
833 $quit->wait; 1284 $quit->recv;
1285
1286
1287=head1 BENCHMARKS
1288
1289To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
1290over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
1291of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
1292
1293=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
1294
1295Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
1296through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
1297timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
1298which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
1299
1300Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
1301distribution.
1302
1303=head3 Explanation of the columns
1304
1305I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
1306different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
1307loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
1308and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
1309would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
1310of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
1311
1312I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
1313RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
1314and Perl-based overheads.
1315
1316I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
1317takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
1318all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
1319and memory usage is not included in the figures.
1320
1321I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
1322callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
1323invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
1324signal the end of this phase.
1325
1326I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
1327watcher.
1328
1329=head3 Results
1330
1331 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
1332 EV/EV 400000 244 0.56 0.46 0.31 EV native interface
1333 EV/Any 100000 244 2.50 0.46 0.29 EV + AnyEvent watchers
1334 CoroEV/Any 100000 244 2.49 0.44 0.29 coroutines + Coro::Signal
1335 Perl/Any 100000 513 4.92 0.87 1.12 pure perl implementation
1336 Event/Event 16000 516 31.88 31.30 0.85 Event native interface
1337 Event/Any 16000 590 35.75 31.42 1.08 Event + AnyEvent watchers
1338 Glib/Any 16000 1357 98.22 12.41 54.00 quadratic behaviour
1339 Tk/Any 2000 1860 26.97 67.98 14.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
1340 POE/Event 2000 6644 108.64 736.02 14.73 via POE::Loop::Event
1341 POE/Select 2000 6343 94.13 809.12 565.96 via POE::Loop::Select
1342
1343=head3 Discussion
1344
1345The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
1346well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
1347can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
1348file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
1349the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
1350boost.
1351
1352Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
1353overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
1354the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
1355higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
1356
1357To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
1358benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
1359EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
1360cycles with POE.
1361
1362C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
1363maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, it uses
1364far less memory than any other event loop and is still faster than Event
1365natively.
1366
1367The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
1368constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
1369interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
1370adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
1371performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
1372them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
1373
1374The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
1375cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
1376
1377C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
1378faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
1379C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
1380watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
1381making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
1382(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
1383inefficiencies of C<poll> do not account for this).
1384
1385The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
1386more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
1387precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
1388file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
1389employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
1390hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
1391above).
1392
1393C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
1394select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
1395be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
1396memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
1397as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
1398requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
1399invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
1400implementation.
1401
1402The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
1403for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
1404small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
1405optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
1406using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
1407memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
1408design).
1409
1410=head3 Summary
1411
1412=over 4
1413
1414=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
1415(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
1416performance with or without AnyEvent.
1417
1418=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
1419the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
1420adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
1421
1422=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
1423reasonable memory usage.
1424
1425=back
1426
1427=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
1428
1429This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
1430creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
1431timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
1432watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
1433watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
1434
1435The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
1436are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
1437fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
1438timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
1439most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
1440
1441In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
1442(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
1443connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
1444
1445Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
1446distribution.
1447
1448=head3 Explanation of the columns
1449
1450I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
1451each server has a read and write socket end).
1452
1453I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
1454nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
1455
1456I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
1457single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
1458it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
1459a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
1460
1461=head3 Results
1462
1463 name sockets create request
1464 EV 20000 69.01 11.16
1465 Perl 20000 73.32 35.87
1466 Event 20000 212.62 257.32
1467 Glib 20000 651.16 1896.30
1468 POE 20000 349.67 12317.24 uses POE::Loop::Event
1469
1470=head3 Discussion
1471
1472This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
1473particular event loop.
1474
1475EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
1476is relatively high, though.
1477
1478Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
1479loops Event and Glib.
1480
1481Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
1482understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
1483the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
1484uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
1485
1486Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
1487clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
1488
1489POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
1490as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
1491it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
1492
1493=head3 Summary
1494
1495=over 4
1496
1497=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
1498
1499=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
1500
1501=back
1502
1503=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
1504
1505While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
1506large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
1507I/O watchers.
1508
1509In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
1510case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
1511one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
1512well.
1513
1514The columns are identical to the previous table.
1515
1516=head3 Results
1517
1518 name sockets create request
1519 EV 16 20.00 6.54
1520 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
1521 Event 16 81.27 35.86
1522 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
1523 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
1524
1525=head3 Discussion
1526
1527The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
1528server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
1529in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
1530to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
1531speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
1532them).
1533
1534EV is again fastest.
1535
1536Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
1537loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
1538matter.
1539
1540POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
1541others.
1542
1543=head3 Summary
1544
1545=over 4
1546
1547=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
1548watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
1549
1550=back
1551
834 1552
835=head1 FORK 1553=head1 FORK
836 1554
837Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are 1555Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
838because they are so inefficient. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware. 1556because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
1557calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
839 1558
840If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first 1559If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
841watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child. 1560watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child.
1561
842 1562
843=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS 1563=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
844 1564
845AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via 1565AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
846$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to 1566$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to
854 1574
855 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} } 1575 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
856 1576
857 use AnyEvent; 1577 use AnyEvent;
858 1578
1579Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
1580be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
1581probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL).
1582
1583
859=head1 SEE ALSO 1584=head1 SEE ALSO
860 1585
861Event modules: L<Coro::EV>, L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, 1586Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
862L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>, L<Coro>, L<Tk>,
863L<Event::Lib>.
864 1587
865Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, 1588Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
866L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, 1589L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
867L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>.
868 1590
1591Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
1592L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
1593L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
1594L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>.
1595
1596Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
1597servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>.
1598
1599Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
1600
1601Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>,
1602
869Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>. 1603Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>, L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
1604
870 1605
871=head1 AUTHOR 1606=head1 AUTHOR
872 1607
873 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 1608 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
874 http://home.schmorp.de/ 1609 http://home.schmorp.de/

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