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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->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
23=head1 INTRODUCTION/TUTORIAL
24
25This manpage is mainly a reference manual. If you are interested
26in a tutorial or some gentle introduction, have a look at the
27L<AnyEvent::Intro> manpage.
22 28
23=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT) 29=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT)
24 30
25Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen 31Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen
26nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent? 32nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?
48isn't itself. What's worse, all the potential users of your module are 54isn't itself. What's worse, all the potential users of your module are
49I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use. 55I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use.
50 56
51AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works 57AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works
52fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together 58fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together
53with the rest: POE + IO::Async? no go. Tk + Event? no go. Again: if 59with the rest: POE + IO::Async? No go. Tk + Event? No go. Again: if
54your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it, 60your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it,
55too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all 61too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all
56event models it supports (including stuff like POE and IO::Async, as long 62event models it supports (including stuff like POE and IO::Async, as long
57as those use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new 63as those use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new
58event loops to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof). 64event loops to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof).
59 65
60In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event 66In 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 67model>, 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 68modules, 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 69follow. 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 70offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as
65technically possible. 71technically possible.
66 72
73Of course, AnyEvent comes with a big (and fully optional!) toolbox
74of useful functionality, such as an asynchronous DNS resolver, 100%
75non-blocking connects (even with TLS/SSL, IPv6 and on broken platforms
76such as Windows) and lots of real-world knowledge and workarounds for
77platform bugs and differences.
78
67Of course, if you want lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat 79Now, if you I<do want> lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat
68useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event 80useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event
69model, you should I<not> use this module. 81model, you should I<not> use this module.
70
71 82
72=head1 DESCRIPTION 83=head1 DESCRIPTION
73 84
74L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This 85L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This
75allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module 86allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module
79The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event> 90The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
80module. 91module.
81 92
82During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries 93During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries
83to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the 94to 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>, 95following modules is already loaded: L<EV>,
85L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<Tk>. The first one found is used. If none are found, 96L<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 97L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries
98to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl
99adaptor 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 100be 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 101found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl event loop, which is not
89is not very efficient, but should work everywhere. 102very efficient, but should work everywhere.
90 103
91Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading 104Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading
92an event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make 105an event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make
93that model the default. For example: 106that model the default. For example:
94 107
101starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to 114starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to
102use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly... 115use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly...
103 116
104The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called 117The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called
105C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it 118C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it
106explicitly. 119explicitly and enjoy the high availability of that event loop :)
107 120
108=head1 WATCHERS 121=head1 WATCHERS
109 122
110AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that 123AnyEvent 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 124stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as
112the callback to call, the filehandle to watch, etc. 125the callback to call, the file handle to watch, etc.
113 126
114These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After 127These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
115creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the 128creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the
116callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model 129callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model
117is in control). 130is in control).
134 147
135Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl, 148Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,
136my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are 149my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are
137declared. 150declared.
138 151
139=head2 IO WATCHERS 152=head2 I/O WATCHERS
140 153
141You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method 154You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
142with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments: 155with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
143 156
144C<fh> the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) to watch for 157C<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 158for 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, 159which creates a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events,
147respectively. C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle 160respectively. C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle
148becomes ready. 161becomes ready.
149 162
150File handles will be kept alive, so as long as the watcher exists, the 163Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
151file handle exists, too. 164presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
165callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
152 166
167The 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 168You must not close a file handle as long as any watcher is active on the
154on the underlying file descriptor. 169underlying file descriptor.
155 170
156Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should 171Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should
157always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file 172always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file
158handles. 173handles.
159 174
170 185
171You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >> 186You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>
172method with the following mandatory arguments: 187method with the following mandatory arguments:
173 188
174C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are 189C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are
175supported) should the timer activate. C<cb> the callback to invoke in that 190supported) the callback should be invoked. C<cb> is the callback to invoke
176case. 191in that case.
192
193Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
194presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
195callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks.
177 196
178The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating 197The 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 198timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk
180and Glib). 199and Glib).
181 200
206 225
207There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire 226There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire
208in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12 227in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12
209o'clock"). 228o'clock").
210 229
211While most event loops expect timers to specified in a relative way, they use 230While most event loops expect timers to specified in a relative way, they
212absolute time internally. This makes a difference when your clock "jumps", 231use 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 232"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 233the wrong date of 2014-01-01 to 2008-01-01, a watcher that is supposed to
215six years to finally fire. 234fire "after" a second might actually take six years to finally fire.
216 235
217AnyEvent cannot compensate for this. The only event loop that is conscious 236AnyEvent cannot compensate for this. The only event loop that is conscious
218about these issues is L<EV>, which offers both relative (ev_timer) and 237about these issues is L<EV>, which offers both relative (ev_timer, based
219absolute (ev_periodic) timers. 238on true relative time) and absolute (ev_periodic, based on wallclock time)
239timers.
220 240
221AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the 241AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the
222AnyEvent API. 242AnyEvent API.
243
244AnyEvent has two additional methods that return the "current time":
245
246=over 4
247
248=item AnyEvent->time
249
250This returns the "current wallclock time" as a fractional number of
251seconds since the Epoch (the same thing as C<time> or C<Time::HiRes::time>
252return, and the result is guaranteed to be compatible with those).
253
254It progresses independently of any event loop processing, i.e. each call
255will check the system clock, which usually gets updated frequently.
256
257=item AnyEvent->now
258
259This also returns the "current wallclock time", but unlike C<time>, above,
260this value might change only once per event loop iteration, depending on
261the event loop (most return the same time as C<time>, above). This is the
262time that AnyEvent's timers get scheduled against.
263
264I<In almost all cases (in all cases if you don't care), this is the
265function to call when you want to know the current time.>
266
267This function is also often faster then C<< AnyEvent->time >>, and
268thus the preferred method if you want some timestamp (for example,
269L<AnyEvent::Handle> uses this to update it's activity timeouts).
270
271The rest of this section is only of relevance if you try to be very exact
272with your timing, you can skip it without bad conscience.
273
274For a practical example of when these times differ, consider L<Event::Lib>
275and L<EV> and the following set-up:
276
277The event loop is running and has just invoked one of your callback at
278time=500 (assume no other callbacks delay processing). In your callback,
279you wait a second by executing C<sleep 1> (blocking the process for a
280second) and then (at time=501) you create a relative timer that fires
281after three seconds.
282
283With L<Event::Lib>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> will
284both return C<501>, because that is the current time, and the timer will
285be scheduled to fire at time=504 (C<501> + C<3>).
286
287With L<EV>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> returns C<501> (as that is the current
288time), but C<< AnyEvent->now >> returns C<500>, as that is the time the
289last event processing phase started. With L<EV>, your timer gets scheduled
290to run at time=503 (C<500> + C<3>).
291
292In one sense, L<Event::Lib> is more exact, as it uses the current time
293regardless of any delays introduced by event processing. However, most
294callbacks do not expect large delays in processing, so this causes a
295higher drift (and a lot more system calls to get the current time).
296
297In another sense, L<EV> is more exact, as your timer will be scheduled at
298the same time, regardless of how long event processing actually took.
299
300In either case, if you care (and in most cases, you don't), then you
301can get whatever behaviour you want with any event loop, by taking the
302difference between C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> into
303account.
304
305=back
223 306
224=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS 307=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
225 308
226You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal 309You 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 310I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl callback to
228be invoked whenever a signal occurs. 311be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
229 312
313Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
314presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
315callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
316
230Multiple signals occurances can be clumped together into one callback 317Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
231invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. synchronous means 318invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
232that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process, 319that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
233but it is guarenteed not to interrupt any other callbacks. 320but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
234 321
235The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal 322The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
236between multiple watchers. 323between multiple watchers.
237 324
238This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals 325This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals
248 335
249The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it 336The 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 337watches for any child process exit). The watcher will trigger as often
251as status change for the child are received. This works by installing a 338as 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 339signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with the pid
253and exit status (as returned by waitpid). 340and exit status (as returned by waitpid), so unlike other watcher types,
341you I<can> rely on child watcher callback arguments.
254 342
255Example: wait for pid 1333 343There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
344I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
345have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
346
347Not all event models handle this correctly (POE doesn't), but even for
348event models that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be
349loaded before the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place).
350
351This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first thing in an
352AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one watcher before you
353C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call C<AnyEvent::detect>).
354
355Example: fork a process and wait for it
356
357 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
358
359 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
256 360
257 my $w = AnyEvent->child ( 361 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
258 pid => 1333, 362 pid => $pid,
259 cb => sub { 363 cb => sub {
260 my ($pid, $status) = @_; 364 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
261 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status"; 365 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
366 $done->send;
262 }, 367 },
263 ); 368 );
264 369
370 # do something else, then wait for process exit
371 $done->recv;
372
265=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES 373=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
266 374
375If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
376require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
377will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
378
379AnyEvent is different, it expects somebody else to run the event loop and
380will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
381
382The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
383because they represent a condition that must become true.
384
267Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >> 385Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
268method without any arguments. 386>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
387C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
388becomes true.
269 389
270A condition variable waits for a condition - precisely that the C<< 390After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
271->broadcast >> method has been called. 391by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
392were a callback, read about the caveats in the description for the C<<
393->send >> method).
272 394
273They are very useful to signal that a condition has been fulfilled, for 395Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
396optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
397in time where multiple outstanding events have been processed. And yet
398another way to call them is transactions - each condition variable can be
399used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
400a result.
401
402Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
274example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests, 403for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
275then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the 404then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
276availability of results. 405availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
406called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
277 407
278You can also use condition variables to block your main program until 408You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
279an event occurs - for example, you could C<< ->wait >> in your main 409you 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<< 410could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
281->broadcast >> the "quit" event. 411button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
282 412
283Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have 413Note 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 414two 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 415lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
286you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks, 416you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
287as this asks for trouble. 417as this asks for trouble.
288 418
289This object has two methods: 419Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
420used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
421easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
422AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
423it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
424
425There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
426eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
427for the send to occur.
428
429Example: wait for a timer.
430
431 # wait till the result is ready
432 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
433
434 # do something such as adding a timer
435 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->send
436 # when the "result" is ready.
437 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
438 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
439 after => 1,
440 cb => sub { $result_ready->send },
441 );
442
443 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
444 # calls send
445 $result_ready->recv;
446
447Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that
448condition variables are also code references.
449
450 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
451 my $delay = AnyEvent->timer (after => 5, cb => $done);
452 $done->recv;
453
454=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
455
456These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
457code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
458the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
459uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
290 460
291=over 4 461=over 4
292 462
463=item $cv->send (...)
464
465Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
466calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
467called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
468
469If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
470immediately from within send.
471
472Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
473future C<< ->recv >> calls.
474
475Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly
476(as a code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling
477C<send>. Note, however, that many C-based event loops do not handle
478overloading, so as tempting as it may be, passing a condition variable
479instead of a callback does not work. Both the pure perl and EV loops
480support overloading, however, as well as all functions that use perl to
481invoke a callback (as in L<AnyEvent::Socket> and L<AnyEvent::DNS> for
482example).
483
484=item $cv->croak ($error)
485
486Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
487C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
488
489This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
490user/consumer.
491
492=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
493
293=item $cv->wait 494=item $cv->end
294 495
295Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been 496These two methods are EXPERIMENTAL and MIGHT CHANGE.
497
498These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
499one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
500to use a condition variable for the whole process.
501
502Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
503C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
504>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed. That callback
505is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send >>, but that is not required. If no
506callback was set, C<send> will be called without any arguments.
507
508Let's clarify this with the ping example:
509
510 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
511
512 my %result;
513 $cv->begin (sub { $cv->send (\%result) });
514
515 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
516 $cv->begin;
517 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
518 $result{$host} = ...;
519 $cv->end;
520 };
521 }
522
523 $cv->end;
524
525This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
526C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
527order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
528each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
529it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
530results arrive is not relevant.
531
532There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
533loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
534to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
535C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
536doesn't execute once).
537
538This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple subrequests:
539use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set the callback and ensure C<end>
540is called at least once, and then, for each subrequest you start, call
541C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish, call C<end>.
542
543=back
544
545=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
546
547These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
548code awaits the condition.
549
550=over 4
551
552=item $cv->recv
553
554Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
296called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally. 555>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
556normally.
297 557
298You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return 558You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
299immediately. 559will return immediately.
560
561If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
562function will call C<croak>.
563
564In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
565in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
300 566
301Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case 567Not 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 568(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 569using 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 570caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
305condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting 571condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
306callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block, 572callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
307while still suppporting blocking waits if the caller so desires). 573while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
308 574
309Another reason I<never> to C<< ->wait >> in a module is that you cannot 575Another 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 576sensibly have two C<< ->recv >>'s in parallel, as that would require
311multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent> 577multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent>
312can supply (the coroutine-aware backends L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV> and 578can supply.
313L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent> explicitly support concurrent C<< ->wait >>'s
314from different coroutines, however).
315 579
316=item $cv->broadcast 580The L<Coro> module, however, I<can> and I<does> supply coroutines and, in
581fact, L<Coro::AnyEvent> replaces AnyEvent's condvars by coroutine-safe
582versions and also integrates coroutines into AnyEvent, making blocking
583C<< ->recv >> calls perfectly safe as long as they are done from another
584coroutine (one that doesn't run the event loop).
317 585
318Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further 586You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
319calls to C<wait> will (eventually) return after this method has been 587only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
320called. If nobody is waiting the broadcast will be remembered.. 588time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
589waits otherwise.
590
591=item $bool = $cv->ready
592
593Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
594C<croak> have been called.
595
596=item $cb = $cv->cb ([new callback])
597
598This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
599replaces it before doing so.
600
601The callback will be called when the condition becomes "true", i.e. when
602C<send> or C<croak> are called, with the only argument being the condition
603variable itself. Calling C<recv> inside the callback or at any later time
604is guaranteed not to block.
321 605
322=back 606=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;
341 607
342=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS 608=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
343 609
344=over 4 610=over 4
345 611
351C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case 617C<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>). 618AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>).
353 619
354The known classes so far are: 620The known classes so far are:
355 621
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). 622 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice).
359 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, also second best choice :) 623 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice.
624 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
360 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice. 625 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.
361 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice. 626 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
362 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient but portable. 627 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).
628 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
629 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, not generic enough for full support.
630
631There is no support for WxWidgets, as WxWidgets has no support for
632watching file handles. However, you can use WxWidgets through the
633POE Adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply polls 20 times per
634second, which was considered to be too horrible to even consider for
635AnyEvent. Likewise, other POE backends can be used by AnyEvent by using
636it's adaptor.
637
638AnyEvent knows about L<Prima> and L<Wx> and will try to use L<POE> when
639autodetecting them.
363 640
364=item AnyEvent::detect 641=item AnyEvent::detect
365 642
366Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model 643Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
367if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would 644if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
368have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at 645have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
369runtime. 646runtime.
370 647
648=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
649
650Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
651autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
652
653If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
654that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed. See
655L<Coro::BDB> for a case where this is useful.
656
657=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
658
659If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
660before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
661the event loop has been chosen.
662
663You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
664if it contains a true value then the event loop has already been detected,
665and the array will be ignored.
666
667Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> instead.
668
371=back 669=back
372 670
373=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE 671=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
374 672
375As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods 673As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods
378Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will 676Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
379decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so 677decide 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 678by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
381to load the event module first. 679to load the event module first.
382 680
383Never call C<< ->wait >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that 681Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
384the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been called on it already. This is 682the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
385because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using 683because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
386events is to stay interactive. 684events is to stay interactive.
387 685
388It is fine, however, to call C<< ->wait >> when the user of your module 686It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
389requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method 687requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
390called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->wait >> 688called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
391freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always). 689freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
392 690
393=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM 691=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
394 692
395There will always be a single main program - the only place that should 693There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
397 695
398If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not 696If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not
399do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent 697do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
400decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it. 698decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
401 699
402If the main program relies on a specific event model. For example, in 700If the main program relies on a specific event model - for example, in
403Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module. You should load the 701Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module - you should load the
404event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally 702event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
405speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that 703speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
406modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will 704modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
407decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it 705decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
408might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself. 706might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
409 707
410You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by 708You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
411loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar 709C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
412behaviour everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose is generally better. 710everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
711
712=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
713
714Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
715only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
716
717In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
718
719 AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
720
721This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
722
723Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
724it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
725variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
726exit cleanly.
727
728
729=head1 OTHER MODULES
730
731The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
732AnyEvent and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent modules
733in the same program. Some of the modules come with AnyEvent, some are
734available via CPAN.
735
736=over 4
737
738=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
739
740Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
741functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
742
743=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
744
745Provide read and write buffers and manages watchers for reads and writes.
746
747=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
748
749Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
750addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
751connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
752
753=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
754
755Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
756
757=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
758
759Provides a simple web application server framework.
760
761=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
762
763The fastest ping in the west.
764
765=item L<Net::IRC3>
766
767AnyEvent based IRC client module family.
768
769=item L<Net::XMPP2>
770
771AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family.
772
773=item L<Net::FCP>
774
775AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
776of AnyEvent.
777
778=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
779
780High level API for event-based execution flow control.
781
782=item L<Coro>
783
784Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
785
786=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>, L<IO::AIO>
787
788Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
789programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses IO::AIO and AnyEvent
790together.
791
792=item L<AnyEvent::BDB>, L<BDB>
793
794Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses
795IO::AIO and AnyEvent together.
796
797=item L<IO::Lambda>
798
799The lambda approach to I/O - don't ask, look there. Can use AnyEvent.
800
801=back
413 802
414=cut 803=cut
415 804
416package AnyEvent; 805package AnyEvent;
417 806
418no warnings; 807no warnings;
419use strict; 808use strict;
420 809
421use Carp; 810use Carp;
422 811
423our $VERSION = '3.11'; 812our $VERSION = 4.11;
424our $MODEL; 813our $MODEL;
425 814
426our $AUTOLOAD; 815our $AUTOLOAD;
427our @ISA; 816our @ISA;
428 817
818our @REGISTRY;
819
820our $WIN32;
821
822BEGIN {
823 my $win32 = ! ! ($^O =~ /mswin32/i);
824 eval "sub WIN32(){ $win32 }";
825}
826
429our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1; 827our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
430 828
431our @REGISTRY; 829our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2), higher numbers are preferred
830
831{
832 my $idx;
833 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
834 for reverse split /\s*,\s*/,
835 $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
836}
432 837
433my @models = ( 838my @models = (
434 [Coro::EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV::],
435 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent::],
436 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::], 839 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::],
437 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 840 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::],
438 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::],
439 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::],
440 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::], 841 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::],
842 # everything below here will not be autoprobed
843 # as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
844 # and is usually faster
845 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], # crashes with many handles
846 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], # becomes extremely slow with many watchers
847 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
848 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
849 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
850 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
851 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
441); 852);
442 853
443our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer condvar broadcast wait signal one_event DESTROY); 854our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer time now signal child condvar one_event DESTROY);
855
856our @post_detect;
857
858sub post_detect(&) {
859 my ($cb) = @_;
860
861 if ($MODEL) {
862 $cb->();
863
864 1
865 } else {
866 push @post_detect, $cb;
867
868 defined wantarray
869 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::PostDetect"
870 : ()
871 }
872}
873
874sub AnyEvent::Util::PostDetect::DESTROY {
875 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
876}
444 877
445sub detect() { 878sub detect() {
446 unless ($MODEL) { 879 unless ($MODEL) {
447 no strict 'refs'; 880 no strict 'refs';
881 local $SIG{__DIE__};
882
883 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
884 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
885 if (eval "require $model") {
886 $MODEL = $model;
887 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
888 } else {
889 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL):\n$@" if $verbose;
890 }
891 }
448 892
449 # check for already loaded models 893 # check for already loaded models
894 unless ($MODEL) {
450 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 895 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
451 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 896 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
452 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 897 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
453 if (eval "require $model") { 898 if (eval "require $model") {
454 $MODEL = $model; 899 $MODEL = $model;
455 warn "AnyEvent: found model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 900 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
456 last; 901 last;
902 }
457 } 903 }
458 } 904 }
459 }
460 905
461 unless ($MODEL) { 906 unless ($MODEL) {
462 # try to load a model 907 # try to load a model
463 908
464 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 909 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
465 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 910 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
466 if (eval "require $package" 911 if (eval "require $package"
467 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0 912 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
468 and eval "require $model") { 913 and eval "require $model") {
469 $MODEL = $model; 914 $MODEL = $model;
470 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed and loaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 915 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
471 last; 916 last;
917 }
472 } 918 }
919
920 $MODEL
921 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.";
473 } 922 }
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 } 923 }
478 924
479 unshift @ISA, $MODEL; 925 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
480 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base"; 926 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
927
928 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
481 } 929 }
482 930
483 $MODEL 931 $MODEL
484} 932}
485 933
495 $class->$func (@_); 943 $class->$func (@_);
496} 944}
497 945
498package AnyEvent::Base; 946package AnyEvent::Base;
499 947
948# default implementation for now and time
949
950use Time::HiRes ();
951
952sub time { Time::HiRes::time }
953sub now { Time::HiRes::time }
954
500# default implementation for ->condvar, ->wait, ->broadcast 955# default implementation for ->condvar
501 956
502sub condvar { 957sub condvar {
503 bless \my $flag, "AnyEvent::Base::CondVar" 958 bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, AnyEvent::CondVar::
504}
505
506sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::broadcast {
507 ${$_[0]}++;
508}
509
510sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::wait {
511 AnyEvent->one_event while !${$_[0]};
512} 959}
513 960
514# default implementation for ->signal 961# default implementation for ->signal
515 962
516our %SIG_CB; 963our %SIG_CB;
569 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing"; 1016 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing";
570 1017
571 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1018 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
572 1019
573 unless ($WNOHANG) { 1020 unless ($WNOHANG) {
574 $WNOHANG = eval { require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1; 1021 $WNOHANG = eval { local $SIG{__DIE__}; require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;
575 } 1022 }
576 1023
577 unless ($CHLD_W) { 1024 unless ($CHLD_W) {
578 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld); 1025 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld);
579 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round 1026 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
589 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb}; 1036 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb};
590 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} }; 1037 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
591 1038
592 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB; 1039 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
593} 1040}
1041
1042package AnyEvent::CondVar;
1043
1044our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
1045
1046package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
1047
1048use overload
1049 '&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
1050 fallback => 1;
1051
1052sub _send {
1053 # nop
1054}
1055
1056sub send {
1057 my $cv = shift;
1058 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
1059 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
1060 $cv->_send;
1061}
1062
1063sub croak {
1064 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
1065 $_[0]->send;
1066}
1067
1068sub ready {
1069 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
1070}
1071
1072sub _wait {
1073 AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
1074}
1075
1076sub recv {
1077 $_[0]->_wait;
1078
1079 Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
1080 wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
1081}
1082
1083sub cb {
1084 $_[0]{_ae_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1085 $_[0]{_ae_cb}
1086}
1087
1088sub begin {
1089 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1090 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1091}
1092
1093sub end {
1094 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1095 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
1096}
1097
1098# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
1099*broadcast = \&send;
1100*wait = \&_wait;
594 1101
595=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 1102=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
596 1103
597This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in 1104This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
598a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to 1105a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
637 1144
638=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 1145=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
639 1146
640The following environment variables are used by this module: 1147The following environment variables are used by this module:
641 1148
642C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE> when set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to 1149=over 4
643report to STDERR which event model it chooses. 1150
1151=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
1152
1153By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
1154conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
1155talkative.
1156
1157When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
1158conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
1159C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
1160
1161When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
1162model it chooses.
1163
1164=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
1165
1166This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
1167auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
1168entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
1169and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
1170used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
1171auto detection and -probing.
1172
1173This functionality might change in future versions.
1174
1175For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
1176could start your program like this:
1177
1178 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
1179
1180=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
1181
1182Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
1183for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
1184of auto probing).
1185
1186Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
1187current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
1188used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
1189list.
1190
1191This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
1192against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
1193small, as the program has to handle connection errors already-
1194
1195Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
1196but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
1197- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
1198addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
1199IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
1200
1201=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
1202
1203Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
1204for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
1205some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
1206default.
1207
1208Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
1209EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
1210
1211=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_FORKS>
1212
1213The maximum number of child processes that C<AnyEvent::Util::fork_call>
1214will create in parallel.
1215
1216=back
644 1217
645=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM 1218=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
646 1219
647The following program uses an IO watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer 1220The 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 1221to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
649program when the user enters quit: 1222program when the user enters quit:
650 1223
651 use AnyEvent; 1224 use AnyEvent;
652 1225
657 poll => 'r', 1230 poll => 'r',
658 cb => sub { 1231 cb => sub {
659 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 1232 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
660 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 1233 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
661 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 1234 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
662 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 1235 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
663 }, 1236 },
664 ); 1237 );
665 1238
666 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once 1239 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
667 1240
672 }); 1245 });
673 } 1246 }
674 1247
675 new_timer; # create first timer 1248 new_timer; # create first timer
676 1249
677 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 1250 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
678 1251
679=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 1252=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
680 1253
681Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 1254Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
682API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 1255API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
732 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 1305 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
733 or die "connection or write error"; 1306 or die "connection or write error";
734 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 1307 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
735 1308
736Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 1309Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
737result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished: 1310result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
738 1311
739 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 1312 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
740 1313
741 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 1314 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
742 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 1315 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
743 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 1316 $txn->{finished}->send;
744 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 1317 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
745 } 1318 }
746 1319
747The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 1320The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
748request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the 1321request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
749data: 1322data:
750 1323
751 $txn->{finished}->wait; 1324 $txn->{finished}->recv;
752 return $txn->{result}; 1325 return $txn->{result};
753 1326
754The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 1327The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
755that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 1328that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
756whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 1329whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
757and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 1330and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
758problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a 1331problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
759random callback. 1332random callback.
760 1333
791 1364
792 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 1365 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
793 1366
794 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 1367 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
795 ... 1368 ...
796 $quit->broadcast; 1369 $quit->send;
797 }); 1370 });
798 1371
799 $quit->wait; 1372 $quit->recv;
1373
1374
1375=head1 BENCHMARKS
1376
1377To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
1378over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
1379of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
1380
1381=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
1382
1383Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
1384through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
1385timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
1386which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
1387
1388Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
1389distribution.
1390
1391=head3 Explanation of the columns
1392
1393I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
1394different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
1395loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
1396and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
1397would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
1398of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
1399
1400I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
1401RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
1402and Perl-based overheads.
1403
1404I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
1405takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
1406all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
1407and memory usage is not included in the figures.
1408
1409I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
1410callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
1411invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
1412signal the end of this phase.
1413
1414I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
1415watcher.
1416
1417=head3 Results
1418
1419 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
1420 EV/EV 400000 244 0.56 0.46 0.31 EV native interface
1421 EV/Any 100000 244 2.50 0.46 0.29 EV + AnyEvent watchers
1422 CoroEV/Any 100000 244 2.49 0.44 0.29 coroutines + Coro::Signal
1423 Perl/Any 100000 513 4.92 0.87 1.12 pure perl implementation
1424 Event/Event 16000 516 31.88 31.30 0.85 Event native interface
1425 Event/Any 16000 590 35.75 31.42 1.08 Event + AnyEvent watchers
1426 Glib/Any 16000 1357 98.22 12.41 54.00 quadratic behaviour
1427 Tk/Any 2000 1860 26.97 67.98 14.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
1428 POE/Event 2000 6644 108.64 736.02 14.73 via POE::Loop::Event
1429 POE/Select 2000 6343 94.13 809.12 565.96 via POE::Loop::Select
1430
1431=head3 Discussion
1432
1433The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
1434well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
1435can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
1436file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
1437the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
1438boost.
1439
1440Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
1441overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
1442the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
1443higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
1444
1445To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
1446benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
1447EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
1448cycles with POE.
1449
1450C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
1451maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, it uses
1452far less memory than any other event loop and is still faster than Event
1453natively.
1454
1455The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
1456constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
1457interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
1458adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
1459performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
1460them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
1461
1462The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
1463cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
1464
1465C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
1466faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
1467C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
1468watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
1469making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
1470(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
1471inefficiencies of C<poll> do not account for this).
1472
1473The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
1474more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
1475precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
1476file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
1477employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
1478hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
1479above).
1480
1481C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
1482select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
1483be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
1484memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
1485as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
1486requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
1487invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
1488implementation.
1489
1490The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
1491for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
1492small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
1493optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
1494using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
1495memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
1496design).
1497
1498=head3 Summary
1499
1500=over 4
1501
1502=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
1503(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
1504performance with or without AnyEvent.
1505
1506=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
1507the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
1508adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
1509
1510=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
1511reasonable memory usage.
1512
1513=back
1514
1515=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
1516
1517This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
1518creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
1519timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
1520watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
1521watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
1522
1523The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
1524are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
1525fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
1526timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
1527most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
1528
1529In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
1530(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
1531connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
1532
1533Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
1534distribution.
1535
1536=head3 Explanation of the columns
1537
1538I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
1539each server has a read and write socket end).
1540
1541I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
1542nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
1543
1544I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
1545single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
1546it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
1547a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
1548
1549=head3 Results
1550
1551 name sockets create request
1552 EV 20000 69.01 11.16
1553 Perl 20000 73.32 35.87
1554 Event 20000 212.62 257.32
1555 Glib 20000 651.16 1896.30
1556 POE 20000 349.67 12317.24 uses POE::Loop::Event
1557
1558=head3 Discussion
1559
1560This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
1561particular event loop.
1562
1563EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
1564is relatively high, though.
1565
1566Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
1567loops Event and Glib.
1568
1569Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
1570understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
1571the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
1572uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
1573
1574Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
1575clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
1576
1577POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
1578as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
1579it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
1580
1581=head3 Summary
1582
1583=over 4
1584
1585=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
1586
1587=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
1588
1589=back
1590
1591=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
1592
1593While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
1594large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
1595I/O watchers.
1596
1597In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
1598case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
1599one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
1600well.
1601
1602The columns are identical to the previous table.
1603
1604=head3 Results
1605
1606 name sockets create request
1607 EV 16 20.00 6.54
1608 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
1609 Event 16 81.27 35.86
1610 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
1611 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
1612
1613=head3 Discussion
1614
1615The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
1616server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
1617in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
1618to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
1619speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
1620them).
1621
1622EV is again fastest.
1623
1624Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
1625loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
1626matter.
1627
1628POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
1629others.
1630
1631=head3 Summary
1632
1633=over 4
1634
1635=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
1636watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
1637
1638=back
1639
1640
1641=head1 FORK
1642
1643Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
1644because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
1645calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
1646
1647If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
1648watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child.
1649
1650
1651=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
1652
1653AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
1654$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to
1655execute arbitrary code or directly gain access, it can easily be used to
1656make the program hang or malfunction in subtle ways, as AnyEvent watchers
1657will not be active when the program uses a different event model than
1658specified in the variable.
1659
1660You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
1661before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
1662
1663 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
1664
1665 use AnyEvent;
1666
1667Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
1668be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
1669probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL).
1670
800 1671
801=head1 SEE ALSO 1672=head1 SEE ALSO
802 1673
803Event modules: L<Coro::EV>, L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, 1674Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
804L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>, L<Coro>, L<Tk>.
805 1675
806Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, 1676Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
1677L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
1678
807L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, 1679Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
808L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. 1680L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
1681L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
1682L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>.
809 1683
1684Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
1685servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>.
1686
1687Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
1688
1689Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>,
1690
810Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>. 1691Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>, L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
811 1692
812=head1 1693
1694=head1 AUTHOR
1695
1696 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
1697 http://home.schmorp.de/
813 1698
814=cut 1699=cut
815 1700
8161 17011
817 1702

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