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Revision 1.28 by root, Sat Oct 27 15:10:09 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.71 by root, Fri Apr 25 07:29:42 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
5Event, Coro, Glib, Tk, Perl - various supported event loops 5EV, Event, Coro::EV, Coro::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
14 14
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 wether a condition was flagged 19 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged
20 $w->wait; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->broadcast 20 $w->wait; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->broadcast
21 $w->broadcast; # wake up current and all future wait's 21 $w->broadcast; # wake up current and all future wait's
22
23=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT)
24
25Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen
26nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?
27
28Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of
29policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>.
30
31First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only
32interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use in a
33pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike,
34the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general,
35only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent
36helps hiding the differences between those event loops.
37
38The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event
39programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a
40religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your
41module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event
42model you use.
43
44For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is
45actually doing all I/O I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is
46like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you
47cannot use anything else, as it is simply incompatible to everything that
48isn't itself. What's worse, all the potential users of your module are
49I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use.
50
51AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works
52fine. 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
54your 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
56event 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
58event loops to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof).
59
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
62modules, you get an enourmous amount of code and strict rules you have to
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
65technically possible.
66
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
69model, you should I<not> use this module.
70
22 71
23=head1 DESCRIPTION 72=head1 DESCRIPTION
24 73
25L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This 74L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This
26allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module 75allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module
27users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist 76users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist
28peacefully at any one time). 77peacefully at any one time).
29 78
30The interface itself is vaguely similar but not identical to the Event 79The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
31module. 80module.
32 81
33On the first call of any method, the module tries to detect the currently 82During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries
34loaded event loop by probing wether any of the following modules is 83to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the
35loaded: L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<Tk>. The first one found is 84following modules is already loaded: L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>, L<EV>,
36used. If none is found, the module tries to load these modules in the 85L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>,
37order given. The first one that could be successfully loaded will be 86L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries
38used. If still none could be found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl 87to load these modules (excluding Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl
39event loop, which is also not very efficient. 88adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can
89be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be
90found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl event loop, which is not
91very efficient, but should work everywhere.
40 92
41Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading 93Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading
42an Event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make 94an event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make
43that model the default. For example: 95that model the default. For example:
44 96
45 use Tk; 97 use Tk;
46 use AnyEvent; 98 use AnyEvent;
47 99
48 # .. AnyEvent will likely default to Tk 100 # .. AnyEvent will likely default to Tk
101
102The I<likely> means that, if any module loads another event model and
103starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to
104use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly...
49 105
50The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called 106The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called
51C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it 107C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it
52explicitly. 108explicitly.
53 109
56AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that 112AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that
57stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as 113stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as
58the callback to call, the filehandle to watch, etc. 114the callback to call, the filehandle to watch, etc.
59 115
60These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After 116These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
61creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke 117creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the
118callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model
119is in control).
120
62the callback. To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by 121To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the
63setting the variable that stores it to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all 122variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references
64references to it). 123to it).
65 124
66All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class. 125All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class.
67 126
127Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for
128example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways.
129
130An any way to achieve that is this pattern:
131
132 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub {
133 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it
134 undef $w;
135 });
136
137Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,
138my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are
139declared.
140
68=head2 IO WATCHERS 141=head2 IO WATCHERS
69 142
70You can create I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method with 143You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
71the following mandatory arguments: 144with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
72 145
73C<fh> the Perl I<filehandle> (not filedescriptor) to watch for 146C<fh> the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) to watch for
74events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, that creates 147events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, which
75a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events. C<cb> teh callback 148creates a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events,
76to invoke everytime the filehandle becomes ready. 149respectively. C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle
150becomes ready.
77 151
78Only one io watcher per C<fh> and C<poll> combination is allowed (i.e. on 152As long as the I/O watcher exists it will keep the file descriptor or a
79a socket you can have one r + one w, not any more (limitation comes from 153copy of it alive/open.
80Tk - if you are sure you are not using Tk this limitation is gone).
81 154
82Filehandles will be kept alive, so as long as the watcher exists, the 155It is not allowed to close a file handle as long as any watcher is active
83filehandle exists, too. 156on the underlying file descriptor.
157
158Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should
159always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file
160handles.
84 161
85Example: 162Example:
86 163
87 # wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the watcher 164 # wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the watcher
88 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 165 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
94=head2 TIME WATCHERS 171=head2 TIME WATCHERS
95 172
96You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >> 173You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>
97method with the following mandatory arguments: 174method with the following mandatory arguments:
98 175
99C<after> after how many seconds (fractions are supported) should the timer 176C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are
100activate. C<cb> the callback to invoke. 177supported) should the timer activate. C<cb> the callback to invoke in that
178case.
101 179
102The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating 180The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating
103timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk 181timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk
104and Glib). 182and Glib).
105 183
109 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub { 187 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub {
110 warn "timeout\n"; 188 warn "timeout\n";
111 }); 189 });
112 190
113 # to cancel the timer: 191 # to cancel the timer:
114 undef $w 192 undef $w;
115 193
194Example 2:
195
196 # fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second
197 my $w;
198
199 my $cb = sub {
200 # cancel the old timer while creating a new one
201 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => $cb);
202 };
203
204 # start the "loop" by creating the first watcher
205 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, cb => $cb);
206
207=head3 TIMING ISSUES
208
209There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire
210in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12
211o'clock").
212
213While most event loops expect timers to specified in a relative way, they
214use absolute time internally. This makes a difference when your clock
215"jumps", for example, when ntp decides to set your clock backwards from
216the wrong date of 2014-01-01 to 2008-01-01, a watcher that is supposed to
217fire "after" a second might actually take six years to finally fire.
218
219AnyEvent cannot compensate for this. The only event loop that is conscious
220about these issues is L<EV>, which offers both relative (ev_timer, based
221on true relative time) and absolute (ev_periodic, based on wallclock time)
222timers.
223
224AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the
225AnyEvent API.
226
227=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
228
229You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
230I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl callback to
231be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
232
233Multiple signal occurances can be clumped together into one callback
234invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. synchronous means
235that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
236but it is guarenteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
237
238The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
239between multiple watchers.
240
241This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals
242directly will likely not work correctly.
243
244Example: exit on SIGINT
245
246 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
247
248=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
249
250You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status.
251
252The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it
253watches for any child process exit). The watcher will trigger as often
254as status change for the child are received. This works by installing a
255signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with the pid
256and exit status (as returned by waitpid).
257
258Example: wait for pid 1333
259
260 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
261 pid => 1333,
262 cb => sub {
263 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
264 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
265 },
266 );
267
116=head2 CONDITION WATCHERS 268=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
117 269
118Condition watchers can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >> 270Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >>
119method without any arguments. 271method without any arguments.
120 272
121A condition watcher watches for a condition - precisely that the C<< 273A condition variable waits for a condition - precisely that the C<<
122->broadcast >> method has been called. 274->broadcast >> method has been called.
123 275
124The watcher has only two methods: 276They are very useful to signal that a condition has been fulfilled, for
277example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
278then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
279availability of results.
280
281You can also use condition variables to block your main program until
282an event occurs - for example, you could C<< ->wait >> in your main
283program until the user clicks the Quit button in your app, which would C<<
284->broadcast >> the "quit" event.
285
286Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
287two pirces of code that call C<< ->wait >> in a round-robbin fashion, you
288lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
289you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
290as this asks for trouble.
291
292This object has two methods:
125 293
126=over 4 294=over 4
127 295
128=item $cv->wait 296=item $cv->wait
129 297
130Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been 298Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been
131called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally. 299called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally.
132 300
133Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case, so
134if you are using this from a module, never require a blocking wait, but
135let the caller decide wether the call will block or not (for example,
136by coupling condition variables with some kind of request results and
137supporting callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not
138block, while still suppporting blockign waits if the caller so desires).
139
140You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return 301You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return
141immediately. 302immediately.
142 303
304Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
305(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
306using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the
307caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
308condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
309callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
310while still suppporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
311
312Another reason I<never> to C<< ->wait >> in a module is that you cannot
313sensibly have two C<< ->wait >>'s in parallel, as that would require
314multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent>
315can supply (the coroutine-aware backends L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV> and
316L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent> explicitly support concurrent C<< ->wait >>'s
317from different coroutines, however).
318
143=item $cv->broadcast 319=item $cv->broadcast
144 320
145Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further 321Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further
146calls to C<wait> will return after this method has been called. If nobody 322calls to C<wait> will (eventually) return after this method has been
147is waiting the broadcast will be remembered.. 323called. If nobody is waiting the broadcast will be remembered..
324
325=back
148 326
149Example: 327Example:
150 328
151 # wait till the result is ready 329 # wait till the result is ready
152 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar; 330 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
153 331
154 # do something such as adding a timer 332 # do something such as adding a timer
155 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast 333 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast
156 # when the "result" is ready. 334 # when the "result" is ready.
335 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
336 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
337 after => 1,
338 cb => sub { $result_ready->broadcast },
339 );
157 340
341 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the watcher
342 # calls broadcast
158 $result_ready->wait; 343 $result_ready->wait;
159 344
160=back 345=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
161
162=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
163
164You can listen for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
165I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix. Multiple signals events can be clumped
166together into one callback invocation, and callback invocation might or
167might not be asynchronous.
168
169These watchers might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals
170directly will likely not work correctly.
171
172Example: exit on SIGINT
173
174 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
175
176=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
177
178You can also listen for the status of a child process specified by the
179C<pid> argument. The watcher will only trigger once. This works by
180installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>.
181
182Example: wait for pid 1333
183
184 my $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => 1333, cb => sub { warn "exit status $?" });
185
186=head1 GLOBALS
187 346
188=over 4 347=over 4
189 348
190=item $AnyEvent::MODEL 349=item $AnyEvent::MODEL
191 350
195C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case 354C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case
196AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>). 355AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>).
197 356
198The known classes so far are: 357The known classes so far are:
199 358
200 AnyEvent::Impl::Coro based on Coro::Event, best choice. 359 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV based on Coro::EV, best choice.
360 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent based on Coro::Event, second best choice.
201 EV::AnyEvent based on EV (an interface to libevent) 361 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice).
202 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, also best choice :) 362 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice.
203 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, second-best choice. 363 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.
204 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice. 364 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
205 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient. 365 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient but portable.
366 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).
367 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
368 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, not generic enough for full support.
369
370There is no support for WxWidgets, as WxWidgets has no support for
371watching file handles. However, you can use WxWidgets through the
372POE Adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply polls 20 times per
373second, which was considered to be too horrible to even consider for
374AnyEvent. Likewise, other POE backends can be used by AnyEvent by using
375it's adaptor.
376
377AnyEvent knows about L<Prima> and L<Wx> and will try to use L<POE> when
378autodetecting them.
206 379
207=item AnyEvent::detect 380=item AnyEvent::detect
208 381
209Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model if 382Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
210necessary. You should only call this function right before you would have 383if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
211created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, very late at runtime. 384have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
385runtime.
212 386
213=back 387=back
214 388
215=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE 389=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
216 390
217As a module author, you should "use AnyEvent" and call AnyEvent methods 391As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods
218freely, but you should not load a specific event module or rely on it. 392freely, but you should not load a specific event module or rely on it.
219 393
220Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - Anyevent will 394Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
221decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so 395decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
222by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module 396by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
223to load the event module first. 397to load the event module first.
224 398
399Never call C<< ->wait >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
400the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been called on it already. This is
401because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
402events is to stay interactive.
403
404It is fine, however, to call C<< ->wait >> when the user of your module
405requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
406called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->wait >>
407freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
408
225=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM 409=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
226 410
227There will always be a single main program - the only place that should 411There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
228dictate which event model to use. 412dictate which event model to use.
229 413
230If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not 414If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not
231do anything special and let AnyEvent decide which implementation to chose. 415do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
416decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
232 417
233If the main program relies on a specific event model (for example, in Gtk2 418If the main program relies on a specific event model. For example, in
234programs you have to rely on either Glib or Glib::Event), you should load 419Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module. You should load the
235it before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it, generally, as early 420event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
236as possible. The reason is that modules might create watchers when they 421speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
237are loaded, and AnyEvent will decide on the event model to use as soon as 422modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
238it creates watchers, and it might chose the wrong one unless you load the 423decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
239correct one yourself. 424might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
240 425
241You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by 426You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by
242loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, but letting AnyEvent chose is 427loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar
243generally better. 428behaviour everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose is generally better.
244 429
245=cut 430=cut
246 431
247package AnyEvent; 432package AnyEvent;
248 433
249no warnings; 434no warnings;
250use strict; 435use strict;
251 436
252use Carp; 437use Carp;
253 438
254our $VERSION = '2.55'; 439our $VERSION = '3.3';
255our $MODEL; 440our $MODEL;
256 441
257our $AUTOLOAD; 442our $AUTOLOAD;
258our @ISA; 443our @ISA;
259 444
260our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1; 445our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
261 446
262our @REGISTRY; 447our @REGISTRY;
263 448
264my @models = ( 449my @models = (
450 [Coro::EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV::],
265 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Coro::], 451 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent::],
266 [EV:: => EV::AnyEvent::], 452 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::],
267 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 453 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::],
268 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], 454 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::],
269 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], 455 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::],
456 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
457 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
270 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::], 458 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::],
459 # everything below here will not be autoprobed as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
460 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
461 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
462 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
271); 463);
272 464
273our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer condvar broadcast wait signal one_event DESTROY); 465our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer signal child condvar broadcast wait one_event DESTROY);
274 466
275sub detect() { 467sub detect() {
276 unless ($MODEL) { 468 unless ($MODEL) {
277 no strict 'refs'; 469 no strict 'refs';
278 470
471 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
472 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
473 if (eval "require $model") {
474 $MODEL = $model;
475 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
476 } else {
477 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL):\n$@" if $verbose;
478 }
479 }
480
279 # check for already loaded models 481 # check for already loaded models
482 unless ($MODEL) {
280 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 483 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
281 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 484 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
282 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 485 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
283 if (eval "require $model") { 486 if (eval "require $model") {
284 $MODEL = $model; 487 $MODEL = $model;
285 warn "AnyEvent: found model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 488 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
286 last; 489 last;
490 }
287 } 491 }
288 } 492 }
289 }
290 493
291 unless ($MODEL) { 494 unless ($MODEL) {
292 # try to load a model 495 # try to load a model
293 496
294 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 497 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
295 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 498 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
296 if (eval "require $package" 499 if (eval "require $package"
297 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0 500 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
298 and eval "require $model") { 501 and eval "require $model") {
299 $MODEL = $model; 502 $MODEL = $model;
300 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed and loaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 503 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
301 last; 504 last;
505 }
302 } 506 }
507
508 $MODEL
509 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.";
303 } 510 }
304
305 $MODEL
306 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: Event (or Coro+Event), Glib or Tk.";
307 } 511 }
308 512
309 unshift @ISA, $MODEL; 513 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
310 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base"; 514 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
311 } 515 }
369 573
370# default implementation for ->child 574# default implementation for ->child
371 575
372our %PID_CB; 576our %PID_CB;
373our $CHLD_W; 577our $CHLD_W;
578our $CHLD_DELAY_W;
374our $PID_IDLE; 579our $PID_IDLE;
375our $WNOHANG; 580our $WNOHANG;
376 581
377sub _child_wait { 582sub _child_wait {
378 while (0 < (my $pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG)) { 583 while (0 < (my $pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG)) {
379 $_->() for values %{ (delete $PID_CB{$pid}) || {} }; 584 $_->($pid, $?) for (values %{ $PID_CB{$pid} || {} }),
585 (values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} });
380 } 586 }
381 587
382 undef $PID_IDLE; 588 undef $PID_IDLE;
383} 589}
384 590
591sub _sigchld {
592 # make sure we deliver these changes "synchronous" with the event loop.
593 $CHLD_DELAY_W ||= AnyEvent->timer (after => 0, cb => sub {
594 undef $CHLD_DELAY_W;
595 &_child_wait;
596 });
597}
598
385sub child { 599sub child {
386 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 600 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
387 601
388 my $pid = uc $arg{pid} 602 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0)
389 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing"; 603 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing";
390 604
391 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 605 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
392 606
393 unless ($WNOHANG) { 607 unless ($WNOHANG) {
394 $WNOHANG = eval { require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1; 608 $WNOHANG = eval { require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;
395 } 609 }
396 610
397 unless ($CHLD_W) { 611 unless ($CHLD_W) {
398 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_child_wait); 612 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld);
399 # child could be a zombie already 613 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
400 $PID_IDLE ||= AnyEvent->timer (after => 0, cb => \&_child_wait); 614 &_sigchld;
401 } 615 }
402 616
403 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Child" 617 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Child"
404} 618}
405 619
411 625
412 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB; 626 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
413} 627}
414 628
415=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 629=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
630
631This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
632a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
633provide AnyEvent compatibility.
416 634
417If you need to support another event library which isn't directly 635If you need to support another event library which isn't directly
418supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by 636supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by
419pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of 637pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of
420the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto 638the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto
421C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading 639C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading
422AnyEvent. 640AnyEvent, so it is reasonably cheap.
423 641
424Example: 642Example:
425 643
426 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::]; 644 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::];
427 645
428This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::> 646This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::>
429package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is loaded. When 647package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is already loaded.
648
430AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it will 649When AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it
431first check for the presence of urxvt. 650will first check for the presence of urxvt by trying to C<use> the
651C<urxvt::anyevent> module.
432 652
433The class should provide implementations for all watcher types (see 653The class should provide implementations for all watcher types. See
434L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> 654L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> (Source code)
435(Source code) and so on for actual examples, use C<perldoc -m 655and so on for actual examples. Use C<perldoc -m AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to
436AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to see the sources). 656see the sources.
437 657
658If you don't provide C<signal> and C<child> watchers than AnyEvent will
659provide suitable (hopefully) replacements.
660
438The above isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt) 661The above example isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt)
439uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included in AnyEvent 662terminal emulator uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included
440because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter inside 663in AnyEvent because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter
441I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the 664inside I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the
442I<rxvt-unicode> distribution. 665I<rxvt-unicode> distribution.
443 666
444I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to 667I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to
445condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will 668condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will
446C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must 669C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must
447not be in an interactive application, so it makes sense. 670not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense.
448 671
449=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 672=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
450 673
451The following environment variables are used by this module: 674The following environment variables are used by this module:
452 675
453C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE> when set to C<2> or higher, reports which event 676=over 4
454model gets used.
455 677
678=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
679
680By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
681conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
682talkative.
683
684When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
685conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
686C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
687
688When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
689model it chooses.
690
691=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
692
693This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
694autodetection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
695entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
696and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
697used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
698autodetection and -probing.
699
700This functionality might change in future versions.
701
702For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
703could start your program like this:
704
705 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
706
707=back
708
456=head1 EXAMPLE 709=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
457 710
458The following program uses an io watcher to read data from stdin, a timer 711The following program uses an IO watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
459to display a message once per second, and a condvar to exit the program 712to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
460when the user enters quit: 713program when the user enters quit:
461 714
462 use AnyEvent; 715 use AnyEvent;
463 716
464 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar; 717 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
465 718
466 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 719 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (
720 fh => \*STDIN,
721 poll => 'r',
722 cb => sub {
467 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 723 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
468 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 724 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
469 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 725 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
470 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 726 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
727 },
471 }); 728 );
472 729
473 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once 730 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
474 731
475 sub new_timer { 732 sub new_timer {
476 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub { 733 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub {
558 $txn->{finished}->wait; 815 $txn->{finished}->wait;
559 return $txn->{result}; 816 return $txn->{result};
560 817
561The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 818The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
562that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 819that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects
563wether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 820whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
564and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 821and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
565problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a 822problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
566random callback. 823random callback.
567 824
568All of this enables the following usage styles: 825All of this enables the following usage styles:
569 826
5701. Blocking: 8271. Blocking:
571 828
572 my $data = $fcp->client_get ($url); 829 my $data = $fcp->client_get ($url);
573 830
5742. Blocking, but parallelizing: 8312. Blocking, but running in parallel:
575 832
576 my @datas = map $_->result, 833 my @datas = map $_->result,
577 map $fcp->txn_client_get ($_), 834 map $fcp->txn_client_get ($_),
578 @urls; 835 @urls;
579 836
580Both blocking examples work without the module user having to know 837Both blocking examples work without the module user having to know
581anything about events. 838anything about events.
582 839
5833a. Event-based in a main program, using any support Event module: 8403a. Event-based in a main program, using any supported event module:
584 841
585 use Event; 842 use EV;
586 843
587 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 844 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
588 my $txn = shift; 845 my $txn = shift;
589 my $data = $txn->result; 846 my $data = $txn->result;
590 ... 847 ...
591 }); 848 });
592 849
593 Event::loop; 850 EV::loop;
594 851
5953b. The module user could use AnyEvent, too: 8523b. The module user could use AnyEvent, too:
596 853
597 use AnyEvent; 854 use AnyEvent;
598 855
603 $quit->broadcast; 860 $quit->broadcast;
604 }); 861 });
605 862
606 $quit->wait; 863 $quit->wait;
607 864
865
866=head1 BENCHMARK
867
868To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
869over the event loops themselves (and to give you an impression of the
870speed of various event loops), here is a benchmark of various supported
871event models natively and with anyevent. The benchmark creates a lot of
872timers (with a zero timeout) and io watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to
873become writable, which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys
874them again.
875
876=head2 Explanation of the columns
877
878I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
879different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
880loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
881and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
882would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
883of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
884
885I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
886RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
887and Perl-based overheads.
888
889I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
890takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
891all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
892and memory usage is not included in the figures.
893
894I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
895callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
896invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->broadcast >> a condvar once to
897signal the end of this phase.
898
899I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
900watcher.
901
902=head2 Results
903
904 name watcher bytes create invoke destroy comment
905 EV/EV 400000 244 0.56 0.46 0.31 EV native interface
906 EV/Any 100000 610 3.52 0.91 0.75 EV + AnyEvent watchers
907 CoroEV/Any 100000 610 3.49 0.92 0.75 coroutines + Coro::Signal
908 Perl/Any 16000 654 4.64 1.22 0.77 pure perl implementation
909 Event/Event 16000 523 28.05 21.38 0.86 Event native interface
910 Event/Any 16000 943 34.43 20.48 1.39 Event + AnyEvent watchers
911 Glib/Any 16000 1357 96.99 12.55 55.51 quadratic behaviour
912 Tk/Any 2000 1855 27.01 66.61 14.03 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
913 POE/Event 2000 6644 108.15 768.19 14.33 via POE::Loop::Event
914 POE/Select 2000 6343 94.69 807.65 562.69 via POE::Loop::Select
915
916=head2 Discussion
917
918The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
919well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
920can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
921file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, only a single filehandle
922is used (although some of the AnyEvent adaptors dup() its file descriptor
923to worka round bugs).
924
925C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
926maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, there is
927only one event loop that uses less memory (the C<Event> module natively), and
928no faster event model, not event C<Event> natively.
929
930The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
931zero timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
932interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless tis shows that it
933adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
934performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors, of course,
935but this was not subjetc of this benchmark.
936
937The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation cost,
938but overall scores on the third place.
939
940C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit bit higher, features a faster
941callback invocation and overall lands in the same class as C<Event>.
942
943The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well, the fact that it crashes with
944more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
945precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
946file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
947employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
948hidden memory cost inside the kernel, though).
949
950C<POE>, regardless of backend (wether using its pure perl select-based
951backend or the Event backend) shows abysmal performance and memory
952usage: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory as EV watchers, and 10
953times as much memory as both Event or EV via AnyEvent. Watcher invocation
954is almost 700 times slower as with AnyEvent's pure perl implementation.
955
956Summary: using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event
957loop. The overhead AnyEvent adds can be very small, and you should avoid
958POE like the plague if you want performance or reasonable memory usage.
959
960
961=head1 FORK
962
963Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
964because they are so inefficient. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
965
966If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
967watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child.
968
969
970=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
971
972AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
973$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to
974execute arbitrary code or directly gain access, it can easily be used to
975make the program hang or malfunction in subtle ways, as AnyEvent watchers
976will not be active when the program uses a different event model than
977specified in the variable.
978
979You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
980before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
981
982 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
983
984 use AnyEvent;
985
986
608=head1 SEE ALSO 987=head1 SEE ALSO
609 988
610Event modules: L<Coro::Event>, L<Coro>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>. 989Event modules: L<Coro::EV>, L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>,
990L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>, L<Coro>, L<Tk>,
991L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
611 992
993Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>,
612Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::Coro>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>. 994L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>,
995L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>,
996L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>.
613 997
614Nontrivial usage example: L<Net::FCP>. 998Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>.
615 999
616=head1 1000
1001=head1 AUTHOR
1002
1003 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
1004 http://home.schmorp.de/
617 1005
618=cut 1006=cut
619 1007
6201 10081
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