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Revision 1.44 by root, Mon Apr 7 19:42:18 2008 UTC vs.
Revision 1.129 by elmex, Sat May 24 15:19:30 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, 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->send; # wake up current and all future recv's
20 $w->wait; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->broadcast 21 $w->recv; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->send
21 $w->broadcast; # wake up current and all future wait's
22 22
23=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT) 23=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT)
24 24
25Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen 25Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen
26nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent? 26nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?
29policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>. 29policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>.
30 30
31First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only 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 32interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use in a
33pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike, 33pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike,
34the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality, and AnyEvent 34the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general,
35helps hiding the differences. 35only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent
36helps hiding the differences between those event loops.
36 37
37The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event 38The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event
38programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a 39programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a
39religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your 40religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your
40module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event 41module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event
41model you use. 42model you use.
42 43
43For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is actually doing all I/O 44For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is
44I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is like joining a 45actually doing all I/O I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is
45cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you cannot use 46like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you
46anything else, as it is simply incompatible to everything that isn't 47cannot use anything else, as it is simply incompatible to everything that
47itself. 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.
48 50
49AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works fine. AnyEvent + Tk 51AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works
50works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together with the rest: POE 52fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together
51+ IO::Async? no go. Tk + Event? no go. If your module uses one of 53with the rest: POE + IO::Async? no go. Tk + Event? no go. Again: if
52those, every user of your module has to use it, too. If your module 54your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it,
53uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all event models it supports 55too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all
54(including stuff like POE and IO::Async). 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).
55 59
56In addition of being free of having to use I<the one and only true event 60In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event
57model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar 61model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar
58modules, you get an enourmous amount of code and strict rules you have 62modules, you get an enormous amount of code and strict rules you have to
59to follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and to the point by only 63follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only
60offering the functionality that is useful, in as thin as a wrapper as 64offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as
61technically possible. 65technically possible.
62 66
63Of course, if you want lots of policy (this is arguably somewhat useful 67Of course, if you want lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat
64in many cases) and you want to force your users to the one and only event 68useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event
65model your module forces on them, you should I<not> use this module. 69model, you should I<not> use this module.
66
67 70
68=head1 DESCRIPTION 71=head1 DESCRIPTION
69 72
70L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This 73L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This
71allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module 74allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module
72users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist 75users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist
73peacefully at any one time). 76peacefully at any one time).
74 77
75The interface itself is vaguely similar but not identical to the Event 78The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
76module. 79module.
77 80
78On the first call of any method, the module tries to detect the currently 81During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries
79loaded event loop by probing wether any of the following modules is 82to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the
80loaded: L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<Tk>. The first one found is 83following modules is already loaded: L<EV>,
81used. If none is found, the module tries to load these modules in the 84L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>,
82order given. The first one that could be successfully loaded will be 85L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries
83used. If still none could be found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl 86to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl
84event loop, which is also not very efficient. 87adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can
88be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be
89found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl event loop, which is not
90very efficient, but should work everywhere.
85 91
86Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading 92Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading
87an Event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make 93an event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make
88that model the default. For example: 94that model the default. For example:
89 95
90 use Tk; 96 use Tk;
91 use AnyEvent; 97 use AnyEvent;
92 98
93 # .. AnyEvent will likely default to Tk 99 # .. AnyEvent will likely default to Tk
100
101The I<likely> means that, if any module loads another event model and
102starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to
103use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly...
94 104
95The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called 105The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called
96C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it 106C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it
97explicitly. 107explicitly.
98 108
99=head1 WATCHERS 109=head1 WATCHERS
100 110
101AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that 111AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that
102stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as 112stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as
103the callback to call, the filehandle to watch, etc. 113the callback to call, the file handle to watch, etc.
104 114
105These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After 115These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
106creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke 116creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the
117callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model
118is in control).
119
107the callback. To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by 120To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the
108setting the variable that stores it to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all 121variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references
109references to it). 122to it).
110 123
111All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class. 124All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class.
112 125
126Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for
127example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways.
128
129An any way to achieve that is this pattern:
130
131 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub {
132 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it
133 undef $w;
134 });
135
136Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,
137my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are
138declared.
139
113=head2 IO WATCHERS 140=head2 I/O WATCHERS
114 141
115You can create I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method with 142You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
116the following mandatory arguments: 143with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
117 144
118C<fh> the Perl I<filehandle> (not filedescriptor) to watch for 145C<fh> the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) to watch
119events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, that creates 146for events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>,
120a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events. C<cb> the callback 147which creates a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events,
121to invoke everytime the filehandle becomes ready. 148respectively. C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle
149becomes ready.
122 150
123Only one io watcher per C<fh> and C<poll> combination is allowed (i.e. on 151Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
124a socket you can have one r + one w, not any more (limitation comes from 152presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
125Tk - if you are sure you are not using Tk this limitation is gone). 153callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
126 154
127Filehandles will be kept alive, so as long as the watcher exists, the 155The I/O watcher might use the underlying file descriptor or a copy of it.
128filehandle exists, too. 156You must not close a file handle as long as any watcher is active on the
157underlying file descriptor.
158
159Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should
160always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file
161handles.
129 162
130Example: 163Example:
131 164
132 # wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the watcher 165 # wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the watcher
133 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 166 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
139=head2 TIME WATCHERS 172=head2 TIME WATCHERS
140 173
141You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >> 174You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>
142method with the following mandatory arguments: 175method with the following mandatory arguments:
143 176
144C<after> after how many seconds (fractions are supported) should the timer 177C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are
145activate. C<cb> the callback to invoke. 178supported) the callback should be invoked. C<cb> is the callback to invoke
179in that case.
180
181Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
182presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
183callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks.
146 184
147The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating 185The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating
148timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk 186timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk
149and Glib). 187and Glib).
150 188
156 }); 194 });
157 195
158 # to cancel the timer: 196 # to cancel the timer:
159 undef $w; 197 undef $w;
160 198
199Example 2:
200
201 # fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second
202 my $w;
203
204 my $cb = sub {
205 # cancel the old timer while creating a new one
206 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => $cb);
207 };
208
209 # start the "loop" by creating the first watcher
210 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, cb => $cb);
211
212=head3 TIMING ISSUES
213
214There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire
215in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12
216o'clock").
217
218While most event loops expect timers to specified in a relative way, they
219use absolute time internally. This makes a difference when your clock
220"jumps", for example, when ntp decides to set your clock backwards from
221the wrong date of 2014-01-01 to 2008-01-01, a watcher that is supposed to
222fire "after" a second might actually take six years to finally fire.
223
224AnyEvent cannot compensate for this. The only event loop that is conscious
225about these issues is L<EV>, which offers both relative (ev_timer, based
226on true relative time) and absolute (ev_periodic, based on wallclock time)
227timers.
228
229AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the
230AnyEvent API.
231
232=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
233
234You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
235I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl callback to
236be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
237
238Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
239presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
240callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
241
242Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
243invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
244that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
245but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
246
247The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
248between multiple watchers.
249
250This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals
251directly will likely not work correctly.
252
253Example: exit on SIGINT
254
255 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
256
257=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
258
259You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status.
260
261The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it
262watches for any child process exit). The watcher will trigger as often
263as status change for the child are received. This works by installing a
264signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with the pid
265and exit status (as returned by waitpid), so unlike other watcher types,
266you I<can> rely on child watcher callback arguments.
267
268There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
269I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
270have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
271
272Not all event models handle this correctly (POE doesn't), but even for
273event models that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be
274loaded before the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place).
275
276This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first thing in an
277AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one watcher before you
278C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call C<AnyEvent::detect>).
279
280Example: fork a process and wait for it
281
282 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
283
284 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
285
286 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
287 pid => $pid,
288 cb => sub {
289 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
290 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
291 $done->send;
292 },
293 );
294
295 # do something else, then wait for process exit
296 $done->recv;
297
161=head2 CONDITION WATCHERS 298=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
162 299
300If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
301require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
302will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
303
304AnyEvent is different, it expects somebody else to run the event loop and
305will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
306
307The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
308because they represent a condition that must become true.
309
163Condition watchers can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >> 310Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
164method without any arguments. 311>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
312C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
313becomes true.
165 314
166A condition watcher watches for a condition - precisely that the C<< 315After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
167->broadcast >> method has been called. 316by calling the C<send> method.
168 317
318Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
319optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
320in time where multiple outstanding events have been processed. And yet
321another way to call them is transactions - each condition variable can be
322used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
323a result.
324
325Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
326for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
327then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
328availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
329called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
330
331You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
332you can block your main program until an event occurs - for example, you
333could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
334button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
335
169Note that condition watchers recurse into the event loop - if you have 336Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
170two watchers that call C<< ->wait >> in a round-robbin fashion, you 337two pieces of code that call C<< ->recv >> in a round-robin fashion, you
171lose. Therefore, condition watchers are good to export to your caller, but 338lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
172you should avoid making a blocking wait, at least in callbacks, as this 339you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
173usually asks for trouble. 340as this asks for trouble.
174 341
175The watcher has only two methods: 342Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
343used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
344easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
345AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
346it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
176 347
177=over 4 348There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
178 349eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
179=item $cv->wait 350for the send to occur.
180
181Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been
182called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally.
183
184Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case, so
185if you are using this from a module, never require a blocking wait, but
186let the caller decide wether the call will block or not (for example,
187by coupling condition variables with some kind of request results and
188supporting callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not
189block, while still suppporting blockign waits if the caller so desires).
190
191You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return
192immediately.
193
194=item $cv->broadcast
195
196Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further
197calls to C<wait> will return after this method has been called. If nobody
198is waiting the broadcast will be remembered..
199 351
200Example: 352Example:
201 353
202 # wait till the result is ready 354 # wait till the result is ready
203 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar; 355 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
204 356
205 # do something such as adding a timer 357 # do something such as adding a timer
206 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast 358 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->send
207 # when the "result" is ready. 359 # when the "result" is ready.
360 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
361 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
362 after => 1,
363 cb => sub { $result_ready->send },
364 );
208 365
366 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
367 # calls send
209 $result_ready->wait; 368 $result_ready->recv;
369
370=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
371
372These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
373code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
374the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
375uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
376
377=over 4
378
379=item $cv->send (...)
380
381Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
382calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
383called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
384
385If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
386immediately from within send.
387
388Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
389future C<< ->recv >> calls.
390
391=item $cv->croak ($error)
392
393Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
394C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
395
396This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
397user/consumer.
398
399=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
400
401=item $cv->end
402
403These two methods are EXPERIMENTAL and MIGHT CHANGE.
404
405These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
406one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
407to use a condition variable for the whole process.
408
409Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
410C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
411>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed. That callback
412is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send >>, but that is not required. If no
413callback was set, C<send> will be called without any arguments.
414
415Let's clarify this with the ping example:
416
417 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
418
419 my %result;
420 $cv->begin (sub { $cv->send (\%result) });
421
422 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
423 $cv->begin;
424 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
425 $result{$host} = ...;
426 $cv->end;
427 };
428 }
429
430 $cv->end;
431
432This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
433C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
434order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
435each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
436it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
437results arrive is not relevant.
438
439There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
440loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
441to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
442C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
443doesn't execute once).
444
445This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple subrequests:
446use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set the callback and ensure C<end>
447is called at least once, and then, for each subrequest you start, call
448C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish, call C<end>.
210 449
211=back 450=back
212 451
213=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS 452=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
214 453
215You can listen for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal 454These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
216I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix. Multiple signals events can be clumped 455code awaits the condition.
217together into one callback invocation, and callback invocation might or
218might not be asynchronous.
219 456
220These watchers might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals 457=over 4
221directly will likely not work correctly.
222 458
223Example: exit on SIGINT 459=item $cv->recv
224 460
225 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 }); 461Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
462>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
463normally.
226 464
227=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS 465You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
466will return immediately.
228 467
229You can also listen for the status of a child process specified by the 468If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
230C<pid> argument (or any child if the pid argument is 0). The watcher will 469function will call C<croak>.
231trigger as often as status change for the child are received. This works
232by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with
233the pid and exit status (as returned by waitpid).
234 470
235Example: wait for pid 1333 471In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
472in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
236 473
237 my $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => 1333, cb => sub { warn "exit status $?" }); 474Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
475(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
476using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the
477caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
478condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
479callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
480while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
238 481
239=head1 GLOBALS 482Another reason I<never> to C<< ->recv >> in a module is that you cannot
483sensibly have two C<< ->recv >>'s in parallel, as that would require
484multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent>
485can supply.
486
487The L<Coro> module, however, I<can> and I<does> supply coroutines and, in
488fact, L<Coro::AnyEvent> replaces AnyEvent's condvars by coroutine-safe
489versions and also integrates coroutines into AnyEvent, making blocking
490C<< ->recv >> calls perfectly safe as long as they are done from another
491coroutine (one that doesn't run the event loop).
492
493You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
494only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
495time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
496waits otherwise.
497
498=item $bool = $cv->ready
499
500Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
501C<croak> have been called.
502
503=item $cb = $cv->cb ([new callback])
504
505This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
506replaces it before doing so.
507
508The callback will be called when the condition becomes "true", i.e. when
509C<send> or C<croak> are called. Calling C<recv> inside the callback
510or at any later time is guaranteed not to block.
511
512=back
513
514=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
240 515
241=over 4 516=over 4
242 517
243=item $AnyEvent::MODEL 518=item $AnyEvent::MODEL
244 519
248C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case 523C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case
249AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>). 524AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>).
250 525
251The known classes so far are: 526The known classes so far are:
252 527
253 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV based on Coro::EV, best choice.
254 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, also best choice). 528 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice).
255 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent based on Coro::Event, second best choice.
256 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, also second best choice :) 529 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice.
530 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
257 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, second-best choice. 531 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.
258 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice. 532 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
259 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient. 533 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).
534 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
535 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, not generic enough for full support.
536
537There is no support for WxWidgets, as WxWidgets has no support for
538watching file handles. However, you can use WxWidgets through the
539POE Adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply polls 20 times per
540second, which was considered to be too horrible to even consider for
541AnyEvent. Likewise, other POE backends can be used by AnyEvent by using
542it's adaptor.
543
544AnyEvent knows about L<Prima> and L<Wx> and will try to use L<POE> when
545autodetecting them.
260 546
261=item AnyEvent::detect 547=item AnyEvent::detect
262 548
263Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model if 549Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
264necessary. You should only call this function right before you would have 550if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
265created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, very late at runtime. 551have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
552runtime.
553
554=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
555
556Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
557autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
558
559If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
560that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed. See
561L<Coro::BDB> for a case where this is useful.
562
563=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
564
565If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
566before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
567the event loop has been chosen.
568
569You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
570if it contains a true value then the event loop has already been detected,
571and the array will be ignored.
572
573Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> instead.
266 574
267=back 575=back
268 576
269=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE 577=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
270 578
271As a module author, you should "use AnyEvent" and call AnyEvent methods 579As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods
272freely, but you should not load a specific event module or rely on it. 580freely, but you should not load a specific event module or rely on it.
273 581
274Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - Anyevent will 582Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
275decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so 583decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
276by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module 584by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
277to load the event module first. 585to load the event module first.
278 586
587Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
588the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
589because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
590events is to stay interactive.
591
592It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
593requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
594called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
595freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
596
279=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM 597=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
280 598
281There will always be a single main program - the only place that should 599There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
282dictate which event model to use. 600dictate which event model to use.
283 601
284If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not 602If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not
285do anything special and let AnyEvent decide which implementation to chose. 603do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
604decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
286 605
287If the main program relies on a specific event model (for example, in Gtk2 606If the main program relies on a specific event model. For example, in
288programs you have to rely on either Glib or Glib::Event), you should load 607Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module. You should load the
289it before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it, generally, as early 608event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
290as possible. The reason is that modules might create watchers when they 609speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
291are loaded, and AnyEvent will decide on the event model to use as soon as 610modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
292it creates watchers, and it might chose the wrong one unless you load the 611decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
293correct one yourself. 612might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
294 613
295You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by 614You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by
296loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, but letting AnyEvent chose is 615loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar
297generally better. 616behaviour everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose is generally better.
617
618=head1 OTHER MODULES
619
620The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
621AnyEvent and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent modules
622in the same program. Some of the modules come with AnyEvent, some are
623available via CPAN.
624
625=over 4
626
627=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
628
629Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
630functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
631
632=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
633
634Provide read and write buffers and manages watchers for reads and writes.
635
636=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
637
638Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
639addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
640connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
641
642=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
643
644Provides a simple web application server framework.
645
646=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
647
648Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
649
650=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
651
652The fastest ping in the west.
653
654=item L<Net::IRC3>
655
656AnyEvent based IRC client module family.
657
658=item L<Net::XMPP2>
659
660AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family.
661
662=item L<Net::FCP>
663
664AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
665of AnyEvent.
666
667=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
668
669High level API for event-based execution flow control.
670
671=item L<Coro>
672
673Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
674
675=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>, L<IO::AIO>
676
677Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
678programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses IO::AIO and AnyEvent
679together.
680
681=item L<AnyEvent::BDB>, L<BDB>
682
683Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses
684IO::AIO and AnyEvent together.
685
686=item L<IO::Lambda>
687
688The lambda approach to I/O - don't ask, look there. Can use AnyEvent.
689
690=back
298 691
299=cut 692=cut
300 693
301package AnyEvent; 694package AnyEvent;
302 695
303no warnings; 696no warnings;
304use strict; 697use strict;
305 698
306use Carp; 699use Carp;
307 700
308our $VERSION = '3.0'; 701our $VERSION = '3.6';
309our $MODEL; 702our $MODEL;
310 703
311our $AUTOLOAD; 704our $AUTOLOAD;
312our @ISA; 705our @ISA;
313 706
314our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1; 707our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
315 708
316our @REGISTRY; 709our @REGISTRY;
317 710
711our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2)
712
713{
714 my $idx;
715 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
716 for split /\s*,\s*/, $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
717}
718
318my @models = ( 719my @models = (
319 [Coro::EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV::],
320 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::], 720 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::],
321 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent::],
322 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 721 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::],
722 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::],
723 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
724 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
725 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::],
726 # everything below here will not be autoprobed as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
323 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], 727 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::],
324 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], 728 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
325 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::], 729 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
730 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
326); 731);
327 732
328our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer condvar broadcast wait signal one_event DESTROY); 733our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer signal child condvar one_event DESTROY);
734
735our @post_detect;
736
737sub post_detect(&) {
738 my ($cb) = @_;
739
740 if ($MODEL) {
741 $cb->();
742
743 1
744 } else {
745 push @post_detect, $cb;
746
747 defined wantarray
748 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::PostDetect"
749 : ()
750 }
751}
752
753sub AnyEvent::Util::PostDetect::DESTROY {
754 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
755}
329 756
330sub detect() { 757sub detect() {
331 unless ($MODEL) { 758 unless ($MODEL) {
332 no strict 'refs'; 759 no strict 'refs';
333 760
761 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
762 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
763 if (eval "require $model") {
764 $MODEL = $model;
765 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
766 } else {
767 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL):\n$@" if $verbose;
768 }
769 }
770
334 # check for already loaded models 771 # check for already loaded models
772 unless ($MODEL) {
335 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 773 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
336 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 774 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
337 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 775 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
338 if (eval "require $model") { 776 if (eval "require $model") {
339 $MODEL = $model; 777 $MODEL = $model;
340 warn "AnyEvent: found model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 778 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
341 last; 779 last;
780 }
342 } 781 }
343 } 782 }
344 }
345 783
346 unless ($MODEL) { 784 unless ($MODEL) {
347 # try to load a model 785 # try to load a model
348 786
349 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 787 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
350 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 788 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
351 if (eval "require $package" 789 if (eval "require $package"
352 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0 790 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
353 and eval "require $model") { 791 and eval "require $model") {
354 $MODEL = $model; 792 $MODEL = $model;
355 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed and loaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 793 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
356 last; 794 last;
795 }
357 } 796 }
797
798 $MODEL
799 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.";
358 } 800 }
359
360 $MODEL
361 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.";
362 } 801 }
363 802
364 unshift @ISA, $MODEL; 803 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
365 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base"; 804 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
805
806 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
366 } 807 }
367 808
368 $MODEL 809 $MODEL
369} 810}
370 811
380 $class->$func (@_); 821 $class->$func (@_);
381} 822}
382 823
383package AnyEvent::Base; 824package AnyEvent::Base;
384 825
385# default implementation for ->condvar, ->wait, ->broadcast 826# default implementation for ->condvar
386 827
387sub condvar { 828sub condvar {
388 bless \my $flag, "AnyEvent::Base::CondVar" 829 bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, AnyEvent::CondVar::
389}
390
391sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::broadcast {
392 ${$_[0]}++;
393}
394
395sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::wait {
396 AnyEvent->one_event while !${$_[0]};
397} 830}
398 831
399# default implementation for ->signal 832# default implementation for ->signal
400 833
401our %SIG_CB; 834our %SIG_CB;
475 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} }; 908 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
476 909
477 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB; 910 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
478} 911}
479 912
913package AnyEvent::CondVar;
914
915our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
916
917package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
918
919sub _send {
920 # nop
921}
922
923sub send {
924 my $cv = shift;
925 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
926 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
927 $cv->_send;
928}
929
930sub croak {
931 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
932 $_[0]->send;
933}
934
935sub ready {
936 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
937}
938
939sub _wait {
940 AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
941}
942
943sub recv {
944 $_[0]->_wait;
945
946 Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
947 wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
948}
949
950sub cb {
951 $_[0]{_ae_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
952 $_[0]{_ae_cb}
953}
954
955sub begin {
956 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
957 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
958}
959
960sub end {
961 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
962 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
963}
964
965# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
966*broadcast = \&send;
967*wait = \&_wait;
968
480=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 969=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
970
971This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
972a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
973provide AnyEvent compatibility.
481 974
482If you need to support another event library which isn't directly 975If you need to support another event library which isn't directly
483supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by 976supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by
484pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of 977pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of
485the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto 978the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto
486C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading 979C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading
487AnyEvent. 980AnyEvent, so it is reasonably cheap.
488 981
489Example: 982Example:
490 983
491 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::]; 984 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::];
492 985
493This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::> 986This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::>
494package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is loaded. When 987package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is already loaded.
988
495AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it will 989When AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it
496first check for the presence of urxvt. 990will first check for the presence of urxvt by trying to C<use> the
991C<urxvt::anyevent> module.
497 992
498The class should provide implementations for all watcher types (see 993The class should provide implementations for all watcher types. See
499L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> 994L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> (Source code)
500(Source code) and so on for actual examples, use C<perldoc -m 995and so on for actual examples. Use C<perldoc -m AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to
501AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to see the sources). 996see the sources.
502 997
998If you don't provide C<signal> and C<child> watchers than AnyEvent will
999provide suitable (hopefully) replacements.
1000
503The above isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt) 1001The above example isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt)
504uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included in AnyEvent 1002terminal emulator uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included
505because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter inside 1003in AnyEvent because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter
506I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the 1004inside I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the
507I<rxvt-unicode> distribution. 1005I<rxvt-unicode> distribution.
508 1006
509I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to 1007I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to
510condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will 1008condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will
511C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must 1009C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must
512not be in an interactive application, so it makes sense. 1010not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense.
513 1011
514=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 1012=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
515 1013
516The following environment variables are used by this module: 1014The following environment variables are used by this module:
517 1015
518C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE> when set to C<2> or higher, reports which event 1016=over 4
519model gets used.
520 1017
1018=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
1019
1020By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
1021conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
1022talkative.
1023
1024When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
1025conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
1026C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
1027
1028When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
1029model it chooses.
1030
1031=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
1032
1033This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
1034auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
1035entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
1036and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
1037used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
1038auto detection and -probing.
1039
1040This functionality might change in future versions.
1041
1042For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
1043could start your program like this:
1044
1045 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
1046
1047=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
1048
1049Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
1050for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
1051of auto probing).
1052
1053Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
1054current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
1055used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
1056list.
1057
1058This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
1059against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
1060small, as the program has to handle connection errors already-
1061
1062Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
1063but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
1064- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
1065addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
1066IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
1067
1068=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
1069
1070Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
1071for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
1072some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
1073default.
1074
1075Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
1076EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
1077
1078=back
1079
521=head1 EXAMPLE 1080=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
522 1081
523The following program uses an io watcher to read data from stdin, a timer 1082The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
524to display a message once per second, and a condvar to exit the program 1083to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
525when the user enters quit: 1084program when the user enters quit:
526 1085
527 use AnyEvent; 1086 use AnyEvent;
528 1087
529 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar; 1088 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
530 1089
531 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 1090 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (
1091 fh => \*STDIN,
1092 poll => 'r',
1093 cb => sub {
532 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 1094 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
533 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 1095 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
534 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 1096 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
535 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 1097 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
1098 },
536 }); 1099 );
537 1100
538 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once 1101 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
539 1102
540 sub new_timer { 1103 sub new_timer {
541 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub { 1104 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub {
544 }); 1107 });
545 } 1108 }
546 1109
547 new_timer; # create first timer 1110 new_timer; # create first timer
548 1111
549 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 1112 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
550 1113
551=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 1114=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
552 1115
553Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 1116Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
554API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 1117API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
604 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 1167 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
605 or die "connection or write error"; 1168 or die "connection or write error";
606 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 1169 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
607 1170
608Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 1171Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
609result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished: 1172result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
610 1173
611 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 1174 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
612 1175
613 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 1176 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
614 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 1177 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
615 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 1178 $txn->{finished}->send;
616 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 1179 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
617 } 1180 }
618 1181
619The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 1182The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
620request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the 1183request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
621data: 1184data:
622 1185
623 $txn->{finished}->wait; 1186 $txn->{finished}->recv;
624 return $txn->{result}; 1187 return $txn->{result};
625 1188
626The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 1189The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
627that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 1190that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
628wether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 1191whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
629and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 1192and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
630problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a 1193problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
631random callback. 1194random callback.
632 1195
633All of this enables the following usage styles: 1196All of this enables the following usage styles:
634 1197
6351. Blocking: 11981. Blocking:
636 1199
637 my $data = $fcp->client_get ($url); 1200 my $data = $fcp->client_get ($url);
638 1201
6392. Blocking, but parallelizing: 12022. Blocking, but running in parallel:
640 1203
641 my @datas = map $_->result, 1204 my @datas = map $_->result,
642 map $fcp->txn_client_get ($_), 1205 map $fcp->txn_client_get ($_),
643 @urls; 1206 @urls;
644 1207
645Both blocking examples work without the module user having to know 1208Both blocking examples work without the module user having to know
646anything about events. 1209anything about events.
647 1210
6483a. Event-based in a main program, using any support Event module: 12113a. Event-based in a main program, using any supported event module:
649 1212
650 use Event; 1213 use EV;
651 1214
652 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 1215 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
653 my $txn = shift; 1216 my $txn = shift;
654 my $data = $txn->result; 1217 my $data = $txn->result;
655 ... 1218 ...
656 }); 1219 });
657 1220
658 Event::loop; 1221 EV::loop;
659 1222
6603b. The module user could use AnyEvent, too: 12233b. The module user could use AnyEvent, too:
661 1224
662 use AnyEvent; 1225 use AnyEvent;
663 1226
664 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 1227 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
665 1228
666 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 1229 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
667 ... 1230 ...
668 $quit->broadcast; 1231 $quit->send;
669 }); 1232 });
670 1233
671 $quit->wait; 1234 $quit->recv;
1235
1236
1237=head1 BENCHMARKS
1238
1239To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
1240over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
1241of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
1242
1243=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
1244
1245Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
1246through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
1247timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
1248which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
1249
1250Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
1251distribution.
1252
1253=head3 Explanation of the columns
1254
1255I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
1256different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
1257loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
1258and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
1259would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
1260of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
1261
1262I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
1263RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
1264and Perl-based overheads.
1265
1266I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
1267takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
1268all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
1269and memory usage is not included in the figures.
1270
1271I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
1272callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
1273invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
1274signal the end of this phase.
1275
1276I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
1277watcher.
1278
1279=head3 Results
1280
1281 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
1282 EV/EV 400000 244 0.56 0.46 0.31 EV native interface
1283 EV/Any 100000 244 2.50 0.46 0.29 EV + AnyEvent watchers
1284 CoroEV/Any 100000 244 2.49 0.44 0.29 coroutines + Coro::Signal
1285 Perl/Any 100000 513 4.92 0.87 1.12 pure perl implementation
1286 Event/Event 16000 516 31.88 31.30 0.85 Event native interface
1287 Event/Any 16000 590 35.75 31.42 1.08 Event + AnyEvent watchers
1288 Glib/Any 16000 1357 98.22 12.41 54.00 quadratic behaviour
1289 Tk/Any 2000 1860 26.97 67.98 14.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
1290 POE/Event 2000 6644 108.64 736.02 14.73 via POE::Loop::Event
1291 POE/Select 2000 6343 94.13 809.12 565.96 via POE::Loop::Select
1292
1293=head3 Discussion
1294
1295The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
1296well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
1297can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
1298file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
1299the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
1300boost.
1301
1302Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
1303overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
1304the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
1305higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
1306
1307To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
1308benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
1309EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
1310cycles with POE.
1311
1312C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
1313maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, it uses
1314far less memory than any other event loop and is still faster than Event
1315natively.
1316
1317The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
1318constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
1319interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
1320adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
1321performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
1322them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
1323
1324The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
1325cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
1326
1327C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
1328faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
1329C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
1330watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
1331making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
1332(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
1333inefficiencies of C<poll> do not account for this).
1334
1335The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
1336more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
1337precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
1338file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
1339employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
1340hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
1341above).
1342
1343C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
1344select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
1345be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
1346memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
1347as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
1348requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
1349invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
1350implementation.
1351
1352The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
1353for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
1354small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
1355optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
1356using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
1357memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
1358design).
1359
1360=head3 Summary
1361
1362=over 4
1363
1364=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
1365(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
1366performance with or without AnyEvent.
1367
1368=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
1369the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
1370adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
1371
1372=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
1373reasonable memory usage.
1374
1375=back
1376
1377=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
1378
1379This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
1380creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
1381timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
1382watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
1383watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
1384
1385The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
1386are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
1387fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
1388timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
1389most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
1390
1391In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
1392(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
1393connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
1394
1395Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
1396distribution.
1397
1398=head3 Explanation of the columns
1399
1400I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
1401each server has a read and write socket end).
1402
1403I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
1404nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
1405
1406I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
1407single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
1408it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
1409a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
1410
1411=head3 Results
1412
1413 name sockets create request
1414 EV 20000 69.01 11.16
1415 Perl 20000 73.32 35.87
1416 Event 20000 212.62 257.32
1417 Glib 20000 651.16 1896.30
1418 POE 20000 349.67 12317.24 uses POE::Loop::Event
1419
1420=head3 Discussion
1421
1422This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
1423particular event loop.
1424
1425EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
1426is relatively high, though.
1427
1428Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
1429loops Event and Glib.
1430
1431Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
1432understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
1433the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
1434uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
1435
1436Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
1437clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
1438
1439POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
1440as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
1441it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
1442
1443=head3 Summary
1444
1445=over 4
1446
1447=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
1448
1449=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
1450
1451=back
1452
1453=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
1454
1455While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
1456large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
1457I/O watchers.
1458
1459In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
1460case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
1461one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
1462well.
1463
1464The columns are identical to the previous table.
1465
1466=head3 Results
1467
1468 name sockets create request
1469 EV 16 20.00 6.54
1470 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
1471 Event 16 81.27 35.86
1472 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
1473 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
1474
1475=head3 Discussion
1476
1477The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
1478server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
1479in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
1480to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
1481speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
1482them).
1483
1484EV is again fastest.
1485
1486Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
1487loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
1488matter.
1489
1490POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
1491others.
1492
1493=head3 Summary
1494
1495=over 4
1496
1497=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
1498watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
1499
1500=back
1501
1502
1503=head1 FORK
1504
1505Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
1506because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
1507calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
1508
1509If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
1510watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child.
1511
1512
1513=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
1514
1515AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
1516$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to
1517execute arbitrary code or directly gain access, it can easily be used to
1518make the program hang or malfunction in subtle ways, as AnyEvent watchers
1519will not be active when the program uses a different event model than
1520specified in the variable.
1521
1522You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
1523before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
1524
1525 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
1526
1527 use AnyEvent;
1528
1529Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
1530be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
1531probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL).
1532
672 1533
673=head1 SEE ALSO 1534=head1 SEE ALSO
674 1535
675Event modules: L<Coro::Event>, L<Coro>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>. 1536Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
676 1537
677Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::Coro>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>. 1538Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
1539L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
678 1540
679Nontrivial usage example: L<Net::FCP>. 1541Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
1542L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
1543L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
1544L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>.
680 1545
681=head1 1546Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
1547servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>.
1548
1549Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
1550
1551Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>,
1552
1553Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>, L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
1554
1555
1556=head1 AUTHOR
1557
1558 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
1559 http://home.schmorp.de/
682 1560
683=cut 1561=cut
684 1562
6851 15631
686 1564

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