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Revision 1.52 by root, Sat Apr 19 03:47:24 2008 UTC vs.
Revision 1.134 by root, Sun May 25 04:44:04 2008 UTC

1=head1 NAME 1=head1 => NAME
2 2
3AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops 3AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops
4 4
5EV, Event, Coro::EV, Coro::Event, Glib, Tk, Perl - various supported event loops 5EV, Event, Glib, Tk, Perl, Event::Lib, Qt, POE - various supported event loops
6 6
7=head1 SYNOPSIS 7=head1 SYNOPSIS
8 8
9 use AnyEvent; 9 use AnyEvent;
10 10
15 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub { 15 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub {
16 ... 16 ...
17 }); 17 });
18 18
19 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged 19 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged
20 $w->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 can arguably be somewhat 67Of course, if you want lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat
64useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event 68useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event
65model, 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 whether any of the following modules is 82to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the
80loaded: L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>, L<EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<Tk>. The 83following modules is already loaded: L<EV>,
84L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>,
81first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries to load these 85L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries
82modules in the order given. The first one that could be successfully 86to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl
83loaded will be used. If still none could be found, AnyEvent will fall back 87adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can
84to a pure-perl event loop, which is also not very efficient. 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
123Filehandles will be kept alive, so as long as the watcher exists, the 151Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
124filehandle exists, too. 152presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
153callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
154
155The I/O watcher might use the underlying file descriptor or a copy of it.
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.
125 162
126Example: 163Example:
127 164
128 # 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
129 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 166 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
135=head2 TIME WATCHERS 172=head2 TIME WATCHERS
136 173
137You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >> 174You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>
138method with the following mandatory arguments: 175method with the following mandatory arguments:
139 176
140C<after> after how many seconds (fractions are supported) should the timer 177C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are
141activate. 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.
142 184
143The 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
144timer 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
145and Glib). 187and Glib).
146 188
152 }); 194 });
153 195
154 # to cancel the timer: 196 # to cancel the timer:
155 undef $w; 197 undef $w;
156 198
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
157=head2 CONDITION WATCHERS 298=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
158 299
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
159Condition watchers can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >> 310Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
160method 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.
161 314
162A condition watcher watches for a condition - precisely that the C<< 315After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
163->broadcast >> method has been called. 316by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
317were a callback).
164 318
319Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
320optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
321in time where multiple outstanding events have been processed. And yet
322another way to call them is transactions - each condition variable can be
323used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
324a result.
325
326Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
327for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
328then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
329availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
330called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
331
332You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
333you can block your main program until an event occurs - for example, you
334could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
335button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
336
165Note that condition watchers recurse into the event loop - if you have 337Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
166two watchers that call C<< ->wait >> in a round-robbin fashion, you 338two pieces of code that call C<< ->recv >> in a round-robin fashion, you
167lose. Therefore, condition watchers are good to export to your caller, but 339lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
168you should avoid making a blocking wait, at least in callbacks, as this 340you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
169usually asks for trouble. 341as this asks for trouble.
170 342
171The watcher has only two methods: 343Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
344used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
345easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
346AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
347it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
348
349There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
350eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
351for the send to occur.
352
353Example: wait for a timer.
354
355 # wait till the result is ready
356 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
357
358 # do something such as adding a timer
359 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->send
360 # when the "result" is ready.
361 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
362 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
363 after => 1,
364 cb => sub { $result_ready->send },
365 );
366
367 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
368 # calls send
369 $result_ready->recv;
370
371Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that
372condition variables are also code references.
373
374 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
375 my $delay = AnyEvent->timer (after => 5, cb => $done);
376 $done->recv;
377
378=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
379
380These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
381code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
382the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
383uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
172 384
173=over 4 385=over 4
174 386
387=item $cv->send (...)
388
389Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
390calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
391called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
392
393If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
394immediately from within send.
395
396Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
397future C<< ->recv >> calls.
398
399Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly (as a
400code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling C<send>.
401
402=item $cv->croak ($error)
403
404Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
405C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
406
407This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
408user/consumer.
409
410=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
411
175=item $cv->wait 412=item $cv->end
176 413
177Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been 414These two methods are EXPERIMENTAL and MIGHT CHANGE.
415
416These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
417one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
418to use a condition variable for the whole process.
419
420Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
421C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
422>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed. That callback
423is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send >>, but that is not required. If no
424callback was set, C<send> will be called without any arguments.
425
426Let's clarify this with the ping example:
427
428 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
429
430 my %result;
431 $cv->begin (sub { $cv->send (\%result) });
432
433 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
434 $cv->begin;
435 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
436 $result{$host} = ...;
437 $cv->end;
438 };
439 }
440
441 $cv->end;
442
443This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
444C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
445order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
446each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
447it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
448results arrive is not relevant.
449
450There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
451loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
452to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
453C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
454doesn't execute once).
455
456This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple subrequests:
457use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set the callback and ensure C<end>
458is called at least once, and then, for each subrequest you start, call
459C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish, call C<end>.
460
461=back
462
463=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
464
465These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
466code awaits the condition.
467
468=over 4
469
470=item $cv->recv
471
472Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
178called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally. 473>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
474normally.
179 475
180You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return 476You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
181immediately. 477will return immediately.
478
479If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
480function will call C<croak>.
481
482In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
483in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
182 484
183Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case 485Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
184(programs might want to do that so they stay interactive), so I<if you 486(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
185are using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the 487using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the
186caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling 488caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
187condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting 489condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
188callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block, 490callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
189while still suppporting blocking waits if the caller so desires). 491while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
190 492
191Another reason I<never> to C<< ->wait >> in a module is that you cannot 493Another reason I<never> to C<< ->recv >> in a module is that you cannot
192sensibly have two C<< ->wait >>'s in parallel, as that would require 494sensibly have two C<< ->recv >>'s in parallel, as that would require
193multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent> 495multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent>
194can supply (the coroutine-aware backends C<Coro::EV> and C<Coro::Event> 496can supply.
195explicitly support concurrent C<< ->wait >>'s from different coroutines,
196however).
197 497
198=item $cv->broadcast 498The L<Coro> module, however, I<can> and I<does> supply coroutines and, in
499fact, L<Coro::AnyEvent> replaces AnyEvent's condvars by coroutine-safe
500versions and also integrates coroutines into AnyEvent, making blocking
501C<< ->recv >> calls perfectly safe as long as they are done from another
502coroutine (one that doesn't run the event loop).
199 503
200Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further 504You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
201calls to C<wait> will return after this method has been called. If nobody 505only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
202is waiting the broadcast will be remembered.. 506time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
507waits otherwise.
203 508
204Example: 509=item $bool = $cv->ready
205 510
206 # wait till the result is ready 511Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
207 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar; 512C<croak> have been called.
208 513
209 # do something such as adding a timer 514=item $cb = $cv->cb ([new callback])
210 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast
211 # when the "result" is ready.
212 515
213 $result_ready->wait; 516This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
517replaces it before doing so.
518
519The callback will be called when the condition becomes "true", i.e. when
520C<send> or C<croak> are called. Calling C<recv> inside the callback
521or at any later time is guaranteed not to block.
214 522
215=back 523=back
216 524
217=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS 525=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
218
219You can listen for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
220I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix. Multiple signals events can be clumped
221together into one callback invocation, and callback invocation might or
222might not be asynchronous.
223
224These watchers might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals
225directly will likely not work correctly.
226
227Example: exit on SIGINT
228
229 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
230
231=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
232
233You can also listen for the status of a child process specified by the
234C<pid> argument (or any child if the pid argument is 0). The watcher will
235trigger as often as status change for the child are received. This works
236by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with
237the pid and exit status (as returned by waitpid).
238
239Example: wait for pid 1333
240
241 my $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => 1333, cb => sub { warn "exit status $?" });
242
243=head1 GLOBALS
244 526
245=over 4 527=over 4
246 528
247=item $AnyEvent::MODEL 529=item $AnyEvent::MODEL
248 530
252C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case 534C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case
253AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>). 535AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>).
254 536
255The known classes so far are: 537The known classes so far are:
256 538
257 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV based on Coro::EV, best choice.
258 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent based on Coro::Event, second best choice.
259 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, also best choice). 539 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice).
260 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, also second best choice :) 540 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice.
541 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
261 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice. 542 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.
262 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice. 543 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
263 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient but portable. 544 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).
545 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
546 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, not generic enough for full support.
547
548There is no support for WxWidgets, as WxWidgets has no support for
549watching file handles. However, you can use WxWidgets through the
550POE Adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply polls 20 times per
551second, which was considered to be too horrible to even consider for
552AnyEvent. Likewise, other POE backends can be used by AnyEvent by using
553it's adaptor.
554
555AnyEvent knows about L<Prima> and L<Wx> and will try to use L<POE> when
556autodetecting them.
264 557
265=item AnyEvent::detect 558=item AnyEvent::detect
266 559
267Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model if 560Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
268necessary. You should only call this function right before you would have 561if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
269created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, very late at runtime. 562have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
563runtime.
564
565=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
566
567Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
568autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
569
570If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
571that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed. See
572L<Coro::BDB> for a case where this is useful.
573
574=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
575
576If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
577before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
578the event loop has been chosen.
579
580You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
581if it contains a true value then the event loop has already been detected,
582and the array will be ignored.
583
584Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> instead.
270 585
271=back 586=back
272 587
273=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE 588=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
274 589
275As a module author, you should "use AnyEvent" and call AnyEvent methods 590As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods
276freely, but you should not load a specific event module or rely on it. 591freely, but you should not load a specific event module or rely on it.
277 592
278Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - Anyevent will 593Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
279decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so 594decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
280by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module 595by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
281to load the event module first. 596to load the event module first.
282 597
598Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
599the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
600because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
601events is to stay interactive.
602
603It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
604requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
605called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
606freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
607
283=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM 608=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
284 609
285There will always be a single main program - the only place that should 610There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
286dictate which event model to use. 611dictate which event model to use.
287 612
288If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not 613If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not
289do anything special and let AnyEvent decide which implementation to chose. 614do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
615decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
290 616
291If the main program relies on a specific event model (for example, in Gtk2 617If the main program relies on a specific event model - for example, in
292programs you have to rely on either Glib or Glib::Event), you should load 618Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module - you should load the
293it before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it, generally, as early 619event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
294as possible. The reason is that modules might create watchers when they 620speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
295are loaded, and AnyEvent will decide on the event model to use as soon as 621modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
296it creates watchers, and it might chose the wrong one unless you load the 622decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
297correct one yourself. 623might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
298 624
299You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by 625You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
300loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, but letting AnyEvent chose is 626C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
301generally better. 627everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
628
629=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
630
631Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
632only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
633
634In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
635
636 AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
637
638This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
639
640Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
641it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
642variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
643exit cleanly.
644
645
646=head1 OTHER MODULES
647
648The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
649AnyEvent and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent modules
650in the same program. Some of the modules come with AnyEvent, some are
651available via CPAN.
652
653=over 4
654
655=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
656
657Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
658functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
659
660=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
661
662Provide read and write buffers and manages watchers for reads and writes.
663
664=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
665
666Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
667addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
668connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
669
670=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
671
672Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
673
674=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
675
676Provides a simple web application server framework.
677
678=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
679
680The fastest ping in the west.
681
682=item L<Net::IRC3>
683
684AnyEvent based IRC client module family.
685
686=item L<Net::XMPP2>
687
688AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family.
689
690=item L<Net::FCP>
691
692AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
693of AnyEvent.
694
695=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
696
697High level API for event-based execution flow control.
698
699=item L<Coro>
700
701Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
702
703=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>, L<IO::AIO>
704
705Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
706programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses IO::AIO and AnyEvent
707together.
708
709=item L<AnyEvent::BDB>, L<BDB>
710
711Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses
712IO::AIO and AnyEvent together.
713
714=item L<IO::Lambda>
715
716The lambda approach to I/O - don't ask, look there. Can use AnyEvent.
717
718=back
302 719
303=cut 720=cut
304 721
305package AnyEvent; 722package AnyEvent;
306 723
307no warnings; 724no warnings;
308use strict; 725use strict;
309 726
310use Carp; 727use Carp;
311 728
312our $VERSION = '3.1'; 729our $VERSION = '4.03';
313our $MODEL; 730our $MODEL;
314 731
315our $AUTOLOAD; 732our $AUTOLOAD;
316our @ISA; 733our @ISA;
317 734
318our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1; 735our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
319 736
320our @REGISTRY; 737our @REGISTRY;
321 738
739our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2)
740
741{
742 my $idx;
743 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
744 for split /\s*,\s*/, $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
745}
746
322my @models = ( 747my @models = (
323 [Coro::EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV::],
324 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent::],
325 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::], 748 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::],
326 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 749 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::],
750 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::],
751 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
752 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
753 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::],
754 # everything below here will not be autoprobed as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
327 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], 755 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::],
328 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], 756 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
329 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::], 757 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
758 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
330); 759);
331 760
332our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer condvar broadcast wait signal one_event DESTROY); 761our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer signal child condvar one_event DESTROY);
762
763our @post_detect;
764
765sub post_detect(&) {
766 my ($cb) = @_;
767
768 if ($MODEL) {
769 $cb->();
770
771 1
772 } else {
773 push @post_detect, $cb;
774
775 defined wantarray
776 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::PostDetect"
777 : ()
778 }
779}
780
781sub AnyEvent::Util::PostDetect::DESTROY {
782 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
783}
333 784
334sub detect() { 785sub detect() {
335 unless ($MODEL) { 786 unless ($MODEL) {
336 no strict 'refs'; 787 no strict 'refs';
337 788
789 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
790 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
791 if (eval "require $model") {
792 $MODEL = $model;
793 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
794 } else {
795 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL):\n$@" if $verbose;
796 }
797 }
798
338 # check for already loaded models 799 # check for already loaded models
800 unless ($MODEL) {
339 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 801 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
340 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 802 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
341 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 803 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
342 if (eval "require $model") { 804 if (eval "require $model") {
343 $MODEL = $model; 805 $MODEL = $model;
344 warn "AnyEvent: found model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 806 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
345 last; 807 last;
808 }
346 } 809 }
347 } 810 }
348 }
349 811
350 unless ($MODEL) { 812 unless ($MODEL) {
351 # try to load a model 813 # try to load a model
352 814
353 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 815 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
354 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 816 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
355 if (eval "require $package" 817 if (eval "require $package"
356 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0 818 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
357 and eval "require $model") { 819 and eval "require $model") {
358 $MODEL = $model; 820 $MODEL = $model;
359 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed and loaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 821 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
360 last; 822 last;
823 }
361 } 824 }
825
826 $MODEL
827 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.";
362 } 828 }
363
364 $MODEL
365 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.";
366 } 829 }
367 830
368 unshift @ISA, $MODEL; 831 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
369 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base"; 832 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
833
834 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
370 } 835 }
371 836
372 $MODEL 837 $MODEL
373} 838}
374 839
384 $class->$func (@_); 849 $class->$func (@_);
385} 850}
386 851
387package AnyEvent::Base; 852package AnyEvent::Base;
388 853
389# default implementation for ->condvar, ->wait, ->broadcast 854# default implementation for ->condvar
390 855
391sub condvar { 856sub condvar {
392 bless \my $flag, "AnyEvent::Base::CondVar" 857 bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, AnyEvent::CondVar::
393}
394
395sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::broadcast {
396 ${$_[0]}++;
397}
398
399sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::wait {
400 AnyEvent->one_event while !${$_[0]};
401} 858}
402 859
403# default implementation for ->signal 860# default implementation for ->signal
404 861
405our %SIG_CB; 862our %SIG_CB;
479 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} }; 936 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
480 937
481 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB; 938 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
482} 939}
483 940
941package AnyEvent::CondVar;
942
943our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
944
945package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
946
947use overload
948 '&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
949 fallback => 1;
950
951sub _send {
952 # nop
953}
954
955sub send {
956 my $cv = shift;
957 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
958 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
959 $cv->_send;
960}
961
962sub croak {
963 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
964 $_[0]->send;
965}
966
967sub ready {
968 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
969}
970
971sub _wait {
972 AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
973}
974
975sub recv {
976 $_[0]->_wait;
977
978 Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
979 wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
980}
981
982sub cb {
983 $_[0]{_ae_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
984 $_[0]{_ae_cb}
985}
986
987sub begin {
988 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
989 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
990}
991
992sub end {
993 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
994 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
995}
996
997# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
998*broadcast = \&send;
999*wait = \&_wait;
1000
484=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 1001=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
1002
1003This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
1004a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
1005provide AnyEvent compatibility.
485 1006
486If you need to support another event library which isn't directly 1007If you need to support another event library which isn't directly
487supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by 1008supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by
488pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of 1009pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of
489the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto 1010the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto
490C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading 1011C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading
491AnyEvent. 1012AnyEvent, so it is reasonably cheap.
492 1013
493Example: 1014Example:
494 1015
495 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::]; 1016 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::];
496 1017
497This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::> 1018This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::>
498package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is loaded. When 1019package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is already loaded.
1020
499AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it will 1021When AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it
500first check for the presence of urxvt. 1022will first check for the presence of urxvt by trying to C<use> the
1023C<urxvt::anyevent> module.
501 1024
502The class should provide implementations for all watcher types (see 1025The class should provide implementations for all watcher types. See
503L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> 1026L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> (Source code)
504(Source code) and so on for actual examples, use C<perldoc -m 1027and so on for actual examples. Use C<perldoc -m AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to
505AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to see the sources). 1028see the sources.
506 1029
1030If you don't provide C<signal> and C<child> watchers than AnyEvent will
1031provide suitable (hopefully) replacements.
1032
507The above isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt) 1033The above example isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt)
508uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included in AnyEvent 1034terminal emulator uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included
509because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter inside 1035in AnyEvent because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter
510I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the 1036inside I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the
511I<rxvt-unicode> distribution. 1037I<rxvt-unicode> distribution.
512 1038
513I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to 1039I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to
514condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will 1040condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will
515C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must 1041C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must
516not be in an interactive application, so it makes sense. 1042not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense.
517 1043
518=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 1044=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
519 1045
520The following environment variables are used by this module: 1046The following environment variables are used by this module:
521 1047
522C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE> when set to C<2> or higher, reports which event 1048=over 4
523model gets used.
524 1049
1050=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
1051
1052By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
1053conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
1054talkative.
1055
1056When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
1057conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
1058C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
1059
1060When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
1061model it chooses.
1062
1063=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
1064
1065This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
1066auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
1067entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
1068and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
1069used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
1070auto detection and -probing.
1071
1072This functionality might change in future versions.
1073
1074For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
1075could start your program like this:
1076
1077 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
1078
1079=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
1080
1081Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
1082for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
1083of auto probing).
1084
1085Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
1086current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
1087used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
1088list.
1089
1090This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
1091against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
1092small, as the program has to handle connection errors already-
1093
1094Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
1095but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
1096- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
1097addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
1098IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
1099
1100=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
1101
1102Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
1103for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
1104some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
1105default.
1106
1107Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
1108EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
1109
1110=back
1111
525=head1 EXAMPLE 1112=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
526 1113
527The following program uses an io watcher to read data from stdin, a timer 1114The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
528to display a message once per second, and a condvar to exit the program 1115to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
529when the user enters quit: 1116program when the user enters quit:
530 1117
531 use AnyEvent; 1118 use AnyEvent;
532 1119
533 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar; 1120 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
534 1121
535 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 1122 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (
1123 fh => \*STDIN,
1124 poll => 'r',
1125 cb => sub {
536 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 1126 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
537 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 1127 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
538 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 1128 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
539 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 1129 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
1130 },
540 }); 1131 );
541 1132
542 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once 1133 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
543 1134
544 sub new_timer { 1135 sub new_timer {
545 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub { 1136 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub {
548 }); 1139 });
549 } 1140 }
550 1141
551 new_timer; # create first timer 1142 new_timer; # create first timer
552 1143
553 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 1144 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
554 1145
555=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 1146=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
556 1147
557Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 1148Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
558API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 1149API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
608 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 1199 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
609 or die "connection or write error"; 1200 or die "connection or write error";
610 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 1201 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
611 1202
612Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 1203Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
613result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished: 1204result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
614 1205
615 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 1206 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
616 1207
617 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 1208 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
618 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 1209 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
619 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 1210 $txn->{finished}->send;
620 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 1211 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
621 } 1212 }
622 1213
623The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 1214The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
624request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the 1215request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
625data: 1216data:
626 1217
627 $txn->{finished}->wait; 1218 $txn->{finished}->recv;
628 return $txn->{result}; 1219 return $txn->{result};
629 1220
630The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 1221The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
631that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 1222that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
632whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 1223whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
633and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 1224and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
634problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a 1225problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
635random callback. 1226random callback.
636 1227
667 1258
668 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 1259 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
669 1260
670 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 1261 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
671 ... 1262 ...
672 $quit->broadcast; 1263 $quit->send;
673 }); 1264 });
674 1265
675 $quit->wait; 1266 $quit->recv;
1267
1268
1269=head1 BENCHMARKS
1270
1271To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
1272over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
1273of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
1274
1275=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
1276
1277Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
1278through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
1279timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
1280which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
1281
1282Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
1283distribution.
1284
1285=head3 Explanation of the columns
1286
1287I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
1288different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
1289loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
1290and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
1291would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
1292of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
1293
1294I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
1295RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
1296and Perl-based overheads.
1297
1298I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
1299takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
1300all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
1301and memory usage is not included in the figures.
1302
1303I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
1304callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
1305invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
1306signal the end of this phase.
1307
1308I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
1309watcher.
1310
1311=head3 Results
1312
1313 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
1314 EV/EV 400000 244 0.56 0.46 0.31 EV native interface
1315 EV/Any 100000 244 2.50 0.46 0.29 EV + AnyEvent watchers
1316 CoroEV/Any 100000 244 2.49 0.44 0.29 coroutines + Coro::Signal
1317 Perl/Any 100000 513 4.92 0.87 1.12 pure perl implementation
1318 Event/Event 16000 516 31.88 31.30 0.85 Event native interface
1319 Event/Any 16000 590 35.75 31.42 1.08 Event + AnyEvent watchers
1320 Glib/Any 16000 1357 98.22 12.41 54.00 quadratic behaviour
1321 Tk/Any 2000 1860 26.97 67.98 14.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
1322 POE/Event 2000 6644 108.64 736.02 14.73 via POE::Loop::Event
1323 POE/Select 2000 6343 94.13 809.12 565.96 via POE::Loop::Select
1324
1325=head3 Discussion
1326
1327The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
1328well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
1329can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
1330file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
1331the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
1332boost.
1333
1334Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
1335overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
1336the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
1337higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
1338
1339To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
1340benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
1341EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
1342cycles with POE.
1343
1344C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
1345maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, it uses
1346far less memory than any other event loop and is still faster than Event
1347natively.
1348
1349The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
1350constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
1351interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
1352adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
1353performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
1354them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
1355
1356The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
1357cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
1358
1359C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
1360faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
1361C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
1362watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
1363making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
1364(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
1365inefficiencies of C<poll> do not account for this).
1366
1367The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
1368more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
1369precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
1370file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
1371employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
1372hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
1373above).
1374
1375C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
1376select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
1377be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
1378memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
1379as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
1380requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
1381invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
1382implementation.
1383
1384The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
1385for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
1386small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
1387optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
1388using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
1389memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
1390design).
1391
1392=head3 Summary
1393
1394=over 4
1395
1396=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
1397(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
1398performance with or without AnyEvent.
1399
1400=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
1401the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
1402adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
1403
1404=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
1405reasonable memory usage.
1406
1407=back
1408
1409=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
1410
1411This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
1412creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
1413timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
1414watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
1415watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
1416
1417The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
1418are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
1419fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
1420timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
1421most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
1422
1423In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
1424(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
1425connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
1426
1427Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
1428distribution.
1429
1430=head3 Explanation of the columns
1431
1432I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
1433each server has a read and write socket end).
1434
1435I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
1436nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
1437
1438I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
1439single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
1440it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
1441a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
1442
1443=head3 Results
1444
1445 name sockets create request
1446 EV 20000 69.01 11.16
1447 Perl 20000 73.32 35.87
1448 Event 20000 212.62 257.32
1449 Glib 20000 651.16 1896.30
1450 POE 20000 349.67 12317.24 uses POE::Loop::Event
1451
1452=head3 Discussion
1453
1454This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
1455particular event loop.
1456
1457EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
1458is relatively high, though.
1459
1460Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
1461loops Event and Glib.
1462
1463Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
1464understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
1465the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
1466uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
1467
1468Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
1469clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
1470
1471POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
1472as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
1473it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
1474
1475=head3 Summary
1476
1477=over 4
1478
1479=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
1480
1481=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
1482
1483=back
1484
1485=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
1486
1487While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
1488large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
1489I/O watchers.
1490
1491In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
1492case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
1493one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
1494well.
1495
1496The columns are identical to the previous table.
1497
1498=head3 Results
1499
1500 name sockets create request
1501 EV 16 20.00 6.54
1502 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
1503 Event 16 81.27 35.86
1504 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
1505 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
1506
1507=head3 Discussion
1508
1509The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
1510server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
1511in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
1512to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
1513speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
1514them).
1515
1516EV is again fastest.
1517
1518Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
1519loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
1520matter.
1521
1522POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
1523others.
1524
1525=head3 Summary
1526
1527=over 4
1528
1529=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
1530watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
1531
1532=back
1533
1534
1535=head1 FORK
1536
1537Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
1538because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
1539calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
1540
1541If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
1542watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child.
1543
1544
1545=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
1546
1547AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
1548$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to
1549execute arbitrary code or directly gain access, it can easily be used to
1550make the program hang or malfunction in subtle ways, as AnyEvent watchers
1551will not be active when the program uses a different event model than
1552specified in the variable.
1553
1554You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
1555before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
1556
1557 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
1558
1559 use AnyEvent;
1560
1561Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
1562be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
1563probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL).
1564
676 1565
677=head1 SEE ALSO 1566=head1 SEE ALSO
678 1567
679Event modules: L<Coro::EV>, L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, 1568Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
680L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>, L<Coro>, L<Tk>.
681 1569
682Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, 1570Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
1571L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
1572
683L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, 1573Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
684L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. 1574L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
1575L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
1576L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>.
685 1577
1578Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
1579servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>.
1580
1581Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
1582
1583Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>,
1584
686Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>. 1585Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>, L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
687 1586
688=head1 1587
1588=head1 AUTHOR
1589
1590 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
1591 http://home.schmorp.de/
689 1592
690=cut 1593=cut
691 1594
6921 15951
693 1596

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