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Revision 1.54 by root, Tue Apr 22 05:12:19 2008 UTC vs.
Revision 1.139 by root, Mon May 26 06:04:38 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?
57as those use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new 57as those use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new
58event loops to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof). 58event loops to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof).
59 59
60In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event 60In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event
61model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar 61model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar
62modules, you get an enourmous amount of code and strict rules you have to 62modules, you get an enormous amount of code and strict rules you have to
63follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only 63follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only
64offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as 64offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as
65technically possible. 65technically possible.
66 66
67Of course, if you want lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat 67Of course, if you want lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat
68useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event 68useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event
69model, you should I<not> use this module. 69model, you should I<not> use this module.
70
71 70
72=head1 DESCRIPTION 71=head1 DESCRIPTION
73 72
74L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This 73L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This
75allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module 74allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module
79The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event> 78The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
80module. 79module.
81 80
82During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries 81During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries
83to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the 82to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the
84following modules is already loaded: L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>, L<EV>, 83following modules is already loaded: L<EV>,
85L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<Tk>. The first one found is used. If none are found, 84L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>,
86the module tries to load these modules in the stated order. The first one 85L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries
86to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl
87adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can
87that can be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none 88be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be
88could be found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl event loop, which 89found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl event loop, which is not
89is not very efficient, but should work everywhere. 90very efficient, but should work everywhere.
90 91
91Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading 92Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading
92an event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make 93an event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make
93that model the default. For example: 94that model the default. For example:
94 95
107 108
108=head1 WATCHERS 109=head1 WATCHERS
109 110
110AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that 111AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that
111stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as 112stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as
112the callback to call, the filehandle to watch, etc. 113the callback to call, the file handle to watch, etc.
113 114
114These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After 115These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
115creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the 116creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the
116callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model 117callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model
117is in control). 118is in control).
134 135
135Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl, 136Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,
136my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are 137my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are
137declared. 138declared.
138 139
139=head2 IO WATCHERS 140=head2 I/O WATCHERS
140 141
141You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method 142You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
142with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments: 143with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
143 144
144C<fh> the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) to watch for 145C<fh> the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) to watch
145events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, which 146for events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>,
146creates a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events, 147which creates a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events,
147respectively. C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle 148respectively. C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle
148becomes ready. 149becomes ready.
149 150
150File handles will be kept alive, so as long as the watcher exists, the 151Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
151file handle exists, too. 152presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
153callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
152 154
155The I/O watcher might use the underlying file descriptor or a copy of it.
153It is not allowed to close a file handle as long as any watcher is active 156You must not close a file handle as long as any watcher is active on the
154on the underlying file descriptor. 157underlying file descriptor.
155 158
156Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should 159Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should
157always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file 160always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file
158handles. 161handles.
159 162
170 173
171You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >> 174You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>
172method with the following mandatory arguments: 175method with the following mandatory arguments:
173 176
174C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are 177C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are
175supported) should the timer activate. C<cb> the callback to invoke in that 178supported) the callback should be invoked. C<cb> is the callback to invoke
176case. 179in that case.
180
181Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
182presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
183callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks.
177 184
178The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating 185The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating
179timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk 186timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk
180and Glib). 187and Glib).
181 188
206 213
207There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire 214There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire
208in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12 215in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12
209o'clock"). 216o'clock").
210 217
211While most event loops expect timers to specified in a relative way, they use 218While most event loops expect timers to specified in a relative way, they
212absolute time internally. This makes a difference when your clock "jumps", 219use absolute time internally. This makes a difference when your clock
213for example, when ntp decides to set your clock backwards from the wrong 2014-01-01 to 220"jumps", for example, when ntp decides to set your clock backwards from
2142008-01-01, a watcher that you created to fire "after" a second might actually take 221the wrong date of 2014-01-01 to 2008-01-01, a watcher that is supposed to
215six years to finally fire. 222fire "after" a second might actually take six years to finally fire.
216 223
217AnyEvent cannot compensate for this. The only event loop that is conscious 224AnyEvent cannot compensate for this. The only event loop that is conscious
218about these issues is L<EV>, which offers both relative (ev_timer) and 225about these issues is L<EV>, which offers both relative (ev_timer, based
219absolute (ev_periodic) timers. 226on true relative time) and absolute (ev_periodic, based on wallclock time)
227timers.
220 228
221AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the 229AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the
222AnyEvent API. 230AnyEvent API.
223 231
224=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS 232=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
225 233
226You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal 234You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
227I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl callback to 235I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl callback to
228be invoked whenever a signal occurs. 236be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
229 237
238Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
239presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
240callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
241
230Multiple signals occurances can be clumped together into one callback 242Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
231invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. synchronous means 243invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
232that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process, 244that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
233but it is guarenteed not to interrupt any other callbacks. 245but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
234 246
235The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal 247The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
236between multiple watchers. 248between multiple watchers.
237 249
238This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals 250This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals
248 260
249The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it 261The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it
250watches for any child process exit). The watcher will trigger as often 262watches for any child process exit). The watcher will trigger as often
251as status change for the child are received. This works by installing a 263as status change for the child are received. This works by installing a
252signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with the pid 264signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with the pid
253and exit status (as returned by waitpid). 265and exit status (as returned by waitpid), so unlike other watcher types,
266you I<can> rely on child watcher callback arguments.
254 267
255Example: wait for pid 1333 268There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
269I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
270have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
271
272Not all event models handle this correctly (POE doesn't), but even for
273event models that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be
274loaded before the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place).
275
276This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first thing in an
277AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one watcher before you
278C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call C<AnyEvent::detect>).
279
280Example: fork a process and wait for it
281
282 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
283
284 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
256 285
257 my $w = AnyEvent->child ( 286 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
258 pid => 1333, 287 pid => $pid,
259 cb => sub { 288 cb => sub {
260 my ($pid, $status) = @_; 289 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
261 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status"; 290 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
291 $done->send;
262 }, 292 },
263 ); 293 );
264 294
295 # do something else, then wait for process exit
296 $done->recv;
297
265=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES 298=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
266 299
300If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
301require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
302will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
303
304AnyEvent is different, it expects somebody else to run the event loop and
305will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
306
307The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
308because they represent a condition that must become true.
309
267Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >> 310Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
268method without any arguments. 311>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
312C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
313becomes true.
269 314
270A condition variable waits for a condition - precisely that the C<< 315After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
271->broadcast >> method has been called. 316by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
317were a callback, read about the caveats in the description for the C<<
318->send >> method).
272 319
273They are very useful to signal that a condition has been fulfilled, for 320Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
321optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
322in time where multiple outstanding events have been processed. And yet
323another way to call them is transactions - each condition variable can be
324used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
325a result.
326
327Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
274example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests, 328for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
275then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the 329then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
276availability of results. 330availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
331called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
277 332
278You can also use condition variables to block your main program until 333You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
279an event occurs - for example, you could C<< ->wait >> in your main 334you can block your main program until an event occurs - for example, you
280program until the user clicks the Quit button in your app, which would C<< 335could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
281->broadcast >> the "quit" event. 336button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
282 337
283Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have 338Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
284two pirces of code that call C<< ->wait >> in a round-robbin fashion, you 339two pieces of code that call C<< ->recv >> in a round-robin fashion, you
285lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but 340lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
286you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks, 341you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
287as this asks for trouble. 342as this asks for trouble.
288 343
289This object has two methods: 344Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
345used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
346easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
347AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
348it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
349
350There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
351eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
352for the send to occur.
353
354Example: wait for a timer.
355
356 # wait till the result is ready
357 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
358
359 # do something such as adding a timer
360 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->send
361 # when the "result" is ready.
362 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
363 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
364 after => 1,
365 cb => sub { $result_ready->send },
366 );
367
368 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
369 # calls send
370 $result_ready->recv;
371
372Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that
373condition variables are also code references.
374
375 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
376 my $delay = AnyEvent->timer (after => 5, cb => $done);
377 $done->recv;
378
379=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
380
381These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
382code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
383the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
384uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
290 385
291=over 4 386=over 4
292 387
388=item $cv->send (...)
389
390Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
391calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
392called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
393
394If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
395immediately from within send.
396
397Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
398future C<< ->recv >> calls.
399
400Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly
401(as a code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling
402C<send>. Note, however, that many C-based event loops do not handle
403overloading, so as tempting as it may be, passing a condition variable
404instead of a callback does not work. Both the pure perl and EV loops
405support overloading, however, as well as all functions that use perl to
406invoke a callback (as in L<AnyEvent::Socket> and L<AnyEvent::DNS> for
407example).
408
409=item $cv->croak ($error)
410
411Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
412C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
413
414This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
415user/consumer.
416
417=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
418
293=item $cv->wait 419=item $cv->end
294 420
295Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been 421These two methods are EXPERIMENTAL and MIGHT CHANGE.
422
423These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
424one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
425to use a condition variable for the whole process.
426
427Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
428C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
429>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed. That callback
430is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send >>, but that is not required. If no
431callback was set, C<send> will be called without any arguments.
432
433Let's clarify this with the ping example:
434
435 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
436
437 my %result;
438 $cv->begin (sub { $cv->send (\%result) });
439
440 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
441 $cv->begin;
442 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
443 $result{$host} = ...;
444 $cv->end;
445 };
446 }
447
448 $cv->end;
449
450This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
451C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
452order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
453each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
454it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
455results arrive is not relevant.
456
457There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
458loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
459to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
460C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
461doesn't execute once).
462
463This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple subrequests:
464use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set the callback and ensure C<end>
465is called at least once, and then, for each subrequest you start, call
466C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish, call C<end>.
467
468=back
469
470=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
471
472These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
473code awaits the condition.
474
475=over 4
476
477=item $cv->recv
478
479Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
296called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally. 480>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
481normally.
297 482
298You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return 483You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
299immediately. 484will return immediately.
485
486If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
487function will call C<croak>.
488
489In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
490in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
300 491
301Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case 492Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
302(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are 493(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
303using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the 494using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the
304caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling 495caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
305condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting 496condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
306callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block, 497callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
307while still suppporting blocking waits if the caller so desires). 498while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
308 499
309Another reason I<never> to C<< ->wait >> in a module is that you cannot 500Another reason I<never> to C<< ->recv >> in a module is that you cannot
310sensibly have two C<< ->wait >>'s in parallel, as that would require 501sensibly have two C<< ->recv >>'s in parallel, as that would require
311multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent> 502multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent>
312can supply (the coroutine-aware backends L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV> and 503can supply.
313L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent> explicitly support concurrent C<< ->wait >>'s
314from different coroutines, however).
315 504
316=item $cv->broadcast 505The L<Coro> module, however, I<can> and I<does> supply coroutines and, in
506fact, L<Coro::AnyEvent> replaces AnyEvent's condvars by coroutine-safe
507versions and also integrates coroutines into AnyEvent, making blocking
508C<< ->recv >> calls perfectly safe as long as they are done from another
509coroutine (one that doesn't run the event loop).
317 510
318Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further 511You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
319calls to C<wait> will (eventually) return after this method has been 512only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
320called. If nobody is waiting the broadcast will be remembered.. 513time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
514waits otherwise.
515
516=item $bool = $cv->ready
517
518Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
519C<croak> have been called.
520
521=item $cb = $cv->cb ([new callback])
522
523This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
524replaces it before doing so.
525
526The callback will be called when the condition becomes "true", i.e. when
527C<send> or C<croak> are called. Calling C<recv> inside the callback
528or at any later time is guaranteed not to block.
321 529
322=back 530=back
323
324Example:
325
326 # wait till the result is ready
327 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
328
329 # do something such as adding a timer
330 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast
331 # when the "result" is ready.
332 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
333 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
334 after => 1,
335 cb => sub { $result_ready->broadcast },
336 );
337
338 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the watcher
339 # calls broadcast
340 $result_ready->wait;
341 531
342=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS 532=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
343 533
344=over 4 534=over 4
345 535
351C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case 541C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case
352AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>). 542AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>).
353 543
354The known classes so far are: 544The known classes so far are:
355 545
356 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV based on Coro::EV, best choice.
357 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent based on Coro::Event, second best choice.
358 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, also best choice). 546 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice).
359 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, also second best choice :) 547 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice.
548 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
360 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice. 549 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.
361 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice. 550 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
362 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient but portable. 551 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).
552 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
553 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, not generic enough for full support.
554
555There is no support for WxWidgets, as WxWidgets has no support for
556watching file handles. However, you can use WxWidgets through the
557POE Adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply polls 20 times per
558second, which was considered to be too horrible to even consider for
559AnyEvent. Likewise, other POE backends can be used by AnyEvent by using
560it's adaptor.
561
562AnyEvent knows about L<Prima> and L<Wx> and will try to use L<POE> when
563autodetecting them.
363 564
364=item AnyEvent::detect 565=item AnyEvent::detect
365 566
366Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model 567Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
367if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would 568if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
368have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at 569have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
369runtime. 570runtime.
370 571
572=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
573
574Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
575autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
576
577If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
578that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed. See
579L<Coro::BDB> for a case where this is useful.
580
581=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
582
583If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
584before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
585the event loop has been chosen.
586
587You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
588if it contains a true value then the event loop has already been detected,
589and the array will be ignored.
590
591Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> instead.
592
371=back 593=back
372 594
373=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE 595=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
374 596
375As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods 597As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods
378Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will 600Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
379decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so 601decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
380by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module 602by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
381to load the event module first. 603to load the event module first.
382 604
383Never call C<< ->wait >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that 605Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
384the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been called on it already. This is 606the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
385because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using 607because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
386events is to stay interactive. 608events is to stay interactive.
387 609
388It is fine, however, to call C<< ->wait >> when the user of your module 610It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
389requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method 611requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
390called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->wait >> 612called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
391freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always). 613freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
392 614
393=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM 615=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
394 616
395There will always be a single main program - the only place that should 617There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
397 619
398If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not 620If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not
399do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent 621do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
400decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it. 622decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
401 623
402If the main program relies on a specific event model. For example, in 624If the main program relies on a specific event model - for example, in
403Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module. You should load the 625Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module - you should load the
404event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally 626event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
405speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that 627speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
406modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will 628modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
407decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it 629decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
408might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself. 630might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
409 631
410You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by 632You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
411loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar 633C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
412behaviour everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose is generally better. 634everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
635
636=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
637
638Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
639only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
640
641In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
642
643 AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
644
645This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
646
647Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
648it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
649variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
650exit cleanly.
651
652
653=head1 OTHER MODULES
654
655The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
656AnyEvent and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent modules
657in the same program. Some of the modules come with AnyEvent, some are
658available via CPAN.
659
660=over 4
661
662=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
663
664Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
665functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
666
667=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
668
669Provide read and write buffers and manages watchers for reads and writes.
670
671=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
672
673Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
674addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
675connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
676
677=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
678
679Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
680
681=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
682
683Provides a simple web application server framework.
684
685=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
686
687The fastest ping in the west.
688
689=item L<Net::IRC3>
690
691AnyEvent based IRC client module family.
692
693=item L<Net::XMPP2>
694
695AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family.
696
697=item L<Net::FCP>
698
699AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
700of AnyEvent.
701
702=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
703
704High level API for event-based execution flow control.
705
706=item L<Coro>
707
708Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
709
710=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>, L<IO::AIO>
711
712Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
713programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses IO::AIO and AnyEvent
714together.
715
716=item L<AnyEvent::BDB>, L<BDB>
717
718Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses
719IO::AIO and AnyEvent together.
720
721=item L<IO::Lambda>
722
723The lambda approach to I/O - don't ask, look there. Can use AnyEvent.
724
725=back
413 726
414=cut 727=cut
415 728
416package AnyEvent; 729package AnyEvent;
417 730
418no warnings; 731no warnings;
419use strict; 732use strict;
420 733
421use Carp; 734use Carp;
422 735
423our $VERSION = '3.12'; 736our $VERSION = '4.04';
424our $MODEL; 737our $MODEL;
425 738
426our $AUTOLOAD; 739our $AUTOLOAD;
427our @ISA; 740our @ISA;
428 741
742our @REGISTRY;
743
744our $WIN32;
745
746BEGIN {
747 my $win32 = ! ! ($^O =~ /mswin32/i);
748 eval "sub WIN32(){ $win32 }";
749}
750
429our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1; 751our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
430 752
431our @REGISTRY; 753our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2), higher numbers are preferred
754
755{
756 my $idx;
757 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
758 for reverse split /\s*,\s*/,
759 $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
760}
761
762sub import {
763 shift;
764 return unless @_;
765
766 my $pkg = caller;
767
768 no strict 'refs';
769
770 for (@_) {
771 *{"$pkg\::WIN32"} = *WIN32 if $_ eq "WIN32";
772 }
773}
432 774
433my @models = ( 775my @models = (
434 [Coro::EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV::],
435 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent::],
436 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::], 776 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::],
437 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 777 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::],
438 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::],
439 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::],
440 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::], 778 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::],
779 # everything below here will not be autoprobed
780 # as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
781 # and is usually faster
782 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], # crashes with many handles
783 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], # becomes extremely slow with many watchers
784 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
785 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
786 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
787 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
788 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
441); 789);
442 790
443our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer condvar broadcast wait signal one_event DESTROY); 791our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer signal child condvar one_event DESTROY);
792
793our @post_detect;
794
795sub post_detect(&) {
796 my ($cb) = @_;
797
798 if ($MODEL) {
799 $cb->();
800
801 1
802 } else {
803 push @post_detect, $cb;
804
805 defined wantarray
806 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::PostDetect"
807 : ()
808 }
809}
810
811sub AnyEvent::Util::PostDetect::DESTROY {
812 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
813}
444 814
445sub detect() { 815sub detect() {
446 unless ($MODEL) { 816 unless ($MODEL) {
447 no strict 'refs'; 817 no strict 'refs';
818 local $SIG{__DIE__};
819
820 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
821 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
822 if (eval "require $model") {
823 $MODEL = $model;
824 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
825 } else {
826 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL):\n$@" if $verbose;
827 }
828 }
448 829
449 # check for already loaded models 830 # check for already loaded models
831 unless ($MODEL) {
450 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 832 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
451 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 833 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
452 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 834 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
453 if (eval "require $model") { 835 if (eval "require $model") {
454 $MODEL = $model; 836 $MODEL = $model;
455 warn "AnyEvent: found model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 837 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
456 last; 838 last;
839 }
457 } 840 }
458 } 841 }
459 }
460 842
461 unless ($MODEL) { 843 unless ($MODEL) {
462 # try to load a model 844 # try to load a model
463 845
464 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 846 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
465 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 847 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
466 if (eval "require $package" 848 if (eval "require $package"
467 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0 849 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
468 and eval "require $model") { 850 and eval "require $model") {
469 $MODEL = $model; 851 $MODEL = $model;
470 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed and loaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 852 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
471 last; 853 last;
854 }
472 } 855 }
856
857 $MODEL
858 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.";
473 } 859 }
474
475 $MODEL
476 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV (or Coro+EV), Event (or Coro+Event), Glib or Tk.";
477 } 860 }
478 861
479 unshift @ISA, $MODEL; 862 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
480 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base"; 863 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
864
865 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
481 } 866 }
482 867
483 $MODEL 868 $MODEL
484} 869}
485 870
495 $class->$func (@_); 880 $class->$func (@_);
496} 881}
497 882
498package AnyEvent::Base; 883package AnyEvent::Base;
499 884
500# default implementation for ->condvar, ->wait, ->broadcast 885# default implementation for ->condvar
501 886
502sub condvar { 887sub condvar {
503 bless \my $flag, "AnyEvent::Base::CondVar" 888 bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, AnyEvent::CondVar::
504}
505
506sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::broadcast {
507 ${$_[0]}++;
508}
509
510sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::wait {
511 AnyEvent->one_event while !${$_[0]};
512} 889}
513 890
514# default implementation for ->signal 891# default implementation for ->signal
515 892
516our %SIG_CB; 893our %SIG_CB;
569 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing"; 946 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing";
570 947
571 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 948 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
572 949
573 unless ($WNOHANG) { 950 unless ($WNOHANG) {
574 $WNOHANG = eval { require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1; 951 $WNOHANG = eval { local $SIG{__DIE__}; require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;
575 } 952 }
576 953
577 unless ($CHLD_W) { 954 unless ($CHLD_W) {
578 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld); 955 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld);
579 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round 956 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
589 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb}; 966 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb};
590 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} }; 967 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
591 968
592 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB; 969 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
593} 970}
971
972package AnyEvent::CondVar;
973
974our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
975
976package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
977
978use overload
979 '&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
980 fallback => 1;
981
982sub _send {
983 # nop
984}
985
986sub send {
987 my $cv = shift;
988 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
989 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
990 $cv->_send;
991}
992
993sub croak {
994 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
995 $_[0]->send;
996}
997
998sub ready {
999 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
1000}
1001
1002sub _wait {
1003 AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
1004}
1005
1006sub recv {
1007 $_[0]->_wait;
1008
1009 Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
1010 wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
1011}
1012
1013sub cb {
1014 $_[0]{_ae_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1015 $_[0]{_ae_cb}
1016}
1017
1018sub begin {
1019 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1020 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1021}
1022
1023sub end {
1024 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1025 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
1026}
1027
1028# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
1029*broadcast = \&send;
1030*wait = \&_wait;
594 1031
595=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 1032=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
596 1033
597This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in 1034This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
598a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to 1035a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
637 1074
638=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 1075=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
639 1076
640The following environment variables are used by this module: 1077The following environment variables are used by this module:
641 1078
642C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE> when set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to 1079=over 4
643report to STDERR which event model it chooses. 1080
1081=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
1082
1083By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
1084conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
1085talkative.
1086
1087When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
1088conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
1089C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
1090
1091When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
1092model it chooses.
1093
1094=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
1095
1096This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
1097auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
1098entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
1099and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
1100used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
1101auto detection and -probing.
1102
1103This functionality might change in future versions.
1104
1105For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
1106could start your program like this:
1107
1108 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
1109
1110=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
1111
1112Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
1113for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
1114of auto probing).
1115
1116Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
1117current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
1118used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
1119list.
1120
1121This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
1122against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
1123small, as the program has to handle connection errors already-
1124
1125Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
1126but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
1127- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
1128addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
1129IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
1130
1131=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
1132
1133Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
1134for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
1135some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
1136default.
1137
1138Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
1139EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
1140
1141=back
644 1142
645=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM 1143=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
646 1144
647The following program uses an IO watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer 1145The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
648to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the 1146to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
649program when the user enters quit: 1147program when the user enters quit:
650 1148
651 use AnyEvent; 1149 use AnyEvent;
652 1150
657 poll => 'r', 1155 poll => 'r',
658 cb => sub { 1156 cb => sub {
659 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 1157 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
660 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 1158 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
661 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 1159 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
662 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 1160 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
663 }, 1161 },
664 ); 1162 );
665 1163
666 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once 1164 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
667 1165
672 }); 1170 });
673 } 1171 }
674 1172
675 new_timer; # create first timer 1173 new_timer; # create first timer
676 1174
677 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 1175 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
678 1176
679=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 1177=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
680 1178
681Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 1179Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
682API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 1180API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
732 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 1230 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
733 or die "connection or write error"; 1231 or die "connection or write error";
734 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 1232 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
735 1233
736Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 1234Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
737result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished: 1235result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
738 1236
739 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 1237 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
740 1238
741 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 1239 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
742 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 1240 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
743 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 1241 $txn->{finished}->send;
744 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 1242 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
745 } 1243 }
746 1244
747The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 1245The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
748request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the 1246request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
749data: 1247data:
750 1248
751 $txn->{finished}->wait; 1249 $txn->{finished}->recv;
752 return $txn->{result}; 1250 return $txn->{result};
753 1251
754The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 1252The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
755that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 1253that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
756whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 1254whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
757and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 1255and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
758problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a 1256problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
759random callback. 1257random callback.
760 1258
791 1289
792 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 1290 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
793 1291
794 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 1292 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
795 ... 1293 ...
796 $quit->broadcast; 1294 $quit->send;
797 }); 1295 });
798 1296
799 $quit->wait; 1297 $quit->recv;
1298
1299
1300=head1 BENCHMARKS
1301
1302To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
1303over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
1304of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
1305
1306=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
1307
1308Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
1309through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
1310timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
1311which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
1312
1313Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
1314distribution.
1315
1316=head3 Explanation of the columns
1317
1318I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
1319different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
1320loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
1321and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
1322would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
1323of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
1324
1325I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
1326RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
1327and Perl-based overheads.
1328
1329I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
1330takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
1331all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
1332and memory usage is not included in the figures.
1333
1334I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
1335callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
1336invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
1337signal the end of this phase.
1338
1339I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
1340watcher.
1341
1342=head3 Results
1343
1344 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
1345 EV/EV 400000 244 0.56 0.46 0.31 EV native interface
1346 EV/Any 100000 244 2.50 0.46 0.29 EV + AnyEvent watchers
1347 CoroEV/Any 100000 244 2.49 0.44 0.29 coroutines + Coro::Signal
1348 Perl/Any 100000 513 4.92 0.87 1.12 pure perl implementation
1349 Event/Event 16000 516 31.88 31.30 0.85 Event native interface
1350 Event/Any 16000 590 35.75 31.42 1.08 Event + AnyEvent watchers
1351 Glib/Any 16000 1357 98.22 12.41 54.00 quadratic behaviour
1352 Tk/Any 2000 1860 26.97 67.98 14.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
1353 POE/Event 2000 6644 108.64 736.02 14.73 via POE::Loop::Event
1354 POE/Select 2000 6343 94.13 809.12 565.96 via POE::Loop::Select
1355
1356=head3 Discussion
1357
1358The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
1359well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
1360can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
1361file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
1362the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
1363boost.
1364
1365Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
1366overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
1367the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
1368higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
1369
1370To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
1371benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
1372EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
1373cycles with POE.
1374
1375C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
1376maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, it uses
1377far less memory than any other event loop and is still faster than Event
1378natively.
1379
1380The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
1381constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
1382interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
1383adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
1384performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
1385them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
1386
1387The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
1388cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
1389
1390C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
1391faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
1392C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
1393watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
1394making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
1395(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
1396inefficiencies of C<poll> do not account for this).
1397
1398The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
1399more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
1400precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
1401file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
1402employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
1403hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
1404above).
1405
1406C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
1407select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
1408be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
1409memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
1410as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
1411requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
1412invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
1413implementation.
1414
1415The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
1416for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
1417small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
1418optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
1419using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
1420memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
1421design).
1422
1423=head3 Summary
1424
1425=over 4
1426
1427=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
1428(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
1429performance with or without AnyEvent.
1430
1431=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
1432the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
1433adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
1434
1435=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
1436reasonable memory usage.
1437
1438=back
1439
1440=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
1441
1442This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
1443creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
1444timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
1445watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
1446watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
1447
1448The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
1449are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
1450fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
1451timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
1452most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
1453
1454In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
1455(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
1456connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
1457
1458Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
1459distribution.
1460
1461=head3 Explanation of the columns
1462
1463I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
1464each server has a read and write socket end).
1465
1466I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
1467nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
1468
1469I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
1470single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
1471it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
1472a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
1473
1474=head3 Results
1475
1476 name sockets create request
1477 EV 20000 69.01 11.16
1478 Perl 20000 73.32 35.87
1479 Event 20000 212.62 257.32
1480 Glib 20000 651.16 1896.30
1481 POE 20000 349.67 12317.24 uses POE::Loop::Event
1482
1483=head3 Discussion
1484
1485This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
1486particular event loop.
1487
1488EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
1489is relatively high, though.
1490
1491Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
1492loops Event and Glib.
1493
1494Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
1495understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
1496the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
1497uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
1498
1499Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
1500clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
1501
1502POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
1503as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
1504it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
1505
1506=head3 Summary
1507
1508=over 4
1509
1510=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
1511
1512=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
1513
1514=back
1515
1516=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
1517
1518While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
1519large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
1520I/O watchers.
1521
1522In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
1523case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
1524one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
1525well.
1526
1527The columns are identical to the previous table.
1528
1529=head3 Results
1530
1531 name sockets create request
1532 EV 16 20.00 6.54
1533 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
1534 Event 16 81.27 35.86
1535 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
1536 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
1537
1538=head3 Discussion
1539
1540The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
1541server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
1542in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
1543to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
1544speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
1545them).
1546
1547EV is again fastest.
1548
1549Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
1550loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
1551matter.
1552
1553POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
1554others.
1555
1556=head3 Summary
1557
1558=over 4
1559
1560=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
1561watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
1562
1563=back
1564
1565
1566=head1 FORK
1567
1568Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
1569because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
1570calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
1571
1572If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
1573watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child.
1574
1575
1576=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
1577
1578AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
1579$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to
1580execute arbitrary code or directly gain access, it can easily be used to
1581make the program hang or malfunction in subtle ways, as AnyEvent watchers
1582will not be active when the program uses a different event model than
1583specified in the variable.
1584
1585You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
1586before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
1587
1588 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
1589
1590 use AnyEvent;
1591
1592Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
1593be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
1594probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL).
1595
800 1596
801=head1 SEE ALSO 1597=head1 SEE ALSO
802 1598
803Event modules: L<Coro::EV>, L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, 1599Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
804L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>, L<Coro>, L<Tk>.
805 1600
806Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, 1601Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
1602L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
1603
807L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, 1604Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
808L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. 1605L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
1606L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
1607L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>.
809 1608
1609Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
1610servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>.
1611
1612Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
1613
1614Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>,
1615
810Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>. 1616Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>, L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
1617
811 1618
812=head1 AUTHOR 1619=head1 AUTHOR
813 1620
814 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 1621 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
815 http://home.schmorp.de/ 1622 http://home.schmorp.de/

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