[ViewVC] Diff of: cvs/AnyEvent/lib/AnyEvent.pm

Comparing AnyEvent/lib/AnyEvent.pm (file contents):
Revision 1.64 by root, Fri Apr 25 06:54:08 2008 UTC vs.
Revision 1.134 by root, Sun May 25 04:44:04 2008 UTC

…		…
1	=head1 NAME	1	=head1 => NAME
2		2
3	AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops	3	AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops
4		4
5	EV, Event, Coro::EV, Coro::Event, Glib, Tk, Perl, Event::Lib, Qt, POE - various supported event loops	5	EV, 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
25	Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen	25	Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen
26	nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?	26	nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?
…		…
57	as those use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new	57	as those use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new
58	event loops to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof).	58	event loops to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof).
59		59
60	In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event	60	In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event
61	model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar	61	model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar
62	modules, you get an enourmous amount of code and strict rules you have to	62	modules, you get an enormous amount of code and strict rules you have to
63	follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only	63	follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only
64	offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as	64	offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as
65	technically possible.	65	technically possible.
66		66
67	Of course, if you want lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat	67	Of course, if you want lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat
68	useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event	68	useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event
69	model, you should I<not> use this module.	69	model, you should I<not> use this module.
70
71		70
72	=head1 DESCRIPTION	71	=head1 DESCRIPTION
73		72
74	L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This	73	L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This
75	allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module	74	allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module
…		…
79	The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>	78	The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
80	module.	79	module.
81		80
82	During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries	81	During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries
83	to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the	82	to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the
84	following modules is already loaded: L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>, L<EV>,	83	following modules is already loaded: L<EV>,
85	L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>,	84	L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>,
86	L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries	85	L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries
87	to load these modules (excluding Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl	86	to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl
88	adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can	87	adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can
89	be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be	88	be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be
90	found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl event loop, which is not	89	found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl event loop, which is not
91	very efficient, but should work everywhere.	90	very efficient, but should work everywhere.
92		91
…		…
109		108
110	=head1 WATCHERS	109	=head1 WATCHERS
111		110
112	AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that	111	AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that
113	stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as	112	stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as
114	the callback to call, the filehandle to watch, etc.	113	the callback to call, the file handle to watch, etc.
115		114
116	These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After	115	These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
117	creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the	116	creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the
118	callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model	117	callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model
119	is in control).	118	is in control).
…		…
136		135
137	Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,	136	Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,
138	my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are	137	my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are
139	declared.	138	declared.
140		139
141	=head2 IO WATCHERS	140	=head2 I/O WATCHERS
142		141
143	You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method	142	You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
144	with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:	143	with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
145		144
146	C<fh> the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) to watch for	145	C<fh> the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) to watch
147	events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, which	146	for events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>,
148	creates a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events,	147	which creates a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events,
149	respectively. C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle	148	respectively. C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle
150	becomes ready.	149	becomes ready.
151		150
152	As long as the I/O watcher exists it will keep the file descriptor or a	151	Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
153	copy of it alive/open.	152	presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
		153	callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
154		154
		155	The I/O watcher might use the underlying file descriptor or a copy of it.
155	It is not allowed to close a file handle as long as any watcher is active	156	You must not close a file handle as long as any watcher is active on the
156	on the underlying file descriptor.	157	underlying file descriptor.
157		158
158	Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should	159	Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should
159	always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file	160	always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file
160	handles.	161	handles.
161		162
…		…
172		173
173	You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>	174	You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>
174	method with the following mandatory arguments:	175	method with the following mandatory arguments:
175		176
176	C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are	177	C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are
177	supported) should the timer activate. C<cb> the callback to invoke in that	178	supported) the callback should be invoked. C<cb> is the callback to invoke
178	case.	179	in that case.
		180
		181	Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
		182	presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
		183	callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks.
179		184
180	The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating	185	The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating
181	timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk	186	timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk
182	and Glib).	187	and Glib).
183		188
…		…
228		233
229	You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal	234	You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
230	I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl callback to	235	I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl callback to
231	be invoked whenever a signal occurs.	236	be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
232		237
		238	Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
		239	presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
		240	callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
		241
233	Multiple signal occurances can be clumped together into one callback	242	Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
234	invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. synchronous means	243	invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
235	that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,	244	that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
236	but it is guarenteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.	245	but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
237		246
238	The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal	247	The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
239	between multiple watchers.	248	between multiple watchers.
240		249
241	This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals	250	This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals
…		…
251		260
252	The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it	261	The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it
253	watches for any child process exit). The watcher will trigger as often	262	watches for any child process exit). The watcher will trigger as often
254	as status change for the child are received. This works by installing a	263	as status change for the child are received. This works by installing a
255	signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with the pid	264	signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with the pid
256	and exit status (as returned by waitpid).	265	and exit status (as returned by waitpid), so unlike other watcher types,
		266	you I<can> rely on child watcher callback arguments.
257		267
258	Example: wait for pid 1333	268	There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
		269	I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
		270	have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
		271
		272	Not all event models handle this correctly (POE doesn't), but even for
		273	event models that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be
		274	loaded before the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place).
		275
		276	This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first thing in an
		277	AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one watcher before you
		278	C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call C<AnyEvent::detect>).
		279
		280	Example: fork a process and wait for it
		281
		282	my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
		283
		284	my $pid = fork or exit 5;
259		285
260	my $w = AnyEvent->child (	286	my $w = AnyEvent->child (
261	pid => 1333,	287	pid => $pid,
262	cb => sub {	288	cb => sub {
263	my ($pid, $status) = @_;	289	my ($pid, $status) = @_;
264	warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";	290	warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
		291	$done->send;
265	},	292	},
266	);	293	);
267		294
		295	# do something else, then wait for process exit
		296	$done->recv;
		297
268	=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES	298	=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
269		299
		300	If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
		301	require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
		302	will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
		303
		304	AnyEvent is different, it expects somebody else to run the event loop and
		305	will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
		306
		307	The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
		308	because they represent a condition that must become true.
		309
270	Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >>	310	Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
271	method without any arguments.	311	>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
		312	C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
		313	becomes true.
272		314
273	A condition variable waits for a condition - precisely that the C<<	315	After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
274	->broadcast >> method has been called.	316	by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
		317	were a callback).
275		318
276	They are very useful to signal that a condition has been fulfilled, for	319	Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
		320	optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
		321	in time where multiple outstanding events have been processed. And yet
		322	another way to call them is transactions - each condition variable can be
		323	used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
		324	a result.
		325
		326	Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
277	example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,	327	for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
278	then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the	328	then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
279	availability of results.	329	availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
		330	called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
280		331
281	You can also use condition variables to block your main program until	332	You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
282	an event occurs - for example, you could C<< ->wait >> in your main	333	you can block your main program until an event occurs - for example, you
283	program until the user clicks the Quit button in your app, which would C<<	334	could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
284	->broadcast >> the "quit" event.	335	button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
285		336
286	Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have	337	Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
287	two pirces of code that call C<< ->wait >> in a round-robbin fashion, you	338	two pieces of code that call C<< ->recv >> in a round-robin fashion, you
288	lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but	339	lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
289	you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,	340	you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
290	as this asks for trouble.	341	as this asks for trouble.
291		342
292	This object has two methods:	343	Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
		344	used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
		345	easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
		346	AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
		347	it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
		348
		349	There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
		350	eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
		351	for the send to occur.
		352
		353	Example: 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
		371	Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that
		372	condition 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
		380	These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
		381	code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
		382	the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
		383	uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
293		384
294	=over 4	385	=over 4
295		386
		387	=item $cv->send (...)
		388
		389	Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
		390	calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
		391	called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
		392
		393	If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
		394	immediately from within send.
		395
		396	Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
		397	future C<< ->recv >> calls.
		398
		399	Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly (as a
		400	code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling C<send>.
		401
		402	=item $cv->croak ($error)
		403
		404	Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
		405	C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
		406
		407	This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
		408	user/consumer.
		409
		410	=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
		411
296	=item $cv->wait	412	=item $cv->end
297		413
298	Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been	414	These two methods are EXPERIMENTAL and MIGHT CHANGE.
		415
		416	These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
		417	one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
		418	to use a condition variable for the whole process.
		419
		420	Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
		421	C<< ->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
		423	is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send >>, but that is not required. If no
		424	callback was set, C<send> will be called without any arguments.
		425
		426	Let'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
		443	This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
		444	C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
		445	order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
		446	each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
		447	it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
		448	results arrive is not relevant.
		449
		450	There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
		451	loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
		452	to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
		453	C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
		454	doesn't execute once).
		455
		456	This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple subrequests:
		457	use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set the callback and ensure C<end>
		458	is called at least once, and then, for each subrequest you start, call
		459	C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish, call C<end>.
		460
		461	=back
		462
		463	=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
		464
		465	These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
		466	code awaits the condition.
		467
		468	=over 4
		469
		470	=item $cv->recv
		471
		472	Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
299	called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally.	473	>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
		474	normally.
300		475
301	You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return	476	You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
302	immediately.	477	will return immediately.
		478
		479	If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
		480	function will call C<croak>.
		481
		482	In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
		483	in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
303		484
304	Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case	485	Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
305	(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are	486	(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
306	using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the	487	using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the
307	caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling	488	caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
308	condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting	489	condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
309	callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,	490	callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
310	while still suppporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).	491	while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
311		492
312	Another reason I<never> to C<< ->wait >> in a module is that you cannot	493	Another reason I<never> to C<< ->recv >> in a module is that you cannot
313	sensibly have two C<< ->wait >>'s in parallel, as that would require	494	sensibly have two C<< ->recv >>'s in parallel, as that would require
314	multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent>	495	multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent>
315	can supply (the coroutine-aware backends L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV> and	496	can supply.
316	L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent> explicitly support concurrent C<< ->wait >>'s
317	from different coroutines, however).
318		497
319	=item $cv->broadcast	498	The L<Coro> module, however, I<can> and I<does> supply coroutines and, in
		499	fact, L<Coro::AnyEvent> replaces AnyEvent's condvars by coroutine-safe
		500	versions and also integrates coroutines into AnyEvent, making blocking
		501	C<< ->recv >> calls perfectly safe as long as they are done from another
		502	coroutine (one that doesn't run the event loop).
320		503
321	Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further	504	You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
322	calls to C<wait> will (eventually) return after this method has been	505	only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
323	called. If nobody is waiting the broadcast will be remembered..	506	time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
		507	waits otherwise.
		508
		509	=item $bool = $cv->ready
		510
		511	Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
		512	C<croak> have been called.
		513
		514	=item $cb = $cv->cb ([new callback])
		515
		516	This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
		517	replaces it before doing so.
		518
		519	The callback will be called when the condition becomes "true", i.e. when
		520	C<send> or C<croak> are called. Calling C<recv> inside the callback
		521	or at any later time is guaranteed not to block.
324		522
325	=back	523	=back
326
327	Example:
328
329	# wait till the result is ready
330	my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
331
332	# do something such as adding a timer
333	# or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast
334	# when the "result" is ready.
335	# in this case, we simply use a timer:
336	my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
337	after => 1,
338	cb => sub { $result_ready->broadcast },
339	);
340
341	# this "blocks" (while handling events) till the watcher
342	# calls broadcast
343	$result_ready->wait;
344		524
345	=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS	525	=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
346		526
347	=over 4	527	=over 4
348		528
…		…
354	C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case	534	C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case
355	AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>).	535	AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>).
356		536
357	The known classes so far are:	537	The known classes so far are:
358		538
359	AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV based on Coro::EV, best choice.
360	AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent based on Coro::Event, second best choice.
361	AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice).	539	AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice).
362	AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice.	540	AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice.
		541	AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
363	AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.	542	AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.
364	AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.	543	AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
365	AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient but portable.
366	AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).	544	AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).
367	AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.	545	AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
368	AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, not generic enough for full support.	546	AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, not generic enough for full support.
369		547
370	There is no support for WxWidgets, as WxWidgets has no support for	548	There is no support for WxWidgets, as WxWidgets has no support for
…		…
382	Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model	560	Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
383	if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would	561	if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
384	have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at	562	have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
385	runtime.	563	runtime.
386		564
		565	=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
		566
		567	Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
		568	autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
		569
		570	If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
		571	that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed. See
		572	L<Coro::BDB> for a case where this is useful.
		573
		574	=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
		575
		576	If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
		577	before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
		578	the event loop has been chosen.
		579
		580	You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
		581	if it contains a true value then the event loop has already been detected,
		582	and the array will be ignored.
		583
		584	Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> instead.
		585
387	=back	586	=back
388		587
389	=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE	588	=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
390		589
391	As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods	590	As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods
…		…
394	Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will	593	Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
395	decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so	594	decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
396	by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module	595	by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
397	to load the event module first.	596	to load the event module first.
398		597
399	Never call C<< ->wait >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that	598	Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
400	the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been called on it already. This is	599	the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
401	because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using	600	because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
402	events is to stay interactive.	601	events is to stay interactive.
403		602
404	It is fine, however, to call C<< ->wait >> when the user of your module	603	It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
405	requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method	604	requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
406	called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->wait >>	605	called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
407	freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).	606	freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
408		607
409	=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM	608	=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
410		609
411	There will always be a single main program - the only place that should	610	There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
…		…
413		612
414	If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not	613	If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not
415	do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent	614	do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
416	decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.	615	decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
417		616
418	If the main program relies on a specific event model. For example, in	617	If the main program relies on a specific event model - for example, in
419	Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module. You should load the	618	Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module - you should load the
420	event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally	619	event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
421	speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that	620	speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
422	modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will	621	modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
423	decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it	622	decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
424	might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.	623	might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
425		624
426	You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by	625	You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
427	loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar	626	C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
428	behaviour everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose is generally better.	627	everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
		628
		629	=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
		630
		631	Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
		632	only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
		633
		634	In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
		635
		636	AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
		637
		638	This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
		639
		640	Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
		641	it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
		642	variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
		643	exit cleanly.
		644
		645
		646	=head1 OTHER MODULES
		647
		648	The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
		649	AnyEvent and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent modules
		650	in the same program. Some of the modules come with AnyEvent, some are
		651	available via CPAN.
		652
		653	=over 4
		654
		655	=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
		656
		657	Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
		658	functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
		659
		660	=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
		661
		662	Provide read and write buffers and manages watchers for reads and writes.
		663
		664	=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
		665
		666	Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
		667	addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
		668	connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
		669
		670	=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
		671
		672	Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
		673
		674	=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
		675
		676	Provides a simple web application server framework.
		677
		678	=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
		679
		680	The fastest ping in the west.
		681
		682	=item L<Net::IRC3>
		683
		684	AnyEvent based IRC client module family.
		685
		686	=item L<Net::XMPP2>
		687
		688	AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family.
		689
		690	=item L<Net::FCP>
		691
		692	AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
		693	of AnyEvent.
		694
		695	=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
		696
		697	High level API for event-based execution flow control.
		698
		699	=item L<Coro>
		700
		701	Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
		702
		703	=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>, L<IO::AIO>
		704
		705	Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
		706	programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses IO::AIO and AnyEvent
		707	together.
		708
		709	=item L<AnyEvent::BDB>, L<BDB>
		710
		711	Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses
		712	IO::AIO and AnyEvent together.
		713
		714	=item L<IO::Lambda>
		715
		716	The lambda approach to I/O - don't ask, look there. Can use AnyEvent.
		717
		718	=back
429		719
430	=cut	720	=cut
431		721
432	package AnyEvent;	722	package AnyEvent;
433		723
434	no warnings;	724	no warnings;
435	use strict;	725	use strict;
436		726
437	use Carp;	727	use Carp;
438		728
439	our $VERSION = '3.3';	729	our $VERSION = '4.03';
440	our $MODEL;	730	our $MODEL;
441		731
442	our $AUTOLOAD;	732	our $AUTOLOAD;
443	our @ISA;	733	our @ISA;
444		734
445	our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;	735	our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
446		736
447	our @REGISTRY;	737	our @REGISTRY;
448		738
		739	our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4\|ipv6) => (1\|2)
		740
		741	{
		742	my $idx;
		743	$PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
		744	for split /\s,\s/, $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} \|\| "ipv4,ipv6";
		745	}
		746
449	my @models = (	747	my @models = (
450	[Coro::EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV::],
451	[Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent::],
452	[EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::],	748	[EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::],
453	[Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::],	749	[Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::],
454	[Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::],
455	[Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::],	750	[Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::],
456	[Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],	751	[Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
457	[Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],	752	[Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
458	[AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::],	753	[AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::],
459	# everything below here will not be autoprobed as the pureperl backend should work everywhere	754	# everything below here will not be autoprobed as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
		755	[Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::],
460	[Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy	756	[Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
461	[Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program	757	[Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
462	[POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza	758	[POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
463	);	759	);
464		760
465	our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer signal child condvar broadcast wait one_event DESTROY);	761	our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer signal child condvar one_event DESTROY);
		762
		763	our @post_detect;
		764
		765	sub post_detect(&) {
		766	my ($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
		781	sub AnyEvent::Util::PostDetect::DESTROY {
		782	@post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
		783	}
466		784
467	sub detect() {	785	sub detect() {
468	unless ($MODEL) {	786	unless ($MODEL) {
469	no strict 'refs';	787	no strict 'refs';
470		788
…		…
504	last;	822	last;
505	}	823	}
506	}	824	}
507		825
508	$MODEL	826	$MODEL
509	or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV (or Coro+EV), Event (or Coro+Event) or Glib.";	827	or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.";
510	}	828	}
511	}	829	}
512		830
513	unshift @ISA, $MODEL;	831	unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
514	push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";	832	push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
		833
		834	(shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
515	}	835	}
516		836
517	$MODEL	837	$MODEL
518	}	838	}
519		839
…		…
529	$class->$func (@_);	849	$class->$func (@_);
530	}	850	}
531		851
532	package AnyEvent::Base;	852	package AnyEvent::Base;
533		853
534	# default implementation for ->condvar, ->wait, ->broadcast	854	# default implementation for ->condvar
535		855
536	sub condvar {	856	sub condvar {
537	bless \my $flag, "AnyEvent::Base::CondVar"	857	bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, AnyEvent::CondVar::
538	}
539
540	sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::broadcast {
541	${$_[0]}++;
542	}
543
544	sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::wait {
545	AnyEvent->one_event while !${$_[0]};
546	}	858	}
547		859
548	# default implementation for ->signal	860	# default implementation for ->signal
549		861
550	our %SIG_CB;	862	our %SIG_CB;
…		…
624	delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };	936	delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
625		937
626	undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;	938	undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
627	}	939	}
628		940
		941	package AnyEvent::CondVar;
		942
		943	our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
		944
		945	package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
		946
		947	use overload
		948	'&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
		949	fallback => 1;
		950
		951	sub _send {
		952	# nop
		953	}
		954
		955	sub send {
		956	my $cv = shift;
		957	$cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
		958	(delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
		959	$cv->_send;
		960	}
		961
		962	sub croak {
		963	$_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
		964	$_[0]->send;
		965	}
		966
		967	sub ready {
		968	$_[0]{_ae_sent}
		969	}
		970
		971	sub _wait {
		972	AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
		973	}
		974
		975	sub 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
		982	sub cb {
		983	$_[0]{_ae_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
		984	$_[0]{_ae_cb}
		985	}
		986
		987	sub begin {
		988	++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
		989	$_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
		990	}
		991
		992	sub end {
		993	return if --$_[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
629	=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE	1001	=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
630		1002
631	This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in	1003	This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
632	a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to	1004	a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
633	provide AnyEvent compatibility.	1005	provide AnyEvent compatibility.
…		…
689	model it chooses.	1061	model it chooses.
690		1062
691	=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>	1063	=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
692		1064
693	This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before	1065	This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
694	autodetection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting	1066	auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
695	entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended	1067	entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
696	and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,	1068	and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
697	used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with	1069	used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
698	autodetection and -probing.	1070	auto detection and -probing.
699		1071
700	This functionality might change in future versions.	1072	This functionality might change in future versions.
701		1073
702	For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you	1074	For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
703	could start your program like this:	1075	could start your program like this:
704		1076
705	PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...	1077	PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
706		1078
		1079	=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
		1080
		1081	Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
		1082	for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
		1083	of auto probing).
		1084
		1085	Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
		1086	current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
		1087	used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
		1088	list.
		1089
		1090	This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
		1091	against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
		1092	small, as the program has to handle connection errors already-
		1093
		1094	Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
		1095	but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
		1096	- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
		1097	addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
		1098	IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
		1099
		1100	=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
		1101
		1102	Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
		1103	for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
		1104	some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
		1105	default.
		1106
		1107	Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
		1108	EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
		1109
707	=back	1110	=back
708		1111
709	=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM	1112	=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
710		1113
711	The following program uses an IO watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer	1114	The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
712	to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the	1115	to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
713	program when the user enters quit:	1116	program when the user enters quit:
714		1117
715	use AnyEvent;	1118	use AnyEvent;
716		1119
…		…
721	poll => 'r',	1124	poll => 'r',
722	cb => sub {	1125	cb => sub {
723	warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>	1126	warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
724	chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line	1127	chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
725	warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read	1128	warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
726	$cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i	1129	$cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
727	},	1130	},
728	);	1131	);
729		1132
730	my $time_watcher; # can only be used once	1133	my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
731		1134
…		…
736	});	1139	});
737	}	1140	}
738		1141
739	new_timer; # create first timer	1142	new_timer; # create first timer
740		1143
741	$cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i	1144	$cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
742		1145
743	=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE	1146	=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
744		1147
745	Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following	1148	Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
746	API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:	1149	API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
…		…
796	syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}	1199	syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
797	or die "connection or write error";	1200	or die "connection or write error";
798	$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 });
799		1202
800	Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the	1203	Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
801	result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished:	1204	result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
802		1205
803	sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};	1206	sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
804		1207
805	if (end-of-file or data complete) {	1208	if (end-of-file or data complete) {
806	$txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};	1209	$txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
807	$txn->{finished}->broadcast;	1210	$txn->{finished}->send;
808	$txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback	1211	$txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
809	}	1212	}
810		1213
811	The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the	1214	The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
812	request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the	1215	request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
813	data:	1216	data:
814		1217
815	$txn->{finished}->wait;	1218	$txn->{finished}->recv;
816	return $txn->{result};	1219	return $txn->{result};
817		1220
818	The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)	1221	The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
819	that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects	1222	that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
820	whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)	1223	whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
821	and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other	1224	and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
822	problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a	1225	problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
823	random callback.	1226	random callback.
824		1227
…		…
855		1258
856	my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;	1259	my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
857		1260
858	$fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {	1261	$fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
859	...	1262	...
860	$quit->broadcast;	1263	$quit->send;
861	});	1264	});
862		1265
863	$quit->wait;	1266	$quit->recv;
864		1267
865		1268
866	=head1 BENCHMARK	1269	=head1 BENCHMARKS
867		1270
868	To give you an idea of the performance an doverheads that AnyEvent adds	1271	To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
869	over the backends, here is a benchmark of various supported backends. The	1272	over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
870	benchmark creates a lot of timers (with zero timeout) and io events	1273	of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
871	(watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable).
872		1274
873	Explanation of the fields:	1275	=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
874		1276
		1277	Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
		1278	through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
		1279	timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
		1280	which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
		1281
		1282	Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
		1283	distribution.
		1284
		1285	=head3 Explanation of the columns
		1286
875	I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Sicne	1287	I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
876	different event models have vastly different performance each backend was	1288	different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
877	handed a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable and	1289	loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
878	similar to all backends (and keep them from crashing).	1290	and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
		1291	would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
		1292	of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
879		1293
880	I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by resident set size) used by	1294	I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
881	each watcher.	1295	RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
		1296	and Perl-based overheads.
882		1297
883	I<create> is the time, in microseconds, to create a single watcher.	1298	I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
		1299	takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
		1300	all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
		1301	and memory usage is not included in the figures.
884		1302
885	I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple callback	1303	I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
886	that simply counts down.	1304	callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
		1305	invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
		1306	signal the end of this phase.
887		1307
888	I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, to destroy a single watcher.	1308	I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
		1309	watcher.
889		1310
		1311	=head3 Results
		1312
890	name watcher bytes create invoke destroy comment	1313	name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
891	EV/EV 400000 244 0.56 0.46 0.31 EV native interface	1314	EV/EV 400000 244 0.56 0.46 0.31 EV native interface
892	EV/Any 100000 610 3.52 0.91 0.75	1315	EV/Any 100000 244 2.50 0.46 0.29 EV + AnyEvent watchers
893	CoroEV/Any 100000 610 3.49 0.92 0.75 coroutines + Coro::Signal	1316	CoroEV/Any 100000 244 2.49 0.44 0.29 coroutines + Coro::Signal
894	Perl/Any 10000 654 4.64 1.22 0.77 pure perl implementation	1317	Perl/Any 100000 513 4.92 0.87 1.12 pure perl implementation
895	Event/Event 10000 523 28.05 21.38 5.22 Event native interface	1318	Event/Event 16000 516 31.88 31.30 0.85 Event native interface
896	Event/Any 10000 943 34.43 20.48 1.39	1319	Event/Any 16000 590 35.75 31.42 1.08 Event + AnyEvent watchers
897	Glib/Any 16000 1357 96.99 12.55 55.51 quadratic behaviour	1320	Glib/Any 16000 1357 98.22 12.41 54.00 quadratic behaviour
898	Tk/Any 2000 1855 27.01 66.61 14.03 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers	1321	Tk/Any 2000 1860 26.97 67.98 14.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
899	POE/Select 2000 6343 94.69 807.65 562.69 POE::Loop::Select
900	POE/Event 2000 6644 108.15 768.19 14.33 POE::Loop::Event	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
901		1324
902	Discussion: The benchmark does I<not> bench scalability of the	1325	=head3 Discussion
		1326
		1327	The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
903	backend. For example a select-based backend (such as the pureperl one) can	1328	well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
904	never compete with a backend using epoll. In this benchmark, only a single	1329	can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
905	filehandle is used.	1330	file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
		1331	the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
		1332	boost.
906		1333
		1334	Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
		1335	overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
		1336	the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
		1337	higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
		1338
		1339	To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
		1340	benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
		1341	EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
		1342	cycles with POE.
		1343
907	EV is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both	1344	C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
908	maximal/minimal. Even when going through AnyEvent, there is only one event	1345	maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, it uses
909	loop that uses less memory (the Event module natively), and no faster	1346	far less memory than any other event loop and is still faster than Event
910	event model.	1347	natively.
911		1348
912	The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the	1349	The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
913	zero timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl	1350	constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
914	interpreter and the backend itself), but it shows that it adds very little	1351	interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
915	overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend it's performance becomes	1352	adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
916	really bad with lots of file descriptors.	1353	performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
		1354	them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
917		1355
918	The Event module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation cost,	1356	The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
919	but overall scores on the third place.	1357	cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
920		1358
921	Glib has a little higher memory cost, a bit fster callback invocation and	1359	C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
922	has a similar speed as Event.	1360	faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
		1361	C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
		1362	watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
		1363	making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
		1364	(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
		1365	inefficiencies of C<poll> do not account for this).
923		1366
924	The Tk backend works relatively well, the fact that it crashes with	1367	The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
925	more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes	1368	more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
926	precedence over speed.	1369	precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
		1370	file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
		1371	employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
		1372	hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
		1373	above).
927		1374
928	POE, regardless of backend (wether it's pure perl select backend or the	1375	C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
929	Event backend) shows abysmal performance and memory usage: Watchers use	1376	select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
930	almost 30 times as much memory as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory	1377	be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
931	as both Event or EV via AnyEvent.	1378	memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
		1379	as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
		1380	requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
		1381	invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
		1382	implementation.
932		1383
		1384	The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
		1385	for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
		1386	small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
		1387	optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
		1388	using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
		1389	memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
		1390	design).
		1391
		1392	=head3 Summary
		1393
		1394	=over 4
		1395
933	Summary: using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event	1396	=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
934	loop. The overhead AnyEvent adds can be very small, and you should avoid	1397	(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
935	POE like the plague if you want performance or reasonable memory usage.	1398	performance with or without AnyEvent.
		1399
		1400	=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
		1401	the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
		1402	adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
		1403
		1404	=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
		1405	reasonable memory usage.
		1406
		1407	=back
		1408
		1409	=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
		1410
		1411	This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
		1412	creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
		1413	timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
		1414	watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
		1415	watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
		1416
		1417	The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
		1418	are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
		1419	fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
		1420	timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
		1421	most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
		1422
		1423	In 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
		1425	connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
		1426
		1427	Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
		1428	distribution.
		1429
		1430	=head3 Explanation of the columns
		1431
		1432	I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
		1433	each server has a read and write socket end).
		1434
		1435	I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
		1436	nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
		1437
		1438	I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
		1439	single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
		1440	it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
		1441	a 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
		1454	This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
		1455	particular event loop.
		1456
		1457	EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
		1458	is relatively high, though.
		1459
		1460	Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
		1461	loops Event and Glib.
		1462
		1463	Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
		1464	understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
		1465	the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
		1466	uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
		1467
		1468	Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
		1469	clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
		1470
		1471	POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
		1472	as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
		1473	it 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
		1487	While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
		1488	large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
		1489	I/O watchers.
		1490
		1491	In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
		1492	case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
		1493	one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
		1494	well.
		1495
		1496	The 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
		1509	The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
		1510	server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
		1511	in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
		1512	to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
		1513	speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
		1514	them).
		1515
		1516	EV is again fastest.
		1517
		1518	Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
		1519	loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
		1520	matter.
		1521
		1522	POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
		1523	others.
		1524
		1525	=head3 Summary
		1526
		1527	=over 4
		1528
		1529	=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
		1530	watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
		1531
		1532	=back
936		1533
937		1534
938	=head1 FORK	1535	=head1 FORK
939		1536
940	Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are	1537	Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
941	because they are so inefficient. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.	1538	because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
		1539	calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
942		1540
943	If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first	1541	If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
944	watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child.	1542	watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child.
945		1543
946		1544
…		…
958		1556
959	BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }	1557	BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
960		1558
961	use AnyEvent;	1559	use AnyEvent;
962		1560
		1561	Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
		1562	be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
		1563	probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL).
		1564
963		1565
964	=head1 SEE ALSO	1566	=head1 SEE ALSO
965		1567
966	Event modules: L<Coro::EV>, L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>,	1568	Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
967	L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>, L<Coro>, L<Tk>,	1569
		1570	Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
968	L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.	1571	L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
969		1572
970	Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>,	1573	Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
971	L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>,	1574	L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
972	L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>,	1575	L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
973	L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>.	1576	L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>.
974		1577
		1578	Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
		1579	servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>.
		1580
		1581	Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
		1582
		1583	Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>,
		1584
975	Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>.	1585	Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>, L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
976		1586
977		1587
978	=head1 AUTHOR	1588	=head1 AUTHOR
979		1589
980	Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>	1590	Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>

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Revision 1.64 by root, Fri Apr 25 06:54:08 2008 UTC vs.
Revision 1.134 by root, Sun May 25 04:44:04 2008 UTC