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Revision 1.49 by root, Mon Apr 14 19:11:15 2008 UTC vs.
Revision 1.136 by root, Sun May 25 23:52:02 2008 UTC

1=head1 NAME 1=head1 => NAME
2 2
3AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops 3AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops
4 4
5Event, Coro, Glib, Tk, Perl - various supported event loops 5EV, Event, Glib, Tk, Perl, Event::Lib, Qt, POE - various supported event loops
6 6
7=head1 SYNOPSIS 7=head1 SYNOPSIS
8 8
9 use AnyEvent; 9 use AnyEvent;
10 10
14 14
15 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub { 15 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub {
16 ... 16 ...
17 }); 17 });
18 18
19 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores wether a condition was flagged 19 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged
20 $w->send; # wake up current and all future recv's
20 $w->wait; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->broadcast 21 $w->recv; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->send
21 $w->broadcast; # wake up current and all future wait's
22 22
23=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT) 23=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT)
24 24
25Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen 25Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen
26nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent? 26nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?
29policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>. 29policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>.
30 30
31First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only 31First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only
32interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use in a 32interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use in a
33pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike, 33pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike,
34the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality, and AnyEvent 34the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general,
35helps hiding the differences. 35only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent
36helps hiding the differences between those event loops.
36 37
37The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event 38The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event
38programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a 39programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a
39religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your 40religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your
40module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event 41module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event
41model you use. 42model you use.
42 43
43For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is actually doing all I/O 44For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is
44I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is like joining a 45actually doing all I/O I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is
45cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you cannot use 46like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you
46anything else, as it is simply incompatible to everything that isn't 47cannot use anything else, as it is simply incompatible to everything that
47itself. 48isn't itself. What's worse, all the potential users of your module are
49I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use.
48 50
49AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works fine. AnyEvent + Tk 51AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works
50works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together with the rest: POE 52fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together
51+ IO::Async? no go. Tk + Event? no go. If your module uses one of 53with the rest: POE + IO::Async? no go. Tk + Event? no go. Again: if
52those, every user of your module has to use it, too. If your module 54your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it,
53uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all event models it supports 55too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all
54(including stuff like POE and IO::Async). 56event models it supports (including stuff like POE and IO::Async, as long
57as those use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new
58event loops to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof).
55 59
56In addition of being free of having to use I<the one and only true event 60In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event
57model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar 61model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar
58modules, you get an enourmous amount of code and strict rules you have 62modules, you get an enormous amount of code and strict rules you have to
59to follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and to the point by only 63follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only
60offering the functionality that is useful, in as thin as a wrapper as 64offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as
61technically possible. 65technically possible.
62 66
63Of course, if you want lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat 67Of course, if you want lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat
64useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event 68useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event
65model, you should I<not> use this module. 69model, you should I<not> use this module.
66
67 70
68=head1 DESCRIPTION 71=head1 DESCRIPTION
69 72
70L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This 73L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This
71allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module 74allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module
72users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist 75users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist
73peacefully at any one time). 76peacefully at any one time).
74 77
75The interface itself is vaguely similar but not identical to the Event 78The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
76module. 79module.
77 80
78On the first call of any method, the module tries to detect the currently 81During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries
79loaded event loop by probing wether any of the following modules is 82to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the
80loaded: L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<Tk>. The first one found is 83following modules is already loaded: L<EV>,
81used. If none is found, the module tries to load these modules in the 84L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>,
82order given. The first one that could be successfully loaded will be 85L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries
83used. If still none could be found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl 86to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl
84event loop, which is also not very efficient. 87adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can
88be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be
89found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl event loop, which is not
90very efficient, but should work everywhere.
85 91
86Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading 92Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading
87an Event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make 93an event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make
88that model the default. For example: 94that model the default. For example:
89 95
90 use Tk; 96 use Tk;
91 use AnyEvent; 97 use AnyEvent;
92 98
93 # .. AnyEvent will likely default to Tk 99 # .. AnyEvent will likely default to Tk
100
101The I<likely> means that, if any module loads another event model and
102starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to
103use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly...
94 104
95The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called 105The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called
96C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it 106C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it
97explicitly. 107explicitly.
98 108
99=head1 WATCHERS 109=head1 WATCHERS
100 110
101AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that 111AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that
102stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as 112stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as
103the callback to call, the filehandle to watch, etc. 113the callback to call, the file handle to watch, etc.
104 114
105These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After 115These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
106creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke 116creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the
117callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model
118is in control).
119
107the callback. To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by 120To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the
108setting the variable that stores it to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all 121variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references
109references to it). 122to it).
110 123
111All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class. 124All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class.
112 125
126Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for
127example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways.
128
129An any way to achieve that is this pattern:
130
131 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub {
132 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it
133 undef $w;
134 });
135
136Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,
137my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are
138declared.
139
113=head2 IO WATCHERS 140=head2 I/O WATCHERS
114 141
115You can create I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method with 142You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
116the following mandatory arguments: 143with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
117 144
118C<fh> the Perl I<filehandle> (not filedescriptor) to watch for 145C<fh> the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) to watch
119events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, that creates 146for events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>,
120a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events. C<cb> the callback 147which creates a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events,
121to invoke everytime the filehandle becomes ready. 148respectively. C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle
149becomes ready.
122 150
123Only one io watcher per C<fh> and C<poll> combination is allowed (i.e. on 151Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
124a socket you can have one r + one w, not any more (limitation comes from 152presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
125Tk - if you are sure you are not using Tk this limitation is gone). 153callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
126 154
127Filehandles will be kept alive, so as long as the watcher exists, the 155The I/O watcher might use the underlying file descriptor or a copy of it.
128filehandle exists, too. 156You must not close a file handle as long as any watcher is active on the
157underlying file descriptor.
158
159Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should
160always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file
161handles.
129 162
130Example: 163Example:
131 164
132 # wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the watcher 165 # wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the watcher
133 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 166 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
139=head2 TIME WATCHERS 172=head2 TIME WATCHERS
140 173
141You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >> 174You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>
142method with the following mandatory arguments: 175method with the following mandatory arguments:
143 176
144C<after> after how many seconds (fractions are supported) should the timer 177C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are
145activate. C<cb> the callback to invoke. 178supported) the callback should be invoked. C<cb> is the callback to invoke
179in that case.
180
181Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
182presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
183callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks.
146 184
147The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating 185The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating
148timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk 186timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk
149and Glib). 187and Glib).
150 188
156 }); 194 });
157 195
158 # to cancel the timer: 196 # to cancel the timer:
159 undef $w; 197 undef $w;
160 198
199Example 2:
200
201 # fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second
202 my $w;
203
204 my $cb = sub {
205 # cancel the old timer while creating a new one
206 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => $cb);
207 };
208
209 # start the "loop" by creating the first watcher
210 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, cb => $cb);
211
212=head3 TIMING ISSUES
213
214There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire
215in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12
216o'clock").
217
218While most event loops expect timers to specified in a relative way, they
219use absolute time internally. This makes a difference when your clock
220"jumps", for example, when ntp decides to set your clock backwards from
221the wrong date of 2014-01-01 to 2008-01-01, a watcher that is supposed to
222fire "after" a second might actually take six years to finally fire.
223
224AnyEvent cannot compensate for this. The only event loop that is conscious
225about these issues is L<EV>, which offers both relative (ev_timer, based
226on true relative time) and absolute (ev_periodic, based on wallclock time)
227timers.
228
229AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the
230AnyEvent API.
231
232=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
233
234You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
235I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl callback to
236be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
237
238Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
239presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
240callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
241
242Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
243invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
244that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
245but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
246
247The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
248between multiple watchers.
249
250This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals
251directly will likely not work correctly.
252
253Example: exit on SIGINT
254
255 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
256
257=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
258
259You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status.
260
261The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it
262watches for any child process exit). The watcher will trigger as often
263as status change for the child are received. This works by installing a
264signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with the pid
265and exit status (as returned by waitpid), so unlike other watcher types,
266you I<can> rely on child watcher callback arguments.
267
268There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
269I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
270have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
271
272Not all event models handle this correctly (POE doesn't), but even for
273event models that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be
274loaded before the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place).
275
276This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first thing in an
277AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one watcher before you
278C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call C<AnyEvent::detect>).
279
280Example: fork a process and wait for it
281
282 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
283
284 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
285
286 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
287 pid => $pid,
288 cb => sub {
289 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
290 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
291 $done->send;
292 },
293 );
294
295 # do something else, then wait for process exit
296 $done->recv;
297
161=head2 CONDITION WATCHERS 298=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
162 299
300If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
301require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
302will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
303
304AnyEvent is different, it expects somebody else to run the event loop and
305will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
306
307The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
308because they represent a condition that must become true.
309
163Condition watchers can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >> 310Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
164method without any arguments. 311>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
312C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
313becomes true.
165 314
166A condition watcher watches for a condition - precisely that the C<< 315After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
167->broadcast >> method has been called. 316by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
317were a callback, read about the caveats in the description for the C<<
318->send >> method).
168 319
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,
328for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
329then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
330availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
331called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
332
333You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
334you can block your main program until an event occurs - for example, you
335could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
336button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
337
169Note that condition watchers recurse into the event loop - if you have 338Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
170two watchers that call C<< ->wait >> in a round-robbin fashion, you 339two pieces of code that call C<< ->recv >> in a round-robin fashion, you
171lose. Therefore, condition watchers are good to export to your caller, but 340lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
172you should avoid making a blocking wait, at least in callbacks, as this 341you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
173usually asks for trouble. 342as this asks for trouble.
174 343
175The watcher has only 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.
176 385
177=over 4 386=over 4
178 387
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
179=item $cv->wait 419=item $cv->end
180 420
181Wait (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 $cv->recv
478
479Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
182called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally. 480>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
481normally.
183 482
184You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return 483You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
185immediately. 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.
186 491
187Not 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
188(programs might want to do that so they stay interactive), so I<if you 493(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
189are using 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
190caller decide wether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling 495caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
191condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting 496condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
192callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block, 497callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
193while still suppporting blocking waits if the caller so desires). 498while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
194 499
195Another 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
196sensibly have two C<< ->wait >>'s in parallel, as that would require 501sensibly have two C<< ->recv >>'s in parallel, as that would require
197multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent> 502multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent>
198can supply (the coroutine-aware backends C<Coro::EV> and C<Coro::Event> 503can supply.
199explicitly support concurrent C<< ->wait >>'s from different coroutines,
200however).
201 504
202=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).
203 510
204Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further 511You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
205calls to C<wait> will return after this method has been called. If nobody 512only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
206is waiting the broadcast will be remembered.. 513time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
514waits otherwise.
207 515
208Example: 516=item $bool = $cv->ready
209 517
210 # wait till the result is ready 518Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
211 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar; 519C<croak> have been called.
212 520
213 # do something such as adding a timer 521=item $cb = $cv->cb ([new callback])
214 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast
215 # when the "result" is ready.
216 522
217 $result_ready->wait; 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.
218 529
219=back 530=back
220 531
221=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS 532=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
222
223You can listen for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
224I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix. Multiple signals events can be clumped
225together into one callback invocation, and callback invocation might or
226might not be asynchronous.
227
228These watchers might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals
229directly will likely not work correctly.
230
231Example: exit on SIGINT
232
233 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
234
235=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
236
237You can also listen for the status of a child process specified by the
238C<pid> argument (or any child if the pid argument is 0). The watcher will
239trigger as often as status change for the child are received. This works
240by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with
241the pid and exit status (as returned by waitpid).
242
243Example: wait for pid 1333
244
245 my $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => 1333, cb => sub { warn "exit status $?" });
246
247=head1 GLOBALS
248 533
249=over 4 534=over 4
250 535
251=item $AnyEvent::MODEL 536=item $AnyEvent::MODEL
252 537
256C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case 541C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case
257AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>). 542AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>).
258 543
259The known classes so far are: 544The known classes so far are:
260 545
261 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV based on Coro::EV, best choice.
262 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, also best choice). 546 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice).
263 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent based on Coro::Event, second best choice.
264 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, also second best choice :) 547 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice.
548 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
265 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice. 549 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.
266 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice. 550 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
267 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient but portable. 551 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).
552 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
553 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, not generic enough for full support.
554
555There is no support for WxWidgets, as WxWidgets has no support for
556watching file handles. However, you can use WxWidgets through the
557POE Adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply polls 20 times per
558second, which was considered to be too horrible to even consider for
559AnyEvent. Likewise, other POE backends can be used by AnyEvent by using
560it's adaptor.
561
562AnyEvent knows about L<Prima> and L<Wx> and will try to use L<POE> when
563autodetecting them.
268 564
269=item AnyEvent::detect 565=item AnyEvent::detect
270 566
271Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model if 567Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
272necessary. You should only call this function right before you would have 568if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
273created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, very late at runtime. 569have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
570runtime.
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.
274 592
275=back 593=back
276 594
277=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE 595=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
278 596
279As a module author, you should "use AnyEvent" and call AnyEvent methods 597As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods
280freely, but you should not load a specific event module or rely on it. 598freely, but you should not load a specific event module or rely on it.
281 599
282Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - Anyevent will 600Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
283decide 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
284by 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
285to load the event module first. 603to load the event module first.
286 604
605Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
606the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
607because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
608events is to stay interactive.
609
610It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
611requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
612called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
613freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
614
287=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM 615=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
288 616
289There 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
290dictate which event model to use. 618dictate which event model to use.
291 619
292If 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
293do anything special and let AnyEvent decide which implementation to chose. 621do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
622decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
294 623
295If the main program relies on a specific event model (for example, in Gtk2 624If the main program relies on a specific event model - for example, in
296programs you have to rely on either Glib or Glib::Event), you should load 625Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module - you should load the
297it before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it, generally, as early 626event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
298as possible. The reason is that modules might create watchers when they 627speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
299are loaded, and AnyEvent will decide on the event model to use as soon as 628modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
300it creates watchers, and it might chose the wrong one unless you load the 629decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
301correct one yourself. 630might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
302 631
303You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by 632You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
304loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, but letting AnyEvent chose is 633C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
305generally 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
306 726
307=cut 727=cut
308 728
309package AnyEvent; 729package AnyEvent;
310 730
311no warnings; 731no warnings;
312use strict; 732use strict;
313 733
314use Carp; 734use Carp;
315 735
316our $VERSION = '3.0'; 736our $VERSION = '4.03';
317our $MODEL; 737our $MODEL;
318 738
319our $AUTOLOAD; 739our $AUTOLOAD;
320our @ISA; 740our @ISA;
321 741
742our @REGISTRY;
743
322our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1; 744our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
323 745
324our @REGISTRY; 746our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2), higher numbers are preferred
747
748{
749 my $idx;
750 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
751 for reverse split /\s*,\s*/,
752 $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
753}
325 754
326my @models = ( 755my @models = (
327 [Coro::EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV::],
328 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::], 756 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::],
329 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent::],
330 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 757 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::],
331 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::],
332 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::],
333 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::], 758 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::],
759 # everything below here will not be autoprobed
760 # as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
761 # and is usually faster
762 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], # crashes with many handles
763 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], # becomes extremely slow with many watchers
764 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
765 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
766 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
767 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
768 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
334); 769);
335 770
336our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer condvar broadcast wait signal one_event DESTROY); 771our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer signal child condvar one_event DESTROY);
772
773our @post_detect;
774
775sub post_detect(&) {
776 my ($cb) = @_;
777
778 if ($MODEL) {
779 $cb->();
780
781 1
782 } else {
783 push @post_detect, $cb;
784
785 defined wantarray
786 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::PostDetect"
787 : ()
788 }
789}
790
791sub AnyEvent::Util::PostDetect::DESTROY {
792 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
793}
337 794
338sub detect() { 795sub detect() {
339 unless ($MODEL) { 796 unless ($MODEL) {
340 no strict 'refs'; 797 no strict 'refs';
341 798
799 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
800 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
801 if (eval "require $model") {
802 $MODEL = $model;
803 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
804 } else {
805 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL):\n$@" if $verbose;
806 }
807 }
808
342 # check for already loaded models 809 # check for already loaded models
810 unless ($MODEL) {
343 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 811 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
344 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 812 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
345 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 813 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
346 if (eval "require $model") { 814 if (eval "require $model") {
347 $MODEL = $model; 815 $MODEL = $model;
348 warn "AnyEvent: found model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 816 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
349 last; 817 last;
818 }
350 } 819 }
351 } 820 }
352 }
353 821
354 unless ($MODEL) { 822 unless ($MODEL) {
355 # try to load a model 823 # try to load a model
356 824
357 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 825 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
358 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 826 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
359 if (eval "require $package" 827 if (eval "require $package"
360 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0 828 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
361 and eval "require $model") { 829 and eval "require $model") {
362 $MODEL = $model; 830 $MODEL = $model;
363 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed and loaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 831 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
364 last; 832 last;
833 }
365 } 834 }
835
836 $MODEL
837 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.";
366 } 838 }
367
368 $MODEL
369 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.";
370 } 839 }
371 840
372 unshift @ISA, $MODEL; 841 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
373 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base"; 842 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
843
844 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
374 } 845 }
375 846
376 $MODEL 847 $MODEL
377} 848}
378 849
388 $class->$func (@_); 859 $class->$func (@_);
389} 860}
390 861
391package AnyEvent::Base; 862package AnyEvent::Base;
392 863
393# default implementation for ->condvar, ->wait, ->broadcast 864# default implementation for ->condvar
394 865
395sub condvar { 866sub condvar {
396 bless \my $flag, "AnyEvent::Base::CondVar" 867 bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, AnyEvent::CondVar::
397}
398
399sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::broadcast {
400 ${$_[0]}++;
401}
402
403sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::wait {
404 AnyEvent->one_event while !${$_[0]};
405} 868}
406 869
407# default implementation for ->signal 870# default implementation for ->signal
408 871
409our %SIG_CB; 872our %SIG_CB;
483 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} }; 946 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
484 947
485 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB; 948 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
486} 949}
487 950
951package AnyEvent::CondVar;
952
953our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
954
955package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
956
957use overload
958 '&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
959 fallback => 1;
960
961sub _send {
962 # nop
963}
964
965sub send {
966 my $cv = shift;
967 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
968 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
969 $cv->_send;
970}
971
972sub croak {
973 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
974 $_[0]->send;
975}
976
977sub ready {
978 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
979}
980
981sub _wait {
982 AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
983}
984
985sub recv {
986 $_[0]->_wait;
987
988 Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
989 wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
990}
991
992sub cb {
993 $_[0]{_ae_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
994 $_[0]{_ae_cb}
995}
996
997sub begin {
998 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
999 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1000}
1001
1002sub end {
1003 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1004 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
1005}
1006
1007# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
1008*broadcast = \&send;
1009*wait = \&_wait;
1010
488=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 1011=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
1012
1013This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
1014a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
1015provide AnyEvent compatibility.
489 1016
490If you need to support another event library which isn't directly 1017If you need to support another event library which isn't directly
491supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by 1018supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by
492pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of 1019pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of
493the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto 1020the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto
494C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading 1021C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading
495AnyEvent. 1022AnyEvent, so it is reasonably cheap.
496 1023
497Example: 1024Example:
498 1025
499 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::]; 1026 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::];
500 1027
501This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::> 1028This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::>
502package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is loaded. When 1029package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is already loaded.
1030
503AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it will 1031When AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it
504first check for the presence of urxvt. 1032will first check for the presence of urxvt by trying to C<use> the
1033C<urxvt::anyevent> module.
505 1034
506The class should provide implementations for all watcher types (see 1035The class should provide implementations for all watcher types. See
507L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> 1036L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> (Source code)
508(Source code) and so on for actual examples, use C<perldoc -m 1037and so on for actual examples. Use C<perldoc -m AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to
509AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to see the sources). 1038see the sources.
510 1039
1040If you don't provide C<signal> and C<child> watchers than AnyEvent will
1041provide suitable (hopefully) replacements.
1042
511The above isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt) 1043The above example isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt)
512uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included in AnyEvent 1044terminal emulator uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included
513because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter inside 1045in AnyEvent because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter
514I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the 1046inside I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the
515I<rxvt-unicode> distribution. 1047I<rxvt-unicode> distribution.
516 1048
517I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to 1049I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to
518condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will 1050condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will
519C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must 1051C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must
520not be in an interactive application, so it makes sense. 1052not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense.
521 1053
522=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 1054=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
523 1055
524The following environment variables are used by this module: 1056The following environment variables are used by this module:
525 1057
526C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE> when set to C<2> or higher, reports which event 1058=over 4
527model gets used.
528 1059
1060=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
1061
1062By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
1063conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
1064talkative.
1065
1066When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
1067conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
1068C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
1069
1070When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
1071model it chooses.
1072
1073=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
1074
1075This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
1076auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
1077entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
1078and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
1079used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
1080auto detection and -probing.
1081
1082This functionality might change in future versions.
1083
1084For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
1085could start your program like this:
1086
1087 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
1088
1089=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
1090
1091Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
1092for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
1093of auto probing).
1094
1095Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
1096current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
1097used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
1098list.
1099
1100This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
1101against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
1102small, as the program has to handle connection errors already-
1103
1104Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
1105but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
1106- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
1107addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
1108IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
1109
1110=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
1111
1112Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
1113for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
1114some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
1115default.
1116
1117Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
1118EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
1119
1120=back
1121
529=head1 EXAMPLE 1122=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
530 1123
531The following program uses an io watcher to read data from stdin, a timer 1124The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
532to display a message once per second, and a condvar to exit the program 1125to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
533when the user enters quit: 1126program when the user enters quit:
534 1127
535 use AnyEvent; 1128 use AnyEvent;
536 1129
537 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar; 1130 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
538 1131
539 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 1132 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (
1133 fh => \*STDIN,
1134 poll => 'r',
1135 cb => sub {
540 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 1136 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
541 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 1137 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
542 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 1138 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
543 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 1139 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
1140 },
544 }); 1141 );
545 1142
546 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once 1143 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
547 1144
548 sub new_timer { 1145 sub new_timer {
549 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub { 1146 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub {
552 }); 1149 });
553 } 1150 }
554 1151
555 new_timer; # create first timer 1152 new_timer; # create first timer
556 1153
557 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 1154 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
558 1155
559=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 1156=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
560 1157
561Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 1158Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
562API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 1159API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
612 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 1209 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
613 or die "connection or write error"; 1210 or die "connection or write error";
614 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 1211 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
615 1212
616Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 1213Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
617result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished: 1214result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
618 1215
619 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 1216 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
620 1217
621 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 1218 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
622 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 1219 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
623 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 1220 $txn->{finished}->send;
624 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 1221 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
625 } 1222 }
626 1223
627The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 1224The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
628request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the 1225request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
629data: 1226data:
630 1227
631 $txn->{finished}->wait; 1228 $txn->{finished}->recv;
632 return $txn->{result}; 1229 return $txn->{result};
633 1230
634The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 1231The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
635that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 1232that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
636wether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 1233whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
637and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 1234and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
638problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a 1235problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
639random callback. 1236random callback.
640 1237
641All of this enables the following usage styles: 1238All of this enables the following usage styles:
671 1268
672 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 1269 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
673 1270
674 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 1271 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
675 ... 1272 ...
676 $quit->broadcast; 1273 $quit->send;
677 }); 1274 });
678 1275
679 $quit->wait; 1276 $quit->recv;
1277
1278
1279=head1 BENCHMARKS
1280
1281To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
1282over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
1283of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
1284
1285=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
1286
1287Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
1288through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
1289timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
1290which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
1291
1292Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
1293distribution.
1294
1295=head3 Explanation of the columns
1296
1297I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
1298different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
1299loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
1300and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
1301would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
1302of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
1303
1304I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
1305RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
1306and Perl-based overheads.
1307
1308I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
1309takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
1310all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
1311and memory usage is not included in the figures.
1312
1313I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
1314callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
1315invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
1316signal the end of this phase.
1317
1318I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
1319watcher.
1320
1321=head3 Results
1322
1323 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
1324 EV/EV 400000 244 0.56 0.46 0.31 EV native interface
1325 EV/Any 100000 244 2.50 0.46 0.29 EV + AnyEvent watchers
1326 CoroEV/Any 100000 244 2.49 0.44 0.29 coroutines + Coro::Signal
1327 Perl/Any 100000 513 4.92 0.87 1.12 pure perl implementation
1328 Event/Event 16000 516 31.88 31.30 0.85 Event native interface
1329 Event/Any 16000 590 35.75 31.42 1.08 Event + AnyEvent watchers
1330 Glib/Any 16000 1357 98.22 12.41 54.00 quadratic behaviour
1331 Tk/Any 2000 1860 26.97 67.98 14.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
1332 POE/Event 2000 6644 108.64 736.02 14.73 via POE::Loop::Event
1333 POE/Select 2000 6343 94.13 809.12 565.96 via POE::Loop::Select
1334
1335=head3 Discussion
1336
1337The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
1338well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
1339can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
1340file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
1341the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
1342boost.
1343
1344Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
1345overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
1346the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
1347higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
1348
1349To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
1350benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
1351EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
1352cycles with POE.
1353
1354C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
1355maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, it uses
1356far less memory than any other event loop and is still faster than Event
1357natively.
1358
1359The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
1360constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
1361interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
1362adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
1363performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
1364them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
1365
1366The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
1367cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
1368
1369C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
1370faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
1371C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
1372watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
1373making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
1374(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
1375inefficiencies of C<poll> do not account for this).
1376
1377The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
1378more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
1379precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
1380file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
1381employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
1382hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
1383above).
1384
1385C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
1386select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
1387be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
1388memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
1389as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
1390requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
1391invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
1392implementation.
1393
1394The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
1395for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
1396small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
1397optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
1398using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
1399memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
1400design).
1401
1402=head3 Summary
1403
1404=over 4
1405
1406=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
1407(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
1408performance with or without AnyEvent.
1409
1410=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
1411the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
1412adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
1413
1414=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
1415reasonable memory usage.
1416
1417=back
1418
1419=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
1420
1421This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
1422creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
1423timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
1424watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
1425watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
1426
1427The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
1428are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
1429fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
1430timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
1431most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
1432
1433In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
1434(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
1435connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
1436
1437Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
1438distribution.
1439
1440=head3 Explanation of the columns
1441
1442I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
1443each server has a read and write socket end).
1444
1445I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
1446nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
1447
1448I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
1449single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
1450it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
1451a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
1452
1453=head3 Results
1454
1455 name sockets create request
1456 EV 20000 69.01 11.16
1457 Perl 20000 73.32 35.87
1458 Event 20000 212.62 257.32
1459 Glib 20000 651.16 1896.30
1460 POE 20000 349.67 12317.24 uses POE::Loop::Event
1461
1462=head3 Discussion
1463
1464This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
1465particular event loop.
1466
1467EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
1468is relatively high, though.
1469
1470Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
1471loops Event and Glib.
1472
1473Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
1474understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
1475the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
1476uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
1477
1478Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
1479clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
1480
1481POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
1482as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
1483it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
1484
1485=head3 Summary
1486
1487=over 4
1488
1489=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
1490
1491=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
1492
1493=back
1494
1495=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
1496
1497While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
1498large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
1499I/O watchers.
1500
1501In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
1502case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
1503one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
1504well.
1505
1506The columns are identical to the previous table.
1507
1508=head3 Results
1509
1510 name sockets create request
1511 EV 16 20.00 6.54
1512 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
1513 Event 16 81.27 35.86
1514 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
1515 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
1516
1517=head3 Discussion
1518
1519The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
1520server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
1521in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
1522to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
1523speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
1524them).
1525
1526EV is again fastest.
1527
1528Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
1529loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
1530matter.
1531
1532POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
1533others.
1534
1535=head3 Summary
1536
1537=over 4
1538
1539=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
1540watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
1541
1542=back
1543
1544
1545=head1 FORK
1546
1547Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
1548because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
1549calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
1550
1551If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
1552watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child.
1553
1554
1555=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
1556
1557AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
1558$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to
1559execute arbitrary code or directly gain access, it can easily be used to
1560make the program hang or malfunction in subtle ways, as AnyEvent watchers
1561will not be active when the program uses a different event model than
1562specified in the variable.
1563
1564You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
1565before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
1566
1567 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
1568
1569 use AnyEvent;
1570
1571Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
1572be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
1573probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL).
1574
680 1575
681=head1 SEE ALSO 1576=head1 SEE ALSO
682 1577
683Event modules: L<Coro::EV>, L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, 1578Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
684L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>, L<Coro>, L<Tk>.
685 1579
686Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, 1580Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
1581L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
1582
687L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, 1583Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
688L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. 1584L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
1585L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
1586L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>.
689 1587
1588Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
1589servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>.
1590
1591Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
1592
1593Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>,
1594
690Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>. 1595Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>, L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
691 1596
692=head1 1597
1598=head1 AUTHOR
1599
1600 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
1601 http://home.schmorp.de/
693 1602
694=cut 1603=cut
695 1604
6961 16051
697 1606

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