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Revision 1.164 by root, Tue Jul 8 19:50:25 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 - 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
11 my $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => ..., poll => "[rw]+", cb => sub { 11 my $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh, poll => "r|w", cb => sub {
12 my ($poll_got) = @_;
13 ... 12 ...
14 }); 13 });
15
16* only one io watcher per $fh and $poll type is allowed (i.e. on a socket
17you can have one r + one w or one rw watcher, not any more (limitation by
18Tk).
19
20* the C<$poll_got> passed to the handler needs to be checked by looking
21for single characters (e.g. with a regex), as it can contain more event
22types than were requested (e.g. a 'w' watcher might generate 'rw' events,
23limitation by Glib).
24
25* AnyEvent will keep filehandles alive, so as long as the watcher exists,
26the filehandle exists.
27 14
28 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub { 15 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub {
29 ... 16 ...
30 }); 17 });
31 18
32* io and time watchers get canceled whenever $w is destroyed, so keep a copy 19 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged
33 20 $w->send; # wake up current and all future recv's
34* timers can only be used once and must be recreated for repeated
35operation (limitation by Glib and Tk).
36
37 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # kind of main loop replacement
38 $w->wait; # enters main loop till $condvar gets ->broadcast 21 $w->recv; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->send
39 $w->broadcast; # wake up current and all future wait's
40 22
41* condvars are used to give blocking behaviour when neccessary. Create 23=head1 INTRODUCTION/TUTORIAL
42a condvar for any "request" or "event" your module might create, C<< 24
43->broadcast >> it when the event happens and provide a function that calls 25This manpage is mainly a reference manual. If you are interested
44C<< ->wait >> for it. See the examples below. 26in a tutorial or some gentle introduction, have a look at the
27L<AnyEvent::Intro> manpage.
28
29=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT)
30
31Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen
32nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?
33
34Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of
35policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>.
36
37First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only
38interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use in a
39pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike,
40the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general,
41only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent
42helps hiding the differences between those event loops.
43
44The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event
45programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a
46religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your
47module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event
48model you use.
49
50For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is
51actually doing all I/O I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is
52like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you
53cannot use anything else, as it is simply incompatible to everything that
54isn't itself. What's worse, all the potential users of your module are
55I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use.
56
57AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works
58fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together
59with the rest: POE + IO::Async? No go. Tk + Event? No go. Again: if
60your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it,
61too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all
62event models it supports (including stuff like POE and IO::Async, as long
63as those use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new
64event loops to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof).
65
66In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event
67model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar
68modules, you get an enormous amount of code and strict rules you have to
69follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only
70offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as
71technically possible.
72
73Of course, AnyEvent comes with a big (and fully optional!) toolbox
74of useful functionality, such as an asynchronous DNS resolver, 100%
75non-blocking connects (even with TLS/SSL, IPv6 and on broken platforms
76such as Windows) and lots of real-world knowledge and workarounds for
77platform bugs and differences.
78
79Now, if you I<do want> lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat
80useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event
81model, you should I<not> use this module.
45 82
46=head1 DESCRIPTION 83=head1 DESCRIPTION
47 84
48L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This 85L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This
49allows module authors to utilizy an event loop without forcing module 86allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module
50users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist 87users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist
51peacefully at any one time). 88peacefully at any one time).
52 89
53The interface itself is vaguely similar but not identical to the Event 90The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
54module. 91module.
55 92
56On the first call of any method, the module tries to detect the currently 93During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries
57loaded event loop by probing wether any of the following modules is 94to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the
58loaded: L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<Tk>. The first one found is 95following modules is already loaded: L<EV>,
59used. If none is found, the module tries to load these modules in the 96L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>,
60order given. The first one that could be successfully loaded will be 97L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries
61used. If still none could be found, it will issue an error. 98to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl
99adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can
100be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be
101found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl event loop, which is not
102very efficient, but should work everywhere.
103
104Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading
105an event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make
106that model the default. For example:
107
108 use Tk;
109 use AnyEvent;
110
111 # .. AnyEvent will likely default to Tk
112
113The I<likely> means that, if any module loads another event model and
114starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to
115use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly...
116
117The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called
118C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it
119explicitly and enjoy the high availability of that event loop :)
120
121=head1 WATCHERS
122
123AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that
124stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as
125the callback to call, the file handle to watch, etc.
126
127These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
128creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the
129callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model
130is in control).
131
132To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the
133variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references
134to it).
135
136All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class.
137
138Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for
139example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways.
140
141An any way to achieve that is this pattern:
142
143 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub {
144 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it
145 undef $w;
146 });
147
148Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,
149my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are
150declared.
151
152=head2 I/O WATCHERS
153
154You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
155with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
156
157C<fh> the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) to watch
158for events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>,
159which creates a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events,
160respectively. C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle
161becomes ready.
162
163Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
164presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
165callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
166
167The I/O watcher might use the underlying file descriptor or a copy of it.
168You must not close a file handle as long as any watcher is active on the
169underlying file descriptor.
170
171Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should
172always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file
173handles.
174
175Example: wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the
176watcher.
177
178 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
179 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>);
180 warn "read: $input\n";
181 undef $w;
182 });
183
184=head2 TIME WATCHERS
185
186You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>
187method with the following mandatory arguments:
188
189C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are
190supported) the callback should be invoked. C<cb> is the callback to invoke
191in that case.
192
193Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
194presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
195callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks.
196
197The callback will normally be invoked once only. If you specify another
198parameter, C<interval>, as a positive number, then the callback will be
199invoked regularly at that interval (in fractional seconds) after the first
200invocation.
201
202The callback will be rescheduled before invoking the callback, but no
203attempt is done to avoid timer drift in most backends, so the interval is
204only approximate.
205
206Example: fire an event after 7.7 seconds.
207
208 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub {
209 warn "timeout\n";
210 });
211
212 # to cancel the timer:
213 undef $w;
214
215Example 2: fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second.
216
217 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, interval => 1, cb => sub {
218 warn "timeout\n";
219 };
220
221=head3 TIMING ISSUES
222
223There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire
224in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12
225o'clock").
226
227While most event loops expect timers to specified in a relative way, they
228use absolute time internally. This makes a difference when your clock
229"jumps", for example, when ntp decides to set your clock backwards from
230the wrong date of 2014-01-01 to 2008-01-01, a watcher that is supposed to
231fire "after" a second might actually take six years to finally fire.
232
233AnyEvent cannot compensate for this. The only event loop that is conscious
234about these issues is L<EV>, which offers both relative (ev_timer, based
235on true relative time) and absolute (ev_periodic, based on wallclock time)
236timers.
237
238AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the
239AnyEvent API.
240
241AnyEvent has two additional methods that return the "current time":
62 242
63=over 4 243=over 4
64 244
245=item AnyEvent->time
246
247This returns the "current wallclock time" as a fractional number of
248seconds since the Epoch (the same thing as C<time> or C<Time::HiRes::time>
249return, and the result is guaranteed to be compatible with those).
250
251It progresses independently of any event loop processing, i.e. each call
252will check the system clock, which usually gets updated frequently.
253
254=item AnyEvent->now
255
256This also returns the "current wallclock time", but unlike C<time>, above,
257this value might change only once per event loop iteration, depending on
258the event loop (most return the same time as C<time>, above). This is the
259time that AnyEvent's timers get scheduled against.
260
261I<In almost all cases (in all cases if you don't care), this is the
262function to call when you want to know the current time.>
263
264This function is also often faster then C<< AnyEvent->time >>, and
265thus the preferred method if you want some timestamp (for example,
266L<AnyEvent::Handle> uses this to update it's activity timeouts).
267
268The rest of this section is only of relevance if you try to be very exact
269with your timing, you can skip it without bad conscience.
270
271For a practical example of when these times differ, consider L<Event::Lib>
272and L<EV> and the following set-up:
273
274The event loop is running and has just invoked one of your callback at
275time=500 (assume no other callbacks delay processing). In your callback,
276you wait a second by executing C<sleep 1> (blocking the process for a
277second) and then (at time=501) you create a relative timer that fires
278after three seconds.
279
280With L<Event::Lib>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> will
281both return C<501>, because that is the current time, and the timer will
282be scheduled to fire at time=504 (C<501> + C<3>).
283
284With L<EV>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> returns C<501> (as that is the current
285time), but C<< AnyEvent->now >> returns C<500>, as that is the time the
286last event processing phase started. With L<EV>, your timer gets scheduled
287to run at time=503 (C<500> + C<3>).
288
289In one sense, L<Event::Lib> is more exact, as it uses the current time
290regardless of any delays introduced by event processing. However, most
291callbacks do not expect large delays in processing, so this causes a
292higher drift (and a lot more system calls to get the current time).
293
294In another sense, L<EV> is more exact, as your timer will be scheduled at
295the same time, regardless of how long event processing actually took.
296
297In either case, if you care (and in most cases, you don't), then you
298can get whatever behaviour you want with any event loop, by taking the
299difference between C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> into
300account.
301
302=back
303
304=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
305
306You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
307I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl callback to
308be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
309
310Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
311presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
312callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
313
314Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
315invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
316that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
317but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
318
319The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
320between multiple watchers.
321
322This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals
323directly will likely not work correctly.
324
325Example: exit on SIGINT
326
327 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
328
329=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
330
331You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status.
332
333The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it
334watches for any child process exit). The watcher will trigger as often
335as status change for the child are received. This works by installing a
336signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with the pid
337and exit status (as returned by waitpid), so unlike other watcher types,
338you I<can> rely on child watcher callback arguments.
339
340There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
341I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
342have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
343
344Not all event models handle this correctly (POE doesn't), but even for
345event models that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be
346loaded before the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place).
347
348This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first thing in an
349AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one watcher before you
350C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call C<AnyEvent::detect>).
351
352Example: fork a process and wait for it
353
354 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
355
356 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
357
358 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
359 pid => $pid,
360 cb => sub {
361 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
362 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
363 $done->send;
364 },
365 );
366
367 # do something else, then wait for process exit
368 $done->recv;
369
370=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
371
372If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
373require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
374will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
375
376AnyEvent is different, it expects somebody else to run the event loop and
377will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
378
379The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
380because they represent a condition that must become true.
381
382Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
383>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
384C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
385becomes true.
386
387After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
388by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
389were a callback, read about the caveats in the description for the C<<
390->send >> method).
391
392Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
393optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
394in time where multiple outstanding events have been processed. And yet
395another way to call them is transactions - each condition variable can be
396used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
397a result.
398
399Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
400for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
401then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
402availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
403called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
404
405You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
406you can block your main program until an event occurs - for example, you
407could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
408button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
409
410Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
411two pieces of code that call C<< ->recv >> in a round-robin fashion, you
412lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
413you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
414as this asks for trouble.
415
416Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
417used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
418easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
419AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
420it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
421
422There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
423eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
424for the send to occur.
425
426Example: wait for a timer.
427
428 # wait till the result is ready
429 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
430
431 # do something such as adding a timer
432 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->send
433 # when the "result" is ready.
434 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
435 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
436 after => 1,
437 cb => sub { $result_ready->send },
438 );
439
440 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
441 # calls send
442 $result_ready->recv;
443
444Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that
445condition variables are also code references.
446
447 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
448 my $delay = AnyEvent->timer (after => 5, cb => $done);
449 $done->recv;
450
451=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
452
453These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
454code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
455the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
456uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
457
458=over 4
459
460=item $cv->send (...)
461
462Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
463calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
464called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
465
466If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
467immediately from within send.
468
469Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
470future C<< ->recv >> calls.
471
472Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly
473(as a code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling
474C<send>. Note, however, that many C-based event loops do not handle
475overloading, so as tempting as it may be, passing a condition variable
476instead of a callback does not work. Both the pure perl and EV loops
477support overloading, however, as well as all functions that use perl to
478invoke a callback (as in L<AnyEvent::Socket> and L<AnyEvent::DNS> for
479example).
480
481=item $cv->croak ($error)
482
483Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
484C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
485
486This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
487user/consumer.
488
489=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
490
491=item $cv->end
492
493These two methods are EXPERIMENTAL and MIGHT CHANGE.
494
495These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
496one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
497to use a condition variable for the whole process.
498
499Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
500C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
501>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed. That callback
502is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send >>, but that is not required. If no
503callback was set, C<send> will be called without any arguments.
504
505Let's clarify this with the ping example:
506
507 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
508
509 my %result;
510 $cv->begin (sub { $cv->send (\%result) });
511
512 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
513 $cv->begin;
514 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
515 $result{$host} = ...;
516 $cv->end;
517 };
518 }
519
520 $cv->end;
521
522This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
523C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
524order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
525each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
526it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
527results arrive is not relevant.
528
529There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
530loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
531to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
532C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
533doesn't execute once).
534
535This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple subrequests:
536use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set the callback and ensure C<end>
537is called at least once, and then, for each subrequest you start, call
538C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish, call C<end>.
539
540=back
541
542=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
543
544These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
545code awaits the condition.
546
547=over 4
548
549=item $cv->recv
550
551Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
552>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
553normally.
554
555You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
556will return immediately.
557
558If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
559function will call C<croak>.
560
561In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
562in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
563
564Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
565(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
566using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the
567caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
568condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
569callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
570while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
571
572Another reason I<never> to C<< ->recv >> in a module is that you cannot
573sensibly have two C<< ->recv >>'s in parallel, as that would require
574multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent>
575can supply.
576
577The L<Coro> module, however, I<can> and I<does> supply coroutines and, in
578fact, L<Coro::AnyEvent> replaces AnyEvent's condvars by coroutine-safe
579versions and also integrates coroutines into AnyEvent, making blocking
580C<< ->recv >> calls perfectly safe as long as they are done from another
581coroutine (one that doesn't run the event loop).
582
583You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
584only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
585time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
586waits otherwise.
587
588=item $bool = $cv->ready
589
590Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
591C<croak> have been called.
592
593=item $cb = $cv->cb ([new callback])
594
595This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
596replaces it before doing so.
597
598The callback will be called when the condition becomes "true", i.e. when
599C<send> or C<croak> are called, with the only argument being the condition
600variable itself. Calling C<recv> inside the callback or at any later time
601is guaranteed not to block.
602
603=back
604
605=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
606
607=over 4
608
609=item $AnyEvent::MODEL
610
611Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created. Then it
612contains the event model that is being used, which is the name of the
613Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one of the
614C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case
615AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>).
616
617The known classes so far are:
618
619 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice).
620 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice.
621 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
622 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.
623 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
624 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).
625 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
626 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, not generic enough for full support.
627
628There is no support for WxWidgets, as WxWidgets has no support for
629watching file handles. However, you can use WxWidgets through the
630POE Adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply polls 20 times per
631second, which was considered to be too horrible to even consider for
632AnyEvent. Likewise, other POE backends can be used by AnyEvent by using
633it's adaptor.
634
635AnyEvent knows about L<Prima> and L<Wx> and will try to use L<POE> when
636autodetecting them.
637
638=item AnyEvent::detect
639
640Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
641if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
642have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
643runtime.
644
645=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
646
647Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
648autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
649
650If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
651that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed. See
652L<Coro::BDB> for a case where this is useful.
653
654=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
655
656If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
657before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
658the event loop has been chosen.
659
660You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
661if it contains a true value then the event loop has already been detected,
662and the array will be ignored.
663
664Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> instead.
665
666=back
667
668=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
669
670As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods
671freely, but you should not load a specific event module or rely on it.
672
673Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
674decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
675by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
676to load the event module first.
677
678Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
679the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
680because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
681events is to stay interactive.
682
683It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
684requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
685called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
686freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
687
688=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
689
690There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
691dictate which event model to use.
692
693If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not
694do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
695decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
696
697If the main program relies on a specific event model - for example, in
698Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module - you should load the
699event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
700speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
701modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
702decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
703might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
704
705You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
706C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
707everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
708
709=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
710
711Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
712only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
713
714In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
715
716 AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
717
718This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
719
720Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
721it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
722variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
723exit cleanly.
724
725
726=head1 OTHER MODULES
727
728The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
729AnyEvent and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent modules
730in the same program. Some of the modules come with AnyEvent, some are
731available via CPAN.
732
733=over 4
734
735=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
736
737Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
738functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
739
740=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
741
742Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
743addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
744connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
745
746=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
747
748Provide read and write buffers, manages watchers for reads and writes,
749supports raw and formatted I/O, I/O queued and fully transparent and
750non-blocking SSL/TLS.
751
752=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
753
754Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
755
756=item L<AnyEvent::HTTP>
757
758A simple-to-use HTTP library that is capable of making a lot of concurrent
759HTTP requests.
760
761=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
762
763Provides a simple web application server framework.
764
765=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
766
767The fastest ping in the west.
768
769=item L<AnyEvent::DBI>
770
771Executes L<DBI> requests asynchronously in a proxy process.
772
773=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>
774
775Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
776programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses L<IO::AIO> and AnyEvent
777together.
778
779=item L<AnyEvent::BDB>
780
781Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. AnyEvent::BDB transparently fuses
782L<BDB> and AnyEvent together.
783
784=item L<AnyEvent::GPSD>
785
786A non-blocking interface to gpsd, a daemon delivering GPS information.
787
788=item L<AnyEvent::IGS>
789
790A non-blocking interface to the Internet Go Server protocol (used by
791L<App::IGS>).
792
793=item L<Net::IRC3>
794
795AnyEvent based IRC client module family.
796
797=item L<Net::XMPP2>
798
799AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family.
800
801=item L<Net::FCP>
802
803AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
804of AnyEvent.
805
806=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
807
808High level API for event-based execution flow control.
809
810=item L<Coro>
811
812Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
813
814=item L<IO::Lambda>
815
816The lambda approach to I/O - don't ask, look there. Can use AnyEvent.
817
818=back
819
65=cut 820=cut
66 821
67package AnyEvent; 822package AnyEvent;
68 823
69no warnings; 824no warnings;
70use strict 'vars'; 825use strict;
826
71use Carp; 827use Carp;
72 828
73our $VERSION = '1.0'; 829our $VERSION = 4.2;
74our $MODEL; 830our $MODEL;
75 831
76our $AUTOLOAD; 832our $AUTOLOAD;
77our @ISA; 833our @ISA;
78 834
835our @REGISTRY;
836
837our $WIN32;
838
839BEGIN {
840 my $win32 = ! ! ($^O =~ /mswin32/i);
841 eval "sub WIN32(){ $win32 }";
842}
843
79our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1; 844our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
80 845
81our @REGISTRY; 846our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2), higher numbers are preferred
847
848{
849 my $idx;
850 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
851 for reverse split /\s*,\s*/,
852 $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
853}
82 854
83my @models = ( 855my @models = (
84 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Coro::], 856 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::],
85 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 857 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::],
86 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], 858 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::],
859 # everything below here will not be autoprobed
860 # as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
861 # and is usually faster
862 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], # crashes with many handles
863 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], # becomes extremely slow with many watchers
864 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
865 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
866 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
87 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], 867 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
868 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
88); 869);
89 870
90our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer condvar broadcast wait cancel DESTROY); 871our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer time now signal child condvar one_event DESTROY);
91 872
92sub AUTOLOAD { 873our @post_detect;
93 $AUTOLOAD =~ s/.*://;
94 874
95 $method{$AUTOLOAD} 875sub post_detect(&) {
96 or croak "$AUTOLOAD: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects"; 876 my ($cb) = @_;
97 877
878 if ($MODEL) {
879 $cb->();
880
881 1
882 } else {
883 push @post_detect, $cb;
884
885 defined wantarray
886 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::PostDetect"
887 : ()
888 }
889}
890
891sub AnyEvent::Util::PostDetect::DESTROY {
892 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
893}
894
895sub detect() {
98 unless ($MODEL) { 896 unless ($MODEL) {
897 no strict 'refs';
898 local $SIG{__DIE__};
899
900 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
901 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
902 if (eval "require $model") {
903 $MODEL = $model;
904 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
905 } else {
906 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL):\n$@" if $verbose;
907 }
908 }
909
99 # check for already loaded models 910 # check for already loaded models
911 unless ($MODEL) {
100 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 912 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
101 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 913 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
102 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 914 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
103 if (eval "require $model") { 915 if (eval "require $model") {
104 $MODEL = $model; 916 $MODEL = $model;
105 warn "AnyEvent: found model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 917 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
106 last; 918 last;
919 }
107 } 920 }
108 } 921 }
922
923 unless ($MODEL) {
924 # try to load a model
925
926 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
927 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
928 if (eval "require $package"
929 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
930 and eval "require $model") {
931 $MODEL = $model;
932 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
933 last;
934 }
935 }
936
937 $MODEL
938 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.";
939 }
109 } 940 }
110 941
111 unless ($MODEL) { 942 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
112 # try to load a model 943 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
113 944
114 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 945 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
115 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
116 if (eval "require $model") {
117 $MODEL = $model;
118 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed and loaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
119 last;
120 }
121 }
122
123 $MODEL
124 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: Coro, Event, Glib or Tk.";
125 }
126 } 946 }
127 947
128 @ISA = $MODEL; 948 $MODEL
949}
950
951sub AUTOLOAD {
952 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://;
953
954 $method{$func}
955 or croak "$func: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects";
956
957 detect unless $MODEL;
129 958
130 my $class = shift; 959 my $class = shift;
131 $class->$AUTOLOAD (@_); 960 $class->$func (@_);
132} 961}
133 962
134=back 963package AnyEvent::Base;
964
965# default implementation for now and time
966
967use Time::HiRes ();
968
969sub time { Time::HiRes::time }
970sub now { Time::HiRes::time }
971
972# default implementation for ->condvar
973
974sub condvar {
975 bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, AnyEvent::CondVar::
976}
977
978# default implementation for ->signal
979
980our %SIG_CB;
981
982sub signal {
983 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
984
985 my $signal = uc $arg{signal}
986 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing";
987
988 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
989 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub {
990 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} || {} };
991 };
992
993 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Signal"
994}
995
996sub AnyEvent::Base::Signal::DESTROY {
997 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
998
999 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
1000
1001 delete $SIG{$signal} unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
1002}
1003
1004# default implementation for ->child
1005
1006our %PID_CB;
1007our $CHLD_W;
1008our $CHLD_DELAY_W;
1009our $PID_IDLE;
1010our $WNOHANG;
1011
1012sub _child_wait {
1013 while (0 < (my $pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG)) {
1014 $_->($pid, $?) for (values %{ $PID_CB{$pid} || {} }),
1015 (values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} });
1016 }
1017
1018 undef $PID_IDLE;
1019}
1020
1021sub _sigchld {
1022 # make sure we deliver these changes "synchronous" with the event loop.
1023 $CHLD_DELAY_W ||= AnyEvent->timer (after => 0, cb => sub {
1024 undef $CHLD_DELAY_W;
1025 &_child_wait;
1026 });
1027}
1028
1029sub child {
1030 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1031
1032 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0)
1033 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing";
1034
1035 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1036
1037 unless ($WNOHANG) {
1038 $WNOHANG = eval { local $SIG{__DIE__}; require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;
1039 }
1040
1041 unless ($CHLD_W) {
1042 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld);
1043 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
1044 &_sigchld;
1045 }
1046
1047 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Child"
1048}
1049
1050sub AnyEvent::Base::Child::DESTROY {
1051 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
1052
1053 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb};
1054 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
1055
1056 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
1057}
1058
1059package AnyEvent::CondVar;
1060
1061our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
1062
1063package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
1064
1065use overload
1066 '&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
1067 fallback => 1;
1068
1069sub _send {
1070 # nop
1071}
1072
1073sub send {
1074 my $cv = shift;
1075 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
1076 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
1077 $cv->_send;
1078}
1079
1080sub croak {
1081 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
1082 $_[0]->send;
1083}
1084
1085sub ready {
1086 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
1087}
1088
1089sub _wait {
1090 AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
1091}
1092
1093sub recv {
1094 $_[0]->_wait;
1095
1096 Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
1097 wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
1098}
1099
1100sub cb {
1101 $_[0]{_ae_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1102 $_[0]{_ae_cb}
1103}
1104
1105sub begin {
1106 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1107 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1108}
1109
1110sub end {
1111 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1112 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
1113}
1114
1115# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
1116*broadcast = \&send;
1117*wait = \&_wait;
135 1118
136=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 1119=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
1120
1121This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
1122a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
1123provide AnyEvent compatibility.
137 1124
138If you need to support another event library which isn't directly 1125If you need to support another event library which isn't directly
139supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by 1126supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by
140pushing, before the first watch gets created, the package name of 1127pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of
141the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto 1128the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto
142C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading 1129C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading
143AnyEvent. 1130AnyEvent, so it is reasonably cheap.
144 1131
145Example: 1132Example:
146 1133
147 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::]; 1134 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::];
148 1135
149This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::> module 1136This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::>
150when it finds the C<urxvt> module is loaded. When AnyEvent is loaded and 1137package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is already loaded.
151requested to find a suitable event model, it will first check for the
152urxvt module.
153 1138
1139When AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it
1140will first check for the presence of urxvt by trying to C<use> the
1141C<urxvt::anyevent> module.
1142
1143The class should provide implementations for all watcher types. See
1144L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> (Source code)
1145and so on for actual examples. Use C<perldoc -m AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to
1146see the sources.
1147
1148If you don't provide C<signal> and C<child> watchers than AnyEvent will
1149provide suitable (hopefully) replacements.
1150
154The above isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt) uses 1151The above example isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt)
155the above line exactly. An interface isn't included in AnyEvent 1152terminal emulator uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included
156because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter inside 1153in AnyEvent because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter
157I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the 1154inside I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the
158I<rxvt-unicode> distribution. 1155I<rxvt-unicode> distribution.
159 1156
1157I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to
1158condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will
1159C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must
1160not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense.
1161
160=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 1162=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
161 1163
162The following environment variables are used by this module: 1164The following environment variables are used by this module:
163 1165
164C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE> when set to C<2> or higher, reports which event 1166=over 4
165model gets used.
166 1167
1168=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
1169
1170By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
1171conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
1172talkative.
1173
1174When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
1175conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
1176C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
1177
1178When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
1179model it chooses.
1180
1181=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
1182
1183This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
1184auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
1185entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
1186and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
1187used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
1188auto detection and -probing.
1189
1190This functionality might change in future versions.
1191
1192For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
1193could start your program like this:
1194
1195 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
1196
1197=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
1198
1199Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
1200for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
1201of auto probing).
1202
1203Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
1204current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
1205used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
1206list.
1207
1208This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
1209against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
1210small, as the program has to handle connection errors already-
1211
1212Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
1213but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
1214- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
1215addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
1216IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
1217
1218=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
1219
1220Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
1221for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
1222some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
1223default.
1224
1225Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
1226EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
1227
1228=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_FORKS>
1229
1230The maximum number of child processes that C<AnyEvent::Util::fork_call>
1231will create in parallel.
1232
1233=back
1234
167=head1 EXAMPLE 1235=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
168 1236
169The following program uses an io watcher to read data from stdin, a timer 1237The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
170to display a message once per second, and a condvar to exit the program 1238to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
171when the user enters quit: 1239program when the user enters quit:
172 1240
173 use AnyEvent; 1241 use AnyEvent;
174 1242
175 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar; 1243 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
176 1244
177 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 1245 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (
1246 fh => \*STDIN,
1247 poll => 'r',
1248 cb => sub {
178 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 1249 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
179 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 1250 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
180 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 1251 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
181 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 1252 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
1253 },
182 }); 1254 );
183 1255
184 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once 1256 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
185 1257
186 sub new_timer { 1258 sub new_timer {
187 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub { 1259 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub {
190 }); 1262 });
191 } 1263 }
192 1264
193 new_timer; # create first timer 1265 new_timer; # create first timer
194 1266
195 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 1267 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
196 1268
197=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 1269=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
198 1270
199Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 1271Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
200API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 1272API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
250 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 1322 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
251 or die "connection or write error"; 1323 or die "connection or write error";
252 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 1324 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
253 1325
254Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 1326Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
255result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished: 1327result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
256 1328
257 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 1329 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
258 1330
259 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 1331 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
260 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 1332 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
261 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 1333 $txn->{finished}->send;
262 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 1334 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
263 } 1335 }
264 1336
265The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 1337The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
266request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the 1338request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
267data: 1339data:
268 1340
269 $txn->{finished}->wait; 1341 $txn->{finished}->recv;
270 return $txn->{result}; 1342 return $txn->{result};
271 1343
272The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 1344The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
273that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 1345that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
274wether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 1346whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
275and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 1347and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
276problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a 1348problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
277random callback. 1349random callback.
278 1350
279All of this enables the following usage styles: 1351All of this enables the following usage styles:
280 1352
2811. Blocking: 13531. Blocking:
282 1354
283 my $data = $fcp->client_get ($url); 1355 my $data = $fcp->client_get ($url);
284 1356
2852. Blocking, but parallelizing: 13572. Blocking, but running in parallel:
286 1358
287 my @datas = map $_->result, 1359 my @datas = map $_->result,
288 map $fcp->txn_client_get ($_), 1360 map $fcp->txn_client_get ($_),
289 @urls; 1361 @urls;
290 1362
291Both blocking examples work without the module user having to know 1363Both blocking examples work without the module user having to know
292anything about events. 1364anything about events.
293 1365
2943a. Event-based in a main program, using any support Event module: 13663a. Event-based in a main program, using any supported event module:
295 1367
296 use Event; 1368 use EV;
297 1369
298 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 1370 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
299 my $txn = shift; 1371 my $txn = shift;
300 my $data = $txn->result; 1372 my $data = $txn->result;
301 ... 1373 ...
302 }); 1374 });
303 1375
304 Event::loop; 1376 EV::loop;
305 1377
3063b. The module user could use AnyEvent, too: 13783b. The module user could use AnyEvent, too:
307 1379
308 use AnyEvent; 1380 use AnyEvent;
309 1381
310 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 1382 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
311 1383
312 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 1384 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
313 ... 1385 ...
314 $quit->broadcast; 1386 $quit->send;
315 }); 1387 });
316 1388
317 $quit->wait; 1389 $quit->recv;
1390
1391
1392=head1 BENCHMARKS
1393
1394To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
1395over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
1396of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
1397
1398=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
1399
1400Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
1401through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
1402timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
1403which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
1404
1405Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
1406distribution.
1407
1408=head3 Explanation of the columns
1409
1410I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
1411different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
1412loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
1413and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
1414would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
1415of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
1416
1417I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
1418RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
1419and Perl-based overheads.
1420
1421I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
1422takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
1423all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
1424and memory usage is not included in the figures.
1425
1426I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
1427callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
1428invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
1429signal the end of this phase.
1430
1431I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
1432watcher.
1433
1434=head3 Results
1435
1436 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
1437 EV/EV 400000 244 0.56 0.46 0.31 EV native interface
1438 EV/Any 100000 244 2.50 0.46 0.29 EV + AnyEvent watchers
1439 CoroEV/Any 100000 244 2.49 0.44 0.29 coroutines + Coro::Signal
1440 Perl/Any 100000 513 4.92 0.87 1.12 pure perl implementation
1441 Event/Event 16000 516 31.88 31.30 0.85 Event native interface
1442 Event/Any 16000 590 35.75 31.42 1.08 Event + AnyEvent watchers
1443 Glib/Any 16000 1357 98.22 12.41 54.00 quadratic behaviour
1444 Tk/Any 2000 1860 26.97 67.98 14.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
1445 POE/Event 2000 6644 108.64 736.02 14.73 via POE::Loop::Event
1446 POE/Select 2000 6343 94.13 809.12 565.96 via POE::Loop::Select
1447
1448=head3 Discussion
1449
1450The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
1451well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
1452can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
1453file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
1454the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
1455boost.
1456
1457Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
1458overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
1459the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
1460higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
1461
1462To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
1463benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
1464EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
1465cycles with POE.
1466
1467C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
1468maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, it uses
1469far less memory than any other event loop and is still faster than Event
1470natively.
1471
1472The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
1473constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
1474interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
1475adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
1476performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
1477them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
1478
1479The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
1480cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
1481
1482C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
1483faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
1484C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
1485watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
1486making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
1487(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
1488inefficiencies of C<poll> do not account for this).
1489
1490The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
1491more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
1492precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
1493file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
1494employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
1495hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
1496above).
1497
1498C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
1499select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
1500be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
1501memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
1502as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
1503requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
1504invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
1505implementation.
1506
1507The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
1508for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
1509small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
1510optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
1511using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
1512memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
1513design).
1514
1515=head3 Summary
1516
1517=over 4
1518
1519=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
1520(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
1521performance with or without AnyEvent.
1522
1523=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
1524the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
1525adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
1526
1527=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
1528reasonable memory usage.
1529
1530=back
1531
1532=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
1533
1534This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
1535creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
1536timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
1537watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
1538watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
1539
1540The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
1541are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
1542fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
1543timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
1544most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
1545
1546In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
1547(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
1548connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
1549
1550Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
1551distribution.
1552
1553=head3 Explanation of the columns
1554
1555I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
1556each server has a read and write socket end).
1557
1558I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
1559nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
1560
1561I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
1562single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
1563it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
1564a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
1565
1566=head3 Results
1567
1568 name sockets create request
1569 EV 20000 69.01 11.16
1570 Perl 20000 73.32 35.87
1571 Event 20000 212.62 257.32
1572 Glib 20000 651.16 1896.30
1573 POE 20000 349.67 12317.24 uses POE::Loop::Event
1574
1575=head3 Discussion
1576
1577This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
1578particular event loop.
1579
1580EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
1581is relatively high, though.
1582
1583Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
1584loops Event and Glib.
1585
1586Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
1587understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
1588the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
1589uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
1590
1591Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
1592clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
1593
1594POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
1595as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
1596it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
1597
1598=head3 Summary
1599
1600=over 4
1601
1602=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
1603
1604=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
1605
1606=back
1607
1608=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
1609
1610While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
1611large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
1612I/O watchers.
1613
1614In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
1615case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
1616one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
1617well.
1618
1619The columns are identical to the previous table.
1620
1621=head3 Results
1622
1623 name sockets create request
1624 EV 16 20.00 6.54
1625 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
1626 Event 16 81.27 35.86
1627 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
1628 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
1629
1630=head3 Discussion
1631
1632The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
1633server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
1634in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
1635to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
1636speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
1637them).
1638
1639EV is again fastest.
1640
1641Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
1642loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
1643matter.
1644
1645POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
1646others.
1647
1648=head3 Summary
1649
1650=over 4
1651
1652=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
1653watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
1654
1655=back
1656
1657
1658=head1 FORK
1659
1660Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
1661because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
1662calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
1663
1664If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
1665watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child.
1666
1667
1668=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
1669
1670AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
1671$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to
1672execute arbitrary code or directly gain access, it can easily be used to
1673make the program hang or malfunction in subtle ways, as AnyEvent watchers
1674will not be active when the program uses a different event model than
1675specified in the variable.
1676
1677You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
1678before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
1679
1680 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
1681
1682 use AnyEvent;
1683
1684Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
1685be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
1686probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL).
1687
1688
1689=head1 BUGS
1690
1691Perl 5.8 has numerous memleaks that sometimes hit this module and are hard
1692to work around. If you suffer from memleaks, first upgrade to Perl 5.10
1693and check wether the leaks still show up. (Perl 5.10.0 has other annoying
1694mamleaks, such as leaking on C<map> and C<grep> but it is usually not as
1695pronounced).
1696
318 1697
319=head1 SEE ALSO 1698=head1 SEE ALSO
320 1699
321Event modules: L<Coro::Event>, L<Coro>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>. 1700Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
322 1701
323Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::Coro>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>. 1702Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
1703L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
324 1704
325Nontrivial usage example: L<Net::FCP>. 1705Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
1706L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
1707L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
1708L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>.
326 1709
327=head1 1710Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
1711servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>.
1712
1713Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
1714
1715Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>,
1716
1717Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>, L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
1718
1719
1720=head1 AUTHOR
1721
1722 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
1723 http://home.schmorp.de/
328 1724
329=cut 1725=cut
330 1726
3311 17271
332 1728

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