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1=head1 NAME 1=head1 NAME
2 2
3AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops 3AnyEvent - the DBI of event loop programming
4 4
5EV, Event, Coro::EV, Coro::Event, Glib, Tk, Perl, Event::Lib, Qt - various supported event loops 5EV, Event, Glib, Tk, Perl, Event::Lib, Irssi, rxvt-unicode, IO::Async, Qt
6and POE are various supported event loops/environments.
6 7
7=head1 SYNOPSIS 8=head1 SYNOPSIS
8 9
9 use AnyEvent; 10 use AnyEvent;
10 11
12 # file descriptor readable
11 my $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh, poll => "r|w", cb => sub { 13 my $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh, poll => "r", cb => sub { ... });
14
15 # one-shot or repeating timers
16 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub { ... });
17 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, interval => $seconds, cb => ...
18
19 print AnyEvent->now; # prints current event loop time
20 print AnyEvent->time; # think Time::HiRes::time or simply CORE::time.
21
22 # POSIX signal
23 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "TERM", cb => sub { ... });
24
25 # child process exit
26 my $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => $pid, cb => sub {
27 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
12 ... 28 ...
13 }); 29 });
14 30
15 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub { 31 # called when event loop idle (if applicable)
16 ... 32 my $w = AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub { ... });
17 });
18 33
19 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged 34 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged
35 $w->send; # wake up current and all future recv's
20 $w->wait; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->broadcast 36 $w->recv; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->send
21 $w->broadcast; # wake up current and all future wait's 37 # use a condvar in callback mode:
38 $w->cb (sub { $_[0]->recv });
39
40=head1 INTRODUCTION/TUTORIAL
41
42This manpage is mainly a reference manual. If you are interested
43in a tutorial or some gentle introduction, have a look at the
44L<AnyEvent::Intro> manpage.
45
46=head1 SUPPORT
47
48There is a mailinglist for discussing all things AnyEvent, and an IRC
49channel, too.
50
51See the AnyEvent project page at the B<Schmorpforge Ta-Sa Software
52Repository>, at L<http://anyevent.schmorp.de>, for more info.
22 53
23=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT) 54=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT)
24 55
25Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen 56Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen
26nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent? 57nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?
27 58
28Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of 59Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of
29policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>. 60policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>.
30 61
31First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only 62First 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 63interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use, in a
33pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike, 64pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike,
34the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general, 65the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general,
35only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent 66only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent
36helps hiding the differences between those event loops. 67cannot change this, but it can hide the differences between those event
68loops.
37 69
38The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event 70The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event
39programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a 71programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a
40religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your 72religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your
41module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event 73module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event
42model you use. 74model you use.
43 75
44For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is 76For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is
45actually doing all I/O I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is 77actually doing all I/O I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is
46like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you 78like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you
47cannot use anything else, as it is simply incompatible to everything that 79cannot use anything else, as they are simply incompatible to everything
48isn't itself. What's worse, all the potential users of your module are 80that isn't them. What's worse, all the potential users of your
49I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use. 81module are I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use.
50 82
51AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works 83AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works
52fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together 84fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together
53with the rest: POE + IO::Async? no go. Tk + Event? no go. Again: if 85with the rest: POE + IO::Async? No go. Tk + Event? No go. Again: if
54your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it, 86your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it,
55too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all 87too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all
56event models it supports (including stuff like POE and IO::Async, as long 88event models it supports (including stuff like IO::Async, as long as those
57as those use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new 89use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new event loops
58event loops to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof). 90to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof).
59 91
60In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event 92In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event
61model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar 93model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar
62modules, you get an enourmous amount of code and strict rules you have to 94modules, you get an enormous amount of code and strict rules you have to
63follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only 95follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only
64offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as 96offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as
65technically possible. 97technically possible.
66 98
99Of course, AnyEvent comes with a big (and fully optional!) toolbox
100of useful functionality, such as an asynchronous DNS resolver, 100%
101non-blocking connects (even with TLS/SSL, IPv6 and on broken platforms
102such as Windows) and lots of real-world knowledge and workarounds for
103platform bugs and differences.
104
67Of course, if you want lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat 105Now, if you I<do want> lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat
68useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event 106useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event
69model, you should I<not> use this module. 107model, you should I<not> use this module.
70
71 108
72=head1 DESCRIPTION 109=head1 DESCRIPTION
73 110
74L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This 111L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This
75allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module 112allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module
78 115
79The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event> 116The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
80module. 117module.
81 118
82During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries 119During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries
83to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of 120to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the
84the following modules is already loaded: L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>, 121following modules is already loaded: L<EV>,
85L<EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>. The first one 122L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>,
86found is used. If none are found, the module tries to load these modules 123L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries
87(excluding Event::Lib and Qt) in the order given. The first one that can 124to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl
125adaptor 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 126be 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 127found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl event loop, which is not
90very efficient, but should work everywhere. 128very efficient, but should work everywhere.
91 129
92Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading 130Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading
102starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to 140starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to
103use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly... 141use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly...
104 142
105The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called 143The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called
106C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it 144C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it
107explicitly. 145explicitly and enjoy the high availability of that event loop :)
108 146
109=head1 WATCHERS 147=head1 WATCHERS
110 148
111AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that 149AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that
112stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as 150stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as
113the callback to call, the filehandle to watch, etc. 151the callback to call, the file handle to watch, etc.
114 152
115These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After 153These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
116creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the 154creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the
117callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model 155callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model
118is in control). 156is in control).
119 157
158Note that B<callbacks must not permanently change global variables>
159potentially in use by the event loop (such as C<$_> or C<$[>) and that B<<
160callbacks must not C<die> >>. The former is good programming practise in
161Perl and the latter stems from the fact that exception handling differs
162widely between event loops.
163
120To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the 164To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the
121variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references 165variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references
122to it). 166to it).
123 167
124All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class. 168All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class.
126Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for 170Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for
127example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways. 171example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways.
128 172
129An any way to achieve that is this pattern: 173An any way to achieve that is this pattern:
130 174
131 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub { 175 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub {
132 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it 176 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it
133 undef $w; 177 undef $w;
134 }); 178 });
135 179
136Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl, 180Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,
137my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are 181my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are
138declared. 182declared.
139 183
140=head2 IO WATCHERS 184=head2 I/O WATCHERS
141 185
142You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method 186You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
143with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments: 187with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
144 188
145C<fh> the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) to watch for 189C<fh> is the Perl I<file handle> (or a naked file descriptor) to watch
190for events (AnyEvent might or might not keep a reference to this file
191handle). Note that only file handles pointing to things for which
192non-blocking operation makes sense are allowed. This includes sockets,
193most character devices, pipes, fifos and so on, but not for example files
194or block devices.
195
146events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, which 196C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, which creates a
147creates a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events, 197watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events, respectively.
198
148respectively. C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle 199C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle becomes ready.
149becomes ready.
150 200
151As long as the I/O watcher exists it will keep the file descriptor or a 201Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
152copy of it alive/open. 202presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
203callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
153 204
205The I/O watcher might use the underlying file descriptor or a copy of it.
154It is not allowed to close a file handle as long as any watcher is active 206You must not close a file handle as long as any watcher is active on the
155on the underlying file descriptor. 207underlying file descriptor.
156 208
157Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should 209Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should
158always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file 210always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file
159handles. 211handles.
160 212
161Example:
162
163 # wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the watcher 213Example: wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the
214watcher.
215
164 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 216 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
165 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); 217 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>);
166 warn "read: $input\n"; 218 warn "read: $input\n";
167 undef $w; 219 undef $w;
168 }); 220 });
171 223
172You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >> 224You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>
173method with the following mandatory arguments: 225method with the following mandatory arguments:
174 226
175C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are 227C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are
176supported) should the timer activate. C<cb> the callback to invoke in that 228supported) the callback should be invoked. C<cb> is the callback to invoke
177case. 229in that case.
178 230
179The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating 231Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
180timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk 232presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
181and Glib). 233callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks.
182 234
183Example: 235The callback will normally be invoked once only. If you specify another
236parameter, C<interval>, as a strictly positive number (> 0), then the
237callback will be invoked regularly at that interval (in fractional
238seconds) after the first invocation. If C<interval> is specified with a
239false value, then it is treated as if it were missing.
184 240
241The callback will be rescheduled before invoking the callback, but no
242attempt is done to avoid timer drift in most backends, so the interval is
243only approximate.
244
185 # fire an event after 7.7 seconds 245Example: fire an event after 7.7 seconds.
246
186 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub { 247 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub {
187 warn "timeout\n"; 248 warn "timeout\n";
188 }); 249 });
189 250
190 # to cancel the timer: 251 # to cancel the timer:
191 undef $w; 252 undef $w;
192 253
193Example 2:
194
195 # fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second 254Example 2: fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second.
196 my $w;
197 255
198 my $cb = sub {
199 # cancel the old timer while creating a new one
200 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => $cb); 256 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, interval => 1, cb => sub {
257 warn "timeout\n";
201 }; 258 };
202
203 # start the "loop" by creating the first watcher
204 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, cb => $cb);
205 259
206=head3 TIMING ISSUES 260=head3 TIMING ISSUES
207 261
208There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire 262There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire
209in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12 263in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12
221timers. 275timers.
222 276
223AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the 277AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the
224AnyEvent API. 278AnyEvent API.
225 279
280AnyEvent has two additional methods that return the "current time":
281
282=over 4
283
284=item AnyEvent->time
285
286This returns the "current wallclock time" as a fractional number of
287seconds since the Epoch (the same thing as C<time> or C<Time::HiRes::time>
288return, and the result is guaranteed to be compatible with those).
289
290It progresses independently of any event loop processing, i.e. each call
291will check the system clock, which usually gets updated frequently.
292
293=item AnyEvent->now
294
295This also returns the "current wallclock time", but unlike C<time>, above,
296this value might change only once per event loop iteration, depending on
297the event loop (most return the same time as C<time>, above). This is the
298time that AnyEvent's timers get scheduled against.
299
300I<In almost all cases (in all cases if you don't care), this is the
301function to call when you want to know the current time.>
302
303This function is also often faster then C<< AnyEvent->time >>, and
304thus the preferred method if you want some timestamp (for example,
305L<AnyEvent::Handle> uses this to update it's activity timeouts).
306
307The rest of this section is only of relevance if you try to be very exact
308with your timing, you can skip it without bad conscience.
309
310For a practical example of when these times differ, consider L<Event::Lib>
311and L<EV> and the following set-up:
312
313The event loop is running and has just invoked one of your callback at
314time=500 (assume no other callbacks delay processing). In your callback,
315you wait a second by executing C<sleep 1> (blocking the process for a
316second) and then (at time=501) you create a relative timer that fires
317after three seconds.
318
319With L<Event::Lib>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> will
320both return C<501>, because that is the current time, and the timer will
321be scheduled to fire at time=504 (C<501> + C<3>).
322
323With L<EV>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> returns C<501> (as that is the current
324time), but C<< AnyEvent->now >> returns C<500>, as that is the time the
325last event processing phase started. With L<EV>, your timer gets scheduled
326to run at time=503 (C<500> + C<3>).
327
328In one sense, L<Event::Lib> is more exact, as it uses the current time
329regardless of any delays introduced by event processing. However, most
330callbacks do not expect large delays in processing, so this causes a
331higher drift (and a lot more system calls to get the current time).
332
333In another sense, L<EV> is more exact, as your timer will be scheduled at
334the same time, regardless of how long event processing actually took.
335
336In either case, if you care (and in most cases, you don't), then you
337can get whatever behaviour you want with any event loop, by taking the
338difference between C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> into
339account.
340
341=item AnyEvent->now_update
342
343Some event loops (such as L<EV> or L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) cache
344the current time for each loop iteration (see the discussion of L<<
345AnyEvent->now >>, above).
346
347When a callback runs for a long time (or when the process sleeps), then
348this "current" time will differ substantially from the real time, which
349might affect timers and time-outs.
350
351When this is the case, you can call this method, which will update the
352event loop's idea of "current time".
353
354Note that updating the time I<might> cause some events to be handled.
355
356=back
357
226=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS 358=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
227 359
228You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal 360You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
229I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl callback to 361I<name> in uppercase and without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl
230be invoked whenever a signal occurs. 362callback to be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
231 363
364Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
365presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
366callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
367
232Multiple signal occurances can be clumped together into one callback 368Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
233invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. synchronous means 369invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
234that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process, 370that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
235but it is guarenteed not to interrupt any other callbacks. 371but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
236 372
237The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal 373The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
238between multiple watchers. 374between multiple watchers, and AnyEvent will ensure that signals will not
375interrupt your program at bad times.
239 376
240This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals 377This watcher might use C<%SIG> (depending on the event loop used),
241directly will likely not work correctly. 378so programs overwriting those signals directly will likely not work
379correctly.
242 380
243Example: exit on SIGINT 381Example: exit on SIGINT
244 382
245 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 }); 383 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
246 384
385=head3 Signal Races, Delays and Workarounds
386
387Many event loops (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt, IO::Async) do not support attaching
388callbacks to signals in a generic way, which is a pity, as you cannot do
389race-free signal handling in perl. AnyEvent will try to do it's best, but
390in some cases, signals will be delayed. The maximum time a signal might
391be delayed is specified in C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY> (default: 10
392seconds). This variable can be changed only before the first signal
393watcher is created, and should be left alone otherwise. Higher values
394will cause fewer spurious wake-ups, which is better for power and CPU
395saving. All these problems can be avoided by installing the optional
396L<Async::Interrupt> module. This will not work with inherently broken
397event loops such as L<Event> or L<Event::Lib> (and not with L<POE>
398currently, as POE does it's own workaround with one-second latency). With
399those, you just have to suffer the delays.
400
247=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS 401=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
248 402
249You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status. 403You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status.
250 404
251The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it 405The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (one some backends,
252watches for any child process exit). The watcher will trigger as often 406using C<0> watches for any child process exit, on others this will
253as status change for the child are received. This works by installing a 407croak). The watcher will be triggered only when the child process has
254signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with the pid 408finished and an exit status is available, not on any trace events
255and exit status (as returned by waitpid). 409(stopped/continued).
256 410
257Example: wait for pid 1333 411The callback will be called with the pid and exit status (as returned by
412waitpid), so unlike other watcher types, you I<can> rely on child watcher
413callback arguments.
258 414
415This watcher type works by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>,
416and since it cannot be shared, nothing else should use SIGCHLD or reap
417random child processes (waiting for specific child processes, e.g. inside
418C<system>, is just fine).
419
420There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
421I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
422have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
423
424Not all event models handle this correctly (neither POE nor IO::Async do,
425see their AnyEvent::Impl manpages for details), but even for event models
426that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be loaded before
427the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place). AnyEvent's
428pure perl event loop handles all cases correctly regardless of when you
429start the watcher.
430
431This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first
432thing in an AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one
433watcher before you C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call
434C<AnyEvent::detect>).
435
436As most event loops do not support waiting for child events, they will be
437emulated by AnyEvent in most cases, in which the latency and race problems
438mentioned in the description of signal watchers apply.
439
440Example: fork a process and wait for it
441
442 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
443
444 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
445
259 my $w = AnyEvent->child ( 446 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
260 pid => 1333, 447 pid => $pid,
261 cb => sub { 448 cb => sub {
262 my ($pid, $status) = @_; 449 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
263 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status"; 450 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
451 $done->send;
264 }, 452 },
265 ); 453 );
454
455 # do something else, then wait for process exit
456 $done->recv;
457
458=head2 IDLE WATCHERS
459
460Sometimes there is a need to do something, but it is not so important
461to do it instantly, but only when there is nothing better to do. This
462"nothing better to do" is usually defined to be "no other events need
463attention by the event loop".
464
465Idle watchers ideally get invoked when the event loop has nothing
466better to do, just before it would block the process to wait for new
467events. Instead of blocking, the idle watcher is invoked.
468
469Most event loops unfortunately do not really support idle watchers (only
470EV, Event and Glib do it in a usable fashion) - for the rest, AnyEvent
471will simply call the callback "from time to time".
472
473Example: read lines from STDIN, but only process them when the
474program is otherwise idle:
475
476 my @lines; # read data
477 my $idle_w;
478 my $io_w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
479 push @lines, scalar <STDIN>;
480
481 # start an idle watcher, if not already done
482 $idle_w ||= AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub {
483 # handle only one line, when there are lines left
484 if (my $line = shift @lines) {
485 print "handled when idle: $line";
486 } else {
487 # otherwise disable the idle watcher again
488 undef $idle_w;
489 }
490 });
491 });
266 492
267=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES 493=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
268 494
495If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
496require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
497will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
498
499AnyEvent is slightly different: it expects somebody else to run the event
500loop and will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
501
502The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
503because they represent a condition that must become true.
504
505Now is probably a good time to look at the examples further below.
506
269Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >> 507Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
270method without any arguments. 508>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
509C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
510becomes true, with the condition variable as the first argument (but not
511the results).
271 512
272A condition variable waits for a condition - precisely that the C<< 513After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
273->broadcast >> method has been called. 514by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
515were a callback, read about the caveats in the description for the C<<
516->send >> method).
274 517
275They are very useful to signal that a condition has been fulfilled, for 518Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
519optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
520in time where multiple outstanding events have been processed. And yet
521another way to call them is transactions - each condition variable can be
522used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
523a result. And yet some people know them as "futures" - a promise to
524compute/deliver something that you can wait for.
525
526Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
276example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests, 527for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
277then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the 528then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
278availability of results. 529availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
530called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
279 531
280You can also use condition variables to block your main program until 532You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
281an event occurs - for example, you could C<< ->wait >> in your main 533you can block your main program until an event occurs - for example, you
282program until the user clicks the Quit button in your app, which would C<< 534could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
283->broadcast >> the "quit" event. 535button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
284 536
285Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have 537Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
286two pirces of code that call C<< ->wait >> in a round-robbin fashion, you 538two pieces of code that call C<< ->recv >> in a round-robin fashion, you
287lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but 539lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
288you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks, 540you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
289as this asks for trouble. 541as this asks for trouble.
290 542
291This object has two methods: 543Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
544used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
545easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
546AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
547it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
292 548
293=over 4 549There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
550eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
551for the send to occur.
294 552
295=item $cv->wait 553Example: wait for a timer.
296
297Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been
298called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally.
299
300You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return
301immediately.
302
303Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
304(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
305using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the
306caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
307condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
308callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
309while still suppporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
310
311Another reason I<never> to C<< ->wait >> in a module is that you cannot
312sensibly have two C<< ->wait >>'s in parallel, as that would require
313multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent>
314can supply (the coroutine-aware backends L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV> and
315L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent> explicitly support concurrent C<< ->wait >>'s
316from different coroutines, however).
317
318=item $cv->broadcast
319
320Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further
321calls to C<wait> will (eventually) return after this method has been
322called. If nobody is waiting the broadcast will be remembered..
323
324=back
325
326Example:
327 554
328 # wait till the result is ready 555 # wait till the result is ready
329 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar; 556 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
330 557
331 # do something such as adding a timer 558 # do something such as adding a timer
332 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast 559 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->send
333 # when the "result" is ready. 560 # when the "result" is ready.
334 # in this case, we simply use a timer: 561 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
335 my $w = AnyEvent->timer ( 562 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
336 after => 1, 563 after => 1,
337 cb => sub { $result_ready->broadcast }, 564 cb => sub { $result_ready->send },
338 ); 565 );
339 566
340 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the watcher 567 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
341 # calls broadcast 568 # calls -<send
342 $result_ready->wait; 569 $result_ready->recv;
570
571Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that condition
572variables are also callable directly.
573
574 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
575 my $delay = AnyEvent->timer (after => 5, cb => $done);
576 $done->recv;
577
578Example: Imagine an API that returns a condvar and doesn't support
579callbacks. This is how you make a synchronous call, for example from
580the main program:
581
582 use AnyEvent::CouchDB;
583
584 ...
585
586 my @info = $couchdb->info->recv;
587
588And this is how you would just set a callback to be called whenever the
589results are available:
590
591 $couchdb->info->cb (sub {
592 my @info = $_[0]->recv;
593 });
594
595=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
596
597These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
598code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
599the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
600uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
601
602=over 4
603
604=item $cv->send (...)
605
606Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
607calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
608called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
609
610If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
611immediately from within send.
612
613Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
614future C<< ->recv >> calls.
615
616Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly (as if
617they were a code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling
618C<send>.
619
620=item $cv->croak ($error)
621
622Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
623C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
624
625This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
626user/consumer. Doing it this way instead of calling C<croak> directly
627delays the error detetcion, but has the overwhelmign advantage that it
628diagnoses the error at the place where the result is expected, and not
629deep in some event clalback without connection to the actual code causing
630the problem.
631
632=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
633
634=item $cv->end
635
636These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
637one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
638to use a condition variable for the whole process.
639
640Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
641C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
642>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed. That callback
643is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send >>, but that is not required. If no
644callback was set, C<send> will be called without any arguments.
645
646You can think of C<< $cv->send >> giving you an OR condition (one call
647sends), while C<< $cv->begin >> and C<< $cv->end >> giving you an AND
648condition (all C<begin> calls must be C<end>'ed before the condvar sends).
649
650Let's start with a simple example: you have two I/O watchers (for example,
651STDOUT and STDERR for a program), and you want to wait for both streams to
652close before activating a condvar:
653
654 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
655
656 $cv->begin; # first watcher
657 my $w1 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh1, cb => sub {
658 defined sysread $fh1, my $buf, 4096
659 or $cv->end;
660 });
661
662 $cv->begin; # second watcher
663 my $w2 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh2, cb => sub {
664 defined sysread $fh2, my $buf, 4096
665 or $cv->end;
666 });
667
668 $cv->recv;
669
670This works because for every event source (EOF on file handle), there is
671one call to C<begin>, so the condvar waits for all calls to C<end> before
672sending.
673
674The ping example mentioned above is slightly more complicated, as the
675there are results to be passwd back, and the number of tasks that are
676begung can potentially be zero:
677
678 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
679
680 my %result;
681 $cv->begin (sub { $cv->send (\%result) });
682
683 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
684 $cv->begin;
685 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
686 $result{$host} = ...;
687 $cv->end;
688 };
689 }
690
691 $cv->end;
692
693This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
694C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
695order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
696each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
697it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
698results arrive is not relevant.
699
700There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
701loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
702to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
703C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
704doesn't execute once).
705
706This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple (but
707potentially none) subrequests: use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set
708the callback and ensure C<end> is called at least once, and then, for each
709subrequest you start, call C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish,
710call C<end>.
711
712=back
713
714=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
715
716These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
717code awaits the condition.
718
719=over 4
720
721=item $cv->recv
722
723Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
724>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
725normally.
726
727You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
728will return immediately.
729
730If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
731function will call C<croak>.
732
733In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
734in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
735
736Note that doing a blocking wait in a callback is not supported by any
737event loop, that is, recursive invocation of a blocking C<< ->recv
738>> is not allowed, and the C<recv> call will C<croak> if such a
739condition is detected. This condition can be slightly loosened by using
740L<Coro::AnyEvent>, which allows you to do a blocking C<< ->recv >> from
741any thread that doesn't run the event loop itself.
742
743Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
744(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
745using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>. Instead, let the
746caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
747condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
748callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
749while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
750
751You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
752only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
753time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
754waits otherwise.
755
756=item $bool = $cv->ready
757
758Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
759C<croak> have been called.
760
761=item $cb = $cv->cb ($cb->($cv))
762
763This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
764replaces it before doing so.
765
766The callback will be called when the condition becomes "true", i.e. when
767C<send> or C<croak> are called, with the only argument being the condition
768variable itself. Calling C<recv> inside the callback or at any later time
769is guaranteed not to block.
770
771=back
772
773=head1 SUPPORTED EVENT LOOPS/BACKENDS
774
775The available backend classes are (every class has its own manpage):
776
777=over 4
778
779=item Backends that are autoprobed when no other event loop can be found.
780
781EV is the preferred backend when no other event loop seems to be in
782use. If EV is not installed, then AnyEvent will try Event, and, failing
783that, will fall back to its own pure-perl implementation, which is
784available everywhere as it comes with AnyEvent itself.
785
786 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (interface to libev, best choice).
787 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, very stable, few glitches.
788 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
789
790=item Backends that are transparently being picked up when they are used.
791
792These will be used when they are currently loaded when the first watcher
793is created, in which case it is assumed that the application is using
794them. This means that AnyEvent will automatically pick the right backend
795when the main program loads an event module before anything starts to
796create watchers. Nothing special needs to be done by the main program.
797
798 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, slow but very stable.
799 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very broken.
800 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
801 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, very slow, some limitations.
802 AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi used when running within irssi.
803
804=item Backends with special needs.
805
806Qt requires the Qt::Application to be instantiated first, but will
807otherwise be picked up automatically. As long as the main program
808instantiates the application before any AnyEvent watchers are created,
809everything should just work.
810
811 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt.
812
813Support for IO::Async can only be partial, as it is too broken and
814architecturally limited to even support the AnyEvent API. It also
815is the only event loop that needs the loop to be set explicitly, so
816it can only be used by a main program knowing about AnyEvent. See
817L<AnyEvent::Impl::Async> for the gory details.
818
819 AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync based on IO::Async, cannot be autoprobed.
820
821=item Event loops that are indirectly supported via other backends.
822
823Some event loops can be supported via other modules:
824
825There is no direct support for WxWidgets (L<Wx>) or L<Prima>.
826
827B<WxWidgets> has no support for watching file handles. However, you can
828use WxWidgets through the POE adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply
829polls 20 times per second, which was considered to be too horrible to even
830consider for AnyEvent.
831
832B<Prima> is not supported as nobody seems to be using it, but it has a POE
833backend, so it can be supported through POE.
834
835AnyEvent knows about both L<Prima> and L<Wx>, however, and will try to
836load L<POE> when detecting them, in the hope that POE will pick them up,
837in which case everything will be automatic.
838
839=back
343 840
344=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS 841=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
345 842
843These are not normally required to use AnyEvent, but can be useful to
844write AnyEvent extension modules.
845
346=over 4 846=over 4
347 847
348=item $AnyEvent::MODEL 848=item $AnyEvent::MODEL
349 849
350Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created. Then it 850Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created, before the
851backend has been autodetected.
852
351contains the event model that is being used, which is the name of the 853Afterwards it contains the event model that is being used, which is the
352Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one of the 854name of the Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one
353C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case 855of the C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the
354AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>). 856case AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode> it
355 857will be C<urxvt::anyevent>).
356The known classes so far are:
357
358 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV based on Coro::EV, best choice.
359 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent based on Coro::Event, second best choice.
360 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice).
361 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice.
362 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.
363 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
364 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient but portable.
365 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).
366 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
367 858
368=item AnyEvent::detect 859=item AnyEvent::detect
369 860
370Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model 861Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
371if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would 862if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
372have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at 863have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
373runtime. 864runtime, and not e.g. while initialising of your module.
865
866If you need to do some initialisation before AnyEvent watchers are
867created, use C<post_detect>.
868
869=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
870
871Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
872autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
873
874The block will be executed I<after> the actual backend has been detected
875(C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> is set), but I<before> any watchers have been
876created, so it is possible to e.g. patch C<@AnyEvent::ISA> or do
877other initialisations - see the sources of L<AnyEvent::Strict> or
878L<AnyEvent::AIO> to see how this is used.
879
880The most common usage is to create some global watchers, without forcing
881event module detection too early, for example, L<AnyEvent::AIO> creates
882and installs the global L<IO::AIO> watcher in a C<post_detect> block to
883avoid autodetecting the event module at load time.
884
885If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
886that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed (or
887C<undef> when the hook was immediately executed). See L<AnyEvent::AIO> for
888a case where this is useful.
889
890Example: Create a watcher for the IO::AIO module and store it in
891C<$WATCHER>. Only do so after the event loop is initialised, though.
892
893 our WATCHER;
894
895 my $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect {
896 $WATCHER = AnyEvent->io (fh => IO::AIO::poll_fileno, poll => 'r', cb => \&IO::AIO::poll_cb);
897 };
898
899 # the ||= is important in case post_detect immediately runs the block,
900 # as to not clobber the newly-created watcher. assigning both watcher and
901 # post_detect guard to the same variable has the advantage of users being
902 # able to just C<undef $WATCHER> if the watcher causes them grief.
903
904 $WATCHER ||= $guard;
905
906=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
907
908If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
909before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
910the event loop has been chosen.
911
912You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
913if it is defined then the event loop has already been detected, and the
914array will be ignored.
915
916Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> when your application allows
917it,as it takes care of these details.
918
919This variable is mainly useful for modules that can do something useful
920when AnyEvent is used and thus want to know when it is initialised, but do
921not need to even load it by default. This array provides the means to hook
922into AnyEvent passively, without loading it.
374 923
375=back 924=back
376 925
377=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE 926=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
378 927
382Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will 931Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
383decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so 932decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
384by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module 933by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
385to load the event module first. 934to load the event module first.
386 935
387Never call C<< ->wait >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that 936Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
388the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been called on it already. This is 937the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
389because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using 938because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
390events is to stay interactive. 939events is to stay interactive.
391 940
392It is fine, however, to call C<< ->wait >> when the user of your module 941It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
393requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method 942requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
394called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->wait >> 943called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
395freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always). 944freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
396 945
397=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM 946=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
398 947
399There will always be a single main program - the only place that should 948There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
401 950
402If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not 951If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not
403do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent 952do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
404decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it. 953decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
405 954
406If the main program relies on a specific event model. For example, in 955If the main program relies on a specific event model - for example, in
407Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module. You should load the 956Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module - you should load the
408event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally 957event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
409speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that 958speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
410modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will 959modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
411decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it 960decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
412might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself. 961might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
413 962
414You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by 963You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
415loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar 964C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
416behaviour everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose is generally better. 965everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
966
967=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
968
969Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
970only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
971
972In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
973
974 AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
975
976This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
977
978Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
979it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
980variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
981exit cleanly.
982
983
984=head1 OTHER MODULES
985
986The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
987AnyEvent as a client and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent
988modules and other event loops in the same program. Some of the modules
989come with AnyEvent, most are available via CPAN.
990
991=over 4
992
993=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
994
995Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
996functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
997
998=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
999
1000Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
1001addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
1002connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
1003
1004=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
1005
1006Provide read and write buffers, manages watchers for reads and writes,
1007supports raw and formatted I/O, I/O queued and fully transparent and
1008non-blocking SSL/TLS (via L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
1009
1010=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
1011
1012Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
1013
1014=item L<AnyEvent::HTTP>
1015
1016A simple-to-use HTTP library that is capable of making a lot of concurrent
1017HTTP requests.
1018
1019=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
1020
1021Provides a simple web application server framework.
1022
1023=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
1024
1025The fastest ping in the west.
1026
1027=item L<AnyEvent::DBI>
1028
1029Executes L<DBI> requests asynchronously in a proxy process.
1030
1031=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>
1032
1033Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
1034programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses L<IO::AIO> and AnyEvent
1035together.
1036
1037=item L<AnyEvent::BDB>
1038
1039Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. AnyEvent::BDB transparently fuses
1040L<BDB> and AnyEvent together.
1041
1042=item L<AnyEvent::GPSD>
1043
1044A non-blocking interface to gpsd, a daemon delivering GPS information.
1045
1046=item L<AnyEvent::IRC>
1047
1048AnyEvent based IRC client module family (replacing the older Net::IRC3).
1049
1050=item L<AnyEvent::XMPP>
1051
1052AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family (replacing the older
1053Net::XMPP2>.
1054
1055=item L<AnyEvent::IGS>
1056
1057A non-blocking interface to the Internet Go Server protocol (used by
1058L<App::IGS>).
1059
1060=item L<Net::FCP>
1061
1062AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
1063of AnyEvent.
1064
1065=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
1066
1067High level API for event-based execution flow control.
1068
1069=item L<Coro>
1070
1071Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
1072
1073=back
417 1074
418=cut 1075=cut
419 1076
420package AnyEvent; 1077package AnyEvent;
421 1078
1079# basically a tuned-down version of common::sense
1080sub common_sense {
422no warnings; 1081 # no warnings
423use strict; 1082 ${^WARNING_BITS} ^= ${^WARNING_BITS};
1083 # use strict vars subs
1084 $^H |= 0x00000600;
1085}
424 1086
1087BEGIN { AnyEvent::common_sense }
1088
425use Carp; 1089use Carp ();
426 1090
427our $VERSION = '3.2'; 1091our $VERSION = 4.881;
428our $MODEL; 1092our $MODEL;
429 1093
430our $AUTOLOAD; 1094our $AUTOLOAD;
431our @ISA; 1095our @ISA;
432 1096
433our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
434
435our @REGISTRY; 1097our @REGISTRY;
436 1098
1099our $WIN32;
1100
1101our $VERBOSE;
1102
1103BEGIN {
1104 eval "sub WIN32(){ " . (($^O =~ /mswin32/i)*1) ." }";
1105 eval "sub TAINT(){ " . (${^TAINT}*1) . " }";
1106
1107 delete @ENV{grep /^PERL_ANYEVENT_/, keys %ENV}
1108 if ${^TAINT};
1109
1110 $VERBOSE = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
1111
1112}
1113
1114our $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY = 10;
1115
1116our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2), higher numbers are preferred
1117
1118{
1119 my $idx;
1120 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
1121 for reverse split /\s*,\s*/,
1122 $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
1123}
1124
437my @models = ( 1125my @models = (
438 [Coro::EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV::],
439 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent::],
440 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::], 1126 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV:: , 1],
441 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 1127 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::, 1],
442 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::],
443 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::],
444 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::], 1128 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: , 1],
1129 # everything below here will not (normally) be autoprobed
1130 # as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
1131 # and is usually faster
1132 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib:: , 1], # becomes extremely slow with many watchers
1133 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
1134 [Irssi:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi::], # Irssi has a bogus "Event" package
1135 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], # crashes with many handles
1136 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
1137 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
1138 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
1139 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
1140 # IO::Async is just too broken - we would need workarounds for its
1141 # byzantine signal and broken child handling, among others.
1142 # IO::Async is rather hard to detect, as it doesn't have any
1143 # obvious default class.
1144# [0, IO::Async:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1145# [0, IO::Async::Loop:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1146# [0, IO::Async::Notifier:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
445); 1147);
446my @models_detect = (
447 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
448 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
449);
450 1148
451our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer signal child condvar broadcast wait one_event DESTROY); 1149our %method = map +($_ => 1),
1150 qw(io timer time now now_update signal child idle condvar one_event DESTROY);
1151
1152our @post_detect;
1153
1154sub post_detect(&) {
1155 my ($cb) = @_;
1156
1157 if ($MODEL) {
1158 $cb->();
1159
1160 undef
1161 } else {
1162 push @post_detect, $cb;
1163
1164 defined wantarray
1165 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::postdetect"
1166 : ()
1167 }
1168}
1169
1170sub AnyEvent::Util::postdetect::DESTROY {
1171 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
1172}
452 1173
453sub detect() { 1174sub detect() {
454 unless ($MODEL) { 1175 unless ($MODEL) {
455 no strict 'refs'; 1176 local $SIG{__DIE__};
456 1177
457 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) { 1178 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
458 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1"; 1179 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
459 if (eval "require $model") { 1180 if (eval "require $model") {
460 $MODEL = $model; 1181 $MODEL = $model;
461 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1182 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}), using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
462 } else { 1183 } else {
463 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL):\n$@" if $verbose; 1184 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}):\n$@" if $VERBOSE;
464 } 1185 }
465 } 1186 }
466 1187
467 # check for already loaded models 1188 # check for already loaded models
468 unless ($MODEL) { 1189 unless ($MODEL) {
469 for (@REGISTRY, @models, @models_detect) { 1190 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
470 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 1191 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
471 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 1192 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
472 if (eval "require $model") { 1193 if (eval "require $model") {
473 $MODEL = $model; 1194 $MODEL = $model;
474 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1195 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
475 last; 1196 last;
476 } 1197 }
477 } 1198 }
478 } 1199 }
479 1200
480 unless ($MODEL) { 1201 unless ($MODEL) {
481 # try to load a model 1202 # try to autoload a model
482
483 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 1203 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
484 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 1204 my ($package, $model, $autoload) = @$_;
1205 if (
1206 $autoload
485 if (eval "require $package" 1207 and eval "require $package"
486 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0 1208 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
487 and eval "require $model") { 1209 and eval "require $model"
1210 ) {
488 $MODEL = $model; 1211 $MODEL = $model;
489 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1212 warn "AnyEvent: autoloaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
490 last; 1213 last;
491 } 1214 }
492 } 1215 }
493 1216
494 $MODEL 1217 $MODEL
495 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV (or Coro+EV), Event (or Coro+Event) or Glib."; 1218 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.\n";
496 } 1219 }
497 } 1220 }
498 1221
1222 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
1223
499 unshift @ISA, $MODEL; 1224 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
500 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base"; 1225
1226 require AnyEvent::Strict if $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT};
1227
1228 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
501 } 1229 }
502 1230
503 $MODEL 1231 $MODEL
504} 1232}
505 1233
506sub AUTOLOAD { 1234sub AUTOLOAD {
507 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://; 1235 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://;
508 1236
509 $method{$func} 1237 $method{$func}
510 or croak "$func: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects"; 1238 or Carp::croak "$func: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects";
511 1239
512 detect unless $MODEL; 1240 detect unless $MODEL;
513 1241
514 my $class = shift; 1242 my $class = shift;
515 $class->$func (@_); 1243 $class->$func (@_);
516} 1244}
517 1245
1246# utility function to dup a filehandle. this is used by many backends
1247# to support binding more than one watcher per filehandle (they usually
1248# allow only one watcher per fd, so we dup it to get a different one).
1249sub _dupfh($$;$$) {
1250 my ($poll, $fh, $r, $w) = @_;
1251
1252 # cygwin requires the fh mode to be matching, unix doesn't
1253 my ($rw, $mode) = $poll eq "r" ? ($r, "<&") : ($w, ">&");
1254
1255 open my $fh2, $mode, $fh
1256 or die "AnyEvent->io: cannot dup() filehandle in mode '$poll': $!,";
1257
1258 # we assume CLOEXEC is already set by perl in all important cases
1259
1260 ($fh2, $rw)
1261}
1262
518package AnyEvent::Base; 1263package AnyEvent::Base;
519 1264
1265# default implementations for many methods
1266
1267sub _time {
1268 # probe for availability of Time::HiRes
1269 if (eval "use Time::HiRes (); Time::HiRes::time (); 1") {
1270 warn "AnyEvent: using Time::HiRes for sub-second timing accuracy.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1271 *_time = \&Time::HiRes::time;
1272 # if (eval "use POSIX (); (POSIX::times())...
1273 } else {
1274 warn "AnyEvent: using built-in time(), WARNING, no sub-second resolution!\n" if $VERBOSE;
1275 *_time = sub { time }; # epic fail
1276 }
1277
1278 &_time
1279}
1280
1281sub time { _time }
1282sub now { _time }
1283sub now_update { }
1284
520# default implementation for ->condvar, ->wait, ->broadcast 1285# default implementation for ->condvar
521 1286
522sub condvar { 1287sub condvar {
523 bless \my $flag, "AnyEvent::Base::CondVar" 1288 bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, "AnyEvent::CondVar"
524}
525
526sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::broadcast {
527 ${$_[0]}++;
528}
529
530sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::wait {
531 AnyEvent->one_event while !${$_[0]};
532} 1289}
533 1290
534# default implementation for ->signal 1291# default implementation for ->signal
535 1292
536our %SIG_CB; 1293our $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
537 1294
1295sub _have_async_interrupt() {
1296 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT = 1*(!$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT}
1297 && eval "use Async::Interrupt 1.0 (); 1")
1298 unless defined $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1299
1300 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1301}
1302
1303our ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W, %SIG_CB, %SIG_EV, $SIG_IO);
1304our (%SIG_ASY, %SIG_ASY_W);
1305our ($SIG_COUNT, $SIG_TW);
1306
1307sub _signal_exec {
1308 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1309 ? $SIGPIPE_R->drain
1310 : sysread $SIGPIPE_R, my $dummy, 9;
1311
1312 while (%SIG_EV) {
1313 for (keys %SIG_EV) {
1314 delete $SIG_EV{$_};
1315 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$_} || {} };
1316 }
1317 }
1318}
1319
1320# install a dummy wakeup watcher to reduce signal catching latency
1321sub _sig_add() {
1322 unless ($SIG_COUNT++) {
1323 # try to align timer on a full-second boundary, if possible
1324 my $NOW = AnyEvent->now;
1325
1326 $SIG_TW = AnyEvent->timer (
1327 after => $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY - ($NOW - int $NOW),
1328 interval => $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY,
1329 cb => sub { }, # just for the PERL_ASYNC_CHECK
1330 );
1331 }
1332}
1333
1334sub _sig_del {
1335 undef $SIG_TW
1336 unless --$SIG_COUNT;
1337}
1338
1339our $_sig_name_init; $_sig_name_init = sub {
1340 undef $_sig_name_init;
1341
1342 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1343 *sig2num = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2num;
1344 *sig2name = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2name;
1345 } else {
1346 require Config;
1347
1348 my %signame2num;
1349 @signame2num{ split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_name} }
1350 = split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_num};
1351
1352 my @signum2name;
1353 @signum2name[values %signame2num] = keys %signame2num;
1354
1355 *sig2num = sub($) {
1356 $_[0] > 0 ? shift : $signame2num{+shift}
1357 };
1358 *sig2name = sub ($) {
1359 $_[0] > 0 ? $signum2name[+shift] : shift
1360 };
1361 }
1362};
1363
1364sub sig2num ($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2num }
1365sub sig2name($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2name }
1366
538sub signal { 1367sub _signal {
539 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1368 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
540 1369
541 my $signal = uc $arg{signal} 1370 my $signal = uc $arg{signal}
542 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing"; 1371 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing";
543 1372
1373 if ($HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT) {
1374 # async::interrupt
1375
1376 $signal = sig2num $signal;
544 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1377 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1378
1379 $SIG_ASY{$signal} ||= new Async::Interrupt
1380 cb => sub { undef $SIG_EV{$signal} },
1381 signal => $signal,
1382 pipe => [$SIGPIPE_R->filenos],
1383 pipe_autodrain => 0,
1384 ;
1385
1386 } else {
1387 # pure perl
1388
1389 # AE::Util has been loaded in signal
1390 $signal = sig2name $signal;
1391 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1392
545 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub { 1393 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub {
546 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} || {} }; 1394 local $!;
1395 syswrite $SIGPIPE_W, "\x00", 1 unless %SIG_EV;
1396 undef $SIG_EV{$signal};
1397 };
1398
1399 # can't do signal processing without introducing races in pure perl,
1400 # so limit the signal latency.
1401 _sig_add;
547 }; 1402 }
548 1403
549 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Signal" 1404 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::signal"
550} 1405}
551 1406
1407sub signal {
1408 # probe for availability of Async::Interrupt
1409 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1410 warn "AnyEvent: using Async::Interrupt for race-free signal handling.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1411
1412 $SIGPIPE_R = new Async::Interrupt::EventPipe;
1413 $SIG_IO = AnyEvent->io (fh => $SIGPIPE_R->fileno, poll => "r", cb => \&_signal_exec);
1414
1415 } else {
1416 warn "AnyEvent: using emulated perl signal handling with latency timer.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1417
1418 require Fcntl;
1419
1420 if (AnyEvent::WIN32) {
1421 require AnyEvent::Util;
1422
1423 ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_pipe ();
1424 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_R) if $SIGPIPE_R;
1425 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_W) if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1426 } else {
1427 pipe $SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W;
1428 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_R;
1429 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1430
1431 # not strictly required, as $^F is normally 2, but let's make sure...
1432 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1433 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1434 }
1435
1436 $SIGPIPE_R
1437 or Carp::croak "AnyEvent: unable to create a signal reporting pipe: $!\n";
1438
1439 $SIG_IO = AnyEvent->io (fh => $SIGPIPE_R, poll => "r", cb => \&_signal_exec);
1440 }
1441
1442 *signal = \&_signal;
1443 &signal
1444}
1445
552sub AnyEvent::Base::Signal::DESTROY { 1446sub AnyEvent::Base::signal::DESTROY {
553 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]}; 1447 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
554 1448
1449 _sig_del;
1450
555 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb}; 1451 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
556 1452
557 $SIG{$signal} = 'DEFAULT' unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} }; 1453 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1454 ? delete $SIG_ASY{$signal}
1455 : # delete doesn't work with older perls - they then
1456 # print weird messages, or just unconditionally exit
1457 # instead of getting the default action.
1458 undef $SIG{$signal}
1459 unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
558} 1460}
559 1461
560# default implementation for ->child 1462# default implementation for ->child
561 1463
562our %PID_CB; 1464our %PID_CB;
563our $CHLD_W; 1465our $CHLD_W;
564our $CHLD_DELAY_W; 1466our $CHLD_DELAY_W;
565our $PID_IDLE;
566our $WNOHANG; 1467our $WNOHANG;
567 1468
568sub _child_wait { 1469sub _emit_childstatus($$) {
569 while (0 < (my $pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG)) { 1470 my (undef, $rpid, $rstatus) = @_;
1471
1472 $_->($rpid, $rstatus)
570 $_->($pid, $?) for (values %{ $PID_CB{$pid} || {} }), 1473 for values %{ $PID_CB{$rpid} || {} },
571 (values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} }); 1474 values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} };
572 }
573
574 undef $PID_IDLE;
575} 1475}
576 1476
577sub _sigchld { 1477sub _sigchld {
578 # make sure we deliver these changes "synchronous" with the event loop. 1478 my $pid;
579 $CHLD_DELAY_W ||= AnyEvent->timer (after => 0, cb => sub { 1479
580 undef $CHLD_DELAY_W; 1480 AnyEvent->_emit_childstatus ($pid, $?)
581 &_child_wait; 1481 while ($pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG) > 0;
582 });
583} 1482}
584 1483
585sub child { 1484sub child {
586 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1485 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
587 1486
588 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0) 1487 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0)
589 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing"; 1488 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing";
590 1489
591 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1490 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
592 1491
593 unless ($WNOHANG) { 1492 # WNOHANG is almost cetrainly 1 everywhere
594 $WNOHANG = eval { require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1; 1493 $WNOHANG ||= $^O =~ /^(?:openbsd|netbsd|linux|freebsd|cygwin|MSWin32)$/
595 } 1494 ? 1
1495 : eval { local $SIG{__DIE__}; require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;
596 1496
597 unless ($CHLD_W) { 1497 unless ($CHLD_W) {
598 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld); 1498 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld);
599 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round 1499 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
600 &_sigchld; 1500 &_sigchld;
601 } 1501 }
602 1502
603 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Child" 1503 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::child"
604} 1504}
605 1505
606sub AnyEvent::Base::Child::DESTROY { 1506sub AnyEvent::Base::child::DESTROY {
607 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]}; 1507 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
608 1508
609 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb}; 1509 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb};
610 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} }; 1510 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
611 1511
612 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB; 1512 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
613} 1513}
1514
1515# idle emulation is done by simply using a timer, regardless
1516# of whether the process is idle or not, and not letting
1517# the callback use more than 50% of the time.
1518sub idle {
1519 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1520
1521 my ($cb, $w, $rcb) = $arg{cb};
1522
1523 $rcb = sub {
1524 if ($cb) {
1525 $w = _time;
1526 &$cb;
1527 $w = _time - $w;
1528
1529 # never use more then 50% of the time for the idle watcher,
1530 # within some limits
1531 $w = 0.0001 if $w < 0.0001;
1532 $w = 5 if $w > 5;
1533
1534 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $w, cb => $rcb);
1535 } else {
1536 # clean up...
1537 undef $w;
1538 undef $rcb;
1539 }
1540 };
1541
1542 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.05, cb => $rcb);
1543
1544 bless \\$cb, "AnyEvent::Base::idle"
1545}
1546
1547sub AnyEvent::Base::idle::DESTROY {
1548 undef $${$_[0]};
1549}
1550
1551package AnyEvent::CondVar;
1552
1553our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
1554
1555package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
1556
1557#use overload
1558# '&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
1559# fallback => 1;
1560
1561# save 300+ kilobytes by dirtily hardcoding overloading
1562${"AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::OVERLOAD"}{dummy}++; # Register with magic by touching.
1563*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = sub { }; # "Make it findable via fetchmethod."
1564*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::(&{}'} = sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } }; # &{}
1565${'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = 1; # fallback
1566
1567our $WAITING;
1568
1569sub _send {
1570 # nop
1571}
1572
1573sub send {
1574 my $cv = shift;
1575 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
1576 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
1577 $cv->_send;
1578}
1579
1580sub croak {
1581 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
1582 $_[0]->send;
1583}
1584
1585sub ready {
1586 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
1587}
1588
1589sub _wait {
1590 $WAITING
1591 and !$_[0]{_ae_sent}
1592 and Carp::croak "AnyEvent::CondVar: recursive blocking wait detected";
1593
1594 local $WAITING = 1;
1595 AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
1596}
1597
1598sub recv {
1599 $_[0]->_wait;
1600
1601 Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
1602 wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
1603}
1604
1605sub cb {
1606 $_[0]{_ae_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1607 $_[0]{_ae_cb}
1608}
1609
1610sub begin {
1611 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1612 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1613}
1614
1615sub end {
1616 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1617 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
1618}
1619
1620# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
1621*broadcast = \&send;
1622*wait = \&_wait;
1623
1624=head1 ERROR AND EXCEPTION HANDLING
1625
1626In general, AnyEvent does not do any error handling - it relies on the
1627caller to do that if required. The L<AnyEvent::Strict> module (see also
1628the C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT> environment variable, below) provides strict
1629checking of all AnyEvent methods, however, which is highly useful during
1630development.
1631
1632As for exception handling (i.e. runtime errors and exceptions thrown while
1633executing a callback), this is not only highly event-loop specific, but
1634also not in any way wrapped by this module, as this is the job of the main
1635program.
1636
1637The pure perl event loop simply re-throws the exception (usually
1638within C<< condvar->recv >>), the L<Event> and L<EV> modules call C<<
1639$Event/EV::DIED->() >>, L<Glib> uses C<< install_exception_handler >> and
1640so on.
1641
1642=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1643
1644The following environment variables are used by this module or its
1645submodules.
1646
1647Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
1648C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
1649enabled.
1650
1651=over 4
1652
1653=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
1654
1655By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
1656conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
1657talkative.
1658
1659When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
1660conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
1661C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
1662
1663When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
1664model it chooses.
1665
1666When set to C<8> or higher, then AnyEvent will report extra information on
1667which optional modules it loads and how it implements certain features.
1668
1669=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT>
1670
1671AnyEvent does not do much argument checking by default, as thorough
1672argument checking is very costly. Setting this variable to a true value
1673will cause AnyEvent to load C<AnyEvent::Strict> and then to thoroughly
1674check the arguments passed to most method calls. If it finds any problems,
1675it will croak.
1676
1677In other words, enables "strict" mode.
1678
1679Unlike C<use strict> (or it's modern cousin, C<< use L<common::sense>
1680>>, it is definitely recommended to keep it off in production. Keeping
1681C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT=1> in your environment while developing programs
1682can be very useful, however.
1683
1684=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
1685
1686This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
1687auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
1688entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
1689and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
1690used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
1691auto detection and -probing.
1692
1693This functionality might change in future versions.
1694
1695For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
1696could start your program like this:
1697
1698 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
1699
1700=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
1701
1702Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
1703for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
1704of auto probing).
1705
1706Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
1707current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
1708used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
1709list.
1710
1711This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
1712against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
1713small, as the program has to handle conenction and other failures anyways.
1714
1715Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
1716but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
1717- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
1718addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
1719IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
1720
1721=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
1722
1723Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
1724for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
1725some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
1726default.
1727
1728Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
1729EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
1730
1731=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_FORKS>
1732
1733The maximum number of child processes that C<AnyEvent::Util::fork_call>
1734will create in parallel.
1735
1736=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_OUTSTANDING_DNS>
1737
1738The default value for the C<max_outstanding> parameter for the default DNS
1739resolver - this is the maximum number of parallel DNS requests that are
1740sent to the DNS server.
1741
1742=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_RESOLV_CONF>
1743
1744The file to use instead of F</etc/resolv.conf> (or OS-specific
1745configuration) in the default resolver. When set to the empty string, no
1746default config will be used.
1747
1748=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_FILE>, C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_PATH>.
1749
1750When neither C<ca_file> nor C<ca_path> was specified during
1751L<AnyEvent::TLS> context creation, and either of these environment
1752variables exist, they will be used to specify CA certificate locations
1753instead of a system-dependent default.
1754
1755=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_GUARD> and C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT>
1756
1757When these are set to C<1>, then the respective modules are not
1758loaded. Mostly good for testing AnyEvent itself.
1759
1760=back
614 1761
615=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 1762=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
616 1763
617This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in 1764This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
618a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to 1765a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
653I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to 1800I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to
654condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will 1801condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will
655C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must 1802C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must
656not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense. 1803not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense.
657 1804
658=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
659
660The following environment variables are used by this module:
661
662=over 4
663
664=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
665
666By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
667conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
668talkative.
669
670When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
671conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
672C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
673
674When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
675model it chooses.
676
677=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
678
679This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
680autodetection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
681entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
682and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
683used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
684autodetection and -probing.
685
686This functionality might change in future versions.
687
688For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
689could start your program like this:
690
691 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
692
693=back
694
695=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM 1805=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
696 1806
697The following program uses an IO watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer 1807The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
698to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the 1808to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
699program when the user enters quit: 1809program when the user enters quit:
700 1810
701 use AnyEvent; 1811 use AnyEvent;
702 1812
707 poll => 'r', 1817 poll => 'r',
708 cb => sub { 1818 cb => sub {
709 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 1819 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
710 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 1820 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
711 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 1821 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
712 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 1822 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
713 }, 1823 },
714 ); 1824 );
715 1825
716 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once 1826 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
717 1827
722 }); 1832 });
723 } 1833 }
724 1834
725 new_timer; # create first timer 1835 new_timer; # create first timer
726 1836
727 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 1837 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
728 1838
729=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 1839=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
730 1840
731Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 1841Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
732API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 1842API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
782 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 1892 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
783 or die "connection or write error"; 1893 or die "connection or write error";
784 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 1894 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
785 1895
786Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 1896Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
787result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished: 1897result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
788 1898
789 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 1899 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
790 1900
791 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 1901 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
792 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 1902 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
793 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 1903 $txn->{finished}->send;
794 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 1904 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
795 } 1905 }
796 1906
797The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 1907The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
798request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the 1908request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
799data: 1909data:
800 1910
801 $txn->{finished}->wait; 1911 $txn->{finished}->recv;
802 return $txn->{result}; 1912 return $txn->{result};
803 1913
804The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 1914The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
805that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 1915that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
806whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 1916whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
807and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 1917and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
808problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a 1918problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
809random callback. 1919random callback.
810 1920
841 1951
842 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 1952 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
843 1953
844 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 1954 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
845 ... 1955 ...
846 $quit->broadcast; 1956 $quit->send;
847 }); 1957 });
848 1958
849 $quit->wait; 1959 $quit->recv;
1960
1961
1962=head1 BENCHMARKS
1963
1964To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
1965over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
1966of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
1967
1968=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
1969
1970Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
1971through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
1972timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
1973which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
1974
1975Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
1976distribution.
1977
1978=head3 Explanation of the columns
1979
1980I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
1981different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
1982loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
1983and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
1984would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
1985of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
1986
1987I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
1988RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
1989and Perl-based overheads.
1990
1991I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
1992takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
1993all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
1994and memory usage is not included in the figures.
1995
1996I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
1997callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
1998invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
1999signal the end of this phase.
2000
2001I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
2002watcher.
2003
2004=head3 Results
2005
2006 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
2007 EV/EV 400000 224 0.47 0.35 0.27 EV native interface
2008 EV/Any 100000 224 2.88 0.34 0.27 EV + AnyEvent watchers
2009 CoroEV/Any 100000 224 2.85 0.35 0.28 coroutines + Coro::Signal
2010 Perl/Any 100000 452 4.13 0.73 0.95 pure perl implementation
2011 Event/Event 16000 517 32.20 31.80 0.81 Event native interface
2012 Event/Any 16000 590 35.85 31.55 1.06 Event + AnyEvent watchers
2013 IOAsync/Any 16000 989 38.10 32.77 11.13 via IO::Async::Loop::IO_Poll
2014 IOAsync/Any 16000 990 37.59 29.50 10.61 via IO::Async::Loop::Epoll
2015 Glib/Any 16000 1357 102.33 12.31 51.00 quadratic behaviour
2016 Tk/Any 2000 1860 27.20 66.31 14.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
2017 POE/Event 2000 6328 109.99 751.67 14.02 via POE::Loop::Event
2018 POE/Select 2000 6027 94.54 809.13 579.80 via POE::Loop::Select
2019
2020=head3 Discussion
2021
2022The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
2023well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
2024can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
2025file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
2026the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
2027boost.
2028
2029Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
2030overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
2031the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
2032higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
2033
2034To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
2035benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
2036EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
2037cycles with POE.
2038
2039C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
2040maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, it uses
2041far less memory than any other event loop and is still faster than Event
2042natively.
2043
2044The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
2045constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
2046interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
2047adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
2048performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
2049them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
2050
2051The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
2052cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
2053
2054C<IO::Async> performs admirably well, about on par with C<Event>, even
2055when using its pure perl backend.
2056
2057C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
2058faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
2059C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
2060watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
2061making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
2062(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
2063inefficiencies of C<poll> do not account for this).
2064
2065The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
2066more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
2067precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
2068file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
2069employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
2070hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
2071above).
2072
2073C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
2074select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
2075be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
2076memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
2077as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
2078requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
2079invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
2080implementation.
2081
2082The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
2083for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
2084small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
2085optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
2086using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
2087memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
2088design).
2089
2090=head3 Summary
2091
2092=over 4
2093
2094=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
2095(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
2096performance with or without AnyEvent.
2097
2098=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
2099the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
2100adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
2101
2102=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
2103reasonable memory usage.
2104
2105=back
2106
2107=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
2108
2109This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
2110creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
2111timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
2112watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
2113watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
2114
2115The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
2116are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
2117fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
2118timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
2119most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
2120
2121In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
2122(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
2123connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
2124
2125Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
2126distribution.
2127
2128=head3 Explanation of the columns
2129
2130I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
2131each server has a read and write socket end).
2132
2133I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
2134nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
2135
2136I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
2137single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
2138it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
2139a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
2140
2141=head3 Results
2142
2143 name sockets create request
2144 EV 20000 69.01 11.16
2145 Perl 20000 73.32 35.87
2146 IOAsync 20000 157.00 98.14 epoll
2147 IOAsync 20000 159.31 616.06 poll
2148 Event 20000 212.62 257.32
2149 Glib 20000 651.16 1896.30
2150 POE 20000 349.67 12317.24 uses POE::Loop::Event
2151
2152=head3 Discussion
2153
2154This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
2155particular event loop.
2156
2157EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
2158is relatively high, though.
2159
2160Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
2161loops Event and Glib.
2162
2163IO::Async performs very well when using its epoll backend, and still quite
2164good compared to Glib when using its pure perl backend.
2165
2166Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
2167understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
2168the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
2169uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
2170
2171Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
2172clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
2173
2174POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
2175as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
2176it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
2177
2178=head3 Summary
2179
2180=over 4
2181
2182=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
2183
2184=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
2185
2186=back
2187
2188=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
2189
2190While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
2191large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
2192I/O watchers.
2193
2194In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
2195case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
2196one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
2197well.
2198
2199The columns are identical to the previous table.
2200
2201=head3 Results
2202
2203 name sockets create request
2204 EV 16 20.00 6.54
2205 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
2206 Event 16 81.27 35.86
2207 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
2208 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
2209
2210=head3 Discussion
2211
2212The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
2213server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
2214in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
2215to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
2216speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
2217them).
2218
2219EV is again fastest.
2220
2221Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
2222loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
2223matter.
2224
2225POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
2226others.
2227
2228=head3 Summary
2229
2230=over 4
2231
2232=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
2233watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
2234
2235=back
2236
2237=head2 THE IO::Lambda BENCHMARK
2238
2239Recently I was told about the benchmark in the IO::Lambda manpage, which
2240could be misinterpreted to make AnyEvent look bad. In fact, the benchmark
2241simply compares IO::Lambda with POE, and IO::Lambda looks better (which
2242shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody). As such, the benchmark is
2243fine, and mostly shows that the AnyEvent backend from IO::Lambda isn't
2244very optimal. But how would AnyEvent compare when used without the extra
2245baggage? To explore this, I wrote the equivalent benchmark for AnyEvent.
2246
2247The benchmark itself creates an echo-server, and then, for 500 times,
2248connects to the echo server, sends a line, waits for the reply, and then
2249creates the next connection. This is a rather bad benchmark, as it doesn't
2250test the efficiency of the framework or much non-blocking I/O, but it is a
2251benchmark nevertheless.
2252
2253 name runtime
2254 Lambda/select 0.330 sec
2255 + optimized 0.122 sec
2256 Lambda/AnyEvent 0.327 sec
2257 + optimized 0.138 sec
2258 Raw sockets/select 0.077 sec
2259 POE/select, components 0.662 sec
2260 POE/select, raw sockets 0.226 sec
2261 POE/select, optimized 0.404 sec
2262
2263 AnyEvent/select/nb 0.085 sec
2264 AnyEvent/EV/nb 0.068 sec
2265 +state machine 0.134 sec
2266
2267The benchmark is also a bit unfair (my fault): the IO::Lambda/POE
2268benchmarks actually make blocking connects and use 100% blocking I/O,
2269defeating the purpose of an event-based solution. All of the newly
2270written AnyEvent benchmarks use 100% non-blocking connects (using
2271AnyEvent::Socket::tcp_connect and the asynchronous pure perl DNS
2272resolver), so AnyEvent is at a disadvantage here, as non-blocking connects
2273generally require a lot more bookkeeping and event handling than blocking
2274connects (which involve a single syscall only).
2275
2276The last AnyEvent benchmark additionally uses L<AnyEvent::Handle>, which
2277offers similar expressive power as POE and IO::Lambda, using conventional
2278Perl syntax. This means that both the echo server and the client are 100%
2279non-blocking, further placing it at a disadvantage.
2280
2281As you can see, the AnyEvent + EV combination even beats the
2282hand-optimised "raw sockets benchmark", while AnyEvent + its pure perl
2283backend easily beats IO::Lambda and POE.
2284
2285And even the 100% non-blocking version written using the high-level (and
2286slow :) L<AnyEvent::Handle> abstraction beats both POE and IO::Lambda by a
2287large margin, even though it does all of DNS, tcp-connect and socket I/O
2288in a non-blocking way.
2289
2290The two AnyEvent benchmarks programs can be found as F<eg/ae0.pl> and
2291F<eg/ae2.pl> in the AnyEvent distribution, the remaining benchmarks are
2292part of the IO::lambda distribution and were used without any changes.
2293
2294
2295=head1 SIGNALS
2296
2297AnyEvent currently installs handlers for these signals:
2298
2299=over 4
2300
2301=item SIGCHLD
2302
2303A handler for C<SIGCHLD> is installed by AnyEvent's child watcher
2304emulation for event loops that do not support them natively. Also, some
2305event loops install a similar handler.
2306
2307Additionally, when AnyEvent is loaded and SIGCHLD is set to IGNORE, then
2308AnyEvent will reset it to default, to avoid losing child exit statuses.
2309
2310=item SIGPIPE
2311
2312A no-op handler is installed for C<SIGPIPE> when C<$SIG{PIPE}> is C<undef>
2313when AnyEvent gets loaded.
2314
2315The rationale for this is that AnyEvent users usually do not really depend
2316on SIGPIPE delivery (which is purely an optimisation for shell use, or
2317badly-written programs), but C<SIGPIPE> can cause spurious and rare
2318program exits as a lot of people do not expect C<SIGPIPE> when writing to
2319some random socket.
2320
2321The rationale for installing a no-op handler as opposed to ignoring it is
2322that this way, the handler will be restored to defaults on exec.
2323
2324Feel free to install your own handler, or reset it to defaults.
2325
2326=back
2327
2328=cut
2329
2330undef $SIG{CHLD}
2331 if $SIG{CHLD} eq 'IGNORE';
2332
2333$SIG{PIPE} = sub { }
2334 unless defined $SIG{PIPE};
2335
2336=head1 RECOMMENDED/OPTIONAL MODULES
2337
2338One of AnyEvent's main goals is to be 100% Pure-Perl(tm): only perl (and
2339it's built-in modules) are required to use it.
2340
2341That does not mean that AnyEvent won't take advantage of some additional
2342modules if they are installed.
2343
2344This section epxlains which additional modules will be used, and how they
2345affect AnyEvent's operetion.
2346
2347=over 4
2348
2349=item L<Async::Interrupt>
2350
2351This slightly arcane module is used to implement fast signal handling: To
2352my knowledge, there is no way to do completely race-free and quick
2353signal handling in pure perl. To ensure that signals still get
2354delivered, AnyEvent will start an interval timer to wake up perl (and
2355catch the signals) with some delay (default is 10 seconds, look for
2356C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>).
2357
2358If this module is available, then it will be used to implement signal
2359catching, which means that signals will not be delayed, and the event loop
2360will not be interrupted regularly, which is more efficient (And good for
2361battery life on laptops).
2362
2363This affects not just the pure-perl event loop, but also other event loops
2364that have no signal handling on their own (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt).
2365
2366Some event loops (POE, Event, Event::Lib) offer signal watchers natively,
2367and either employ their own workarounds (POE) or use AnyEvent's workaround
2368(using C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>). Installing L<Async::Interrupt>
2369does nothing for those backends.
2370
2371=item L<EV>
2372
2373This module isn't really "optional", as it is simply one of the backend
2374event loops that AnyEvent can use. However, it is simply the best event
2375loop available in terms of features, speed and stability: It supports
2376the AnyEvent API optimally, implements all the watcher types in XS, does
2377automatic timer adjustments even when no monotonic clock is available,
2378can take avdantage of advanced kernel interfaces such as C<epoll> and
2379C<kqueue>, and is the fastest backend I<by far>. You can even embed
2380L<Glib>/L<Gtk2> in it (or vice versa, see L<EV::Glib> and L<Glib::EV>).
2381
2382=item L<Guard>
2383
2384The guard module, when used, will be used to implement
2385C<AnyEvent::Util::guard>. This speeds up guards considerably (and uses a
2386lot less memory), but otherwise doesn't affect guard operation much. It is
2387purely used for performance.
2388
2389=item L<JSON> and L<JSON::XS>
2390
2391This module is required when you want to read or write JSON data via
2392L<AnyEvent::Handle>. It is also written in pure-perl, but can take
2393advantage of the ultra-high-speed L<JSON::XS> module when it is installed.
2394
2395In fact, L<AnyEvent::Handle> will use L<JSON::XS> by default if it is
2396installed.
2397
2398=item L<Net::SSLeay>
2399
2400Implementing TLS/SSL in Perl is certainly interesting, but not very
2401worthwhile: If this module is installed, then L<AnyEvent::Handle> (with
2402the help of L<AnyEvent::TLS>), gains the ability to do TLS/SSL.
2403
2404=item L<Time::HiRes>
2405
2406This module is part of perl since release 5.008. It will be used when the
2407chosen event library does not come with a timing source on it's own. The
2408pure-perl event loop (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) will additionally use it to
2409try to use a monotonic clock for timing stability.
2410
2411=back
2412
850 2413
851=head1 FORK 2414=head1 FORK
852 2415
853Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are 2416Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
854because they are so inefficient. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware. 2417because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
2418calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
855 2419
856If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first 2420If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
857watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child. 2421watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child OR you must do
2422something completely out of the scope of AnyEvent.
2423
858 2424
859=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS 2425=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
860 2426
861AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via 2427AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
862$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to 2428$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to
866specified in the variable. 2432specified in the variable.
867 2433
868You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it 2434You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
869before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block: 2435before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
870 2436
871 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} } 2437 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
872 2438
873 use AnyEvent; 2439 use AnyEvent;
2440
2441Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
2442be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
2443probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), and
2444$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT}.
2445
2446Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
2447C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
2448enabled.
2449
2450
2451=head1 BUGS
2452
2453Perl 5.8 has numerous memleaks that sometimes hit this module and are hard
2454to work around. If you suffer from memleaks, first upgrade to Perl 5.10
2455and check wether the leaks still show up. (Perl 5.10.0 has other annoying
2456memleaks, such as leaking on C<map> and C<grep> but it is usually not as
2457pronounced).
2458
874 2459
875=head1 SEE ALSO 2460=head1 SEE ALSO
876 2461
877Event modules: L<Coro::EV>, L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, 2462Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
878L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>, L<Coro>, L<Tk>,
879L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>.
880 2463
881Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, 2464Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
2465L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
2466
2467Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
2468L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
2469L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
882L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, 2470L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync>, L<Anyevent::Impl::Irssi>.
883L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>,
884L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>.
885 2471
2472Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
2473servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>, L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
2474
2475Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
2476
2477Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>,
2478L<Coro::Event>,
2479
886Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>. 2480Nontrivial usage examples: L<AnyEvent::GPSD>, L<AnyEvent::XMPP>,
2481L<AnyEvent::HTTP>.
2482
887 2483
888=head1 AUTHOR 2484=head1 AUTHOR
889 2485
890 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 2486 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
891 http://home.schmorp.de/ 2487 http://home.schmorp.de/
892 2488
893=cut 2489=cut
894 2490
8951 24911
896 2492

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