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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
5Event, Coro, Glib, Tk, Perl - 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 wether 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, and AnyEvent 65the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general,
35helps hiding the differences. 66only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent
67cannot change this, but it can hide the differences between those event
68loops.
36 69
37The 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
38programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a 71programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a
39religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your 72religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your
40module 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
41model you use. 74model you use.
42 75
43For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is actually doing all I/O 76For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is
44I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is like joining a 77actually doing all I/O I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is
45cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you cannot use 78like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you
46anything else, as it is simply incompatible to everything that isn't 79cannot use anything else, as they are simply incompatible to everything
47itself. 80that isn't them. What's worse, all the potential users of your
81module are I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use.
48 82
49AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works fine. AnyEvent + Tk 83AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works
50works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together with the rest: POE 84fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together
51+ IO::Async? no go. Tk + Event? no go. If your module uses one of 85with the rest: POE + IO::Async? No go. Tk + Event? No go. Again: if
52those, every user of your module has to use it, too. If your module 86your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it,
53uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all event models it supports 87too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all
54(including stuff like POE and IO::Async). 88event models it supports (including stuff like IO::Async, as long as those
89use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new event loops
90to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof).
55 91
56In addition of 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
57model>, 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
58modules, you get an enourmous amount of code and strict rules you have 94modules, you get an enormous amount of code and strict rules you have to
59to follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and to the point by only 95follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only
60offering the functionality that is useful, in as thin as a wrapper as 96offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as
61technically possible. 97technically possible.
62 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
63Of 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
64useful) 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
65model, you should I<not> use this module. 107model, you should I<not> use this module.
66
67 108
68=head1 DESCRIPTION 109=head1 DESCRIPTION
69 110
70L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This 111L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This
71allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module 112allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module
72users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist 113users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist
73peacefully at any one time). 114peacefully at any one time).
74 115
75The interface itself is vaguely similar but not identical to the Event 116The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
76module. 117module.
77 118
78On the first call of any method, the module tries to detect the currently 119During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries
79loaded event loop by probing wether any of the following modules is 120to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the
80loaded: L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<Tk>. The first one found is 121following modules is already loaded: L<EV>,
81used. If none is found, the module tries to load these modules in the 122L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>,
82order given. The first one that could be successfully loaded will be 123L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries
83used. If still none could be found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl 124to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl
84event loop, which is also not very efficient. 125adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can
126be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be
127found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl event loop, which is not
128very efficient, but should work everywhere.
85 129
86Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading 130Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading
87an Event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make 131an event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make
88that model the default. For example: 132that model the default. For example:
89 133
90 use Tk; 134 use Tk;
91 use AnyEvent; 135 use AnyEvent;
92 136
93 # .. AnyEvent will likely default to Tk 137 # .. AnyEvent will likely default to Tk
94 138
139The I<likely> means that, if any module loads another event model and
140starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to
141use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly...
142
95The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called 143The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called
96C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it 144C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it
97explicitly. 145explicitly and enjoy the high availability of that event loop :)
98 146
99=head1 WATCHERS 147=head1 WATCHERS
100 148
101AnyEvent 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
102stores 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
103the callback to call, the filehandle to watch, etc. 151the callback to call, the file handle to watch, etc.
104 152
105These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After 153These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
106creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke 154creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the
155callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model
156is in control).
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
107the callback. To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by 164To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the
108setting the variable that stores it to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all 165variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references
109references to it). 166to it).
110 167
111All 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.
112 169
170Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for
171example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways.
172
173An any way to achieve that is this pattern:
174
175 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub {
176 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it
177 undef $w;
178 });
179
180Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,
181my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are
182declared.
183
113=head2 IO WATCHERS 184=head2 I/O WATCHERS
114 185
186 $w = AnyEvent->io (
187 fh => <filehandle_or_fileno>,
188 poll => <"r" or "w">,
189 cb => <callback>,
190 );
191
115You can create I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method with 192You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
116the following mandatory arguments: 193with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
117 194
118C<fh> the Perl I<filehandle> (not filedescriptor) to watch for 195C<fh> is the Perl I<file handle> (or a naked file descriptor) to watch
196for events (AnyEvent might or might not keep a reference to this file
197handle). Note that only file handles pointing to things for which
198non-blocking operation makes sense are allowed. This includes sockets,
199most character devices, pipes, fifos and so on, but not for example files
200or block devices.
201
119events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, that creates 202C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, which creates a
120a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events. C<cb> the callback 203watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events, respectively.
121to invoke everytime the filehandle becomes ready.
122 204
123Only one io watcher per C<fh> and C<poll> combination is allowed (i.e. on 205C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle becomes ready.
124a socket you can have one r + one w, not any more (limitation comes from
125Tk - if you are sure you are not using Tk this limitation is gone).
126 206
127Filehandles will be kept alive, so as long as the watcher exists, the 207Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
128filehandle exists, too. 208presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
209callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
129 210
130Example: 211The I/O watcher might use the underlying file descriptor or a copy of it.
212You must not close a file handle as long as any watcher is active on the
213underlying file descriptor.
131 214
215Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should
216always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file
217handles.
218
132 # wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the watcher 219Example: wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the
220watcher.
221
133 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 222 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
134 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); 223 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>);
135 warn "read: $input\n"; 224 warn "read: $input\n";
136 undef $w; 225 undef $w;
137 }); 226 });
138 227
139=head2 TIME WATCHERS 228=head2 TIME WATCHERS
140 229
230 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => <seconds>, cb => <callback>);
231
232 $w = AnyEvent->timer (
233 after => <fractional_seconds>,
234 interval => <fractional_seconds>,
235 cb => <callback>,
236 );
237
141You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >> 238You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>
142method with the following mandatory arguments: 239method with the following mandatory arguments:
143 240
144C<after> after how many seconds (fractions are supported) should the timer 241C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are
145activate. C<cb> the callback to invoke. 242supported) the callback should be invoked. C<cb> is the callback to invoke
243in that case.
146 244
147The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating 245Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
148timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk 246presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
149and Glib). 247callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks.
150 248
151Example: 249The callback will normally be invoked once only. If you specify another
250parameter, C<interval>, as a strictly positive number (> 0), then the
251callback will be invoked regularly at that interval (in fractional
252seconds) after the first invocation. If C<interval> is specified with a
253false value, then it is treated as if it were missing.
152 254
255The callback will be rescheduled before invoking the callback, but no
256attempt is done to avoid timer drift in most backends, so the interval is
257only approximate.
258
153 # fire an event after 7.7 seconds 259Example: fire an event after 7.7 seconds.
260
154 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub { 261 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub {
155 warn "timeout\n"; 262 warn "timeout\n";
156 }); 263 });
157 264
158 # to cancel the timer: 265 # to cancel the timer:
159 undef $w; 266 undef $w;
160 267
161=head2 CONDITION WATCHERS 268Example 2: fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second.
162 269
163Condition watchers can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >> 270 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, interval => 1, cb => sub {
164method without any arguments. 271 warn "timeout\n";
272 };
165 273
166A condition watcher watches for a condition - precisely that the C<< 274=head3 TIMING ISSUES
167->broadcast >> method has been called.
168 275
169Note that condition watchers recurse into the event loop - if you have 276There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire
170two watchers that call C<< ->wait >> in a round-robbin fashion, you 277in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12
171lose. Therefore, condition watchers are good to export to your caller, but 278o'clock").
172you should avoid making a blocking wait, at least in callbacks, as this
173usually asks for trouble.
174 279
175The watcher has only two methods: 280While most event loops expect timers to specified in a relative way, they
281use absolute time internally. This makes a difference when your clock
282"jumps", for example, when ntp decides to set your clock backwards from
283the wrong date of 2014-01-01 to 2008-01-01, a watcher that is supposed to
284fire "after" a second might actually take six years to finally fire.
285
286AnyEvent cannot compensate for this. The only event loop that is conscious
287about these issues is L<EV>, which offers both relative (ev_timer, based
288on true relative time) and absolute (ev_periodic, based on wallclock time)
289timers.
290
291AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the
292AnyEvent API.
293
294AnyEvent has two additional methods that return the "current time":
176 295
177=over 4 296=over 4
178 297
298=item AnyEvent->time
299
300This returns the "current wallclock time" as a fractional number of
301seconds since the Epoch (the same thing as C<time> or C<Time::HiRes::time>
302return, and the result is guaranteed to be compatible with those).
303
304It progresses independently of any event loop processing, i.e. each call
305will check the system clock, which usually gets updated frequently.
306
307=item AnyEvent->now
308
309This also returns the "current wallclock time", but unlike C<time>, above,
310this value might change only once per event loop iteration, depending on
311the event loop (most return the same time as C<time>, above). This is the
312time that AnyEvent's timers get scheduled against.
313
314I<In almost all cases (in all cases if you don't care), this is the
315function to call when you want to know the current time.>
316
317This function is also often faster then C<< AnyEvent->time >>, and
318thus the preferred method if you want some timestamp (for example,
319L<AnyEvent::Handle> uses this to update it's activity timeouts).
320
321The rest of this section is only of relevance if you try to be very exact
322with your timing, you can skip it without bad conscience.
323
324For a practical example of when these times differ, consider L<Event::Lib>
325and L<EV> and the following set-up:
326
327The event loop is running and has just invoked one of your callback at
328time=500 (assume no other callbacks delay processing). In your callback,
329you wait a second by executing C<sleep 1> (blocking the process for a
330second) and then (at time=501) you create a relative timer that fires
331after three seconds.
332
333With L<Event::Lib>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> will
334both return C<501>, because that is the current time, and the timer will
335be scheduled to fire at time=504 (C<501> + C<3>).
336
337With L<EV>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> returns C<501> (as that is the current
338time), but C<< AnyEvent->now >> returns C<500>, as that is the time the
339last event processing phase started. With L<EV>, your timer gets scheduled
340to run at time=503 (C<500> + C<3>).
341
342In one sense, L<Event::Lib> is more exact, as it uses the current time
343regardless of any delays introduced by event processing. However, most
344callbacks do not expect large delays in processing, so this causes a
345higher drift (and a lot more system calls to get the current time).
346
347In another sense, L<EV> is more exact, as your timer will be scheduled at
348the same time, regardless of how long event processing actually took.
349
350In either case, if you care (and in most cases, you don't), then you
351can get whatever behaviour you want with any event loop, by taking the
352difference between C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> into
353account.
354
355=item AnyEvent->now_update
356
357Some event loops (such as L<EV> or L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) cache
358the current time for each loop iteration (see the discussion of L<<
359AnyEvent->now >>, above).
360
361When a callback runs for a long time (or when the process sleeps), then
362this "current" time will differ substantially from the real time, which
363might affect timers and time-outs.
364
365When this is the case, you can call this method, which will update the
366event loop's idea of "current time".
367
368A typical example would be a script in a web server (e.g. C<mod_perl>) -
369when mod_perl executes the script, then the event loop will have the wrong
370idea about the "current time" (being potentially far in the past, when the
371script ran the last time). In that case you should arrange a call to C<<
372AnyEvent->now_update >> each time the web server process wakes up again
373(e.g. at the start of your script, or in a handler).
374
375Note that updating the time I<might> cause some events to be handled.
376
377=back
378
379=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
380
381 $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => <uppercase_signal_name>, cb => <callback>);
382
383You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
384I<name> in uppercase and without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl
385callback to be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
386
387Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
388presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
389callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
390
391Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
392invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
393that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
394but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
395
396The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
397between multiple watchers, and AnyEvent will ensure that signals will not
398interrupt your program at bad times.
399
400This watcher might use C<%SIG> (depending on the event loop used),
401so programs overwriting those signals directly will likely not work
402correctly.
403
404Example: exit on SIGINT
405
406 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
407
408=head3 Signal Races, Delays and Workarounds
409
410Many event loops (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt, IO::Async) do not support attaching
411callbacks to signals in a generic way, which is a pity, as you cannot
412do race-free signal handling in perl, requiring C libraries for
413this. AnyEvent will try to do it's best, which means in some cases,
414signals will be delayed. The maximum time a signal might be delayed is
415specified in C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY> (default: 10 seconds). This
416variable can be changed only before the first signal watcher is created,
417and should be left alone otherwise. This variable determines how often
418AnyEvent polls for signals (in case a wake-up was missed). Higher values
419will cause fewer spurious wake-ups, which is better for power and CPU
420saving.
421
422All these problems can be avoided by installing the optional
423L<Async::Interrupt> module, which works with most event loops. It will not
424work with inherently broken event loops such as L<Event> or L<Event::Lib>
425(and not with L<POE> currently, as POE does it's own workaround with
426one-second latency). For those, you just have to suffer the delays.
427
428=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
429
430 $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => <process id>, cb => <callback>);
431
432You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status.
433
434The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (one some backends,
435using C<0> watches for any child process exit, on others this will
436croak). The watcher will be triggered only when the child process has
437finished and an exit status is available, not on any trace events
438(stopped/continued).
439
440The callback will be called with the pid and exit status (as returned by
441waitpid), so unlike other watcher types, you I<can> rely on child watcher
442callback arguments.
443
444This watcher type works by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>,
445and since it cannot be shared, nothing else should use SIGCHLD or reap
446random child processes (waiting for specific child processes, e.g. inside
447C<system>, is just fine).
448
449There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
450I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
451have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
452
453Not all event models handle this correctly (neither POE nor IO::Async do,
454see their AnyEvent::Impl manpages for details), but even for event models
455that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be loaded before
456the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place). AnyEvent's
457pure perl event loop handles all cases correctly regardless of when you
458start the watcher.
459
460This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first
461thing in an AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one
462watcher before you C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call
463C<AnyEvent::detect>).
464
465As most event loops do not support waiting for child events, they will be
466emulated by AnyEvent in most cases, in which the latency and race problems
467mentioned in the description of signal watchers apply.
468
469Example: fork a process and wait for it
470
471 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
472
473 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
474
475 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
476 pid => $pid,
477 cb => sub {
478 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
479 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
480 $done->send;
481 },
482 );
483
484 # do something else, then wait for process exit
485 $done->recv;
486
487=head2 IDLE WATCHERS
488
489 $w = AnyEvent->idle (cb => <callback>);
490
491Sometimes there is a need to do something, but it is not so important
492to do it instantly, but only when there is nothing better to do. This
493"nothing better to do" is usually defined to be "no other events need
494attention by the event loop".
495
496Idle watchers ideally get invoked when the event loop has nothing
497better to do, just before it would block the process to wait for new
498events. Instead of blocking, the idle watcher is invoked.
499
500Most event loops unfortunately do not really support idle watchers (only
501EV, Event and Glib do it in a usable fashion) - for the rest, AnyEvent
502will simply call the callback "from time to time".
503
504Example: read lines from STDIN, but only process them when the
505program is otherwise idle:
506
507 my @lines; # read data
508 my $idle_w;
509 my $io_w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
510 push @lines, scalar <STDIN>;
511
512 # start an idle watcher, if not already done
513 $idle_w ||= AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub {
514 # handle only one line, when there are lines left
515 if (my $line = shift @lines) {
516 print "handled when idle: $line";
517 } else {
518 # otherwise disable the idle watcher again
519 undef $idle_w;
520 }
521 });
522 });
523
524=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
525
526 $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
527
528 $cv->send (<list>);
529 my @res = $cv->recv;
530
531If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
532require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
533will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
534
535AnyEvent is slightly different: it expects somebody else to run the event
536loop and will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
537
538The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
539because they represent a condition that must become true.
540
541Now is probably a good time to look at the examples further below.
542
543Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
544>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
545C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
546becomes true, with the condition variable as the first argument (but not
547the results).
548
549After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
550by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
551were a callback, read about the caveats in the description for the C<<
552->send >> method).
553
554Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
555optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
556in time where multiple outstanding events have been processed. And yet
557another way to call them is transactions - each condition variable can be
558used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
559a result. And yet some people know them as "futures" - a promise to
560compute/deliver something that you can wait for.
561
562Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
563for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
564then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
565availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
566called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
567
568You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
569you can block your main program until an event occurs - for example, you
570could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
571button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
572
573Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
574two pieces of code that call C<< ->recv >> in a round-robin fashion, you
575lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
576you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
577as this asks for trouble.
578
579Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
580used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
581easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
582AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
583it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
584
585There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
586eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
587for the send to occur.
588
589Example: wait for a timer.
590
591 # wait till the result is ready
592 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
593
594 # do something such as adding a timer
595 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->send
596 # when the "result" is ready.
597 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
598 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
599 after => 1,
600 cb => sub { $result_ready->send },
601 );
602
603 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
604 # calls ->send
605 $result_ready->recv;
606
607Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that condition
608variables are also callable directly.
609
610 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
611 my $delay = AnyEvent->timer (after => 5, cb => $done);
612 $done->recv;
613
614Example: Imagine an API that returns a condvar and doesn't support
615callbacks. This is how you make a synchronous call, for example from
616the main program:
617
618 use AnyEvent::CouchDB;
619
620 ...
621
622 my @info = $couchdb->info->recv;
623
624And this is how you would just set a callback to be called whenever the
625results are available:
626
627 $couchdb->info->cb (sub {
628 my @info = $_[0]->recv;
629 });
630
631=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
632
633These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
634code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
635the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
636uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
637
638=over 4
639
640=item $cv->send (...)
641
642Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
643calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
644called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
645
646If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
647immediately from within send.
648
649Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
650future C<< ->recv >> calls.
651
652Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly (as if
653they were a code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling
654C<send>.
655
656=item $cv->croak ($error)
657
658Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
659C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
660
661This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
662user/consumer. Doing it this way instead of calling C<croak> directly
663delays the error detetcion, but has the overwhelmign advantage that it
664diagnoses the error at the place where the result is expected, and not
665deep in some event clalback without connection to the actual code causing
666the problem.
667
668=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
669
179=item $cv->wait 670=item $cv->end
180 671
181Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been 672These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
673one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
674to use a condition variable for the whole process.
675
676Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
677C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
678>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed, passing the
679condvar as first argument. That callback is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send
680>>, but that is not required. If no group callback was set, C<send> will
681be called without any arguments.
682
683You can think of C<< $cv->send >> giving you an OR condition (one call
684sends), while C<< $cv->begin >> and C<< $cv->end >> giving you an AND
685condition (all C<begin> calls must be C<end>'ed before the condvar sends).
686
687Let's start with a simple example: you have two I/O watchers (for example,
688STDOUT and STDERR for a program), and you want to wait for both streams to
689close before activating a condvar:
690
691 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
692
693 $cv->begin; # first watcher
694 my $w1 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh1, cb => sub {
695 defined sysread $fh1, my $buf, 4096
696 or $cv->end;
697 });
698
699 $cv->begin; # second watcher
700 my $w2 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh2, cb => sub {
701 defined sysread $fh2, my $buf, 4096
702 or $cv->end;
703 });
704
705 $cv->recv;
706
707This works because for every event source (EOF on file handle), there is
708one call to C<begin>, so the condvar waits for all calls to C<end> before
709sending.
710
711The ping example mentioned above is slightly more complicated, as the
712there are results to be passwd back, and the number of tasks that are
713begung can potentially be zero:
714
715 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
716
717 my %result;
718 $cv->begin (sub { shift->send (\%result) });
719
720 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
721 $cv->begin;
722 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
723 $result{$host} = ...;
724 $cv->end;
725 };
726 }
727
728 $cv->end;
729
730This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
731C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
732order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
733each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
734it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
735results arrive is not relevant.
736
737There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
738loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
739to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
740C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
741doesn't execute once).
742
743This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple (but
744potentially none) subrequests: use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set
745the callback and ensure C<end> is called at least once, and then, for each
746subrequest you start, call C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish,
747call C<end>.
748
749=back
750
751=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
752
753These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
754code awaits the condition.
755
756=over 4
757
758=item $cv->recv
759
760Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
182called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally. 761>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
762normally.
183 763
184You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return 764You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
185immediately. 765will return immediately.
766
767If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
768function will call C<croak>.
769
770In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
771in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
772
773Note that doing a blocking wait in a callback is not supported by any
774event loop, that is, recursive invocation of a blocking C<< ->recv
775>> is not allowed, and the C<recv> call will C<croak> if such a
776condition is detected. This condition can be slightly loosened by using
777L<Coro::AnyEvent>, which allows you to do a blocking C<< ->recv >> from
778any thread that doesn't run the event loop itself.
186 779
187Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case 780Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
188(programs might want to do that so they stay interactive), so I<if you 781(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
189are using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the 782using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>. Instead, let the
190caller decide wether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling 783caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
191condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting 784condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
192callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block, 785callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
193while still suppporting blocking waits if the caller so desires). 786while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
194 787
195Another reason I<never> to C<< ->wait >> in a module is that you cannot 788You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
196sensibly have two C<< ->wait >>'s in parallel, as that would require 789only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
197multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent> 790time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
198can supply (the coroutine-aware backends C<Coro::EV> and C<Coro::Event> 791waits otherwise.
199explicitly support concurrent C<< ->wait >>'s from different coroutines,
200however).
201 792
202=item $cv->broadcast 793=item $bool = $cv->ready
203 794
204Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further 795Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
205calls to C<wait> will return after this method has been called. If nobody 796C<croak> have been called.
206is waiting the broadcast will be remembered..
207 797
208Example: 798=item $cb = $cv->cb ($cb->($cv))
209 799
210 # wait till the result is ready 800This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
211 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar; 801replaces it before doing so.
212 802
213 # do something such as adding a timer 803The callback will be called when the condition becomes (or already was)
214 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast 804"true", i.e. when C<send> or C<croak> are called (or were called), with
215 # when the "result" is ready. 805the only argument being the condition variable itself. Calling C<recv>
216 806inside the callback or at any later time is guaranteed not to block.
217 $result_ready->wait;
218 807
219=back 808=back
220 809
221=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS 810=head1 SUPPORTED EVENT LOOPS/BACKENDS
222 811
223You can listen for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal 812The available backend classes are (every class has its own manpage):
224I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix. Multiple signals events can be clumped
225together into one callback invocation, and callback invocation might or
226might not be asynchronous.
227
228These watchers might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals
229directly will likely not work correctly.
230
231Example: exit on SIGINT
232
233 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
234
235=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
236
237You can also listen for the status of a child process specified by the
238C<pid> argument (or any child if the pid argument is 0). The watcher will
239trigger as often as status change for the child are received. This works
240by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with
241the pid and exit status (as returned by waitpid).
242
243Example: wait for pid 1333
244
245 my $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => 1333, cb => sub { warn "exit status $?" });
246
247=head1 GLOBALS
248 813
249=over 4 814=over 4
250 815
816=item Backends that are autoprobed when no other event loop can be found.
817
818EV is the preferred backend when no other event loop seems to be in
819use. If EV is not installed, then AnyEvent will fall back to its own
820pure-perl implementation, which is available everywhere as it comes with
821AnyEvent itself.
822
823 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (interface to libev, best choice).
824 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
825
826=item Backends that are transparently being picked up when they are used.
827
828These will be used when they are currently loaded when the first watcher
829is created, in which case it is assumed that the application is using
830them. This means that AnyEvent will automatically pick the right backend
831when the main program loads an event module before anything starts to
832create watchers. Nothing special needs to be done by the main program.
833
834 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, very stable, few glitches.
835 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, slow but very stable.
836 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very broken.
837 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
838 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, very slow, some limitations.
839 AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi used when running within irssi.
840
841=item Backends with special needs.
842
843Qt requires the Qt::Application to be instantiated first, but will
844otherwise be picked up automatically. As long as the main program
845instantiates the application before any AnyEvent watchers are created,
846everything should just work.
847
848 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt.
849
850Support for IO::Async can only be partial, as it is too broken and
851architecturally limited to even support the AnyEvent API. It also
852is the only event loop that needs the loop to be set explicitly, so
853it can only be used by a main program knowing about AnyEvent. See
854L<AnyEvent::Impl::Async> for the gory details.
855
856 AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync based on IO::Async, cannot be autoprobed.
857
858=item Event loops that are indirectly supported via other backends.
859
860Some event loops can be supported via other modules:
861
862There is no direct support for WxWidgets (L<Wx>) or L<Prima>.
863
864B<WxWidgets> has no support for watching file handles. However, you can
865use WxWidgets through the POE adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply
866polls 20 times per second, which was considered to be too horrible to even
867consider for AnyEvent.
868
869B<Prima> is not supported as nobody seems to be using it, but it has a POE
870backend, so it can be supported through POE.
871
872AnyEvent knows about both L<Prima> and L<Wx>, however, and will try to
873load L<POE> when detecting them, in the hope that POE will pick them up,
874in which case everything will be automatic.
875
876=back
877
878=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
879
880These are not normally required to use AnyEvent, but can be useful to
881write AnyEvent extension modules.
882
883=over 4
884
251=item $AnyEvent::MODEL 885=item $AnyEvent::MODEL
252 886
253Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created. Then it 887Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created, before the
888backend has been autodetected.
889
254contains the event model that is being used, which is the name of the 890Afterwards it contains the event model that is being used, which is the
255Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one of the 891name of the Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one
256C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case 892of the C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the
257AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>). 893case AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode> it
258 894will be C<urxvt::anyevent>).
259The known classes so far are:
260
261 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV based on Coro::EV, best choice.
262 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, also best choice).
263 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent based on Coro::Event, second best choice.
264 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, also second best choice :)
265 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.
266 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
267 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient but portable.
268 895
269=item AnyEvent::detect 896=item AnyEvent::detect
270 897
271Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model if 898Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
272necessary. You should only call this function right before you would have 899if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
273created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, very late at runtime. 900have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
901runtime, and not e.g. while initialising of your module.
902
903If you need to do some initialisation before AnyEvent watchers are
904created, use C<post_detect>.
905
906=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
907
908Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
909autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
910
911The block will be executed I<after> the actual backend has been detected
912(C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> is set), but I<before> any watchers have been
913created, so it is possible to e.g. patch C<@AnyEvent::ISA> or do
914other initialisations - see the sources of L<AnyEvent::Strict> or
915L<AnyEvent::AIO> to see how this is used.
916
917The most common usage is to create some global watchers, without forcing
918event module detection too early, for example, L<AnyEvent::AIO> creates
919and installs the global L<IO::AIO> watcher in a C<post_detect> block to
920avoid autodetecting the event module at load time.
921
922If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
923that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed (or
924C<undef> when the hook was immediately executed). See L<AnyEvent::AIO> for
925a case where this is useful.
926
927Example: Create a watcher for the IO::AIO module and store it in
928C<$WATCHER>. Only do so after the event loop is initialised, though.
929
930 our WATCHER;
931
932 my $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect {
933 $WATCHER = AnyEvent->io (fh => IO::AIO::poll_fileno, poll => 'r', cb => \&IO::AIO::poll_cb);
934 };
935
936 # the ||= is important in case post_detect immediately runs the block,
937 # as to not clobber the newly-created watcher. assigning both watcher and
938 # post_detect guard to the same variable has the advantage of users being
939 # able to just C<undef $WATCHER> if the watcher causes them grief.
940
941 $WATCHER ||= $guard;
942
943=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
944
945If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
946before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
947the event loop has been chosen.
948
949You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
950if it is defined then the event loop has already been detected, and the
951array will be ignored.
952
953Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> when your application allows
954it,as it takes care of these details.
955
956This variable is mainly useful for modules that can do something useful
957when AnyEvent is used and thus want to know when it is initialised, but do
958not need to even load it by default. This array provides the means to hook
959into AnyEvent passively, without loading it.
274 960
275=back 961=back
276 962
277=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE 963=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
278 964
279As a module author, you should "use AnyEvent" and call AnyEvent methods 965As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods
280freely, but you should not load a specific event module or rely on it. 966freely, but you should not load a specific event module or rely on it.
281 967
282Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - Anyevent will 968Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
283decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so 969decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
284by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module 970by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
285to load the event module first. 971to load the event module first.
286 972
973Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
974the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
975because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
976events is to stay interactive.
977
978It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
979requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
980called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
981freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
982
287=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM 983=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
288 984
289There will always be a single main program - the only place that should 985There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
290dictate which event model to use. 986dictate which event model to use.
291 987
292If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not 988If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not
293do anything special and let AnyEvent decide which implementation to chose. 989do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
990decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
294 991
295If the main program relies on a specific event model (for example, in Gtk2 992If the main program relies on a specific event model - for example, in
296programs you have to rely on either Glib or Glib::Event), you should load 993Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module - you should load the
297it before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it, generally, as early 994event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
298as possible. The reason is that modules might create watchers when they 995speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
299are loaded, and AnyEvent will decide on the event model to use as soon as 996modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
300it creates watchers, and it might chose the wrong one unless you load the 997decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
301correct one yourself. 998might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
302 999
303You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by 1000You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
304loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, but letting AnyEvent chose is 1001C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
305generally better. 1002everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
1003
1004=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
1005
1006Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
1007only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
1008
1009In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
1010
1011 AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
1012
1013This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
1014
1015Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
1016it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
1017variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
1018exit cleanly.
1019
1020
1021=head1 OTHER MODULES
1022
1023The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
1024AnyEvent as a client and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent
1025modules and other event loops in the same program. Some of the modules
1026come with AnyEvent, most are available via CPAN.
1027
1028=over 4
1029
1030=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
1031
1032Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
1033functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
1034
1035=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
1036
1037Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
1038addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
1039connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
1040
1041=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
1042
1043Provide read and write buffers, manages watchers for reads and writes,
1044supports raw and formatted I/O, I/O queued and fully transparent and
1045non-blocking SSL/TLS (via L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
1046
1047=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
1048
1049Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
1050
1051=item L<AnyEvent::HTTP>
1052
1053A simple-to-use HTTP library that is capable of making a lot of concurrent
1054HTTP requests.
1055
1056=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
1057
1058Provides a simple web application server framework.
1059
1060=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
1061
1062The fastest ping in the west.
1063
1064=item L<AnyEvent::DBI>
1065
1066Executes L<DBI> requests asynchronously in a proxy process.
1067
1068=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>
1069
1070Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
1071programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses L<IO::AIO> and AnyEvent
1072together.
1073
1074=item L<AnyEvent::BDB>
1075
1076Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. AnyEvent::BDB transparently fuses
1077L<BDB> and AnyEvent together.
1078
1079=item L<AnyEvent::GPSD>
1080
1081A non-blocking interface to gpsd, a daemon delivering GPS information.
1082
1083=item L<AnyEvent::IRC>
1084
1085AnyEvent based IRC client module family (replacing the older Net::IRC3).
1086
1087=item L<AnyEvent::XMPP>
1088
1089AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family (replacing the older
1090Net::XMPP2>.
1091
1092=item L<AnyEvent::IGS>
1093
1094A non-blocking interface to the Internet Go Server protocol (used by
1095L<App::IGS>).
1096
1097=item L<Net::FCP>
1098
1099AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
1100of AnyEvent.
1101
1102=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
1103
1104High level API for event-based execution flow control.
1105
1106=item L<Coro>
1107
1108Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
1109
1110=back
306 1111
307=cut 1112=cut
308 1113
309package AnyEvent; 1114package AnyEvent;
310 1115
311no warnings; 1116# basically a tuned-down version of common::sense
312use strict; 1117sub common_sense {
1118 # from common:.sense 1.0
1119 ${^WARNING_BITS} = "\xfc\x3f\xf3\x00\x0f\xf3\xcf\xc0\xf3\xfc\x33\x03";
1120 # use strict vars subs
1121 $^H |= 0x00000600;
1122}
313 1123
1124BEGIN { AnyEvent::common_sense }
1125
314use Carp; 1126use Carp ();
315 1127
316our $VERSION = '3.0'; 1128our $VERSION = '5.21';
317our $MODEL; 1129our $MODEL;
318 1130
319our $AUTOLOAD; 1131our $AUTOLOAD;
320our @ISA; 1132our @ISA;
321 1133
322our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
323
324our @REGISTRY; 1134our @REGISTRY;
325 1135
1136our $VERBOSE;
1137
1138BEGIN {
1139 eval "sub WIN32(){ " . (($^O =~ /mswin32/i)*1) ." }";
1140 eval "sub TAINT(){ " . (${^TAINT}*1) . " }";
1141
1142 delete @ENV{grep /^PERL_ANYEVENT_/, keys %ENV}
1143 if ${^TAINT};
1144
1145 $VERBOSE = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
1146
1147}
1148
1149our $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY = 10;
1150
1151our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2), higher numbers are preferred
1152
1153{
1154 my $idx;
1155 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
1156 for reverse split /\s*,\s*/,
1157 $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
1158}
1159
326my @models = ( 1160my @models = (
327 [Coro::EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV::],
328 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::], 1161 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV:: , 1],
329 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent::], 1162 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: , 1],
1163 # everything below here will not (normally) be autoprobed
1164 # as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
1165 # and is usually faster
330 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 1166 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::, 1],
331 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], 1167 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib:: , 1], # becomes extremely slow with many watchers
1168 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
1169 [Irssi:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi::], # Irssi has a bogus "Event" package
1170 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], # crashes with many handles
1171 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
1172 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
332 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], 1173 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
333 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::], 1174 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
1175 # IO::Async is just too broken - we would need workarounds for its
1176 # byzantine signal and broken child handling, among others.
1177 # IO::Async is rather hard to detect, as it doesn't have any
1178 # obvious default class.
1179 [IO::Async:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1180 [IO::Async::Loop:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1181 [IO::Async::Notifier:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1182 [AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
334); 1183);
335 1184
336our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer condvar broadcast wait signal one_event DESTROY); 1185our %method = map +($_ => 1),
1186 qw(io timer time now now_update signal child idle condvar one_event DESTROY);
1187
1188our @post_detect;
1189
1190sub post_detect(&) {
1191 my ($cb) = @_;
1192
1193 if ($MODEL) {
1194 $cb->();
1195
1196 undef
1197 } else {
1198 push @post_detect, $cb;
1199
1200 defined wantarray
1201 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::postdetect"
1202 : ()
1203 }
1204}
1205
1206sub AnyEvent::Util::postdetect::DESTROY {
1207 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
1208}
337 1209
338sub detect() { 1210sub detect() {
339 unless ($MODEL) { 1211 unless ($MODEL) {
340 no strict 'refs'; 1212 local $SIG{__DIE__};
1213
1214 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
1215 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
1216 if (eval "require $model") {
1217 $MODEL = $model;
1218 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}), using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
1219 } else {
1220 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}):\n$@" if $VERBOSE;
1221 }
1222 }
341 1223
342 # check for already loaded models 1224 # check for already loaded models
1225 unless ($MODEL) {
343 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 1226 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
344 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 1227 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
345 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 1228 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
346 if (eval "require $model") { 1229 if (eval "require $model") {
347 $MODEL = $model; 1230 $MODEL = $model;
348 warn "AnyEvent: found model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1231 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
349 last; 1232 last;
1233 }
350 } 1234 }
351 } 1235 }
1236
1237 unless ($MODEL) {
1238 # try to autoload a model
1239 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
1240 my ($package, $model, $autoload) = @$_;
1241 if (
1242 $autoload
1243 and eval "require $package"
1244 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
1245 and eval "require $model"
1246 ) {
1247 $MODEL = $model;
1248 warn "AnyEvent: autoloaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
1249 last;
1250 }
1251 }
1252
1253 $MODEL
1254 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.\n";
1255 }
352 } 1256 }
353 1257
354 unless ($MODEL) { 1258 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
355 # try to load a model
356
357 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
358 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
359 if (eval "require $package"
360 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
361 and eval "require $model") {
362 $MODEL = $model;
363 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed and loaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
364 last;
365 }
366 }
367
368 $MODEL
369 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV (or Coro+EV), Event (or Coro+Event), Glib or Tk.";
370 }
371 1259
372 unshift @ISA, $MODEL; 1260 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
373 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base"; 1261
1262 require AnyEvent::Strict if $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT};
1263
1264 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
374 } 1265 }
375 1266
376 $MODEL 1267 $MODEL
377} 1268}
378 1269
379sub AUTOLOAD { 1270sub AUTOLOAD {
380 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://; 1271 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://;
381 1272
382 $method{$func} 1273 $method{$func}
383 or croak "$func: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects"; 1274 or Carp::croak "$func: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects";
384 1275
385 detect unless $MODEL; 1276 detect unless $MODEL;
386 1277
387 my $class = shift; 1278 my $class = shift;
388 $class->$func (@_); 1279 $class->$func (@_);
389} 1280}
390 1281
1282# utility function to dup a filehandle. this is used by many backends
1283# to support binding more than one watcher per filehandle (they usually
1284# allow only one watcher per fd, so we dup it to get a different one).
1285sub _dupfh($$;$$) {
1286 my ($poll, $fh, $r, $w) = @_;
1287
1288 # cygwin requires the fh mode to be matching, unix doesn't
1289 my ($rw, $mode) = $poll eq "r" ? ($r, "<&") : ($w, ">&");
1290
1291 open my $fh2, $mode, $fh
1292 or die "AnyEvent->io: cannot dup() filehandle in mode '$poll': $!,";
1293
1294 # we assume CLOEXEC is already set by perl in all important cases
1295
1296 ($fh2, $rw)
1297}
1298
1299=head1 SIMPLIFIED AE API
1300
1301Starting with version 5.0, AnyEvent officially supports a second, much
1302simpler, API that is designed to reduce the calling, typing and memory
1303overhead.
1304
1305See the L<AE> manpage for details.
1306
1307=cut
1308
1309package AE;
1310
1311our $VERSION = $AnyEvent::VERSION;
1312
1313sub io($$$) {
1314 AnyEvent->io (fh => $_[0], poll => $_[1] ? "w" : "r", cb => $_[2])
1315}
1316
1317sub timer($$$) {
1318 AnyEvent->timer (after => $_[0], interval => $_[1], cb => $_[2])
1319}
1320
1321sub signal($$) {
1322 AnyEvent->signal (signal => $_[0], cb => $_[1])
1323}
1324
1325sub child($$) {
1326 AnyEvent->child (pid => $_[0], cb => $_[1])
1327}
1328
1329sub idle($) {
1330 AnyEvent->idle (cb => $_[0])
1331}
1332
1333sub cv(;&) {
1334 AnyEvent->condvar (@_ ? (cb => $_[0]) : ())
1335}
1336
1337sub now() {
1338 AnyEvent->now
1339}
1340
1341sub now_update() {
1342 AnyEvent->now_update
1343}
1344
1345sub time() {
1346 AnyEvent->time
1347}
1348
391package AnyEvent::Base; 1349package AnyEvent::Base;
392 1350
1351# default implementations for many methods
1352
1353sub _time() {
1354 # probe for availability of Time::HiRes
1355 if (eval "use Time::HiRes (); Time::HiRes::time (); 1") {
1356 warn "AnyEvent: using Time::HiRes for sub-second timing accuracy.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1357 *_time = \&Time::HiRes::time;
1358 # if (eval "use POSIX (); (POSIX::times())...
1359 } else {
1360 warn "AnyEvent: using built-in time(), WARNING, no sub-second resolution!\n" if $VERBOSE;
1361 *_time = sub { time }; # epic fail
1362 }
1363
1364 &_time
1365}
1366
1367sub time { _time }
1368sub now { _time }
1369sub now_update { }
1370
393# default implementation for ->condvar, ->wait, ->broadcast 1371# default implementation for ->condvar
394 1372
395sub condvar { 1373sub condvar {
396 bless \my $flag, "AnyEvent::Base::CondVar" 1374 bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, "AnyEvent::CondVar"
397}
398
399sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::broadcast {
400 ${$_[0]}++;
401}
402
403sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::wait {
404 AnyEvent->one_event while !${$_[0]};
405} 1375}
406 1376
407# default implementation for ->signal 1377# default implementation for ->signal
408 1378
409our %SIG_CB; 1379our $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1380
1381sub _have_async_interrupt() {
1382 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT = 1*(!$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT}
1383 && eval "use Async::Interrupt 1.02 (); 1")
1384 unless defined $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1385
1386 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1387}
1388
1389our ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W, %SIG_CB, %SIG_EV, $SIG_IO);
1390our (%SIG_ASY, %SIG_ASY_W);
1391our ($SIG_COUNT, $SIG_TW);
1392
1393sub _signal_exec {
1394 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1395 ? $SIGPIPE_R->drain
1396 : sysread $SIGPIPE_R, (my $dummy), 9;
1397
1398 while (%SIG_EV) {
1399 for (keys %SIG_EV) {
1400 delete $SIG_EV{$_};
1401 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$_} || {} };
1402 }
1403 }
1404}
1405
1406# install a dummy wakeup watcher to reduce signal catching latency
1407sub _sig_add() {
1408 unless ($SIG_COUNT++) {
1409 # try to align timer on a full-second boundary, if possible
1410 my $NOW = AE::now;
1411
1412 $SIG_TW = AE::timer
1413 $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY - ($NOW - int $NOW),
1414 $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY,
1415 sub { } # just for the PERL_ASYNC_CHECK
1416 ;
1417 }
1418}
1419
1420sub _sig_del {
1421 undef $SIG_TW
1422 unless --$SIG_COUNT;
1423}
1424
1425our $_sig_name_init; $_sig_name_init = sub {
1426 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading
1427 undef $_sig_name_init;
1428
1429 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1430 *sig2num = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2num;
1431 *sig2name = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2name;
1432 } else {
1433 require Config;
1434
1435 my %signame2num;
1436 @signame2num{ split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_name} }
1437 = split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_num};
1438
1439 my @signum2name;
1440 @signum2name[values %signame2num] = keys %signame2num;
1441
1442 *sig2num = sub($) {
1443 $_[0] > 0 ? shift : $signame2num{+shift}
1444 };
1445 *sig2name = sub ($) {
1446 $_[0] > 0 ? $signum2name[+shift] : shift
1447 };
1448 }
1449 };
1450 die if $@;
1451};
1452
1453sub sig2num ($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2num }
1454sub sig2name($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2name }
410 1455
411sub signal { 1456sub signal {
1457 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1458 # probe for availability of Async::Interrupt
1459 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1460 warn "AnyEvent: using Async::Interrupt for race-free signal handling.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1461
1462 $SIGPIPE_R = new Async::Interrupt::EventPipe;
1463 $SIG_IO = AE::io $SIGPIPE_R->fileno, 0, \&_signal_exec;
1464
1465 } else {
1466 warn "AnyEvent: using emulated perl signal handling with latency timer.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1467
1468 require Fcntl;
1469
1470 if (AnyEvent::WIN32) {
1471 require AnyEvent::Util;
1472
1473 ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_pipe ();
1474 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_R, 1) if $SIGPIPE_R;
1475 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_W, 1) if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1476 } else {
1477 pipe $SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W;
1478 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_R;
1479 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1480
1481 # not strictly required, as $^F is normally 2, but let's make sure...
1482 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1483 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1484 }
1485
1486 $SIGPIPE_R
1487 or Carp::croak "AnyEvent: unable to create a signal reporting pipe: $!\n";
1488
1489 $SIG_IO = AE::io $SIGPIPE_R, 0, \&_signal_exec;
1490 }
1491
1492 *signal = sub {
412 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1493 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
413 1494
414 my $signal = uc $arg{signal} 1495 my $signal = uc $arg{signal}
415 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing"; 1496 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing";
416 1497
1498 if ($HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT) {
1499 # async::interrupt
1500
1501 $signal = sig2num $signal;
417 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1502 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1503
1504 $SIG_ASY{$signal} ||= new Async::Interrupt
1505 cb => sub { undef $SIG_EV{$signal} },
1506 signal => $signal,
1507 pipe => [$SIGPIPE_R->filenos],
1508 pipe_autodrain => 0,
1509 ;
1510
1511 } else {
1512 # pure perl
1513
1514 # AE::Util has been loaded in signal
1515 $signal = sig2name $signal;
1516 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1517
418 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub { 1518 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub {
419 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} || {} }; 1519 local $!;
1520 syswrite $SIGPIPE_W, "\x00", 1 unless %SIG_EV;
1521 undef $SIG_EV{$signal};
1522 };
1523
1524 # can't do signal processing without introducing races in pure perl,
1525 # so limit the signal latency.
1526 _sig_add;
1527 }
1528
1529 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::signal"
1530 };
1531
1532 *AnyEvent::Base::signal::DESTROY = sub {
1533 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
1534
1535 _sig_del;
1536
1537 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
1538
1539 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1540 ? delete $SIG_ASY{$signal}
1541 : # delete doesn't work with older perls - they then
1542 # print weird messages, or just unconditionally exit
1543 # instead of getting the default action.
1544 undef $SIG{$signal}
1545 unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
1546 };
420 }; 1547 };
421 1548 die if $@;
422 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Signal" 1549 &signal
423}
424
425sub AnyEvent::Base::Signal::DESTROY {
426 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
427
428 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
429
430 $SIG{$signal} = 'DEFAULT' unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
431} 1550}
432 1551
433# default implementation for ->child 1552# default implementation for ->child
434 1553
435our %PID_CB; 1554our %PID_CB;
436our $CHLD_W; 1555our $CHLD_W;
437our $CHLD_DELAY_W; 1556our $CHLD_DELAY_W;
438our $PID_IDLE;
439our $WNOHANG; 1557our $WNOHANG;
440 1558
441sub _child_wait { 1559sub _emit_childstatus($$) {
442 while (0 < (my $pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG)) { 1560 my (undef, $rpid, $rstatus) = @_;
1561
1562 $_->($rpid, $rstatus)
443 $_->($pid, $?) for (values %{ $PID_CB{$pid} || {} }), 1563 for values %{ $PID_CB{$rpid} || {} },
444 (values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} }); 1564 values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} };
445 }
446
447 undef $PID_IDLE;
448} 1565}
449 1566
450sub _sigchld { 1567sub _sigchld {
451 # make sure we deliver these changes "synchronous" with the event loop. 1568 my $pid;
452 $CHLD_DELAY_W ||= AnyEvent->timer (after => 0, cb => sub { 1569
453 undef $CHLD_DELAY_W; 1570 AnyEvent->_emit_childstatus ($pid, $?)
454 &_child_wait; 1571 while ($pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG) > 0;
455 });
456} 1572}
457 1573
458sub child { 1574sub child {
459 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1575 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
460 1576
461 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0) 1577 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0)
462 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing"; 1578 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing";
463 1579
464 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1580 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
465 1581
466 unless ($WNOHANG) { 1582 # WNOHANG is almost cetrainly 1 everywhere
467 $WNOHANG = eval { require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1; 1583 $WNOHANG ||= $^O =~ /^(?:openbsd|netbsd|linux|freebsd|cygwin|MSWin32)$/
468 } 1584 ? 1
1585 : eval { local $SIG{__DIE__}; require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;
469 1586
470 unless ($CHLD_W) { 1587 unless ($CHLD_W) {
471 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld); 1588 $CHLD_W = AE::signal CHLD => \&_sigchld;
472 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round 1589 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
473 &_sigchld; 1590 &_sigchld;
474 } 1591 }
475 1592
476 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Child" 1593 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::child"
477} 1594}
478 1595
479sub AnyEvent::Base::Child::DESTROY { 1596sub AnyEvent::Base::child::DESTROY {
480 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]}; 1597 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
481 1598
482 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb}; 1599 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb};
483 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} }; 1600 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
484 1601
485 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB; 1602 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
486} 1603}
487 1604
1605# idle emulation is done by simply using a timer, regardless
1606# of whether the process is idle or not, and not letting
1607# the callback use more than 50% of the time.
1608sub idle {
1609 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1610
1611 my ($cb, $w, $rcb) = $arg{cb};
1612
1613 $rcb = sub {
1614 if ($cb) {
1615 $w = _time;
1616 &$cb;
1617 $w = _time - $w;
1618
1619 # never use more then 50% of the time for the idle watcher,
1620 # within some limits
1621 $w = 0.0001 if $w < 0.0001;
1622 $w = 5 if $w > 5;
1623
1624 $w = AE::timer $w, 0, $rcb;
1625 } else {
1626 # clean up...
1627 undef $w;
1628 undef $rcb;
1629 }
1630 };
1631
1632 $w = AE::timer 0.05, 0, $rcb;
1633
1634 bless \\$cb, "AnyEvent::Base::idle"
1635}
1636
1637sub AnyEvent::Base::idle::DESTROY {
1638 undef $${$_[0]};
1639}
1640
1641package AnyEvent::CondVar;
1642
1643our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
1644
1645package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
1646
1647#use overload
1648# '&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
1649# fallback => 1;
1650
1651# save 300+ kilobytes by dirtily hardcoding overloading
1652${"AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::OVERLOAD"}{dummy}++; # Register with magic by touching.
1653*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = sub { }; # "Make it findable via fetchmethod."
1654*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::(&{}'} = sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } }; # &{}
1655${'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = 1; # fallback
1656
1657our $WAITING;
1658
1659sub _send {
1660 # nop
1661}
1662
1663sub send {
1664 my $cv = shift;
1665 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
1666 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
1667 $cv->_send;
1668}
1669
1670sub croak {
1671 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
1672 $_[0]->send;
1673}
1674
1675sub ready {
1676 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
1677}
1678
1679sub _wait {
1680 $WAITING
1681 and !$_[0]{_ae_sent}
1682 and Carp::croak "AnyEvent::CondVar: recursive blocking wait detected";
1683
1684 local $WAITING = 1;
1685 AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
1686}
1687
1688sub recv {
1689 $_[0]->_wait;
1690
1691 Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
1692 wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
1693}
1694
1695sub cb {
1696 my $cv = shift;
1697
1698 @_
1699 and $cv->{_ae_cb} = shift
1700 and $cv->{_ae_sent}
1701 and (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv);
1702
1703 $cv->{_ae_cb}
1704}
1705
1706sub begin {
1707 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1708 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1709}
1710
1711sub end {
1712 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1713 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
1714}
1715
1716# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
1717*broadcast = \&send;
1718*wait = \&_wait;
1719
1720=head1 ERROR AND EXCEPTION HANDLING
1721
1722In general, AnyEvent does not do any error handling - it relies on the
1723caller to do that if required. The L<AnyEvent::Strict> module (see also
1724the C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT> environment variable, below) provides strict
1725checking of all AnyEvent methods, however, which is highly useful during
1726development.
1727
1728As for exception handling (i.e. runtime errors and exceptions thrown while
1729executing a callback), this is not only highly event-loop specific, but
1730also not in any way wrapped by this module, as this is the job of the main
1731program.
1732
1733The pure perl event loop simply re-throws the exception (usually
1734within C<< condvar->recv >>), the L<Event> and L<EV> modules call C<<
1735$Event/EV::DIED->() >>, L<Glib> uses C<< install_exception_handler >> and
1736so on.
1737
1738=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1739
1740The following environment variables are used by this module or its
1741submodules.
1742
1743Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
1744C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
1745enabled.
1746
1747=over 4
1748
1749=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
1750
1751By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
1752conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
1753talkative.
1754
1755When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
1756conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
1757C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
1758
1759When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
1760model it chooses.
1761
1762When set to C<8> or higher, then AnyEvent will report extra information on
1763which optional modules it loads and how it implements certain features.
1764
1765=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT>
1766
1767AnyEvent does not do much argument checking by default, as thorough
1768argument checking is very costly. Setting this variable to a true value
1769will cause AnyEvent to load C<AnyEvent::Strict> and then to thoroughly
1770check the arguments passed to most method calls. If it finds any problems,
1771it will croak.
1772
1773In other words, enables "strict" mode.
1774
1775Unlike C<use strict> (or it's modern cousin, C<< use L<common::sense>
1776>>, it is definitely recommended to keep it off in production. Keeping
1777C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT=1> in your environment while developing programs
1778can be very useful, however.
1779
1780=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
1781
1782This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
1783auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
1784entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
1785and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
1786used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
1787auto detection and -probing.
1788
1789This functionality might change in future versions.
1790
1791For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
1792could start your program like this:
1793
1794 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
1795
1796=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
1797
1798Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
1799for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
1800of auto probing).
1801
1802Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
1803current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
1804used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
1805list.
1806
1807This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
1808against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
1809small, as the program has to handle conenction and other failures anyways.
1810
1811Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
1812but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
1813- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
1814addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
1815IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
1816
1817=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
1818
1819Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
1820for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
1821some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
1822default.
1823
1824Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
1825EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
1826
1827=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_FORKS>
1828
1829The maximum number of child processes that C<AnyEvent::Util::fork_call>
1830will create in parallel.
1831
1832=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_OUTSTANDING_DNS>
1833
1834The default value for the C<max_outstanding> parameter for the default DNS
1835resolver - this is the maximum number of parallel DNS requests that are
1836sent to the DNS server.
1837
1838=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_RESOLV_CONF>
1839
1840The file to use instead of F</etc/resolv.conf> (or OS-specific
1841configuration) in the default resolver. When set to the empty string, no
1842default config will be used.
1843
1844=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_FILE>, C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_PATH>.
1845
1846When neither C<ca_file> nor C<ca_path> was specified during
1847L<AnyEvent::TLS> context creation, and either of these environment
1848variables exist, they will be used to specify CA certificate locations
1849instead of a system-dependent default.
1850
1851=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_GUARD> and C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT>
1852
1853When these are set to C<1>, then the respective modules are not
1854loaded. Mostly good for testing AnyEvent itself.
1855
1856=back
1857
488=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 1858=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
1859
1860This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
1861a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
1862provide AnyEvent compatibility.
489 1863
490If you need to support another event library which isn't directly 1864If you need to support another event library which isn't directly
491supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by 1865supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by
492pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of 1866pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of
493the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto 1867the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto
494C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading 1868C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading
495AnyEvent. 1869AnyEvent, so it is reasonably cheap.
496 1870
497Example: 1871Example:
498 1872
499 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::]; 1873 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::];
500 1874
501This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::> 1875This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::>
502package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is loaded. When 1876package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is already loaded.
1877
503AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it will 1878When AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it
504first check for the presence of urxvt. 1879will first check for the presence of urxvt by trying to C<use> the
1880C<urxvt::anyevent> module.
505 1881
506The class should provide implementations for all watcher types (see 1882The class should provide implementations for all watcher types. See
507L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> 1883L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> (Source code)
508(Source code) and so on for actual examples, use C<perldoc -m 1884and so on for actual examples. Use C<perldoc -m AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to
509AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to see the sources). 1885see the sources.
510 1886
1887If you don't provide C<signal> and C<child> watchers than AnyEvent will
1888provide suitable (hopefully) replacements.
1889
511The above isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt) 1890The above example isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt)
512uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included in AnyEvent 1891terminal emulator uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included
513because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter inside 1892in AnyEvent because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter
514I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the 1893inside I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the
515I<rxvt-unicode> distribution. 1894I<rxvt-unicode> distribution.
516 1895
517I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to 1896I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to
518condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will 1897condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will
519C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must 1898C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must
520not be in an interactive application, so it makes sense. 1899not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense.
521 1900
522=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
523
524The following environment variables are used by this module:
525
526C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE> when set to C<2> or higher, reports which event
527model gets used.
528
529=head1 EXAMPLE 1901=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
530 1902
531The following program uses an io watcher to read data from stdin, a timer 1903The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
532to display a message once per second, and a condvar to exit the program 1904to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
533when the user enters quit: 1905program when the user enters quit:
534 1906
535 use AnyEvent; 1907 use AnyEvent;
536 1908
537 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar; 1909 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
538 1910
539 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 1911 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (
1912 fh => \*STDIN,
1913 poll => 'r',
1914 cb => sub {
540 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 1915 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
541 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 1916 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
542 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 1917 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
543 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 1918 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
1919 },
1920 );
1921
1922 my $time_watcher = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, interval => 1, cb => sub {
1923 warn "timeout\n"; # print 'timeout' at most every second
544 }); 1924 });
545 1925
546 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
547
548 sub new_timer {
549 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub {
550 warn "timeout\n"; # print 'timeout' about every second
551 &new_timer; # and restart the time
552 });
553 }
554
555 new_timer; # create first timer
556
557 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 1926 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
558 1927
559=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 1928=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
560 1929
561Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 1930Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
562API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 1931API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
612 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 1981 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
613 or die "connection or write error"; 1982 or die "connection or write error";
614 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 1983 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
615 1984
616Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 1985Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
617result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished: 1986result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
618 1987
619 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 1988 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
620 1989
621 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 1990 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
622 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 1991 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
623 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 1992 $txn->{finished}->send;
624 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 1993 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
625 } 1994 }
626 1995
627The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 1996The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
628request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the 1997request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
629data: 1998data:
630 1999
631 $txn->{finished}->wait; 2000 $txn->{finished}->recv;
632 return $txn->{result}; 2001 return $txn->{result};
633 2002
634The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 2003The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
635that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 2004that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
636wether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 2005whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
637and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 2006and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
638problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a 2007problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
639random callback. 2008random callback.
640 2009
641All of this enables the following usage styles: 2010All of this enables the following usage styles:
671 2040
672 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 2041 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
673 2042
674 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 2043 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
675 ... 2044 ...
676 $quit->broadcast; 2045 $quit->send;
677 }); 2046 });
678 2047
679 $quit->wait; 2048 $quit->recv;
2049
2050
2051=head1 BENCHMARKS
2052
2053To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
2054over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
2055of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
2056
2057=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
2058
2059Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
2060through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
2061timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
2062which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
2063
2064Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
2065distribution. It uses the L<AE> interface, which makes a real difference
2066for the EV and Perl backends only.
2067
2068=head3 Explanation of the columns
2069
2070I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
2071different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
2072loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
2073and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
2074would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
2075of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
2076
2077I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
2078RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
2079and Perl-based overheads.
2080
2081I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
2082takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
2083all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
2084and memory usage is not included in the figures.
2085
2086I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
2087callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
2088invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
2089signal the end of this phase.
2090
2091I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
2092watcher.
2093
2094=head3 Results
2095
2096 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
2097 EV/EV 100000 223 0.47 0.43 0.27 EV native interface
2098 EV/Any 100000 223 0.48 0.42 0.26 EV + AnyEvent watchers
2099 Coro::EV/Any 100000 223 0.47 0.42 0.26 coroutines + Coro::Signal
2100 Perl/Any 100000 431 2.70 0.74 0.92 pure perl implementation
2101 Event/Event 16000 516 31.16 31.84 0.82 Event native interface
2102 Event/Any 16000 1203 42.61 34.79 1.80 Event + AnyEvent watchers
2103 IOAsync/Any 16000 1911 41.92 27.45 16.81 via IO::Async::Loop::IO_Poll
2104 IOAsync/Any 16000 1726 40.69 26.37 15.25 via IO::Async::Loop::Epoll
2105 Glib/Any 16000 1118 89.00 12.57 51.17 quadratic behaviour
2106 Tk/Any 2000 1346 20.96 10.75 8.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
2107 POE/Any 2000 6951 108.97 795.32 14.24 via POE::Loop::Event
2108 POE/Any 2000 6648 94.79 774.40 575.51 via POE::Loop::Select
2109
2110=head3 Discussion
2111
2112The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
2113well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
2114can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
2115file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
2116the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
2117boost.
2118
2119Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
2120overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
2121the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
2122higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
2123
2124To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
2125benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
2126EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
2127cycles with POE.
2128
2129C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
2130maximal/minimal, respectively. When using the L<AE> API there is zero
2131overhead (when going through the AnyEvent API create is about 5-6 times
2132slower, with other times being equal, so still uses far less memory than
2133any other event loop and is still faster than Event natively).
2134
2135The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
2136constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
2137interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
2138adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
2139performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
2140them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
2141
2142The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
2143cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
2144
2145C<IO::Async> performs admirably well, about on par with C<Event>, even
2146when using its pure perl backend.
2147
2148C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
2149faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
2150C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
2151watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
2152making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
2153(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
2154inefficiencies of C<poll> do not account for this).
2155
2156The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
2157more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
2158precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
2159file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
2160employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
2161hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
2162above).
2163
2164C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
2165select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
2166be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
2167memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
2168as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
2169requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
2170invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
2171implementation.
2172
2173The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
2174for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
2175small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
2176optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
2177using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
2178memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
2179design).
2180
2181=head3 Summary
2182
2183=over 4
2184
2185=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
2186(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
2187performance with or without AnyEvent.
2188
2189=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
2190the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
2191adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
2192
2193=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
2194reasonable memory usage.
2195
2196=back
2197
2198=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
2199
2200This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
2201creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
2202timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
2203watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
2204watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
2205
2206The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
2207are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
2208fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
2209timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
2210most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
2211
2212In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
2213(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
2214connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
2215
2216Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
2217distribution. It uses the L<AE> interface, which makes a real difference
2218for the EV and Perl backends only.
2219
2220=head3 Explanation of the columns
2221
2222I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
2223each server has a read and write socket end).
2224
2225I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
2226nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
2227
2228I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
2229single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
2230it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
2231a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
2232
2233=head3 Results
2234
2235 name sockets create request
2236 EV 20000 62.66 7.99
2237 Perl 20000 68.32 32.64
2238 IOAsync 20000 174.06 101.15 epoll
2239 IOAsync 20000 174.67 610.84 poll
2240 Event 20000 202.69 242.91
2241 Glib 20000 557.01 1689.52
2242 POE 20000 341.54 12086.32 uses POE::Loop::Event
2243
2244=head3 Discussion
2245
2246This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
2247particular event loop.
2248
2249EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
2250is relatively high, though.
2251
2252Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
2253loops Event and Glib.
2254
2255IO::Async performs very well when using its epoll backend, and still quite
2256good compared to Glib when using its pure perl backend.
2257
2258Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
2259understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
2260the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
2261uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
2262
2263Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
2264clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
2265
2266POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
2267as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
2268it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
2269
2270=head3 Summary
2271
2272=over 4
2273
2274=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
2275
2276=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
2277
2278=back
2279
2280=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
2281
2282While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
2283large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
2284I/O watchers.
2285
2286In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
2287case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
2288one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
2289well.
2290
2291The columns are identical to the previous table.
2292
2293=head3 Results
2294
2295 name sockets create request
2296 EV 16 20.00 6.54
2297 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
2298 Event 16 81.27 35.86
2299 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
2300 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
2301
2302=head3 Discussion
2303
2304The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
2305server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
2306in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
2307to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
2308speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
2309them).
2310
2311EV is again fastest.
2312
2313Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
2314loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
2315matter.
2316
2317POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
2318others.
2319
2320=head3 Summary
2321
2322=over 4
2323
2324=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
2325watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
2326
2327=back
2328
2329=head2 THE IO::Lambda BENCHMARK
2330
2331Recently I was told about the benchmark in the IO::Lambda manpage, which
2332could be misinterpreted to make AnyEvent look bad. In fact, the benchmark
2333simply compares IO::Lambda with POE, and IO::Lambda looks better (which
2334shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody). As such, the benchmark is
2335fine, and mostly shows that the AnyEvent backend from IO::Lambda isn't
2336very optimal. But how would AnyEvent compare when used without the extra
2337baggage? To explore this, I wrote the equivalent benchmark for AnyEvent.
2338
2339The benchmark itself creates an echo-server, and then, for 500 times,
2340connects to the echo server, sends a line, waits for the reply, and then
2341creates the next connection. This is a rather bad benchmark, as it doesn't
2342test the efficiency of the framework or much non-blocking I/O, but it is a
2343benchmark nevertheless.
2344
2345 name runtime
2346 Lambda/select 0.330 sec
2347 + optimized 0.122 sec
2348 Lambda/AnyEvent 0.327 sec
2349 + optimized 0.138 sec
2350 Raw sockets/select 0.077 sec
2351 POE/select, components 0.662 sec
2352 POE/select, raw sockets 0.226 sec
2353 POE/select, optimized 0.404 sec
2354
2355 AnyEvent/select/nb 0.085 sec
2356 AnyEvent/EV/nb 0.068 sec
2357 +state machine 0.134 sec
2358
2359The benchmark is also a bit unfair (my fault): the IO::Lambda/POE
2360benchmarks actually make blocking connects and use 100% blocking I/O,
2361defeating the purpose of an event-based solution. All of the newly
2362written AnyEvent benchmarks use 100% non-blocking connects (using
2363AnyEvent::Socket::tcp_connect and the asynchronous pure perl DNS
2364resolver), so AnyEvent is at a disadvantage here, as non-blocking connects
2365generally require a lot more bookkeeping and event handling than blocking
2366connects (which involve a single syscall only).
2367
2368The last AnyEvent benchmark additionally uses L<AnyEvent::Handle>, which
2369offers similar expressive power as POE and IO::Lambda, using conventional
2370Perl syntax. This means that both the echo server and the client are 100%
2371non-blocking, further placing it at a disadvantage.
2372
2373As you can see, the AnyEvent + EV combination even beats the
2374hand-optimised "raw sockets benchmark", while AnyEvent + its pure perl
2375backend easily beats IO::Lambda and POE.
2376
2377And even the 100% non-blocking version written using the high-level (and
2378slow :) L<AnyEvent::Handle> abstraction beats both POE and IO::Lambda
2379higher level ("unoptimised") abstractions by a large margin, even though
2380it does all of DNS, tcp-connect and socket I/O in a non-blocking way.
2381
2382The two AnyEvent benchmarks programs can be found as F<eg/ae0.pl> and
2383F<eg/ae2.pl> in the AnyEvent distribution, the remaining benchmarks are
2384part of the IO::Lambda distribution and were used without any changes.
2385
2386
2387=head1 SIGNALS
2388
2389AnyEvent currently installs handlers for these signals:
2390
2391=over 4
2392
2393=item SIGCHLD
2394
2395A handler for C<SIGCHLD> is installed by AnyEvent's child watcher
2396emulation for event loops that do not support them natively. Also, some
2397event loops install a similar handler.
2398
2399Additionally, when AnyEvent is loaded and SIGCHLD is set to IGNORE, then
2400AnyEvent will reset it to default, to avoid losing child exit statuses.
2401
2402=item SIGPIPE
2403
2404A no-op handler is installed for C<SIGPIPE> when C<$SIG{PIPE}> is C<undef>
2405when AnyEvent gets loaded.
2406
2407The rationale for this is that AnyEvent users usually do not really depend
2408on SIGPIPE delivery (which is purely an optimisation for shell use, or
2409badly-written programs), but C<SIGPIPE> can cause spurious and rare
2410program exits as a lot of people do not expect C<SIGPIPE> when writing to
2411some random socket.
2412
2413The rationale for installing a no-op handler as opposed to ignoring it is
2414that this way, the handler will be restored to defaults on exec.
2415
2416Feel free to install your own handler, or reset it to defaults.
2417
2418=back
2419
2420=cut
2421
2422undef $SIG{CHLD}
2423 if $SIG{CHLD} eq 'IGNORE';
2424
2425$SIG{PIPE} = sub { }
2426 unless defined $SIG{PIPE};
2427
2428=head1 RECOMMENDED/OPTIONAL MODULES
2429
2430One of AnyEvent's main goals is to be 100% Pure-Perl(tm): only perl (and
2431it's built-in modules) are required to use it.
2432
2433That does not mean that AnyEvent won't take advantage of some additional
2434modules if they are installed.
2435
2436This section epxlains which additional modules will be used, and how they
2437affect AnyEvent's operetion.
2438
2439=over 4
2440
2441=item L<Async::Interrupt>
2442
2443This slightly arcane module is used to implement fast signal handling: To
2444my knowledge, there is no way to do completely race-free and quick
2445signal handling in pure perl. To ensure that signals still get
2446delivered, AnyEvent will start an interval timer to wake up perl (and
2447catch the signals) with some delay (default is 10 seconds, look for
2448C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>).
2449
2450If this module is available, then it will be used to implement signal
2451catching, which means that signals will not be delayed, and the event loop
2452will not be interrupted regularly, which is more efficient (And good for
2453battery life on laptops).
2454
2455This affects not just the pure-perl event loop, but also other event loops
2456that have no signal handling on their own (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt).
2457
2458Some event loops (POE, Event, Event::Lib) offer signal watchers natively,
2459and either employ their own workarounds (POE) or use AnyEvent's workaround
2460(using C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>). Installing L<Async::Interrupt>
2461does nothing for those backends.
2462
2463=item L<EV>
2464
2465This module isn't really "optional", as it is simply one of the backend
2466event loops that AnyEvent can use. However, it is simply the best event
2467loop available in terms of features, speed and stability: It supports
2468the AnyEvent API optimally, implements all the watcher types in XS, does
2469automatic timer adjustments even when no monotonic clock is available,
2470can take avdantage of advanced kernel interfaces such as C<epoll> and
2471C<kqueue>, and is the fastest backend I<by far>. You can even embed
2472L<Glib>/L<Gtk2> in it (or vice versa, see L<EV::Glib> and L<Glib::EV>).
2473
2474=item L<Guard>
2475
2476The guard module, when used, will be used to implement
2477C<AnyEvent::Util::guard>. This speeds up guards considerably (and uses a
2478lot less memory), but otherwise doesn't affect guard operation much. It is
2479purely used for performance.
2480
2481=item L<JSON> and L<JSON::XS>
2482
2483One of these modules is required when you want to read or write JSON data
2484via L<AnyEvent::Handle>. It is also written in pure-perl, but can take
2485advantage of the ultra-high-speed L<JSON::XS> module when it is installed.
2486
2487In fact, L<AnyEvent::Handle> will use L<JSON::XS> by default if it is
2488installed.
2489
2490=item L<Net::SSLeay>
2491
2492Implementing TLS/SSL in Perl is certainly interesting, but not very
2493worthwhile: If this module is installed, then L<AnyEvent::Handle> (with
2494the help of L<AnyEvent::TLS>), gains the ability to do TLS/SSL.
2495
2496=item L<Time::HiRes>
2497
2498This module is part of perl since release 5.008. It will be used when the
2499chosen event library does not come with a timing source on it's own. The
2500pure-perl event loop (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) will additionally use it to
2501try to use a monotonic clock for timing stability.
2502
2503=back
2504
2505
2506=head1 FORK
2507
2508Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
2509because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
2510calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
2511
2512If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
2513watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child OR you must do
2514something completely out of the scope of AnyEvent.
2515
2516
2517=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
2518
2519AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
2520$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to
2521execute arbitrary code or directly gain access, it can easily be used to
2522make the program hang or malfunction in subtle ways, as AnyEvent watchers
2523will not be active when the program uses a different event model than
2524specified in the variable.
2525
2526You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
2527before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
2528
2529 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
2530
2531 use AnyEvent;
2532
2533Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
2534be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
2535probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), and
2536$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT}.
2537
2538Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
2539C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
2540enabled.
2541
2542
2543=head1 BUGS
2544
2545Perl 5.8 has numerous memleaks that sometimes hit this module and are hard
2546to work around. If you suffer from memleaks, first upgrade to Perl 5.10
2547and check wether the leaks still show up. (Perl 5.10.0 has other annoying
2548memleaks, such as leaking on C<map> and C<grep> but it is usually not as
2549pronounced).
2550
680 2551
681=head1 SEE ALSO 2552=head1 SEE ALSO
682 2553
683Event modules: L<Coro::EV>, L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, 2554Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
684L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>, L<Coro>, L<Tk>.
685 2555
686Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, 2556Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
2557L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
2558
687L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, 2559Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
688L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. 2560L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
2561L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
2562L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync>, L<Anyevent::Impl::Irssi>.
689 2563
2564Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
2565servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>, L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
2566
2567Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
2568
2569Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>,
2570L<Coro::Event>,
2571
690Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>. 2572Nontrivial usage examples: L<AnyEvent::GPSD>, L<AnyEvent::XMPP>,
2573L<AnyEvent::HTTP>.
691 2574
692=head1 2575
2576=head1 AUTHOR
2577
2578 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
2579 http://home.schmorp.de/
693 2580
694=cut 2581=cut
695 2582
6961 25831
697 2584

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