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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 - 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 => ..., poll => "[rw]+", cb => sub { 13 my $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh, poll => "r", cb => sub { ... });
12 my ($poll_got) = @_; 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) = @_;
13 ... 28 ...
14 }); 29 });
15 30
16* only one io watcher per $fh and $poll type is allowed (i.e. on a socket 31 # called when event loop idle (if applicable)
17you can have one r + one w or one rw watcher, not any more (limitation by 32 my $w = AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub { ... });
18Tk).
19 33
20* the C<$poll_got> passed to the handler needs to be checked by looking 34 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged
21for single characters (e.g. with a regex), as it can contain more event 35 $w->send; # wake up current and all future recv's
22types than were requested (e.g. a 'w' watcher might generate 'rw' events,
23limitation by Glib).
24
25* AnyEvent will keep filehandles alive, so as long as the watcher exists,
26the filehandle exists.
27
28 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub {
29 ...
30 });
31
32* io and time watchers get canceled whenever $w is destroyed, so keep a copy
33
34* timers can only be used once and must be recreated for repeated
35operation (limitation by Glib and Tk).
36
37 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # kind of main loop replacement
38 $w->wait; # enters main loop till $condvar gets ->broadcast 36 $w->recv; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->send
39 $w->broadcast; # wake up current and all future wait's 37 # use a condvar in callback mode:
38 $w->cb (sub { $_[0]->recv });
40 39
41* condvars are used to give blocking behaviour when neccessary. Create 40=head1 INTRODUCTION/TUTORIAL
42a condvar for any "request" or "event" your module might create, C<< 41
43->broadcast >> it when the event happens and provide a function that calls 42This manpage is mainly a reference manual. If you are interested
44C<< ->wait >> for it. See the examples below. 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.
53
54=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT)
55
56Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen
57nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?
58
59Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of
60policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>.
61
62First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only
63interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use, in a
64pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike,
65the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general,
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.
69
70The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event
71programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a
72religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your
73module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event
74model you use.
75
76For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is
77actually doing all I/O I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is
78like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you
79cannot use anything else, as they are simply incompatible to everything
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.
82
83AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works
84fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together
85with the rest: POE + IO::Async? No go. Tk + Event? No go. Again: if
86your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it,
87too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all
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).
91
92In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event
93model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar
94modules, you get an enormous amount of code and strict rules you have to
95follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only
96offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as
97technically possible.
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
105Now, if you I<do want> lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat
106useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event
107model, you should I<not> use this module.
45 108
46=head1 DESCRIPTION 109=head1 DESCRIPTION
47 110
48L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This 111L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This
49allows module authors to utilizy an event loop without forcing module 112allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module
50users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist 113users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist
51peacefully at any one time). 114peacefully at any one time).
52 115
53The interface itself is vaguely similar but not identical to the Event 116The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
54module. 117module.
55 118
56On 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
57loaded event loop by probing wether any of the following modules is 120to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the
58loaded: L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<Tk>. The first one found is 121following modules is already loaded: L<EV>,
59used. 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>,
60order 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
61used. If still none could be found, it will issue an error. 124to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl
125adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can
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.
129
130Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading
131an event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make
132that model the default. For example:
133
134 use Tk;
135 use AnyEvent;
136
137 # .. AnyEvent will likely default to Tk
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
143The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called
144C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it
145explicitly and enjoy the high availability of that event loop :)
146
147=head1 WATCHERS
148
149AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that
150stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as
151the callback to call, the file handle to watch, etc.
152
153These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
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
164To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the
165variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references
166to it).
167
168All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class.
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
184=head2 I/O WATCHERS
185
186 $w = AnyEvent->io (
187 fh => <filehandle_or_fileno>,
188 poll => <"r" or "w">,
189 cb => <callback>,
190 );
191
192You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
193with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
194
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
202C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, which creates a
203watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events, respectively.
204
205C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle becomes ready.
206
207Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
208presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
209callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
210
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.
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
219Example: wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the
220watcher.
221
222 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
223 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>);
224 warn "read: $input\n";
225 undef $w;
226 });
227
228=head2 TIME WATCHERS
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
238You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>
239method with the following mandatory arguments:
240
241C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are
242supported) the callback should be invoked. C<cb> is the callback to invoke
243in that case.
244
245Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
246presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
247callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks.
248
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.
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
259Example: fire an event after 7.7 seconds.
260
261 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub {
262 warn "timeout\n";
263 });
264
265 # to cancel the timer:
266 undef $w;
267
268Example 2: fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second.
269
270 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, interval => 1, cb => sub {
271 warn "timeout\n";
272 };
273
274=head3 TIMING ISSUES
275
276There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire
277in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12
278o'clock").
279
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":
62 295
63=over 4 296=over 4
64 297
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
368Note that updating the time I<might> cause some events to be handled.
369
370=back
371
372=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
373
374 $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => <uppercase_signal_name>, cb => <callback>);
375
376You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
377I<name> in uppercase and without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl
378callback to be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
379
380Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
381presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
382callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
383
384Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
385invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
386that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
387but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
388
389The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
390between multiple watchers, and AnyEvent will ensure that signals will not
391interrupt your program at bad times.
392
393This watcher might use C<%SIG> (depending on the event loop used),
394so programs overwriting those signals directly will likely not work
395correctly.
396
397Example: exit on SIGINT
398
399 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
400
401=head3 Signal Races, Delays and Workarounds
402
403Many event loops (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt, IO::Async) do not support attaching
404callbacks to signals in a generic way, which is a pity, as you cannot
405do race-free signal handling in perl, requiring C libraries for
406this. AnyEvent will try to do it's best, which means in some cases,
407signals will be delayed. The maximum time a signal might be delayed is
408specified in C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY> (default: 10 seconds). This
409variable can be changed only before the first signal watcher is created,
410and should be left alone otherwise. This variable determines how often
411AnyEvent polls for signals (in case a wake-up was missed). Higher values
412will cause fewer spurious wake-ups, which is better for power and CPU
413saving.
414
415All these problems can be avoided by installing the optional
416L<Async::Interrupt> module, which works with most event loops. It will not
417work with inherently broken event loops such as L<Event> or L<Event::Lib>
418(and not with L<POE> currently, as POE does it's own workaround with
419one-second latency). For those, you just have to suffer the delays.
420
421=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
422
423 $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => <process id>, cb => <callback>);
424
425You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status.
426
427The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (one some backends,
428using C<0> watches for any child process exit, on others this will
429croak). The watcher will be triggered only when the child process has
430finished and an exit status is available, not on any trace events
431(stopped/continued).
432
433The callback will be called with the pid and exit status (as returned by
434waitpid), so unlike other watcher types, you I<can> rely on child watcher
435callback arguments.
436
437This watcher type works by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>,
438and since it cannot be shared, nothing else should use SIGCHLD or reap
439random child processes (waiting for specific child processes, e.g. inside
440C<system>, is just fine).
441
442There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
443I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
444have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
445
446Not all event models handle this correctly (neither POE nor IO::Async do,
447see their AnyEvent::Impl manpages for details), but even for event models
448that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be loaded before
449the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place). AnyEvent's
450pure perl event loop handles all cases correctly regardless of when you
451start the watcher.
452
453This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first
454thing in an AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one
455watcher before you C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call
456C<AnyEvent::detect>).
457
458As most event loops do not support waiting for child events, they will be
459emulated by AnyEvent in most cases, in which the latency and race problems
460mentioned in the description of signal watchers apply.
461
462Example: fork a process and wait for it
463
464 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
465
466 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
467
468 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
469 pid => $pid,
470 cb => sub {
471 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
472 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
473 $done->send;
474 },
475 );
476
477 # do something else, then wait for process exit
478 $done->recv;
479
480=head2 IDLE WATCHERS
481
482 $w = AnyEvent->idle (cb => <callback>);
483
484Sometimes there is a need to do something, but it is not so important
485to do it instantly, but only when there is nothing better to do. This
486"nothing better to do" is usually defined to be "no other events need
487attention by the event loop".
488
489Idle watchers ideally get invoked when the event loop has nothing
490better to do, just before it would block the process to wait for new
491events. Instead of blocking, the idle watcher is invoked.
492
493Most event loops unfortunately do not really support idle watchers (only
494EV, Event and Glib do it in a usable fashion) - for the rest, AnyEvent
495will simply call the callback "from time to time".
496
497Example: read lines from STDIN, but only process them when the
498program is otherwise idle:
499
500 my @lines; # read data
501 my $idle_w;
502 my $io_w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
503 push @lines, scalar <STDIN>;
504
505 # start an idle watcher, if not already done
506 $idle_w ||= AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub {
507 # handle only one line, when there are lines left
508 if (my $line = shift @lines) {
509 print "handled when idle: $line";
510 } else {
511 # otherwise disable the idle watcher again
512 undef $idle_w;
513 }
514 });
515 });
516
517=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
518
519 $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
520
521 $cv->send (<list>);
522 my @res = $cv->recv;
523
524If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
525require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
526will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
527
528AnyEvent is slightly different: it expects somebody else to run the event
529loop and will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
530
531The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
532because they represent a condition that must become true.
533
534Now is probably a good time to look at the examples further below.
535
536Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
537>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
538C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
539becomes true, with the condition variable as the first argument (but not
540the results).
541
542After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
543by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
544were a callback, read about the caveats in the description for the C<<
545->send >> method).
546
547Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
548optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
549in time where multiple outstanding events have been processed. And yet
550another way to call them is transactions - each condition variable can be
551used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
552a result. And yet some people know them as "futures" - a promise to
553compute/deliver something that you can wait for.
554
555Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
556for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
557then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
558availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
559called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
560
561You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
562you can block your main program until an event occurs - for example, you
563could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
564button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
565
566Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
567two pieces of code that call C<< ->recv >> in a round-robin fashion, you
568lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
569you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
570as this asks for trouble.
571
572Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
573used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
574easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
575AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
576it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
577
578There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
579eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
580for the send to occur.
581
582Example: wait for a timer.
583
584 # wait till the result is ready
585 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
586
587 # do something such as adding a timer
588 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->send
589 # when the "result" is ready.
590 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
591 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
592 after => 1,
593 cb => sub { $result_ready->send },
594 );
595
596 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
597 # calls -<send
598 $result_ready->recv;
599
600Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that condition
601variables are also callable directly.
602
603 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
604 my $delay = AnyEvent->timer (after => 5, cb => $done);
605 $done->recv;
606
607Example: Imagine an API that returns a condvar and doesn't support
608callbacks. This is how you make a synchronous call, for example from
609the main program:
610
611 use AnyEvent::CouchDB;
612
613 ...
614
615 my @info = $couchdb->info->recv;
616
617And this is how you would just set a callback to be called whenever the
618results are available:
619
620 $couchdb->info->cb (sub {
621 my @info = $_[0]->recv;
622 });
623
624=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
625
626These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
627code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
628the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
629uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
630
631=over 4
632
633=item $cv->send (...)
634
635Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
636calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
637called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
638
639If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
640immediately from within send.
641
642Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
643future C<< ->recv >> calls.
644
645Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly (as if
646they were a code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling
647C<send>.
648
649=item $cv->croak ($error)
650
651Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
652C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
653
654This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
655user/consumer. Doing it this way instead of calling C<croak> directly
656delays the error detetcion, but has the overwhelmign advantage that it
657diagnoses the error at the place where the result is expected, and not
658deep in some event clalback without connection to the actual code causing
659the problem.
660
661=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
662
663=item $cv->end
664
665These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
666one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
667to use a condition variable for the whole process.
668
669Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
670C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
671>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed. That callback
672is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send >>, but that is not required. If no
673callback was set, C<send> will be called without any arguments.
674
675You can think of C<< $cv->send >> giving you an OR condition (one call
676sends), while C<< $cv->begin >> and C<< $cv->end >> giving you an AND
677condition (all C<begin> calls must be C<end>'ed before the condvar sends).
678
679Let's start with a simple example: you have two I/O watchers (for example,
680STDOUT and STDERR for a program), and you want to wait for both streams to
681close before activating a condvar:
682
683 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
684
685 $cv->begin; # first watcher
686 my $w1 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh1, cb => sub {
687 defined sysread $fh1, my $buf, 4096
688 or $cv->end;
689 });
690
691 $cv->begin; # second watcher
692 my $w2 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh2, cb => sub {
693 defined sysread $fh2, my $buf, 4096
694 or $cv->end;
695 });
696
697 $cv->recv;
698
699This works because for every event source (EOF on file handle), there is
700one call to C<begin>, so the condvar waits for all calls to C<end> before
701sending.
702
703The ping example mentioned above is slightly more complicated, as the
704there are results to be passwd back, and the number of tasks that are
705begung can potentially be zero:
706
707 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
708
709 my %result;
710 $cv->begin (sub { $cv->send (\%result) });
711
712 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
713 $cv->begin;
714 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
715 $result{$host} = ...;
716 $cv->end;
717 };
718 }
719
720 $cv->end;
721
722This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
723C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
724order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
725each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
726it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
727results arrive is not relevant.
728
729There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
730loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
731to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
732C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
733doesn't execute once).
734
735This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple (but
736potentially none) subrequests: use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set
737the callback and ensure C<end> is called at least once, and then, for each
738subrequest you start, call C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish,
739call C<end>.
740
741=back
742
743=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
744
745These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
746code awaits the condition.
747
748=over 4
749
750=item $cv->recv
751
752Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
753>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
754normally.
755
756You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
757will return immediately.
758
759If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
760function will call C<croak>.
761
762In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
763in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
764
765Note that doing a blocking wait in a callback is not supported by any
766event loop, that is, recursive invocation of a blocking C<< ->recv
767>> is not allowed, and the C<recv> call will C<croak> if such a
768condition is detected. This condition can be slightly loosened by using
769L<Coro::AnyEvent>, which allows you to do a blocking C<< ->recv >> from
770any thread that doesn't run the event loop itself.
771
772Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
773(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
774using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>. Instead, let the
775caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
776condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
777callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
778while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
779
780You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
781only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
782time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
783waits otherwise.
784
785=item $bool = $cv->ready
786
787Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
788C<croak> have been called.
789
790=item $cb = $cv->cb ($cb->($cv))
791
792This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
793replaces it before doing so.
794
795The callback will be called when the condition becomes (or already was)
796"true", i.e. when C<send> or C<croak> are called (or were called), with
797the only argument being the condition variable itself. Calling C<recv>
798inside the callback or at any later time is guaranteed not to block.
799
800=back
801
802=head1 SUPPORTED EVENT LOOPS/BACKENDS
803
804The available backend classes are (every class has its own manpage):
805
806=over 4
807
808=item Backends that are autoprobed when no other event loop can be found.
809
810EV is the preferred backend when no other event loop seems to be in
811use. If EV is not installed, then AnyEvent will try Event, and, failing
812that, will fall back to its own pure-perl implementation, which is
813available everywhere as it comes with AnyEvent itself.
814
815 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (interface to libev, best choice).
816 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, very stable, few glitches.
817 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
818
819=item Backends that are transparently being picked up when they are used.
820
821These will be used when they are currently loaded when the first watcher
822is created, in which case it is assumed that the application is using
823them. This means that AnyEvent will automatically pick the right backend
824when the main program loads an event module before anything starts to
825create watchers. Nothing special needs to be done by the main program.
826
827 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, slow but very stable.
828 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very broken.
829 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
830 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, very slow, some limitations.
831 AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi used when running within irssi.
832
833=item Backends with special needs.
834
835Qt requires the Qt::Application to be instantiated first, but will
836otherwise be picked up automatically. As long as the main program
837instantiates the application before any AnyEvent watchers are created,
838everything should just work.
839
840 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt.
841
842Support for IO::Async can only be partial, as it is too broken and
843architecturally limited to even support the AnyEvent API. It also
844is the only event loop that needs the loop to be set explicitly, so
845it can only be used by a main program knowing about AnyEvent. See
846L<AnyEvent::Impl::Async> for the gory details.
847
848 AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync based on IO::Async, cannot be autoprobed.
849
850=item Event loops that are indirectly supported via other backends.
851
852Some event loops can be supported via other modules:
853
854There is no direct support for WxWidgets (L<Wx>) or L<Prima>.
855
856B<WxWidgets> has no support for watching file handles. However, you can
857use WxWidgets through the POE adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply
858polls 20 times per second, which was considered to be too horrible to even
859consider for AnyEvent.
860
861B<Prima> is not supported as nobody seems to be using it, but it has a POE
862backend, so it can be supported through POE.
863
864AnyEvent knows about both L<Prima> and L<Wx>, however, and will try to
865load L<POE> when detecting them, in the hope that POE will pick them up,
866in which case everything will be automatic.
867
868=back
869
870=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
871
872These are not normally required to use AnyEvent, but can be useful to
873write AnyEvent extension modules.
874
875=over 4
876
877=item $AnyEvent::MODEL
878
879Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created, before the
880backend has been autodetected.
881
882Afterwards it contains the event model that is being used, which is the
883name of the Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one
884of the C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the
885case AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode> it
886will be C<urxvt::anyevent>).
887
888=item AnyEvent::detect
889
890Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
891if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
892have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
893runtime, and not e.g. while initialising of your module.
894
895If you need to do some initialisation before AnyEvent watchers are
896created, use C<post_detect>.
897
898=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
899
900Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
901autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
902
903The block will be executed I<after> the actual backend has been detected
904(C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> is set), but I<before> any watchers have been
905created, so it is possible to e.g. patch C<@AnyEvent::ISA> or do
906other initialisations - see the sources of L<AnyEvent::Strict> or
907L<AnyEvent::AIO> to see how this is used.
908
909The most common usage is to create some global watchers, without forcing
910event module detection too early, for example, L<AnyEvent::AIO> creates
911and installs the global L<IO::AIO> watcher in a C<post_detect> block to
912avoid autodetecting the event module at load time.
913
914If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
915that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed (or
916C<undef> when the hook was immediately executed). See L<AnyEvent::AIO> for
917a case where this is useful.
918
919Example: Create a watcher for the IO::AIO module and store it in
920C<$WATCHER>. Only do so after the event loop is initialised, though.
921
922 our WATCHER;
923
924 my $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect {
925 $WATCHER = AnyEvent->io (fh => IO::AIO::poll_fileno, poll => 'r', cb => \&IO::AIO::poll_cb);
926 };
927
928 # the ||= is important in case post_detect immediately runs the block,
929 # as to not clobber the newly-created watcher. assigning both watcher and
930 # post_detect guard to the same variable has the advantage of users being
931 # able to just C<undef $WATCHER> if the watcher causes them grief.
932
933 $WATCHER ||= $guard;
934
935=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
936
937If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
938before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
939the event loop has been chosen.
940
941You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
942if it is defined then the event loop has already been detected, and the
943array will be ignored.
944
945Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> when your application allows
946it,as it takes care of these details.
947
948This variable is mainly useful for modules that can do something useful
949when AnyEvent is used and thus want to know when it is initialised, but do
950not need to even load it by default. This array provides the means to hook
951into AnyEvent passively, without loading it.
952
953=back
954
955=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
956
957As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods
958freely, but you should not load a specific event module or rely on it.
959
960Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
961decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
962by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
963to load the event module first.
964
965Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
966the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
967because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
968events is to stay interactive.
969
970It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
971requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
972called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
973freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
974
975=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
976
977There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
978dictate which event model to use.
979
980If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not
981do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
982decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
983
984If the main program relies on a specific event model - for example, in
985Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module - you should load the
986event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
987speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
988modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
989decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
990might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
991
992You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
993C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
994everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
995
996=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
997
998Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
999only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
1000
1001In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
1002
1003 AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
1004
1005This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
1006
1007Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
1008it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
1009variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
1010exit cleanly.
1011
1012
1013=head1 OTHER MODULES
1014
1015The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
1016AnyEvent as a client and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent
1017modules and other event loops in the same program. Some of the modules
1018come with AnyEvent, most are available via CPAN.
1019
1020=over 4
1021
1022=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
1023
1024Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
1025functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
1026
1027=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
1028
1029Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
1030addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
1031connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
1032
1033=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
1034
1035Provide read and write buffers, manages watchers for reads and writes,
1036supports raw and formatted I/O, I/O queued and fully transparent and
1037non-blocking SSL/TLS (via L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
1038
1039=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
1040
1041Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
1042
1043=item L<AnyEvent::HTTP>
1044
1045A simple-to-use HTTP library that is capable of making a lot of concurrent
1046HTTP requests.
1047
1048=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
1049
1050Provides a simple web application server framework.
1051
1052=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
1053
1054The fastest ping in the west.
1055
1056=item L<AnyEvent::DBI>
1057
1058Executes L<DBI> requests asynchronously in a proxy process.
1059
1060=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>
1061
1062Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
1063programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses L<IO::AIO> and AnyEvent
1064together.
1065
1066=item L<AnyEvent::BDB>
1067
1068Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. AnyEvent::BDB transparently fuses
1069L<BDB> and AnyEvent together.
1070
1071=item L<AnyEvent::GPSD>
1072
1073A non-blocking interface to gpsd, a daemon delivering GPS information.
1074
1075=item L<AnyEvent::IRC>
1076
1077AnyEvent based IRC client module family (replacing the older Net::IRC3).
1078
1079=item L<AnyEvent::XMPP>
1080
1081AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family (replacing the older
1082Net::XMPP2>.
1083
1084=item L<AnyEvent::IGS>
1085
1086A non-blocking interface to the Internet Go Server protocol (used by
1087L<App::IGS>).
1088
1089=item L<Net::FCP>
1090
1091AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
1092of AnyEvent.
1093
1094=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
1095
1096High level API for event-based execution flow control.
1097
1098=item L<Coro>
1099
1100Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
1101
1102=back
1103
65=cut 1104=cut
66 1105
67package AnyEvent; 1106package AnyEvent;
68 1107
1108# basically a tuned-down version of common::sense
1109sub common_sense {
69no warnings; 1110 # no warnings
70use strict 'vars'; 1111 ${^WARNING_BITS} ^= ${^WARNING_BITS};
1112 # use strict vars subs
1113 $^H |= 0x00000600;
1114}
1115
1116BEGIN { AnyEvent::common_sense }
1117
71use Carp; 1118use Carp ();
72 1119
73our $VERSION = '1.02'; 1120our $VERSION = 4.92;
74our $MODEL; 1121our $MODEL;
75 1122
76our $AUTOLOAD; 1123our $AUTOLOAD;
77our @ISA; 1124our @ISA;
78 1125
79our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
80
81our @REGISTRY; 1126our @REGISTRY;
82 1127
1128our $WIN32;
1129
1130our $VERBOSE;
1131
1132BEGIN {
1133 eval "sub WIN32(){ " . (($^O =~ /mswin32/i)*1) ." }";
1134 eval "sub TAINT(){ " . (${^TAINT}*1) . " }";
1135
1136 delete @ENV{grep /^PERL_ANYEVENT_/, keys %ENV}
1137 if ${^TAINT};
1138
1139 $VERBOSE = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
1140
1141}
1142
1143our $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY = 10;
1144
1145our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2), higher numbers are preferred
1146
1147{
1148 my $idx;
1149 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
1150 for reverse split /\s*,\s*/,
1151 $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
1152}
1153
83my @models = ( 1154my @models = (
84 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Coro::], 1155 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV:: , 1],
85 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 1156 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::, 1],
86 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], 1157 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: , 1],
1158 # everything below here will not (normally) be autoprobed
1159 # as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
1160 # and is usually faster
1161 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib:: , 1], # becomes extremely slow with many watchers
1162 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
1163 [Irssi:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi::], # Irssi has a bogus "Event" package
1164 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], # crashes with many handles
1165 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
1166 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
87 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], 1167 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
1168 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
1169 # IO::Async is just too broken - we would need workarounds for its
1170 # byzantine signal and broken child handling, among others.
1171 # IO::Async is rather hard to detect, as it doesn't have any
1172 # obvious default class.
1173# [0, IO::Async:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1174# [0, IO::Async::Loop:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1175# [0, IO::Async::Notifier:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
88); 1176);
89 1177
90our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer condvar broadcast wait cancel DESTROY); 1178our %method = map +($_ => 1),
1179 qw(io timer time now now_update signal child idle condvar one_event DESTROY);
91 1180
92sub AUTOLOAD { 1181our @post_detect;
93 $AUTOLOAD =~ s/.*://;
94 1182
95 $method{$AUTOLOAD} 1183sub post_detect(&) {
96 or croak "$AUTOLOAD: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects"; 1184 my ($cb) = @_;
97 1185
1186 if ($MODEL) {
1187 $cb->();
1188
1189 undef
1190 } else {
1191 push @post_detect, $cb;
1192
1193 defined wantarray
1194 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::postdetect"
1195 : ()
1196 }
1197}
1198
1199sub AnyEvent::Util::postdetect::DESTROY {
1200 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
1201}
1202
1203sub detect() {
98 unless ($MODEL) { 1204 unless ($MODEL) {
1205 local $SIG{__DIE__};
1206
1207 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
1208 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
1209 if (eval "require $model") {
1210 $MODEL = $model;
1211 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}), using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
1212 } else {
1213 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}):\n$@" if $VERBOSE;
1214 }
1215 }
1216
99 # check for already loaded models 1217 # check for already loaded models
1218 unless ($MODEL) {
100 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 1219 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
101 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 1220 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
102 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 1221 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
103 if (eval "require $model") { 1222 if (eval "require $model") {
104 $MODEL = $model; 1223 $MODEL = $model;
105 warn "AnyEvent: found model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1224 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
106 last; 1225 last;
1226 }
107 } 1227 }
108 } 1228 }
1229
1230 unless ($MODEL) {
1231 # try to autoload a model
1232 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
1233 my ($package, $model, $autoload) = @$_;
1234 if (
1235 $autoload
1236 and eval "require $package"
1237 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
1238 and eval "require $model"
1239 ) {
1240 $MODEL = $model;
1241 warn "AnyEvent: autoloaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
1242 last;
1243 }
1244 }
1245
1246 $MODEL
1247 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.\n";
1248 }
109 } 1249 }
110 1250
111 unless ($MODEL) { 1251 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
112 # try to load a model
113 1252
114 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 1253 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
115 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
116 if (eval "require $model") {
117 $MODEL = $model;
118 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed and loaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
119 last;
120 }
121 }
122 1254
1255 require AnyEvent::Strict if $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT};
1256
1257 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
1258 }
1259
123 $MODEL 1260 $MODEL
124 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: Coro, Event, Glib or Tk."; 1261}
1262
1263sub AUTOLOAD {
1264 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://;
1265
1266 $method{$func}
1267 or Carp::croak "$func: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects";
1268
1269 detect unless $MODEL;
1270
1271 my $class = shift;
1272 $class->$func (@_);
1273}
1274
1275# utility function to dup a filehandle. this is used by many backends
1276# to support binding more than one watcher per filehandle (they usually
1277# allow only one watcher per fd, so we dup it to get a different one).
1278sub _dupfh($$;$$) {
1279 my ($poll, $fh, $r, $w) = @_;
1280
1281 # cygwin requires the fh mode to be matching, unix doesn't
1282 my ($rw, $mode) = $poll eq "r" ? ($r, "<&") : ($w, ">&");
1283
1284 open my $fh2, $mode, $fh
1285 or die "AnyEvent->io: cannot dup() filehandle in mode '$poll': $!,";
1286
1287 # we assume CLOEXEC is already set by perl in all important cases
1288
1289 ($fh2, $rw)
1290}
1291
1292#############################################################################
1293# "new" API, currently only emulation of it
1294#############################################################################
1295
1296package AE;
1297
1298our $VERSION = $AnyEvent::VERSION;
1299
1300sub io($$$) {
1301 AnyEvent->io (fh => $_[0], poll => $_[1] ? "w" : "r", cb => $_[2])
1302}
1303
1304sub timer($$$) {
1305 AnyEvent->timer (after => $_[0], interval => $_[1], cb => $_[2]);
1306}
1307
1308sub signal($$) {
1309 AnyEvent->signal (signal => $_[0], cb => $_[1]);
1310}
1311
1312sub child($$) {
1313 AnyEvent->child (pid => $_[0], cb => $_[1]);
1314}
1315
1316sub idle($) {
1317 AnyEvent->idle (cb => $_[0]);
1318}
1319
1320sub cv(;&) {
1321 AnyEvent->condvar (@_ ? (cb => $_[0]) : ())
1322}
1323
1324sub now() {
1325 AnyEvent->now
1326}
1327
1328sub now_update() {
1329 AnyEvent->now_update
1330}
1331
1332sub time() {
1333 AnyEvent->time
1334}
1335
1336package AnyEvent::Base;
1337
1338# default implementations for many methods
1339
1340sub _time {
1341 # probe for availability of Time::HiRes
1342 if (eval "use Time::HiRes (); Time::HiRes::time (); 1") {
1343 warn "AnyEvent: using Time::HiRes for sub-second timing accuracy.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1344 *_time = \&Time::HiRes::time;
1345 # if (eval "use POSIX (); (POSIX::times())...
1346 } else {
1347 warn "AnyEvent: using built-in time(), WARNING, no sub-second resolution!\n" if $VERBOSE;
1348 *_time = sub { time }; # epic fail
1349 }
1350
1351 &_time
1352}
1353
1354sub time { _time }
1355sub now { _time }
1356sub now_update { }
1357
1358# default implementation for ->condvar
1359
1360sub condvar {
1361 bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, "AnyEvent::CondVar"
1362}
1363
1364# default implementation for ->signal
1365
1366our $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1367
1368sub _have_async_interrupt() {
1369 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT = 1*(!$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT}
1370 && eval "use Async::Interrupt 1.0 (); 1")
1371 unless defined $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1372
1373 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1374}
1375
1376our ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W, %SIG_CB, %SIG_EV, $SIG_IO);
1377our (%SIG_ASY, %SIG_ASY_W);
1378our ($SIG_COUNT, $SIG_TW);
1379
1380sub _signal_exec {
1381 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1382 ? $SIGPIPE_R->drain
1383 : sysread $SIGPIPE_R, my $dummy, 9;
1384
1385 while (%SIG_EV) {
1386 for (keys %SIG_EV) {
1387 delete $SIG_EV{$_};
1388 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$_} || {} };
125 } 1389 }
126 } 1390 }
1391}
127 1392
128 @ISA = $MODEL; 1393# install a dummy wakeup watcher to reduce signal catching latency
1394sub _sig_add() {
1395 unless ($SIG_COUNT++) {
1396 # try to align timer on a full-second boundary, if possible
1397 my $NOW = AE::now;
129 1398
1399 $SIG_TW = AE::timer
1400 $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY - ($NOW - int $NOW),
1401 $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY,
1402 sub { } # just for the PERL_ASYNC_CHECK
1403 ;
1404 }
1405}
1406
1407sub _sig_del {
1408 undef $SIG_TW
1409 unless --$SIG_COUNT;
1410}
1411
1412our $_sig_name_init; $_sig_name_init = sub {
1413 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading
1414 undef $_sig_name_init;
1415
1416 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1417 *sig2num = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2num;
1418 *sig2name = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2name;
1419 } else {
1420 require Config;
1421
1422 my %signame2num;
1423 @signame2num{ split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_name} }
1424 = split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_num};
1425
1426 my @signum2name;
1427 @signum2name[values %signame2num] = keys %signame2num;
1428
1429 *sig2num = sub($) {
1430 $_[0] > 0 ? shift : $signame2num{+shift}
1431 };
1432 *sig2name = sub ($) {
1433 $_[0] > 0 ? $signum2name[+shift] : shift
1434 };
1435 }
1436 };
1437 die if $@;
1438};
1439
1440sub sig2num ($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2num }
1441sub sig2name($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2name }
1442
1443sub signal {
1444 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1445 # probe for availability of Async::Interrupt
1446 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1447 warn "AnyEvent: using Async::Interrupt for race-free signal handling.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1448
1449 $SIGPIPE_R = new Async::Interrupt::EventPipe;
1450 $SIG_IO = AE::io $SIGPIPE_R->fileno, 0, \&_signal_exec;
1451
1452 } else {
1453 warn "AnyEvent: using emulated perl signal handling with latency timer.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1454
1455 require Fcntl;
1456
1457 if (AnyEvent::WIN32) {
1458 require AnyEvent::Util;
1459
1460 ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_pipe ();
1461 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_R, 1) if $SIGPIPE_R;
1462 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_W, 1) if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1463 } else {
1464 pipe $SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W;
1465 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_R;
1466 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1467
1468 # not strictly required, as $^F is normally 2, but let's make sure...
1469 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1470 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1471 }
1472
1473 $SIGPIPE_R
1474 or Carp::croak "AnyEvent: unable to create a signal reporting pipe: $!\n";
1475
1476 $SIG_IO = AE::io $SIGPIPE_R, 0, \&_signal_exec;
1477 }
1478
1479 *signal = sub {
1480 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1481
1482 my $signal = uc $arg{signal}
1483 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing";
1484
1485 if ($HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT) {
1486 # async::interrupt
1487
1488 $signal = sig2num $signal;
1489 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1490
1491 $SIG_ASY{$signal} ||= new Async::Interrupt
1492 cb => sub { undef $SIG_EV{$signal} },
1493 signal => $signal,
1494 pipe => [$SIGPIPE_R->filenos],
1495 pipe_autodrain => 0,
1496 ;
1497
1498 } else {
1499 # pure perl
1500
1501 # AE::Util has been loaded in signal
1502 $signal = sig2name $signal;
1503 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1504
1505 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub {
1506 local $!;
1507 syswrite $SIGPIPE_W, "\x00", 1 unless %SIG_EV;
1508 undef $SIG_EV{$signal};
1509 };
1510
1511 # can't do signal processing without introducing races in pure perl,
1512 # so limit the signal latency.
1513 _sig_add;
1514 }
1515
1516 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::signal"
1517 };
1518
1519 *AnyEvent::Base::signal::DESTROY = sub {
1520 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
1521
1522 _sig_del;
1523
1524 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
1525
1526 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1527 ? delete $SIG_ASY{$signal}
1528 : # delete doesn't work with older perls - they then
1529 # print weird messages, or just unconditionally exit
1530 # instead of getting the default action.
1531 undef $SIG{$signal}
1532 unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
1533 };
1534 };
1535 die if $@;
1536 &signal
1537}
1538
1539# default implementation for ->child
1540
1541our %PID_CB;
1542our $CHLD_W;
1543our $CHLD_DELAY_W;
1544our $WNOHANG;
1545
1546sub _emit_childstatus($$) {
1547 my (undef, $rpid, $rstatus) = @_;
1548
1549 $_->($rpid, $rstatus)
1550 for values %{ $PID_CB{$rpid} || {} },
1551 values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} };
1552}
1553
1554sub _sigchld {
1555 my $pid;
1556
1557 AnyEvent->_emit_childstatus ($pid, $?)
1558 while ($pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG) > 0;
1559}
1560
1561sub child {
1562 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1563
1564 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0)
1565 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing";
1566
1567 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1568
1569 # WNOHANG is almost cetrainly 1 everywhere
1570 $WNOHANG ||= $^O =~ /^(?:openbsd|netbsd|linux|freebsd|cygwin|MSWin32)$/
1571 ? 1
1572 : eval { local $SIG{__DIE__}; require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;
1573
1574 unless ($CHLD_W) {
1575 $CHLD_W = AE::signal CHLD => \&_sigchld;
1576 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
1577 &_sigchld;
1578 }
1579
1580 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::child"
1581}
1582
1583sub AnyEvent::Base::child::DESTROY {
1584 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
1585
1586 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb};
1587 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
1588
1589 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
1590}
1591
1592# idle emulation is done by simply using a timer, regardless
1593# of whether the process is idle or not, and not letting
1594# the callback use more than 50% of the time.
1595sub idle {
1596 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1597
1598 my ($cb, $w, $rcb) = $arg{cb};
1599
1600 $rcb = sub {
1601 if ($cb) {
1602 $w = _time;
1603 &$cb;
1604 $w = _time - $w;
1605
1606 # never use more then 50% of the time for the idle watcher,
1607 # within some limits
1608 $w = 0.0001 if $w < 0.0001;
1609 $w = 5 if $w > 5;
1610
1611 $w = AE::timer $w, 0, $rcb;
1612 } else {
1613 # clean up...
1614 undef $w;
1615 undef $rcb;
1616 }
1617 };
1618
1619 $w = AE::timer 0.05, 0, $rcb;
1620
1621 bless \\$cb, "AnyEvent::Base::idle"
1622}
1623
1624sub AnyEvent::Base::idle::DESTROY {
1625 undef $${$_[0]};
1626}
1627
1628package AnyEvent::CondVar;
1629
1630our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
1631
1632package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
1633
1634#use overload
1635# '&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
1636# fallback => 1;
1637
1638# save 300+ kilobytes by dirtily hardcoding overloading
1639${"AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::OVERLOAD"}{dummy}++; # Register with magic by touching.
1640*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = sub { }; # "Make it findable via fetchmethod."
1641*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::(&{}'} = sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } }; # &{}
1642${'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = 1; # fallback
1643
1644our $WAITING;
1645
1646sub _send {
1647 # nop
1648}
1649
1650sub send {
130 my $class = shift; 1651 my $cv = shift;
131 $class->$AUTOLOAD (@_); 1652 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
1653 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
1654 $cv->_send;
132} 1655}
1656
1657sub croak {
1658 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
1659 $_[0]->send;
1660}
1661
1662sub ready {
1663 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
1664}
1665
1666sub _wait {
1667 $WAITING
1668 and !$_[0]{_ae_sent}
1669 and Carp::croak "AnyEvent::CondVar: recursive blocking wait detected";
1670
1671 local $WAITING = 1;
1672 AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
1673}
1674
1675sub recv {
1676 $_[0]->_wait;
1677
1678 Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
1679 wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
1680}
1681
1682sub cb {
1683 my $cv = shift;
1684
1685 @_
1686 and $cv->{_ae_cb} = shift
1687 and $cv->{_ae_sent}
1688 and (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv);
1689
1690 $cv->{_ae_cb}
1691}
1692
1693sub begin {
1694 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1695 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1696}
1697
1698sub end {
1699 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1700 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
1701}
1702
1703# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
1704*broadcast = \&send;
1705*wait = \&_wait;
1706
1707=head1 ERROR AND EXCEPTION HANDLING
1708
1709In general, AnyEvent does not do any error handling - it relies on the
1710caller to do that if required. The L<AnyEvent::Strict> module (see also
1711the C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT> environment variable, below) provides strict
1712checking of all AnyEvent methods, however, which is highly useful during
1713development.
1714
1715As for exception handling (i.e. runtime errors and exceptions thrown while
1716executing a callback), this is not only highly event-loop specific, but
1717also not in any way wrapped by this module, as this is the job of the main
1718program.
1719
1720The pure perl event loop simply re-throws the exception (usually
1721within C<< condvar->recv >>), the L<Event> and L<EV> modules call C<<
1722$Event/EV::DIED->() >>, L<Glib> uses C<< install_exception_handler >> and
1723so on.
1724
1725=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1726
1727The following environment variables are used by this module or its
1728submodules.
1729
1730Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
1731C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
1732enabled.
1733
1734=over 4
1735
1736=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
1737
1738By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
1739conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
1740talkative.
1741
1742When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
1743conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
1744C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
1745
1746When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
1747model it chooses.
1748
1749When set to C<8> or higher, then AnyEvent will report extra information on
1750which optional modules it loads and how it implements certain features.
1751
1752=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT>
1753
1754AnyEvent does not do much argument checking by default, as thorough
1755argument checking is very costly. Setting this variable to a true value
1756will cause AnyEvent to load C<AnyEvent::Strict> and then to thoroughly
1757check the arguments passed to most method calls. If it finds any problems,
1758it will croak.
1759
1760In other words, enables "strict" mode.
1761
1762Unlike C<use strict> (or it's modern cousin, C<< use L<common::sense>
1763>>, it is definitely recommended to keep it off in production. Keeping
1764C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT=1> in your environment while developing programs
1765can be very useful, however.
1766
1767=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
1768
1769This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
1770auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
1771entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
1772and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
1773used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
1774auto detection and -probing.
1775
1776This functionality might change in future versions.
1777
1778For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
1779could start your program like this:
1780
1781 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
1782
1783=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
1784
1785Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
1786for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
1787of auto probing).
1788
1789Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
1790current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
1791used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
1792list.
1793
1794This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
1795against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
1796small, as the program has to handle conenction and other failures anyways.
1797
1798Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
1799but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
1800- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
1801addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
1802IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
1803
1804=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
1805
1806Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
1807for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
1808some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
1809default.
1810
1811Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
1812EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
1813
1814=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_FORKS>
1815
1816The maximum number of child processes that C<AnyEvent::Util::fork_call>
1817will create in parallel.
1818
1819=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_OUTSTANDING_DNS>
1820
1821The default value for the C<max_outstanding> parameter for the default DNS
1822resolver - this is the maximum number of parallel DNS requests that are
1823sent to the DNS server.
1824
1825=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_RESOLV_CONF>
1826
1827The file to use instead of F</etc/resolv.conf> (or OS-specific
1828configuration) in the default resolver. When set to the empty string, no
1829default config will be used.
1830
1831=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_FILE>, C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_PATH>.
1832
1833When neither C<ca_file> nor C<ca_path> was specified during
1834L<AnyEvent::TLS> context creation, and either of these environment
1835variables exist, they will be used to specify CA certificate locations
1836instead of a system-dependent default.
1837
1838=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_GUARD> and C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT>
1839
1840When these are set to C<1>, then the respective modules are not
1841loaded. Mostly good for testing AnyEvent itself.
133 1842
134=back 1843=back
135 1844
136=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 1845=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
1846
1847This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
1848a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
1849provide AnyEvent compatibility.
137 1850
138If you need to support another event library which isn't directly 1851If you need to support another event library which isn't directly
139supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by 1852supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by
140pushing, before the first watch gets created, the package name of 1853pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of
141the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto 1854the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto
142C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading 1855C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading
143AnyEvent. 1856AnyEvent, so it is reasonably cheap.
144 1857
145Example: 1858Example:
146 1859
147 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::]; 1860 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::];
148 1861
149This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::> module 1862This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::>
150when it finds the C<urxvt> module is loaded. When AnyEvent is loaded and 1863package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is already loaded.
151requested to find a suitable event model, it will first check for the
152urxvt module.
153 1864
1865When AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it
1866will first check for the presence of urxvt by trying to C<use> the
1867C<urxvt::anyevent> module.
1868
1869The class should provide implementations for all watcher types. See
1870L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> (Source code)
1871and so on for actual examples. Use C<perldoc -m AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to
1872see the sources.
1873
1874If you don't provide C<signal> and C<child> watchers than AnyEvent will
1875provide suitable (hopefully) replacements.
1876
154The above isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt) uses 1877The above example isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt)
155the above line exactly. An interface isn't included in AnyEvent 1878terminal emulator uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included
156because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter inside 1879in AnyEvent because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter
157I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the 1880inside I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the
158I<rxvt-unicode> distribution. 1881I<rxvt-unicode> distribution.
159 1882
160=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 1883I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to
1884condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will
1885C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must
1886not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense.
161 1887
162The following environment variables are used by this module:
163
164C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE> when set to C<2> or higher, reports which event
165model gets used.
166
167=head1 EXAMPLE 1888=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
168 1889
169The following program uses an io watcher to read data from stdin, a timer 1890The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
170to display a message once per second, and a condvar to exit the program 1891to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
171when the user enters quit: 1892program when the user enters quit:
172 1893
173 use AnyEvent; 1894 use AnyEvent;
174 1895
175 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar; 1896 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
176 1897
177 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 1898 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (
1899 fh => \*STDIN,
1900 poll => 'r',
1901 cb => sub {
178 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 1902 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
179 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 1903 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
180 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 1904 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
181 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 1905 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
1906 },
182 }); 1907 );
183 1908
184 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once 1909 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
185 1910
186 sub new_timer { 1911 sub new_timer {
187 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub { 1912 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub {
190 }); 1915 });
191 } 1916 }
192 1917
193 new_timer; # create first timer 1918 new_timer; # create first timer
194 1919
195 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 1920 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
196 1921
197=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 1922=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
198 1923
199Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 1924Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
200API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 1925API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
250 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 1975 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
251 or die "connection or write error"; 1976 or die "connection or write error";
252 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 1977 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
253 1978
254Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 1979Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
255result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished: 1980result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
256 1981
257 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 1982 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
258 1983
259 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 1984 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
260 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 1985 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
261 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 1986 $txn->{finished}->send;
262 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 1987 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
263 } 1988 }
264 1989
265The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 1990The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
266request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the 1991request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
267data: 1992data:
268 1993
269 $txn->{finished}->wait; 1994 $txn->{finished}->recv;
270 return $txn->{result}; 1995 return $txn->{result};
271 1996
272The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 1997The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
273that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 1998that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
274wether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 1999whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
275and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 2000and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
276problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a 2001problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
277random callback. 2002random callback.
278 2003
279All of this enables the following usage styles: 2004All of this enables the following usage styles:
280 2005
2811. Blocking: 20061. Blocking:
282 2007
283 my $data = $fcp->client_get ($url); 2008 my $data = $fcp->client_get ($url);
284 2009
2852. Blocking, but parallelizing: 20102. Blocking, but running in parallel:
286 2011
287 my @datas = map $_->result, 2012 my @datas = map $_->result,
288 map $fcp->txn_client_get ($_), 2013 map $fcp->txn_client_get ($_),
289 @urls; 2014 @urls;
290 2015
291Both blocking examples work without the module user having to know 2016Both blocking examples work without the module user having to know
292anything about events. 2017anything about events.
293 2018
2943a. Event-based in a main program, using any support Event module: 20193a. Event-based in a main program, using any supported event module:
295 2020
296 use Event; 2021 use EV;
297 2022
298 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 2023 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
299 my $txn = shift; 2024 my $txn = shift;
300 my $data = $txn->result; 2025 my $data = $txn->result;
301 ... 2026 ...
302 }); 2027 });
303 2028
304 Event::loop; 2029 EV::loop;
305 2030
3063b. The module user could use AnyEvent, too: 20313b. The module user could use AnyEvent, too:
307 2032
308 use AnyEvent; 2033 use AnyEvent;
309 2034
310 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 2035 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
311 2036
312 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 2037 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
313 ... 2038 ...
314 $quit->broadcast; 2039 $quit->send;
315 }); 2040 });
316 2041
317 $quit->wait; 2042 $quit->recv;
2043
2044
2045=head1 BENCHMARKS
2046
2047To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
2048over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
2049of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
2050
2051=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
2052
2053Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
2054through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
2055timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
2056which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
2057
2058Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
2059distribution.
2060
2061=head3 Explanation of the columns
2062
2063I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
2064different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
2065loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
2066and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
2067would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
2068of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
2069
2070I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
2071RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
2072and Perl-based overheads.
2073
2074I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
2075takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
2076all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
2077and memory usage is not included in the figures.
2078
2079I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
2080callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
2081invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
2082signal the end of this phase.
2083
2084I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
2085watcher.
2086
2087=head3 Results
2088
2089 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
2090 EV/EV 400000 224 0.47 0.35 0.27 EV native interface
2091 EV/Any 100000 224 2.88 0.34 0.27 EV + AnyEvent watchers
2092 CoroEV/Any 100000 224 2.85 0.35 0.28 coroutines + Coro::Signal
2093 Perl/Any 100000 452 4.13 0.73 0.95 pure perl implementation
2094 Event/Event 16000 517 32.20 31.80 0.81 Event native interface
2095 Event/Any 16000 590 35.85 31.55 1.06 Event + AnyEvent watchers
2096 IOAsync/Any 16000 989 38.10 32.77 11.13 via IO::Async::Loop::IO_Poll
2097 IOAsync/Any 16000 990 37.59 29.50 10.61 via IO::Async::Loop::Epoll
2098 Glib/Any 16000 1357 102.33 12.31 51.00 quadratic behaviour
2099 Tk/Any 2000 1860 27.20 66.31 14.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
2100 POE/Event 2000 6328 109.99 751.67 14.02 via POE::Loop::Event
2101 POE/Select 2000 6027 94.54 809.13 579.80 via POE::Loop::Select
2102
2103=head3 Discussion
2104
2105The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
2106well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
2107can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
2108file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
2109the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
2110boost.
2111
2112Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
2113overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
2114the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
2115higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
2116
2117To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
2118benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
2119EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
2120cycles with POE.
2121
2122C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
2123maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, it uses
2124far less memory than any other event loop and is still faster than Event
2125natively.
2126
2127The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
2128constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
2129interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
2130adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
2131performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
2132them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
2133
2134The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
2135cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
2136
2137C<IO::Async> performs admirably well, about on par with C<Event>, even
2138when using its pure perl backend.
2139
2140C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
2141faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
2142C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
2143watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
2144making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
2145(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
2146inefficiencies of C<poll> do not account for this).
2147
2148The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
2149more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
2150precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
2151file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
2152employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
2153hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
2154above).
2155
2156C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
2157select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
2158be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
2159memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
2160as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
2161requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
2162invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
2163implementation.
2164
2165The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
2166for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
2167small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
2168optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
2169using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
2170memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
2171design).
2172
2173=head3 Summary
2174
2175=over 4
2176
2177=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
2178(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
2179performance with or without AnyEvent.
2180
2181=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
2182the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
2183adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
2184
2185=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
2186reasonable memory usage.
2187
2188=back
2189
2190=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
2191
2192This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
2193creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
2194timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
2195watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
2196watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
2197
2198The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
2199are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
2200fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
2201timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
2202most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
2203
2204In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
2205(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
2206connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
2207
2208Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
2209distribution.
2210
2211=head3 Explanation of the columns
2212
2213I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
2214each server has a read and write socket end).
2215
2216I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
2217nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
2218
2219I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
2220single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
2221it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
2222a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
2223
2224=head3 Results
2225
2226 name sockets create request
2227 EV 20000 69.01 11.16
2228 Perl 20000 73.32 35.87
2229 IOAsync 20000 157.00 98.14 epoll
2230 IOAsync 20000 159.31 616.06 poll
2231 Event 20000 212.62 257.32
2232 Glib 20000 651.16 1896.30
2233 POE 20000 349.67 12317.24 uses POE::Loop::Event
2234
2235=head3 Discussion
2236
2237This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
2238particular event loop.
2239
2240EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
2241is relatively high, though.
2242
2243Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
2244loops Event and Glib.
2245
2246IO::Async performs very well when using its epoll backend, and still quite
2247good compared to Glib when using its pure perl backend.
2248
2249Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
2250understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
2251the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
2252uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
2253
2254Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
2255clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
2256
2257POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
2258as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
2259it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
2260
2261=head3 Summary
2262
2263=over 4
2264
2265=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
2266
2267=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
2268
2269=back
2270
2271=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
2272
2273While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
2274large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
2275I/O watchers.
2276
2277In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
2278case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
2279one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
2280well.
2281
2282The columns are identical to the previous table.
2283
2284=head3 Results
2285
2286 name sockets create request
2287 EV 16 20.00 6.54
2288 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
2289 Event 16 81.27 35.86
2290 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
2291 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
2292
2293=head3 Discussion
2294
2295The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
2296server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
2297in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
2298to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
2299speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
2300them).
2301
2302EV is again fastest.
2303
2304Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
2305loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
2306matter.
2307
2308POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
2309others.
2310
2311=head3 Summary
2312
2313=over 4
2314
2315=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
2316watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
2317
2318=back
2319
2320=head2 THE IO::Lambda BENCHMARK
2321
2322Recently I was told about the benchmark in the IO::Lambda manpage, which
2323could be misinterpreted to make AnyEvent look bad. In fact, the benchmark
2324simply compares IO::Lambda with POE, and IO::Lambda looks better (which
2325shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody). As such, the benchmark is
2326fine, and mostly shows that the AnyEvent backend from IO::Lambda isn't
2327very optimal. But how would AnyEvent compare when used without the extra
2328baggage? To explore this, I wrote the equivalent benchmark for AnyEvent.
2329
2330The benchmark itself creates an echo-server, and then, for 500 times,
2331connects to the echo server, sends a line, waits for the reply, and then
2332creates the next connection. This is a rather bad benchmark, as it doesn't
2333test the efficiency of the framework or much non-blocking I/O, but it is a
2334benchmark nevertheless.
2335
2336 name runtime
2337 Lambda/select 0.330 sec
2338 + optimized 0.122 sec
2339 Lambda/AnyEvent 0.327 sec
2340 + optimized 0.138 sec
2341 Raw sockets/select 0.077 sec
2342 POE/select, components 0.662 sec
2343 POE/select, raw sockets 0.226 sec
2344 POE/select, optimized 0.404 sec
2345
2346 AnyEvent/select/nb 0.085 sec
2347 AnyEvent/EV/nb 0.068 sec
2348 +state machine 0.134 sec
2349
2350The benchmark is also a bit unfair (my fault): the IO::Lambda/POE
2351benchmarks actually make blocking connects and use 100% blocking I/O,
2352defeating the purpose of an event-based solution. All of the newly
2353written AnyEvent benchmarks use 100% non-blocking connects (using
2354AnyEvent::Socket::tcp_connect and the asynchronous pure perl DNS
2355resolver), so AnyEvent is at a disadvantage here, as non-blocking connects
2356generally require a lot more bookkeeping and event handling than blocking
2357connects (which involve a single syscall only).
2358
2359The last AnyEvent benchmark additionally uses L<AnyEvent::Handle>, which
2360offers similar expressive power as POE and IO::Lambda, using conventional
2361Perl syntax. This means that both the echo server and the client are 100%
2362non-blocking, further placing it at a disadvantage.
2363
2364As you can see, the AnyEvent + EV combination even beats the
2365hand-optimised "raw sockets benchmark", while AnyEvent + its pure perl
2366backend easily beats IO::Lambda and POE.
2367
2368And even the 100% non-blocking version written using the high-level (and
2369slow :) L<AnyEvent::Handle> abstraction beats both POE and IO::Lambda by a
2370large margin, even though it does all of DNS, tcp-connect and socket I/O
2371in a non-blocking way.
2372
2373The two AnyEvent benchmarks programs can be found as F<eg/ae0.pl> and
2374F<eg/ae2.pl> in the AnyEvent distribution, the remaining benchmarks are
2375part of the IO::lambda distribution and were used without any changes.
2376
2377
2378=head1 SIGNALS
2379
2380AnyEvent currently installs handlers for these signals:
2381
2382=over 4
2383
2384=item SIGCHLD
2385
2386A handler for C<SIGCHLD> is installed by AnyEvent's child watcher
2387emulation for event loops that do not support them natively. Also, some
2388event loops install a similar handler.
2389
2390Additionally, when AnyEvent is loaded and SIGCHLD is set to IGNORE, then
2391AnyEvent will reset it to default, to avoid losing child exit statuses.
2392
2393=item SIGPIPE
2394
2395A no-op handler is installed for C<SIGPIPE> when C<$SIG{PIPE}> is C<undef>
2396when AnyEvent gets loaded.
2397
2398The rationale for this is that AnyEvent users usually do not really depend
2399on SIGPIPE delivery (which is purely an optimisation for shell use, or
2400badly-written programs), but C<SIGPIPE> can cause spurious and rare
2401program exits as a lot of people do not expect C<SIGPIPE> when writing to
2402some random socket.
2403
2404The rationale for installing a no-op handler as opposed to ignoring it is
2405that this way, the handler will be restored to defaults on exec.
2406
2407Feel free to install your own handler, or reset it to defaults.
2408
2409=back
2410
2411=cut
2412
2413undef $SIG{CHLD}
2414 if $SIG{CHLD} eq 'IGNORE';
2415
2416$SIG{PIPE} = sub { }
2417 unless defined $SIG{PIPE};
2418
2419=head1 RECOMMENDED/OPTIONAL MODULES
2420
2421One of AnyEvent's main goals is to be 100% Pure-Perl(tm): only perl (and
2422it's built-in modules) are required to use it.
2423
2424That does not mean that AnyEvent won't take advantage of some additional
2425modules if they are installed.
2426
2427This section epxlains which additional modules will be used, and how they
2428affect AnyEvent's operetion.
2429
2430=over 4
2431
2432=item L<Async::Interrupt>
2433
2434This slightly arcane module is used to implement fast signal handling: To
2435my knowledge, there is no way to do completely race-free and quick
2436signal handling in pure perl. To ensure that signals still get
2437delivered, AnyEvent will start an interval timer to wake up perl (and
2438catch the signals) with some delay (default is 10 seconds, look for
2439C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>).
2440
2441If this module is available, then it will be used to implement signal
2442catching, which means that signals will not be delayed, and the event loop
2443will not be interrupted regularly, which is more efficient (And good for
2444battery life on laptops).
2445
2446This affects not just the pure-perl event loop, but also other event loops
2447that have no signal handling on their own (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt).
2448
2449Some event loops (POE, Event, Event::Lib) offer signal watchers natively,
2450and either employ their own workarounds (POE) or use AnyEvent's workaround
2451(using C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>). Installing L<Async::Interrupt>
2452does nothing for those backends.
2453
2454=item L<EV>
2455
2456This module isn't really "optional", as it is simply one of the backend
2457event loops that AnyEvent can use. However, it is simply the best event
2458loop available in terms of features, speed and stability: It supports
2459the AnyEvent API optimally, implements all the watcher types in XS, does
2460automatic timer adjustments even when no monotonic clock is available,
2461can take avdantage of advanced kernel interfaces such as C<epoll> and
2462C<kqueue>, and is the fastest backend I<by far>. You can even embed
2463L<Glib>/L<Gtk2> in it (or vice versa, see L<EV::Glib> and L<Glib::EV>).
2464
2465=item L<Guard>
2466
2467The guard module, when used, will be used to implement
2468C<AnyEvent::Util::guard>. This speeds up guards considerably (and uses a
2469lot less memory), but otherwise doesn't affect guard operation much. It is
2470purely used for performance.
2471
2472=item L<JSON> and L<JSON::XS>
2473
2474This module is required when you want to read or write JSON data via
2475L<AnyEvent::Handle>. It is also written in pure-perl, but can take
2476advantage of the ultra-high-speed L<JSON::XS> module when it is installed.
2477
2478In fact, L<AnyEvent::Handle> will use L<JSON::XS> by default if it is
2479installed.
2480
2481=item L<Net::SSLeay>
2482
2483Implementing TLS/SSL in Perl is certainly interesting, but not very
2484worthwhile: If this module is installed, then L<AnyEvent::Handle> (with
2485the help of L<AnyEvent::TLS>), gains the ability to do TLS/SSL.
2486
2487=item L<Time::HiRes>
2488
2489This module is part of perl since release 5.008. It will be used when the
2490chosen event library does not come with a timing source on it's own. The
2491pure-perl event loop (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) will additionally use it to
2492try to use a monotonic clock for timing stability.
2493
2494=back
2495
2496
2497=head1 FORK
2498
2499Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
2500because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
2501calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
2502
2503If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
2504watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child OR you must do
2505something completely out of the scope of AnyEvent.
2506
2507
2508=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
2509
2510AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
2511$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to
2512execute arbitrary code or directly gain access, it can easily be used to
2513make the program hang or malfunction in subtle ways, as AnyEvent watchers
2514will not be active when the program uses a different event model than
2515specified in the variable.
2516
2517You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
2518before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
2519
2520 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
2521
2522 use AnyEvent;
2523
2524Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
2525be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
2526probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), and
2527$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT}.
2528
2529Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
2530C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
2531enabled.
2532
2533
2534=head1 BUGS
2535
2536Perl 5.8 has numerous memleaks that sometimes hit this module and are hard
2537to work around. If you suffer from memleaks, first upgrade to Perl 5.10
2538and check wether the leaks still show up. (Perl 5.10.0 has other annoying
2539memleaks, such as leaking on C<map> and C<grep> but it is usually not as
2540pronounced).
2541
318 2542
319=head1 SEE ALSO 2543=head1 SEE ALSO
320 2544
321Event modules: L<Coro::Event>, L<Coro>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>. 2545Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
322 2546
323Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::Coro>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>. 2547Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
2548L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
324 2549
325Nontrivial usage example: L<Net::FCP>. 2550Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
2551L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
2552L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
2553L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync>, L<Anyevent::Impl::Irssi>.
326 2554
327=head1 2555Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
2556servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>, L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
2557
2558Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
2559
2560Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>,
2561L<Coro::Event>,
2562
2563Nontrivial usage examples: L<AnyEvent::GPSD>, L<AnyEvent::XMPP>,
2564L<AnyEvent::HTTP>.
2565
2566
2567=head1 AUTHOR
2568
2569 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
2570 http://home.schmorp.de/
328 2571
329=cut 2572=cut
330 2573
3311 25741
332 2575

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