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Revision 1.324 by root, Thu May 20 23:55:51 2010 UTC

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 # if you prefer function calls, look at the AE manpage for
13 # an alternative API.
14
15 # file handle or descriptor readable
11 my $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => ..., poll => "[rw]+", cb => sub { 16 my $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh, poll => "r", cb => sub { ... });
12 my ($poll_got) = @_; 17
18 # one-shot or repeating timers
19 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub { ... });
20 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, interval => $seconds, cb => ...
21
22 print AnyEvent->now; # prints current event loop time
23 print AnyEvent->time; # think Time::HiRes::time or simply CORE::time.
24
25 # POSIX signal
26 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "TERM", cb => sub { ... });
27
28 # child process exit
29 my $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => $pid, cb => sub {
30 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
13 ... 31 ...
14 }); 32 });
15 33
16* only one io watcher per $fh and $poll type is allowed (i.e. on a socket 34 # called when event loop idle (if applicable)
17you can have one r + one w or one rw watcher, not any more (limitation by 35 my $w = AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub { ... });
18Tk).
19 36
20* the C<$poll_got> passed to the handler needs to be checked by looking 37 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged
21for single characters (e.g. with a regex), as it can contain more event 38 $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 39 $w->recv; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->send
39 $w->broadcast; # wake up current and all future wait's 40 # use a condvar in callback mode:
41 $w->cb (sub { $_[0]->recv });
40 42
41* condvars are used to give blocking behaviour when neccessary. Create 43=head1 INTRODUCTION/TUTORIAL
42a condvar for any "request" or "event" your module might create, C<< 44
43->broadcast >> it when the event happens and provide a function that calls 45This manpage is mainly a reference manual. If you are interested
44C<< ->wait >> for it. See the examples below. 46in a tutorial or some gentle introduction, have a look at the
47L<AnyEvent::Intro> manpage.
48
49=head1 SUPPORT
50
51There is a mailinglist for discussing all things AnyEvent, and an IRC
52channel, too.
53
54See the AnyEvent project page at the B<Schmorpforge Ta-Sa Software
55Repository>, at L<http://anyevent.schmorp.de>, for more info.
56
57=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT)
58
59Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen
60nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?
61
62Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of
63policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>.
64
65First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only
66interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use, in a
67pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike,
68the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general,
69only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent
70cannot change this, but it can hide the differences between those event
71loops.
72
73The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event
74programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a
75religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your
76module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event
77model you use.
78
79For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is
80actually doing all I/O I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is
81like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you
82cannot use anything else, as they are simply incompatible to everything
83that isn't them. What's worse, all the potential users of your
84module are I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use.
85
86AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works
87fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together
88with the rest: POE + IO::Async? No go. Tk + Event? No go. Again: if
89your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it,
90too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all
91event models it supports (including stuff like IO::Async, as long as those
92use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new event loops
93to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof).
94
95In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event
96model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar
97modules, you get an enormous amount of code and strict rules you have to
98follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only
99offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as
100technically possible.
101
102Of course, AnyEvent comes with a big (and fully optional!) toolbox
103of useful functionality, such as an asynchronous DNS resolver, 100%
104non-blocking connects (even with TLS/SSL, IPv6 and on broken platforms
105such as Windows) and lots of real-world knowledge and workarounds for
106platform bugs and differences.
107
108Now, if you I<do want> lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat
109useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event
110model, you should I<not> use this module.
45 111
46=head1 DESCRIPTION 112=head1 DESCRIPTION
47 113
48L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This 114L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This
49allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module 115allows 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 116users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist
51peacefully at any one time). 117peacefully at any one time).
52 118
53The interface itself is vaguely similar but not identical to the Event 119The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
54module. 120module.
55 121
56On the first call of any method, the module tries to detect the currently 122During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries
57loaded event loop by probing wether any of the following modules is 123to 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 124following modules is already loaded: L<EV>,
59used. If none is found, the module tries to load these modules in the 125L<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 126L<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. 127to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl
128adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can
129be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be
130found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl event loop, which is not
131very efficient, but should work everywhere.
132
133Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading
134an event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make
135that model the default. For example:
136
137 use Tk;
138 use AnyEvent;
139
140 # .. AnyEvent will likely default to Tk
141
142The I<likely> means that, if any module loads another event model and
143starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to
144use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly...
145
146The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called
147C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it
148explicitly and enjoy the high availability of that event loop :)
149
150=head1 WATCHERS
151
152AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that
153stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as
154the callback to call, the file handle to watch, etc.
155
156These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
157creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the
158callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model
159is in control).
160
161Note that B<callbacks must not permanently change global variables>
162potentially in use by the event loop (such as C<$_> or C<$[>) and that B<<
163callbacks must not C<die> >>. The former is good programming practise in
164Perl and the latter stems from the fact that exception handling differs
165widely between event loops.
166
167To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the
168variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references
169to it).
170
171All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class.
172
173Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for
174example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways.
175
176An any way to achieve that is this pattern:
177
178 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub {
179 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it
180 undef $w;
181 });
182
183Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,
184my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are
185declared.
186
187=head2 I/O WATCHERS
188
189 $w = AnyEvent->io (
190 fh => <filehandle_or_fileno>,
191 poll => <"r" or "w">,
192 cb => <callback>,
193 );
194
195You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
196with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
197
198C<fh> is the Perl I<file handle> (or a naked file descriptor) to watch
199for events (AnyEvent might or might not keep a reference to this file
200handle). Note that only file handles pointing to things for which
201non-blocking operation makes sense are allowed. This includes sockets,
202most character devices, pipes, fifos and so on, but not for example files
203or block devices.
204
205C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, which creates a
206watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events, respectively.
207
208C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle becomes ready.
209
210Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
211presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
212callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
213
214The I/O watcher might use the underlying file descriptor or a copy of it.
215You must not close a file handle as long as any watcher is active on the
216underlying file descriptor.
217
218Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should
219always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file
220handles.
221
222Example: wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the
223watcher.
224
225 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
226 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>);
227 warn "read: $input\n";
228 undef $w;
229 });
230
231=head2 TIME WATCHERS
232
233 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => <seconds>, cb => <callback>);
234
235 $w = AnyEvent->timer (
236 after => <fractional_seconds>,
237 interval => <fractional_seconds>,
238 cb => <callback>,
239 );
240
241You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>
242method with the following mandatory arguments:
243
244C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are
245supported) the callback should be invoked. C<cb> is the callback to invoke
246in that case.
247
248Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
249presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
250callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks.
251
252The callback will normally be invoked once only. If you specify another
253parameter, C<interval>, as a strictly positive number (> 0), then the
254callback will be invoked regularly at that interval (in fractional
255seconds) after the first invocation. If C<interval> is specified with a
256false value, then it is treated as if it were missing.
257
258The callback will be rescheduled before invoking the callback, but no
259attempt is done to avoid timer drift in most backends, so the interval is
260only approximate.
261
262Example: fire an event after 7.7 seconds.
263
264 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub {
265 warn "timeout\n";
266 });
267
268 # to cancel the timer:
269 undef $w;
270
271Example 2: fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second.
272
273 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, interval => 1, cb => sub {
274 warn "timeout\n";
275 };
276
277=head3 TIMING ISSUES
278
279There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire
280in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12
281o'clock").
282
283While most event loops expect timers to specified in a relative way, they
284use absolute time internally. This makes a difference when your clock
285"jumps", for example, when ntp decides to set your clock backwards from
286the wrong date of 2014-01-01 to 2008-01-01, a watcher that is supposed to
287fire "after" a second might actually take six years to finally fire.
288
289AnyEvent cannot compensate for this. The only event loop that is conscious
290about these issues is L<EV>, which offers both relative (ev_timer, based
291on true relative time) and absolute (ev_periodic, based on wallclock time)
292timers.
293
294AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the
295AnyEvent API.
296
297AnyEvent has two additional methods that return the "current time":
62 298
63=over 4 299=over 4
64 300
301=item AnyEvent->time
302
303This returns the "current wallclock time" as a fractional number of
304seconds since the Epoch (the same thing as C<time> or C<Time::HiRes::time>
305return, and the result is guaranteed to be compatible with those).
306
307It progresses independently of any event loop processing, i.e. each call
308will check the system clock, which usually gets updated frequently.
309
310=item AnyEvent->now
311
312This also returns the "current wallclock time", but unlike C<time>, above,
313this value might change only once per event loop iteration, depending on
314the event loop (most return the same time as C<time>, above). This is the
315time that AnyEvent's timers get scheduled against.
316
317I<In almost all cases (in all cases if you don't care), this is the
318function to call when you want to know the current time.>
319
320This function is also often faster then C<< AnyEvent->time >>, and
321thus the preferred method if you want some timestamp (for example,
322L<AnyEvent::Handle> uses this to update it's activity timeouts).
323
324The rest of this section is only of relevance if you try to be very exact
325with your timing, you can skip it without bad conscience.
326
327For a practical example of when these times differ, consider L<Event::Lib>
328and L<EV> and the following set-up:
329
330The event loop is running and has just invoked one of your callback at
331time=500 (assume no other callbacks delay processing). In your callback,
332you wait a second by executing C<sleep 1> (blocking the process for a
333second) and then (at time=501) you create a relative timer that fires
334after three seconds.
335
336With L<Event::Lib>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> will
337both return C<501>, because that is the current time, and the timer will
338be scheduled to fire at time=504 (C<501> + C<3>).
339
340With L<EV>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> returns C<501> (as that is the current
341time), but C<< AnyEvent->now >> returns C<500>, as that is the time the
342last event processing phase started. With L<EV>, your timer gets scheduled
343to run at time=503 (C<500> + C<3>).
344
345In one sense, L<Event::Lib> is more exact, as it uses the current time
346regardless of any delays introduced by event processing. However, most
347callbacks do not expect large delays in processing, so this causes a
348higher drift (and a lot more system calls to get the current time).
349
350In another sense, L<EV> is more exact, as your timer will be scheduled at
351the same time, regardless of how long event processing actually took.
352
353In either case, if you care (and in most cases, you don't), then you
354can get whatever behaviour you want with any event loop, by taking the
355difference between C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> into
356account.
357
358=item AnyEvent->now_update
359
360Some event loops (such as L<EV> or L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) cache
361the current time for each loop iteration (see the discussion of L<<
362AnyEvent->now >>, above).
363
364When a callback runs for a long time (or when the process sleeps), then
365this "current" time will differ substantially from the real time, which
366might affect timers and time-outs.
367
368When this is the case, you can call this method, which will update the
369event loop's idea of "current time".
370
371A typical example would be a script in a web server (e.g. C<mod_perl>) -
372when mod_perl executes the script, then the event loop will have the wrong
373idea about the "current time" (being potentially far in the past, when the
374script ran the last time). In that case you should arrange a call to C<<
375AnyEvent->now_update >> each time the web server process wakes up again
376(e.g. at the start of your script, or in a handler).
377
378Note that updating the time I<might> cause some events to be handled.
379
380=back
381
382=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
383
384 $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => <uppercase_signal_name>, cb => <callback>);
385
386You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
387I<name> in uppercase and without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl
388callback to be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
389
390Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
391presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
392callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
393
394Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
395invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
396that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
397but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
398
399The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
400between multiple watchers, and AnyEvent will ensure that signals will not
401interrupt your program at bad times.
402
403This watcher might use C<%SIG> (depending on the event loop used),
404so programs overwriting those signals directly will likely not work
405correctly.
406
407Example: exit on SIGINT
408
409 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
410
411=head3 Restart Behaviour
412
413While restart behaviour is up to the event loop implementation, most will
414not restart syscalls (that includes L<Async::Interrupt> and AnyEvent's
415pure perl implementation).
416
417=head3 Safe/Unsafe Signals
418
419Perl signals can be either "safe" (synchronous to opcode handling) or
420"unsafe" (asynchronous) - the former might get delayed indefinitely, the
421latter might corrupt your memory.
422
423AnyEvent signal handlers are, in addition, synchronous to the event loop,
424i.e. they will not interrupt your running perl program but will only be
425called as part of the normal event handling (just like timer, I/O etc.
426callbacks, too).
427
428=head3 Signal Races, Delays and Workarounds
429
430Many event loops (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt, IO::Async) do not support attaching
431callbacks to signals in a generic way, which is a pity, as you cannot
432do race-free signal handling in perl, requiring C libraries for
433this. AnyEvent will try to do it's best, which means in some cases,
434signals will be delayed. The maximum time a signal might be delayed is
435specified in C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY> (default: 10 seconds). This
436variable can be changed only before the first signal watcher is created,
437and should be left alone otherwise. This variable determines how often
438AnyEvent polls for signals (in case a wake-up was missed). Higher values
439will cause fewer spurious wake-ups, which is better for power and CPU
440saving.
441
442All these problems can be avoided by installing the optional
443L<Async::Interrupt> module, which works with most event loops. It will not
444work with inherently broken event loops such as L<Event> or L<Event::Lib>
445(and not with L<POE> currently, as POE does it's own workaround with
446one-second latency). For those, you just have to suffer the delays.
447
448=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
449
450 $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => <process id>, cb => <callback>);
451
452You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status.
453
454The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (one some backends,
455using C<0> watches for any child process exit, on others this will
456croak). The watcher will be triggered only when the child process has
457finished and an exit status is available, not on any trace events
458(stopped/continued).
459
460The callback will be called with the pid and exit status (as returned by
461waitpid), so unlike other watcher types, you I<can> rely on child watcher
462callback arguments.
463
464This watcher type works by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>,
465and since it cannot be shared, nothing else should use SIGCHLD or reap
466random child processes (waiting for specific child processes, e.g. inside
467C<system>, is just fine).
468
469There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
470I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
471have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
472
473Not all event models handle this correctly (neither POE nor IO::Async do,
474see their AnyEvent::Impl manpages for details), but even for event models
475that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be loaded before
476the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place). AnyEvent's
477pure perl event loop handles all cases correctly regardless of when you
478start the watcher.
479
480This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first
481thing in an AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one
482watcher before you C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call
483C<AnyEvent::detect>).
484
485As most event loops do not support waiting for child events, they will be
486emulated by AnyEvent in most cases, in which the latency and race problems
487mentioned in the description of signal watchers apply.
488
489Example: fork a process and wait for it
490
491 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
492
493 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
494
495 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
496 pid => $pid,
497 cb => sub {
498 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
499 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
500 $done->send;
501 },
502 );
503
504 # do something else, then wait for process exit
505 $done->recv;
506
507=head2 IDLE WATCHERS
508
509 $w = AnyEvent->idle (cb => <callback>);
510
511Repeatedly invoke the callback after the process becomes idle, until
512either the watcher is destroyed or new events have been detected.
513
514Idle watchers are useful when there is a need to do something, but it
515is not so important (or wise) to do it instantly. The callback will be
516invoked only when there is "nothing better to do", which is usually
517defined as "all outstanding events have been handled and no new events
518have been detected". That means that idle watchers ideally get invoked
519when the event loop has just polled for new events but none have been
520detected. Instead of blocking to wait for more events, the idle watchers
521will be invoked.
522
523Unfortunately, most event loops do not really support idle watchers (only
524EV, Event and Glib do it in a usable fashion) - for the rest, AnyEvent
525will simply call the callback "from time to time".
526
527Example: read lines from STDIN, but only process them when the
528program is otherwise idle:
529
530 my @lines; # read data
531 my $idle_w;
532 my $io_w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
533 push @lines, scalar <STDIN>;
534
535 # start an idle watcher, if not already done
536 $idle_w ||= AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub {
537 # handle only one line, when there are lines left
538 if (my $line = shift @lines) {
539 print "handled when idle: $line";
540 } else {
541 # otherwise disable the idle watcher again
542 undef $idle_w;
543 }
544 });
545 });
546
547=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
548
549 $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
550
551 $cv->send (<list>);
552 my @res = $cv->recv;
553
554If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
555require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
556will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
557
558AnyEvent is slightly different: it expects somebody else to run the event
559loop and will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
560
561The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
562because they represent a condition that must become true.
563
564Now is probably a good time to look at the examples further below.
565
566Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
567>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
568C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
569becomes true, with the condition variable as the first argument (but not
570the results).
571
572After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
573by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
574were a callback, read about the caveats in the description for the C<<
575->send >> method).
576
577Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
578optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
579in time where multiple outstanding events have been processed. And yet
580another way to call them is transactions - each condition variable can be
581used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
582a result. And yet some people know them as "futures" - a promise to
583compute/deliver something that you can wait for.
584
585Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
586for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
587then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
588availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
589called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
590
591You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
592you can block your main program until an event occurs - for example, you
593could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
594button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
595
596Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
597two pieces of code that call C<< ->recv >> in a round-robin fashion, you
598lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
599you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
600as this asks for trouble.
601
602Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
603used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
604easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
605AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
606it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
607
608There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
609eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
610for the send to occur.
611
612Example: wait for a timer.
613
614 # condition: "wait till the timer is fired"
615 my $timer_fired = AnyEvent->condvar;
616
617 # create the timer - we could wait for, say
618 # a handle becomign ready, or even an
619 # AnyEvent::HTTP request to finish, but
620 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
621 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
622 after => 1,
623 cb => sub { $timer_fired->send },
624 );
625
626 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
627 # calls ->send
628 $timer_fired->recv;
629
630Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that condition
631variables are also callable directly.
632
633 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
634 my $delay = AnyEvent->timer (after => 5, cb => $done);
635 $done->recv;
636
637Example: Imagine an API that returns a condvar and doesn't support
638callbacks. This is how you make a synchronous call, for example from
639the main program:
640
641 use AnyEvent::CouchDB;
642
643 ...
644
645 my @info = $couchdb->info->recv;
646
647And this is how you would just set a callback to be called whenever the
648results are available:
649
650 $couchdb->info->cb (sub {
651 my @info = $_[0]->recv;
652 });
653
654=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
655
656These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
657code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
658the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
659uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
660
661=over 4
662
663=item $cv->send (...)
664
665Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
666calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
667called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
668
669If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
670immediately from within send.
671
672Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
673future C<< ->recv >> calls.
674
675Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly (as if
676they were a code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling
677C<send>.
678
679=item $cv->croak ($error)
680
681Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
682C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
683
684This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
685user/consumer. Doing it this way instead of calling C<croak> directly
686delays the error detetcion, but has the overwhelmign advantage that it
687diagnoses the error at the place where the result is expected, and not
688deep in some event clalback without connection to the actual code causing
689the problem.
690
691=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
692
693=item $cv->end
694
695These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
696one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
697to use a condition variable for the whole process.
698
699Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
700C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
701>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed, passing the
702condvar as first argument. That callback is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send
703>>, but that is not required. If no group callback was set, C<send> will
704be called without any arguments.
705
706You can think of C<< $cv->send >> giving you an OR condition (one call
707sends), while C<< $cv->begin >> and C<< $cv->end >> giving you an AND
708condition (all C<begin> calls must be C<end>'ed before the condvar sends).
709
710Let's start with a simple example: you have two I/O watchers (for example,
711STDOUT and STDERR for a program), and you want to wait for both streams to
712close before activating a condvar:
713
714 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
715
716 $cv->begin; # first watcher
717 my $w1 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh1, cb => sub {
718 defined sysread $fh1, my $buf, 4096
719 or $cv->end;
720 });
721
722 $cv->begin; # second watcher
723 my $w2 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh2, cb => sub {
724 defined sysread $fh2, my $buf, 4096
725 or $cv->end;
726 });
727
728 $cv->recv;
729
730This works because for every event source (EOF on file handle), there is
731one call to C<begin>, so the condvar waits for all calls to C<end> before
732sending.
733
734The ping example mentioned above is slightly more complicated, as the
735there are results to be passwd back, and the number of tasks that are
736begung can potentially be zero:
737
738 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
739
740 my %result;
741 $cv->begin (sub { shift->send (\%result) });
742
743 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
744 $cv->begin;
745 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
746 $result{$host} = ...;
747 $cv->end;
748 };
749 }
750
751 $cv->end;
752
753This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
754C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
755order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
756each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
757it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
758results arrive is not relevant.
759
760There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
761loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
762to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
763C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
764doesn't execute once).
765
766This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple (but
767potentially none) subrequests: use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set
768the callback and ensure C<end> is called at least once, and then, for each
769subrequest you start, call C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish,
770call C<end>.
771
772=back
773
774=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
775
776These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
777code awaits the condition.
778
779=over 4
780
781=item $cv->recv
782
783Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
784>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
785normally.
786
787You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
788will return immediately.
789
790If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
791function will call C<croak>.
792
793In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
794in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
795
796Note that doing a blocking wait in a callback is not supported by any
797event loop, that is, recursive invocation of a blocking C<< ->recv
798>> is not allowed, and the C<recv> call will C<croak> if such a
799condition is detected. This condition can be slightly loosened by using
800L<Coro::AnyEvent>, which allows you to do a blocking C<< ->recv >> from
801any thread that doesn't run the event loop itself.
802
803Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
804(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
805using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>. Instead, let the
806caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
807condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
808callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
809while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
810
811You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
812only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
813time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
814waits otherwise.
815
816=item $bool = $cv->ready
817
818Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
819C<croak> have been called.
820
821=item $cb = $cv->cb ($cb->($cv))
822
823This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
824replaces it before doing so.
825
826The callback will be called when the condition becomes (or already was)
827"true", i.e. when C<send> or C<croak> are called (or were called), with
828the only argument being the condition variable itself. Calling C<recv>
829inside the callback or at any later time is guaranteed not to block.
830
831=back
832
833=head1 SUPPORTED EVENT LOOPS/BACKENDS
834
835The available backend classes are (every class has its own manpage):
836
837=over 4
838
839=item Backends that are autoprobed when no other event loop can be found.
840
841EV is the preferred backend when no other event loop seems to be in
842use. If EV is not installed, then AnyEvent will fall back to its own
843pure-perl implementation, which is available everywhere as it comes with
844AnyEvent itself.
845
846 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (interface to libev, best choice).
847 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
848
849=item Backends that are transparently being picked up when they are used.
850
851These will be used when they are currently loaded when the first watcher
852is created, in which case it is assumed that the application is using
853them. This means that AnyEvent will automatically pick the right backend
854when the main program loads an event module before anything starts to
855create watchers. Nothing special needs to be done by the main program.
856
857 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, very stable, few glitches.
858 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, slow but very stable.
859 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very broken.
860 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
861 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, very slow, some limitations.
862 AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi used when running within irssi.
863
864=item Backends with special needs.
865
866Qt requires the Qt::Application to be instantiated first, but will
867otherwise be picked up automatically. As long as the main program
868instantiates the application before any AnyEvent watchers are created,
869everything should just work.
870
871 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt.
872
873Support for IO::Async can only be partial, as it is too broken and
874architecturally limited to even support the AnyEvent API. It also
875is the only event loop that needs the loop to be set explicitly, so
876it can only be used by a main program knowing about AnyEvent. See
877L<AnyEvent::Impl::Async> for the gory details.
878
879 AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync based on IO::Async, cannot be autoprobed.
880
881=item Event loops that are indirectly supported via other backends.
882
883Some event loops can be supported via other modules:
884
885There is no direct support for WxWidgets (L<Wx>) or L<Prima>.
886
887B<WxWidgets> has no support for watching file handles. However, you can
888use WxWidgets through the POE adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply
889polls 20 times per second, which was considered to be too horrible to even
890consider for AnyEvent.
891
892B<Prima> is not supported as nobody seems to be using it, but it has a POE
893backend, so it can be supported through POE.
894
895AnyEvent knows about both L<Prima> and L<Wx>, however, and will try to
896load L<POE> when detecting them, in the hope that POE will pick them up,
897in which case everything will be automatic.
898
899=back
900
901=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
902
903These are not normally required to use AnyEvent, but can be useful to
904write AnyEvent extension modules.
905
906=over 4
907
908=item $AnyEvent::MODEL
909
910Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created, before the
911backend has been autodetected.
912
913Afterwards it contains the event model that is being used, which is the
914name of the Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one
915of the C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the
916case AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode> it
917will be C<urxvt::anyevent>).
918
919=item AnyEvent::detect
920
921Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
922if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
923have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
924runtime, and not e.g. while initialising of your module.
925
926If you need to do some initialisation before AnyEvent watchers are
927created, use C<post_detect>.
928
929=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
930
931Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
932autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
933
934The block will be executed I<after> the actual backend has been detected
935(C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> is set), but I<before> any watchers have been
936created, so it is possible to e.g. patch C<@AnyEvent::ISA> or do
937other initialisations - see the sources of L<AnyEvent::Strict> or
938L<AnyEvent::AIO> to see how this is used.
939
940The most common usage is to create some global watchers, without forcing
941event module detection too early, for example, L<AnyEvent::AIO> creates
942and installs the global L<IO::AIO> watcher in a C<post_detect> block to
943avoid autodetecting the event module at load time.
944
945If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
946that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed (or
947C<undef> when the hook was immediately executed). See L<AnyEvent::AIO> for
948a case where this is useful.
949
950Example: Create a watcher for the IO::AIO module and store it in
951C<$WATCHER>. Only do so after the event loop is initialised, though.
952
953 our WATCHER;
954
955 my $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect {
956 $WATCHER = AnyEvent->io (fh => IO::AIO::poll_fileno, poll => 'r', cb => \&IO::AIO::poll_cb);
957 };
958
959 # the ||= is important in case post_detect immediately runs the block,
960 # as to not clobber the newly-created watcher. assigning both watcher and
961 # post_detect guard to the same variable has the advantage of users being
962 # able to just C<undef $WATCHER> if the watcher causes them grief.
963
964 $WATCHER ||= $guard;
965
966=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
967
968If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
969before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
970the event loop has been chosen.
971
972You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
973if it is defined then the event loop has already been detected, and the
974array will be ignored.
975
976Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> when your application allows
977it, as it takes care of these details.
978
979This variable is mainly useful for modules that can do something useful
980when AnyEvent is used and thus want to know when it is initialised, but do
981not need to even load it by default. This array provides the means to hook
982into AnyEvent passively, without loading it.
983
984Example: To load Coro::AnyEvent whenever Coro and AnyEvent are used
985together, you could put this into Coro (this is the actual code used by
986Coro to accomplish this):
987
988 if (defined $AnyEvent::MODEL) {
989 # AnyEvent already initialised, so load Coro::AnyEvent
990 require Coro::AnyEvent;
991 } else {
992 # AnyEvent not yet initialised, so make sure to load Coro::AnyEvent
993 # as soon as it is
994 push @AnyEvent::post_detect, sub { require Coro::AnyEvent };
995 }
996
997=back
998
999=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
1000
1001As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods
1002freely, but you should not load a specific event module or rely on it.
1003
1004Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
1005decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
1006by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
1007to load the event module first.
1008
1009Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
1010the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
1011because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
1012events is to stay interactive.
1013
1014It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
1015requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
1016called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
1017freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
1018
1019=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
1020
1021There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
1022dictate which event model to use.
1023
1024If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not
1025do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
1026decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
1027
1028If the main program relies on a specific event model - for example, in
1029Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module - you should load the
1030event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
1031speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
1032modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
1033decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
1034might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
1035
1036You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
1037C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
1038everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
1039
1040=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
1041
1042Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
1043only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
1044
1045In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
1046
1047 AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
1048
1049This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
1050
1051Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
1052it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
1053variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
1054exit cleanly.
1055
1056
1057=head1 OTHER MODULES
1058
1059The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
1060AnyEvent as a client and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent
1061modules and other event loops in the same program. Some of the modules
1062come with AnyEvent, the others are available via CPAN.
1063
1064=over 4
1065
1066=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
1067
1068Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
1069functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
1070
1071=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
1072
1073Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
1074addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
1075connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
1076
1077=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
1078
1079Provide read and write buffers, manages watchers for reads and writes,
1080supports raw and formatted I/O, I/O queued and fully transparent and
1081non-blocking SSL/TLS (via L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
1082
1083=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
1084
1085Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
1086
1087=item L<AnyEvent::HTTP>, L<AnyEvent::IRC>, L<AnyEvent::XMPP>, L<AnyEvent::GPSD>, L<AnyEvent::IGS>, L<AnyEvent::FCP>
1088
1089Implement event-based interfaces to the protocols of the same name (for
1090the curious, IGS is the International Go Server and FCP is the Freenet
1091Client Protocol).
1092
1093=item L<AnyEvent::Handle::UDP>
1094
1095Here be danger!
1096
1097As Pauli would put it, "Not only is it not right, it's not even wrong!" -
1098there are so many things wrong with AnyEvent::Handle::UDP, most notably
1099it's use of a stream-based API with a protocol that isn't streamable, that
1100the only way to improve it is to delete it.
1101
1102It features data corruption (but typically only under load) and general
1103confusion. On top, the author is not only clueless about UDP but also
1104fact-resistant - some gems of his understanding: "connect doesn't work
1105with UDP", "UDP packets are not IP packets", "UDP only has datagrams, not
1106packets", "I don't need to implement proper error checking as UDP doesn't
1107support error checking" and so on - he doesn't even understand what's
1108wrong with his module when it is explained to him.
1109
1110=item L<AnyEvent::DBI>
1111
1112Executes L<DBI> requests asynchronously in a proxy process for you,
1113notifying you in an event-bnased way when the operation is finished.
1114
1115=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>
1116
1117Truly asynchronous (as opposed to non-blocking) I/O, should be in the
1118toolbox of every event programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses
1119L<IO::AIO> and AnyEvent together, giving AnyEvent access to event-based
1120file I/O, and much more.
1121
1122=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
1123
1124A simple embedded webserver.
1125
1126=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
1127
1128The fastest ping in the west.
1129
1130=item L<Coro>
1131
1132Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
1133
1134=back
1135
65=cut 1136=cut
66 1137
67package AnyEvent; 1138package AnyEvent;
68 1139
69no warnings; 1140# basically a tuned-down version of common::sense
70use strict 'vars'; 1141sub common_sense {
1142 # from common:.sense 1.0
1143 ${^WARNING_BITS} = "\xfc\x3f\x33\x00\x0f\xf3\xcf\xc0\xf3\xfc\x33\x00";
1144 # use strict vars subs - NO UTF-8, as Util.pm doesn't like this atm. (uts46data.pl)
1145 $^H |= 0x00000600;
1146}
1147
1148BEGIN { AnyEvent::common_sense }
1149
71use Carp; 1150use Carp ();
72 1151
73our $VERSION = '1.02'; 1152our $VERSION = '5.261';
74our $MODEL; 1153our $MODEL;
75 1154
76our $AUTOLOAD; 1155our $AUTOLOAD;
77our @ISA; 1156our @ISA;
78 1157
79our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
80
81our @REGISTRY; 1158our @REGISTRY;
82 1159
1160our $VERBOSE;
1161
1162BEGIN {
1163 require "AnyEvent/constants.pl";
1164
1165 eval "sub TAINT (){" . (${^TAINT}*1) . "}";
1166
1167 delete @ENV{grep /^PERL_ANYEVENT_/, keys %ENV}
1168 if ${^TAINT};
1169
1170 $VERBOSE = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
1171
1172}
1173
1174our $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY = 10;
1175
1176our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2), higher numbers are preferred
1177
1178{
1179 my $idx;
1180 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
1181 for reverse split /\s*,\s*/,
1182 $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
1183}
1184
83my @models = ( 1185my @models = (
84 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Coro::], 1186 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV:: , 1],
1187 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: , 1],
1188 # everything below here will not (normally) be autoprobed
1189 # as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
1190 # and is usually faster
85 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 1191 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::, 1],
86 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], 1192 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib:: , 1], # becomes extremely slow with many watchers
1193 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
1194 [Irssi:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi::], # Irssi has a bogus "Event" package
1195 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], # crashes with many handles
1196 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
1197 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
87 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], 1198 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
1199 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
1200 # IO::Async is just too broken - we would need workarounds for its
1201 # byzantine signal and broken child handling, among others.
1202 # IO::Async is rather hard to detect, as it doesn't have any
1203 # obvious default class.
1204 [IO::Async:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1205 [IO::Async::Loop:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1206 [IO::Async::Notifier:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1207 [AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
88); 1208);
89 1209
90our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer condvar broadcast wait cancel DESTROY); 1210our %method = map +($_ => 1),
1211 qw(io timer time now now_update signal child idle condvar one_event DESTROY);
91 1212
92sub AUTOLOAD { 1213our @post_detect;
93 $AUTOLOAD =~ s/.*://;
94 1214
95 $method{$AUTOLOAD} 1215sub post_detect(&) {
96 or croak "$AUTOLOAD: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects"; 1216 my ($cb) = @_;
97 1217
1218 push @post_detect, $cb;
1219
1220 defined wantarray
1221 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::postdetect"
1222 : ()
1223}
1224
1225sub AnyEvent::Util::postdetect::DESTROY {
1226 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
1227}
1228
1229sub detect() {
1230 # free some memory
1231 *detect = sub () { $MODEL };
1232
1233 local $!; # for good measure
1234 local $SIG{__DIE__};
1235
1236 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
1237 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
1238 if (eval "require $model") {
1239 $MODEL = $model;
1240 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}), using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
1241 } else {
1242 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}):\n$@" if $VERBOSE;
1243 }
1244 }
1245
1246 # check for already loaded models
98 unless ($MODEL) { 1247 unless ($MODEL) {
99 # check for already loaded models
100 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 1248 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
101 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 1249 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
102 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 1250 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
103 if (eval "require $model") { 1251 if (eval "require $model") {
104 $MODEL = $model; 1252 $MODEL = $model;
105 warn "AnyEvent: found model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1253 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
106 last; 1254 last;
107 } 1255 }
108 } 1256 }
109 } 1257 }
110 1258
111 unless ($MODEL) { 1259 unless ($MODEL) {
112 # try to load a model 1260 # try to autoload a model
113
114 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 1261 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
115 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 1262 my ($package, $model, $autoload) = @$_;
1263 if (
1264 $autoload
1265 and eval "require $package"
1266 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
116 if (eval "require $model") { 1267 and eval "require $model"
1268 ) {
117 $MODEL = $model; 1269 $MODEL = $model;
118 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed and loaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1270 warn "AnyEvent: autoloaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
119 last; 1271 last;
120 } 1272 }
121 } 1273 }
122 1274
123 $MODEL 1275 $MODEL
124 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: Coro, Event, Glib or Tk."; 1276 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.\n";
125 } 1277 }
126 } 1278 }
127 1279
128 @ISA = $MODEL; 1280 @models = (); # free probe data
1281
1282 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
1283 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
1284
1285 # now nuke some methods that are overriden by the backend.
1286 # SUPER is not allowed.
1287 for (qw(time signal child idle)) {
1288 undef &{"AnyEvent::Base::$_"}
1289 if defined &{"$MODEL\::$_"};
1290 }
1291
1292 require AnyEvent::Strict if $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT};
1293
1294 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
1295
1296 *post_detect = sub(&) {
1297 shift->();
1298
1299 undef
1300 };
1301
1302 $MODEL
1303}
1304
1305sub AUTOLOAD {
1306 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://;
1307
1308 $method{$func}
1309 or Carp::croak "$func: not a valid AnyEvent class method";
1310
1311 detect;
129 1312
130 my $class = shift; 1313 my $class = shift;
131 $class->$AUTOLOAD (@_); 1314 $class->$func (@_);
132} 1315}
1316
1317# utility function to dup a filehandle. this is used by many backends
1318# to support binding more than one watcher per filehandle (they usually
1319# allow only one watcher per fd, so we dup it to get a different one).
1320sub _dupfh($$;$$) {
1321 my ($poll, $fh, $r, $w) = @_;
1322
1323 # cygwin requires the fh mode to be matching, unix doesn't
1324 my ($rw, $mode) = $poll eq "r" ? ($r, "<&") : ($w, ">&");
1325
1326 open my $fh2, $mode, $fh
1327 or die "AnyEvent->io: cannot dup() filehandle in mode '$poll': $!,";
1328
1329 # we assume CLOEXEC is already set by perl in all important cases
1330
1331 ($fh2, $rw)
1332}
1333
1334=head1 SIMPLIFIED AE API
1335
1336Starting with version 5.0, AnyEvent officially supports a second, much
1337simpler, API that is designed to reduce the calling, typing and memory
1338overhead by using function call syntax and a fixed number of parameters.
1339
1340See the L<AE> manpage for details.
1341
1342=cut
1343
1344package AE;
1345
1346our $VERSION = $AnyEvent::VERSION;
1347
1348# fall back to the main API by default - backends and AnyEvent::Base
1349# implementations can overwrite these.
1350
1351sub io($$$) {
1352 AnyEvent->io (fh => $_[0], poll => $_[1] ? "w" : "r", cb => $_[2])
1353}
1354
1355sub timer($$$) {
1356 AnyEvent->timer (after => $_[0], interval => $_[1], cb => $_[2])
1357}
1358
1359sub signal($$) {
1360 AnyEvent->signal (signal => $_[0], cb => $_[1])
1361}
1362
1363sub child($$) {
1364 AnyEvent->child (pid => $_[0], cb => $_[1])
1365}
1366
1367sub idle($) {
1368 AnyEvent->idle (cb => $_[0])
1369}
1370
1371sub cv(;&) {
1372 AnyEvent->condvar (@_ ? (cb => $_[0]) : ())
1373}
1374
1375sub now() {
1376 AnyEvent->now
1377}
1378
1379sub now_update() {
1380 AnyEvent->now_update
1381}
1382
1383sub time() {
1384 AnyEvent->time
1385}
1386
1387package AnyEvent::Base;
1388
1389# default implementations for many methods
1390
1391sub time {
1392 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1393 # probe for availability of Time::HiRes
1394 if (eval "use Time::HiRes (); Time::HiRes::time (); 1") {
1395 warn "AnyEvent: using Time::HiRes for sub-second timing accuracy.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1396 *AE::time = \&Time::HiRes::time;
1397 # if (eval "use POSIX (); (POSIX::times())...
1398 } else {
1399 warn "AnyEvent: using built-in time(), WARNING, no sub-second resolution!\n" if $VERBOSE;
1400 *AE::time = sub (){ time }; # epic fail
1401 }
1402
1403 *time = sub { AE::time }; # different prototypes
1404 };
1405 die if $@;
1406
1407 &time
1408}
1409
1410*now = \&time;
1411
1412sub now_update { }
1413
1414# default implementation for ->condvar
1415
1416sub condvar {
1417 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1418 *condvar = sub {
1419 bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, "AnyEvent::CondVar"
1420 };
1421
1422 *AE::cv = sub (;&) {
1423 bless { @_ ? (_ae_cb => shift) : () }, "AnyEvent::CondVar"
1424 };
1425 };
1426 die if $@;
1427
1428 &condvar
1429}
1430
1431# default implementation for ->signal
1432
1433our $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1434
1435sub _have_async_interrupt() {
1436 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT = 1*(!$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT}
1437 && eval "use Async::Interrupt 1.02 (); 1")
1438 unless defined $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1439
1440 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1441}
1442
1443our ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W, %SIG_CB, %SIG_EV, $SIG_IO);
1444our (%SIG_ASY, %SIG_ASY_W);
1445our ($SIG_COUNT, $SIG_TW);
1446
1447# install a dummy wakeup watcher to reduce signal catching latency
1448# used by Impls
1449sub _sig_add() {
1450 unless ($SIG_COUNT++) {
1451 # try to align timer on a full-second boundary, if possible
1452 my $NOW = AE::now;
1453
1454 $SIG_TW = AE::timer
1455 $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY - ($NOW - int $NOW),
1456 $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY,
1457 sub { } # just for the PERL_ASYNC_CHECK
1458 ;
1459 }
1460}
1461
1462sub _sig_del {
1463 undef $SIG_TW
1464 unless --$SIG_COUNT;
1465}
1466
1467our $_sig_name_init; $_sig_name_init = sub {
1468 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1469 undef $_sig_name_init;
1470
1471 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1472 *sig2num = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2num;
1473 *sig2name = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2name;
1474 } else {
1475 require Config;
1476
1477 my %signame2num;
1478 @signame2num{ split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_name} }
1479 = split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_num};
1480
1481 my @signum2name;
1482 @signum2name[values %signame2num] = keys %signame2num;
1483
1484 *sig2num = sub($) {
1485 $_[0] > 0 ? shift : $signame2num{+shift}
1486 };
1487 *sig2name = sub ($) {
1488 $_[0] > 0 ? $signum2name[+shift] : shift
1489 };
1490 }
1491 };
1492 die if $@;
1493};
1494
1495sub sig2num ($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2num }
1496sub sig2name($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2name }
1497
1498sub signal {
1499 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1500 # probe for availability of Async::Interrupt
1501 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1502 warn "AnyEvent: using Async::Interrupt for race-free signal handling.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1503
1504 $SIGPIPE_R = new Async::Interrupt::EventPipe;
1505 $SIG_IO = AE::io $SIGPIPE_R->fileno, 0, \&_signal_exec;
1506
1507 } else {
1508 warn "AnyEvent: using emulated perl signal handling with latency timer.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1509
1510 if (AnyEvent::WIN32) {
1511 require AnyEvent::Util;
1512
1513 ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_pipe ();
1514 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_R, 1) if $SIGPIPE_R;
1515 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_W, 1) if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1516 } else {
1517 pipe $SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W;
1518 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, AnyEvent::F_SETFL, AnyEvent::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_R;
1519 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, AnyEvent::F_SETFL, AnyEvent::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1520
1521 # not strictly required, as $^F is normally 2, but let's make sure...
1522 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, AnyEvent::F_SETFD, AnyEvent::FD_CLOEXEC;
1523 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, AnyEvent::F_SETFD, AnyEvent::FD_CLOEXEC;
1524 }
1525
1526 $SIGPIPE_R
1527 or Carp::croak "AnyEvent: unable to create a signal reporting pipe: $!\n";
1528
1529 $SIG_IO = AE::io $SIGPIPE_R, 0, \&_signal_exec;
1530 }
1531
1532 *signal = $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1533 ? sub {
1534 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1535
1536 # async::interrupt
1537 my $signal = sig2num $arg{signal};
1538 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1539
1540 $SIG_ASY{$signal} ||= new Async::Interrupt
1541 cb => sub { undef $SIG_EV{$signal} },
1542 signal => $signal,
1543 pipe => [$SIGPIPE_R->filenos],
1544 pipe_autodrain => 0,
1545 ;
1546
1547 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::signal"
1548 }
1549 : sub {
1550 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1551
1552 # pure perl
1553 my $signal = sig2name $arg{signal};
1554 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1555
1556 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub {
1557 local $!;
1558 syswrite $SIGPIPE_W, "\x00", 1 unless %SIG_EV;
1559 undef $SIG_EV{$signal};
1560 };
1561
1562 # can't do signal processing without introducing races in pure perl,
1563 # so limit the signal latency.
1564 _sig_add;
1565
1566 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::signal"
1567 }
1568 ;
1569
1570 *AnyEvent::Base::signal::DESTROY = sub {
1571 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
1572
1573 _sig_del;
1574
1575 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
1576
1577 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1578 ? delete $SIG_ASY{$signal}
1579 : # delete doesn't work with older perls - they then
1580 # print weird messages, or just unconditionally exit
1581 # instead of getting the default action.
1582 undef $SIG{$signal}
1583 unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
1584 };
1585
1586 *_signal_exec = sub {
1587 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1588 ? $SIGPIPE_R->drain
1589 : sysread $SIGPIPE_R, (my $dummy), 9;
1590
1591 while (%SIG_EV) {
1592 for (keys %SIG_EV) {
1593 delete $SIG_EV{$_};
1594 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$_} || {} };
1595 }
1596 }
1597 };
1598 };
1599 die if $@;
1600
1601 &signal
1602}
1603
1604# default implementation for ->child
1605
1606our %PID_CB;
1607our $CHLD_W;
1608our $CHLD_DELAY_W;
1609our $WNOHANG;
1610
1611# used by many Impl's
1612sub _emit_childstatus($$) {
1613 my (undef, $rpid, $rstatus) = @_;
1614
1615 $_->($rpid, $rstatus)
1616 for values %{ $PID_CB{$rpid} || {} },
1617 values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} };
1618}
1619
1620sub child {
1621 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1622 *_sigchld = sub {
1623 my $pid;
1624
1625 AnyEvent->_emit_childstatus ($pid, $?)
1626 while ($pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG) > 0;
1627 };
1628
1629 *child = sub {
1630 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1631
1632 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0)
1633 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing";
1634
1635 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1636
1637 # WNOHANG is almost cetrainly 1 everywhere
1638 $WNOHANG ||= $^O =~ /^(?:openbsd|netbsd|linux|freebsd|cygwin|MSWin32)$/
1639 ? 1
1640 : eval { local $SIG{__DIE__}; require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;
1641
1642 unless ($CHLD_W) {
1643 $CHLD_W = AE::signal CHLD => \&_sigchld;
1644 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
1645 &_sigchld;
1646 }
1647
1648 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::child"
1649 };
1650
1651 *AnyEvent::Base::child::DESTROY = sub {
1652 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
1653
1654 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb};
1655 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
1656
1657 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
1658 };
1659 };
1660 die if $@;
1661
1662 &child
1663}
1664
1665# idle emulation is done by simply using a timer, regardless
1666# of whether the process is idle or not, and not letting
1667# the callback use more than 50% of the time.
1668sub idle {
1669 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1670 *idle = sub {
1671 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1672
1673 my ($cb, $w, $rcb) = $arg{cb};
1674
1675 $rcb = sub {
1676 if ($cb) {
1677 $w = _time;
1678 &$cb;
1679 $w = _time - $w;
1680
1681 # never use more then 50% of the time for the idle watcher,
1682 # within some limits
1683 $w = 0.0001 if $w < 0.0001;
1684 $w = 5 if $w > 5;
1685
1686 $w = AE::timer $w, 0, $rcb;
1687 } else {
1688 # clean up...
1689 undef $w;
1690 undef $rcb;
1691 }
1692 };
1693
1694 $w = AE::timer 0.05, 0, $rcb;
1695
1696 bless \\$cb, "AnyEvent::Base::idle"
1697 };
1698
1699 *AnyEvent::Base::idle::DESTROY = sub {
1700 undef $${$_[0]};
1701 };
1702 };
1703 die if $@;
1704
1705 &idle
1706}
1707
1708package AnyEvent::CondVar;
1709
1710our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
1711
1712package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
1713
1714#use overload
1715# '&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
1716# fallback => 1;
1717
1718# save 300+ kilobytes by dirtily hardcoding overloading
1719${"AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::OVERLOAD"}{dummy}++; # Register with magic by touching.
1720*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = sub { }; # "Make it findable via fetchmethod."
1721*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::(&{}'} = sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } }; # &{}
1722${'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = 1; # fallback
1723
1724our $WAITING;
1725
1726sub _send {
1727 # nop
1728}
1729
1730sub send {
1731 my $cv = shift;
1732 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
1733 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
1734 $cv->_send;
1735}
1736
1737sub croak {
1738 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
1739 $_[0]->send;
1740}
1741
1742sub ready {
1743 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
1744}
1745
1746sub _wait {
1747 $WAITING
1748 and !$_[0]{_ae_sent}
1749 and Carp::croak "AnyEvent::CondVar: recursive blocking wait detected";
1750
1751 local $WAITING = 1;
1752 AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
1753}
1754
1755sub recv {
1756 $_[0]->_wait;
1757
1758 Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
1759 wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
1760}
1761
1762sub cb {
1763 my $cv = shift;
1764
1765 @_
1766 and $cv->{_ae_cb} = shift
1767 and $cv->{_ae_sent}
1768 and (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv);
1769
1770 $cv->{_ae_cb}
1771}
1772
1773sub begin {
1774 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1775 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1776}
1777
1778sub end {
1779 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1780 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
1781}
1782
1783# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
1784*broadcast = \&send;
1785*wait = \&_wait;
1786
1787=head1 ERROR AND EXCEPTION HANDLING
1788
1789In general, AnyEvent does not do any error handling - it relies on the
1790caller to do that if required. The L<AnyEvent::Strict> module (see also
1791the C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT> environment variable, below) provides strict
1792checking of all AnyEvent methods, however, which is highly useful during
1793development.
1794
1795As for exception handling (i.e. runtime errors and exceptions thrown while
1796executing a callback), this is not only highly event-loop specific, but
1797also not in any way wrapped by this module, as this is the job of the main
1798program.
1799
1800The pure perl event loop simply re-throws the exception (usually
1801within C<< condvar->recv >>), the L<Event> and L<EV> modules call C<<
1802$Event/EV::DIED->() >>, L<Glib> uses C<< install_exception_handler >> and
1803so on.
1804
1805=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1806
1807The following environment variables are used by this module or its
1808submodules.
1809
1810Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
1811C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
1812enabled.
1813
1814=over 4
1815
1816=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
1817
1818By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
1819conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
1820talkative.
1821
1822When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
1823conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
1824C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
1825
1826When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
1827model it chooses.
1828
1829When set to C<8> or higher, then AnyEvent will report extra information on
1830which optional modules it loads and how it implements certain features.
1831
1832=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT>
1833
1834AnyEvent does not do much argument checking by default, as thorough
1835argument checking is very costly. Setting this variable to a true value
1836will cause AnyEvent to load C<AnyEvent::Strict> and then to thoroughly
1837check the arguments passed to most method calls. If it finds any problems,
1838it will croak.
1839
1840In other words, enables "strict" mode.
1841
1842Unlike C<use strict> (or it's modern cousin, C<< use L<common::sense>
1843>>, it is definitely recommended to keep it off in production. Keeping
1844C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT=1> in your environment while developing programs
1845can be very useful, however.
1846
1847=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
1848
1849This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
1850auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
1851entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
1852and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
1853used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
1854auto detection and -probing.
1855
1856This functionality might change in future versions.
1857
1858For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
1859could start your program like this:
1860
1861 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
1862
1863=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
1864
1865Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
1866for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
1867of auto probing).
1868
1869Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
1870current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
1871used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
1872list.
1873
1874This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
1875against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
1876small, as the program has to handle conenction and other failures anyways.
1877
1878Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
1879but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
1880- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
1881addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
1882IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
1883
1884=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
1885
1886Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
1887for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
1888some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
1889default.
1890
1891Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
1892EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
1893
1894=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_FORKS>
1895
1896The maximum number of child processes that C<AnyEvent::Util::fork_call>
1897will create in parallel.
1898
1899=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_OUTSTANDING_DNS>
1900
1901The default value for the C<max_outstanding> parameter for the default DNS
1902resolver - this is the maximum number of parallel DNS requests that are
1903sent to the DNS server.
1904
1905=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_RESOLV_CONF>
1906
1907The file to use instead of F</etc/resolv.conf> (or OS-specific
1908configuration) in the default resolver. When set to the empty string, no
1909default config will be used.
1910
1911=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_FILE>, C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_PATH>.
1912
1913When neither C<ca_file> nor C<ca_path> was specified during
1914L<AnyEvent::TLS> context creation, and either of these environment
1915variables exist, they will be used to specify CA certificate locations
1916instead of a system-dependent default.
1917
1918=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_GUARD> and C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT>
1919
1920When these are set to C<1>, then the respective modules are not
1921loaded. Mostly good for testing AnyEvent itself.
133 1922
134=back 1923=back
135 1924
136=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 1925=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
1926
1927This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
1928a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
1929provide AnyEvent compatibility.
137 1930
138If you need to support another event library which isn't directly 1931If you need to support another event library which isn't directly
139supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by 1932supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by
140pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of 1933pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of
141the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto 1934the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto
142C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading 1935C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading
143AnyEvent. 1936AnyEvent, so it is reasonably cheap.
144 1937
145Example: 1938Example:
146 1939
147 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::]; 1940 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::];
148 1941
149This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::> 1942This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::>
150package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is loaded. When 1943package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is already loaded.
1944
151AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it will 1945When AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it
152first check for the presence of urxvt. 1946will first check for the presence of urxvt by trying to C<use> the
1947C<urxvt::anyevent> module.
153 1948
154The class should prove implementations for all watcher types (see 1949The class should provide implementations for all watcher types. See
155L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> 1950L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> (Source code)
156(Source code) and so on for actual examples, use C<perldoc -m 1951and so on for actual examples. Use C<perldoc -m AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to
157AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to see the sources). 1952see the sources.
158 1953
1954If you don't provide C<signal> and C<child> watchers than AnyEvent will
1955provide suitable (hopefully) replacements.
1956
159The above isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt) 1957The above example isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt)
160uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included in AnyEvent 1958terminal emulator uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included
161because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter inside 1959in AnyEvent because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter
162I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the 1960inside I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the
163I<rxvt-unicode> distribution. 1961I<rxvt-unicode> distribution.
164 1962
165I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to 1963I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to
166condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will 1964condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will
167C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must 1965C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must
168not be in an interactive appliation, so it makes sense. 1966not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense.
169 1967
170=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
171
172The following environment variables are used by this module:
173
174C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE> when set to C<2> or higher, reports which event
175model gets used.
176
177=head1 EXAMPLE 1968=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
178 1969
179The following program uses an io watcher to read data from stdin, a timer 1970The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
180to display a message once per second, and a condvar to exit the program 1971to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
181when the user enters quit: 1972program when the user enters quit:
182 1973
183 use AnyEvent; 1974 use AnyEvent;
184 1975
185 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar; 1976 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
186 1977
187 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 1978 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (
1979 fh => \*STDIN,
1980 poll => 'r',
1981 cb => sub {
188 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 1982 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
189 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 1983 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
190 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 1984 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
191 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 1985 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
1986 },
1987 );
1988
1989 my $time_watcher = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, interval => 1, cb => sub {
1990 warn "timeout\n"; # print 'timeout' at most every second
192 }); 1991 });
193 1992
194 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
195
196 sub new_timer {
197 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub {
198 warn "timeout\n"; # print 'timeout' about every second
199 &new_timer; # and restart the time
200 });
201 }
202
203 new_timer; # create first timer
204
205 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 1993 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
206 1994
207=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 1995=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
208 1996
209Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 1997Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
210API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 1998API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
260 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 2048 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
261 or die "connection or write error"; 2049 or die "connection or write error";
262 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 2050 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
263 2051
264Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 2052Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
265result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished: 2053result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
266 2054
267 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 2055 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
268 2056
269 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 2057 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
270 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 2058 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
271 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 2059 $txn->{finished}->send;
272 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 2060 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
273 } 2061 }
274 2062
275The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 2063The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
276request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the 2064request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
277data: 2065data:
278 2066
279 $txn->{finished}->wait; 2067 $txn->{finished}->recv;
280 return $txn->{result}; 2068 return $txn->{result};
281 2069
282The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 2070The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
283that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 2071that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
284wether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 2072whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
285and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 2073and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
286problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a 2074problems get reported to the code that tries to use the result, not in a
287random callback. 2075random callback.
288 2076
289All of this enables the following usage styles: 2077All of this enables the following usage styles:
290 2078
2911. Blocking: 20791. Blocking:
292 2080
293 my $data = $fcp->client_get ($url); 2081 my $data = $fcp->client_get ($url);
294 2082
2952. Blocking, but parallelizing: 20832. Blocking, but running in parallel:
296 2084
297 my @datas = map $_->result, 2085 my @datas = map $_->result,
298 map $fcp->txn_client_get ($_), 2086 map $fcp->txn_client_get ($_),
299 @urls; 2087 @urls;
300 2088
301Both blocking examples work without the module user having to know 2089Both blocking examples work without the module user having to know
302anything about events. 2090anything about events.
303 2091
3043a. Event-based in a main program, using any support Event module: 20923a. Event-based in a main program, using any supported event module:
305 2093
306 use Event; 2094 use EV;
307 2095
308 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 2096 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
309 my $txn = shift; 2097 my $txn = shift;
310 my $data = $txn->result; 2098 my $data = $txn->result;
311 ... 2099 ...
312 }); 2100 });
313 2101
314 Event::loop; 2102 EV::loop;
315 2103
3163b. The module user could use AnyEvent, too: 21043b. The module user could use AnyEvent, too:
317 2105
318 use AnyEvent; 2106 use AnyEvent;
319 2107
320 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 2108 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
321 2109
322 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 2110 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
323 ... 2111 ...
324 $quit->broadcast; 2112 $quit->send;
325 }); 2113 });
326 2114
327 $quit->wait; 2115 $quit->recv;
2116
2117
2118=head1 BENCHMARKS
2119
2120To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
2121over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
2122of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
2123
2124=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
2125
2126Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
2127through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
2128timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
2129which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
2130
2131Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
2132distribution. It uses the L<AE> interface, which makes a real difference
2133for the EV and Perl backends only.
2134
2135=head3 Explanation of the columns
2136
2137I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
2138different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
2139loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
2140and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
2141would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
2142of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
2143
2144I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
2145RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
2146and Perl-based overheads.
2147
2148I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
2149takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
2150all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
2151and memory usage is not included in the figures.
2152
2153I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
2154callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
2155invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
2156signal the end of this phase.
2157
2158I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
2159watcher.
2160
2161=head3 Results
2162
2163 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
2164 EV/EV 100000 223 0.47 0.43 0.27 EV native interface
2165 EV/Any 100000 223 0.48 0.42 0.26 EV + AnyEvent watchers
2166 Coro::EV/Any 100000 223 0.47 0.42 0.26 coroutines + Coro::Signal
2167 Perl/Any 100000 431 2.70 0.74 0.92 pure perl implementation
2168 Event/Event 16000 516 31.16 31.84 0.82 Event native interface
2169 Event/Any 16000 1203 42.61 34.79 1.80 Event + AnyEvent watchers
2170 IOAsync/Any 16000 1911 41.92 27.45 16.81 via IO::Async::Loop::IO_Poll
2171 IOAsync/Any 16000 1726 40.69 26.37 15.25 via IO::Async::Loop::Epoll
2172 Glib/Any 16000 1118 89.00 12.57 51.17 quadratic behaviour
2173 Tk/Any 2000 1346 20.96 10.75 8.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
2174 POE/Any 2000 6951 108.97 795.32 14.24 via POE::Loop::Event
2175 POE/Any 2000 6648 94.79 774.40 575.51 via POE::Loop::Select
2176
2177=head3 Discussion
2178
2179The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
2180well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
2181can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
2182file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
2183the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
2184boost.
2185
2186Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
2187overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
2188the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
2189higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
2190
2191To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
2192benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
2193EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
2194cycles with POE.
2195
2196C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
2197maximal/minimal, respectively. When using the L<AE> API there is zero
2198overhead (when going through the AnyEvent API create is about 5-6 times
2199slower, with other times being equal, so still uses far less memory than
2200any other event loop and is still faster than Event natively).
2201
2202The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
2203constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
2204interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
2205adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
2206performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
2207them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
2208
2209The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
2210cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
2211
2212C<IO::Async> performs admirably well, about on par with C<Event>, even
2213when using its pure perl backend.
2214
2215C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
2216faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
2217C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
2218watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
2219making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
2220(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
2221inefficiencies of C<poll> do not account for this).
2222
2223The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
2224more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
2225precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
2226file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
2227employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
2228hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
2229above).
2230
2231C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
2232select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
2233be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
2234memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
2235as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
2236requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
2237invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
2238implementation.
2239
2240The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
2241for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
2242small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
2243optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
2244using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
2245memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
2246design).
2247
2248=head3 Summary
2249
2250=over 4
2251
2252=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
2253(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
2254performance with or without AnyEvent.
2255
2256=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
2257the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
2258adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
2259
2260=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
2261reasonable memory usage.
2262
2263=back
2264
2265=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
2266
2267This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
2268creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
2269timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
2270watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
2271watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
2272
2273The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
2274are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
2275fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
2276timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
2277most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
2278
2279In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
2280(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
2281connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
2282
2283Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
2284distribution. It uses the L<AE> interface, which makes a real difference
2285for the EV and Perl backends only.
2286
2287=head3 Explanation of the columns
2288
2289I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
2290each server has a read and write socket end).
2291
2292I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
2293nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
2294
2295I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
2296single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
2297it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
2298a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
2299
2300=head3 Results
2301
2302 name sockets create request
2303 EV 20000 62.66 7.99
2304 Perl 20000 68.32 32.64
2305 IOAsync 20000 174.06 101.15 epoll
2306 IOAsync 20000 174.67 610.84 poll
2307 Event 20000 202.69 242.91
2308 Glib 20000 557.01 1689.52
2309 POE 20000 341.54 12086.32 uses POE::Loop::Event
2310
2311=head3 Discussion
2312
2313This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
2314particular event loop.
2315
2316EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
2317is relatively high, though.
2318
2319Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
2320loops Event and Glib.
2321
2322IO::Async performs very well when using its epoll backend, and still quite
2323good compared to Glib when using its pure perl backend.
2324
2325Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
2326understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
2327the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
2328uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
2329
2330Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
2331clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
2332
2333POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
2334as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
2335it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
2336
2337=head3 Summary
2338
2339=over 4
2340
2341=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
2342
2343=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
2344
2345=back
2346
2347=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
2348
2349While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
2350large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
2351I/O watchers.
2352
2353In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
2354case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
2355one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
2356well.
2357
2358The columns are identical to the previous table.
2359
2360=head3 Results
2361
2362 name sockets create request
2363 EV 16 20.00 6.54
2364 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
2365 Event 16 81.27 35.86
2366 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
2367 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
2368
2369=head3 Discussion
2370
2371The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
2372server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
2373in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
2374to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
2375speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
2376them).
2377
2378EV is again fastest.
2379
2380Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
2381loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
2382matter.
2383
2384POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
2385others.
2386
2387=head3 Summary
2388
2389=over 4
2390
2391=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
2392watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
2393
2394=back
2395
2396=head2 THE IO::Lambda BENCHMARK
2397
2398Recently I was told about the benchmark in the IO::Lambda manpage, which
2399could be misinterpreted to make AnyEvent look bad. In fact, the benchmark
2400simply compares IO::Lambda with POE, and IO::Lambda looks better (which
2401shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody). As such, the benchmark is
2402fine, and mostly shows that the AnyEvent backend from IO::Lambda isn't
2403very optimal. But how would AnyEvent compare when used without the extra
2404baggage? To explore this, I wrote the equivalent benchmark for AnyEvent.
2405
2406The benchmark itself creates an echo-server, and then, for 500 times,
2407connects to the echo server, sends a line, waits for the reply, and then
2408creates the next connection. This is a rather bad benchmark, as it doesn't
2409test the efficiency of the framework or much non-blocking I/O, but it is a
2410benchmark nevertheless.
2411
2412 name runtime
2413 Lambda/select 0.330 sec
2414 + optimized 0.122 sec
2415 Lambda/AnyEvent 0.327 sec
2416 + optimized 0.138 sec
2417 Raw sockets/select 0.077 sec
2418 POE/select, components 0.662 sec
2419 POE/select, raw sockets 0.226 sec
2420 POE/select, optimized 0.404 sec
2421
2422 AnyEvent/select/nb 0.085 sec
2423 AnyEvent/EV/nb 0.068 sec
2424 +state machine 0.134 sec
2425
2426The benchmark is also a bit unfair (my fault): the IO::Lambda/POE
2427benchmarks actually make blocking connects and use 100% blocking I/O,
2428defeating the purpose of an event-based solution. All of the newly
2429written AnyEvent benchmarks use 100% non-blocking connects (using
2430AnyEvent::Socket::tcp_connect and the asynchronous pure perl DNS
2431resolver), so AnyEvent is at a disadvantage here, as non-blocking connects
2432generally require a lot more bookkeeping and event handling than blocking
2433connects (which involve a single syscall only).
2434
2435The last AnyEvent benchmark additionally uses L<AnyEvent::Handle>, which
2436offers similar expressive power as POE and IO::Lambda, using conventional
2437Perl syntax. This means that both the echo server and the client are 100%
2438non-blocking, further placing it at a disadvantage.
2439
2440As you can see, the AnyEvent + EV combination even beats the
2441hand-optimised "raw sockets benchmark", while AnyEvent + its pure perl
2442backend easily beats IO::Lambda and POE.
2443
2444And even the 100% non-blocking version written using the high-level (and
2445slow :) L<AnyEvent::Handle> abstraction beats both POE and IO::Lambda
2446higher level ("unoptimised") abstractions by a large margin, even though
2447it does all of DNS, tcp-connect and socket I/O in a non-blocking way.
2448
2449The two AnyEvent benchmarks programs can be found as F<eg/ae0.pl> and
2450F<eg/ae2.pl> in the AnyEvent distribution, the remaining benchmarks are
2451part of the IO::Lambda distribution and were used without any changes.
2452
2453
2454=head1 SIGNALS
2455
2456AnyEvent currently installs handlers for these signals:
2457
2458=over 4
2459
2460=item SIGCHLD
2461
2462A handler for C<SIGCHLD> is installed by AnyEvent's child watcher
2463emulation for event loops that do not support them natively. Also, some
2464event loops install a similar handler.
2465
2466Additionally, when AnyEvent is loaded and SIGCHLD is set to IGNORE, then
2467AnyEvent will reset it to default, to avoid losing child exit statuses.
2468
2469=item SIGPIPE
2470
2471A no-op handler is installed for C<SIGPIPE> when C<$SIG{PIPE}> is C<undef>
2472when AnyEvent gets loaded.
2473
2474The rationale for this is that AnyEvent users usually do not really depend
2475on SIGPIPE delivery (which is purely an optimisation for shell use, or
2476badly-written programs), but C<SIGPIPE> can cause spurious and rare
2477program exits as a lot of people do not expect C<SIGPIPE> when writing to
2478some random socket.
2479
2480The rationale for installing a no-op handler as opposed to ignoring it is
2481that this way, the handler will be restored to defaults on exec.
2482
2483Feel free to install your own handler, or reset it to defaults.
2484
2485=back
2486
2487=cut
2488
2489undef $SIG{CHLD}
2490 if $SIG{CHLD} eq 'IGNORE';
2491
2492$SIG{PIPE} = sub { }
2493 unless defined $SIG{PIPE};
2494
2495=head1 RECOMMENDED/OPTIONAL MODULES
2496
2497One of AnyEvent's main goals is to be 100% Pure-Perl(tm): only perl (and
2498it's built-in modules) are required to use it.
2499
2500That does not mean that AnyEvent won't take advantage of some additional
2501modules if they are installed.
2502
2503This section explains which additional modules will be used, and how they
2504affect AnyEvent's operation.
2505
2506=over 4
2507
2508=item L<Async::Interrupt>
2509
2510This slightly arcane module is used to implement fast signal handling: To
2511my knowledge, there is no way to do completely race-free and quick
2512signal handling in pure perl. To ensure that signals still get
2513delivered, AnyEvent will start an interval timer to wake up perl (and
2514catch the signals) with some delay (default is 10 seconds, look for
2515C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>).
2516
2517If this module is available, then it will be used to implement signal
2518catching, which means that signals will not be delayed, and the event loop
2519will not be interrupted regularly, which is more efficient (and good for
2520battery life on laptops).
2521
2522This affects not just the pure-perl event loop, but also other event loops
2523that have no signal handling on their own (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt).
2524
2525Some event loops (POE, Event, Event::Lib) offer signal watchers natively,
2526and either employ their own workarounds (POE) or use AnyEvent's workaround
2527(using C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>). Installing L<Async::Interrupt>
2528does nothing for those backends.
2529
2530=item L<EV>
2531
2532This module isn't really "optional", as it is simply one of the backend
2533event loops that AnyEvent can use. However, it is simply the best event
2534loop available in terms of features, speed and stability: It supports
2535the AnyEvent API optimally, implements all the watcher types in XS, does
2536automatic timer adjustments even when no monotonic clock is available,
2537can take avdantage of advanced kernel interfaces such as C<epoll> and
2538C<kqueue>, and is the fastest backend I<by far>. You can even embed
2539L<Glib>/L<Gtk2> in it (or vice versa, see L<EV::Glib> and L<Glib::EV>).
2540
2541If you only use backends that rely on another event loop (e.g. C<Tk>),
2542then this module will do nothing for you.
2543
2544=item L<Guard>
2545
2546The guard module, when used, will be used to implement
2547C<AnyEvent::Util::guard>. This speeds up guards considerably (and uses a
2548lot less memory), but otherwise doesn't affect guard operation much. It is
2549purely used for performance.
2550
2551=item L<JSON> and L<JSON::XS>
2552
2553One of these modules is required when you want to read or write JSON data
2554via L<AnyEvent::Handle>. L<JSON> is also written in pure-perl, but can take
2555advantage of the ultra-high-speed L<JSON::XS> module when it is installed.
2556
2557=item L<Net::SSLeay>
2558
2559Implementing TLS/SSL in Perl is certainly interesting, but not very
2560worthwhile: If this module is installed, then L<AnyEvent::Handle> (with
2561the help of L<AnyEvent::TLS>), gains the ability to do TLS/SSL.
2562
2563=item L<Time::HiRes>
2564
2565This module is part of perl since release 5.008. It will be used when the
2566chosen event library does not come with a timing source on it's own. The
2567pure-perl event loop (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) will additionally use it to
2568try to use a monotonic clock for timing stability.
2569
2570=back
2571
2572
2573=head1 FORK
2574
2575Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
2576because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll> calls
2577- higher performance APIs such as BSD's kqueue or the dreaded Linux epoll
2578are usually badly thought-out hacks that are incompatible with fork in
2579one way or another. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware and ensures that you
2580continue event-processing in both parent and child (or both, if you know
2581what you are doing).
2582
2583This means that, in general, you cannot fork and do event processing in
2584the child if the event library was initialised before the fork (which
2585usually happens when the first AnyEvent watcher is created, or the library
2586is loaded).
2587
2588If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
2589watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child OR you must do
2590something completely out of the scope of AnyEvent.
2591
2592The problem of doing event processing in the parent I<and> the child
2593is much more complicated: even for backends that I<are> fork-aware or
2594fork-safe, their behaviour is not usually what you want: fork clones all
2595watchers, that means all timers, I/O watchers etc. are active in both
2596parent and child, which is almost never what you want. USing C<exec>
2597to start worker children from some kind of manage rprocess is usually
2598preferred, because it is much easier and cleaner, at the expense of having
2599to have another binary.
2600
2601
2602=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
2603
2604AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
2605$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to
2606execute arbitrary code or directly gain access, it can easily be used to
2607make the program hang or malfunction in subtle ways, as AnyEvent watchers
2608will not be active when the program uses a different event model than
2609specified in the variable.
2610
2611You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
2612before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
2613
2614 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
2615
2616 use AnyEvent;
2617
2618Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
2619be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
2620probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), and
2621$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT}.
2622
2623Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
2624C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
2625enabled.
2626
2627
2628=head1 BUGS
2629
2630Perl 5.8 has numerous memleaks that sometimes hit this module and are hard
2631to work around. If you suffer from memleaks, first upgrade to Perl 5.10
2632and check wether the leaks still show up. (Perl 5.10.0 has other annoying
2633memleaks, such as leaking on C<map> and C<grep> but it is usually not as
2634pronounced).
2635
328 2636
329=head1 SEE ALSO 2637=head1 SEE ALSO
330 2638
331Event modules: L<Coro::Event>, L<Coro>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>. 2639Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
332 2640
333Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::Coro>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>. 2641Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
2642L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
334 2643
335Nontrivial usage example: L<Net::FCP>. 2644Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
2645L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
2646L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
2647L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync>, L<Anyevent::Impl::Irssi>.
336 2648
337=head1 2649Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
2650servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>, L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
2651
2652Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
2653
2654Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>,
2655L<Coro::Event>,
2656
2657Nontrivial usage examples: L<AnyEvent::GPSD>, L<AnyEvent::XMPP>,
2658L<AnyEvent::HTTP>.
2659
2660
2661=head1 AUTHOR
2662
2663 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
2664 http://home.schmorp.de/
338 2665
339=cut 2666=cut
340 2667
3411 26681
342 2669

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