ViewVC Help
View File | Revision Log | Show Annotations | Download File
/cvs/AnyEvent/lib/AnyEvent.pm
(Generate patch)

Comparing AnyEvent/lib/AnyEvent.pm (file contents):
Revision 1.36 by root, Fri Nov 16 09:13:11 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.198 by root, Thu Mar 26 20:17:44 2009 UTC

1=head1 NAME 1=head1 NAME
2 2
3AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops 3AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops
4 4
5Event, Coro, Glib, Tk, Perl - various supported event loops 5EV, Event, Glib, Tk, Perl, Event::Lib, Qt, POE - various supported event loops
6 6
7=head1 SYNOPSIS 7=head1 SYNOPSIS
8 8
9 use AnyEvent; 9 use AnyEvent;
10 10
11 my $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh, poll => "r|w", cb => sub { 11 my $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh, poll => "r|w", cb => sub { ... });
12
13 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub { ... });
14 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, interval => $seconds, cb => ...
15
16 print AnyEvent->now; # prints current event loop time
17 print AnyEvent->time; # think Time::HiRes::time or simply CORE::time.
18
19 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "TERM", cb => sub { ... });
20
21 my $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => $pid, cb => sub {
22 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
12 ... 23 ...
13 }); 24 });
14 25
15 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub {
16 ...
17 });
18
19 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores wether a condition was flagged 26 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged
27 $w->send; # wake up current and all future recv's
20 $w->wait; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->broadcast 28 $w->recv; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->send
21 $w->broadcast; # wake up current and all future wait's 29 # use a condvar in callback mode:
30 $w->cb (sub { $_[0]->recv });
31
32=head1 INTRODUCTION/TUTORIAL
33
34This manpage is mainly a reference manual. If you are interested
35in a tutorial or some gentle introduction, have a look at the
36L<AnyEvent::Intro> manpage.
37
38=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT)
39
40Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen
41nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?
42
43Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of
44policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>.
45
46First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only
47interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use, in a
48pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike,
49the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general,
50only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent
51cannot change this, but it can hide the differences between those event
52loops.
53
54The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event
55programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a
56religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your
57module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event
58model you use.
59
60For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is
61actually doing all I/O I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is
62like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you
63cannot use anything else, as they are simply incompatible to everything
64that isn't them. What's worse, all the potential users of your
65module are I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use.
66
67AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works
68fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together
69with the rest: POE + IO::Async? No go. Tk + Event? No go. Again: if
70your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it,
71too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all
72event models it supports (including stuff like IO::Async, as long as those
73use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new event loops
74to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof).
75
76In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event
77model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar
78modules, you get an enormous amount of code and strict rules you have to
79follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only
80offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as
81technically possible.
82
83Of course, AnyEvent comes with a big (and fully optional!) toolbox
84of useful functionality, such as an asynchronous DNS resolver, 100%
85non-blocking connects (even with TLS/SSL, IPv6 and on broken platforms
86such as Windows) and lots of real-world knowledge and workarounds for
87platform bugs and differences.
88
89Now, if you I<do want> lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat
90useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event
91model, you should I<not> use this module.
22 92
23=head1 DESCRIPTION 93=head1 DESCRIPTION
24 94
25L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This 95L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This
26allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module 96allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module
27users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist 97users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist
28peacefully at any one time). 98peacefully at any one time).
29 99
30The interface itself is vaguely similar but not identical to the Event 100The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
31module. 101module.
32 102
33On the first call of any method, the module tries to detect the currently 103During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries
34loaded event loop by probing wether any of the following modules is 104to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the
35loaded: L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<Tk>. The first one found is 105following modules is already loaded: L<EV>,
36used. If none is found, the module tries to load these modules in the 106L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>,
37order given. The first one that could be successfully loaded will be 107L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries
38used. If still none could be found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl 108to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl
39event loop, which is also not very efficient. 109adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can
110be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be
111found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl event loop, which is not
112very efficient, but should work everywhere.
40 113
41Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading 114Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading
42an Event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make 115an event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make
43that model the default. For example: 116that model the default. For example:
44 117
45 use Tk; 118 use Tk;
46 use AnyEvent; 119 use AnyEvent;
47 120
48 # .. AnyEvent will likely default to Tk 121 # .. AnyEvent will likely default to Tk
49 122
123The I<likely> means that, if any module loads another event model and
124starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to
125use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly...
126
50The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called 127The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called
51C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it 128C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it
52explicitly. 129explicitly and enjoy the high availability of that event loop :)
53 130
54=head1 WATCHERS 131=head1 WATCHERS
55 132
56AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that 133AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that
57stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as 134stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as
58the callback to call, the filehandle to watch, etc. 135the callback to call, the file handle to watch, etc.
59 136
60These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After 137These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
61creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke 138creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the
139callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model
140is in control).
141
142Note that B<callbacks must not permanently change global variables>
143potentially in use by the event loop (such as C<$_> or C<$[>) and that B<<
144callbacks must not C<die> >>. The former is good programming practise in
145Perl and the latter stems from the fact that exception handling differs
146widely between event loops.
147
62the callback. To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by 148To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the
63setting the variable that stores it to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all 149variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references
64references to it). 150to it).
65 151
66All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class. 152All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class.
67 153
154Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for
155example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways.
156
157An any way to achieve that is this pattern:
158
159 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub {
160 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it
161 undef $w;
162 });
163
164Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,
165my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are
166declared.
167
68=head2 IO WATCHERS 168=head2 I/O WATCHERS
69 169
70You can create I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method with 170You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
71the following mandatory arguments: 171with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
72 172
73C<fh> the Perl I<filehandle> (not filedescriptor) to watch for 173C<fh> the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) to watch for events
174(AnyEvent might or might not keep a reference to this file handle). C<poll>
74events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, that creates 175must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, which creates a watcher
75a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events. C<cb> the callback 176waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events, respectively. C<cb> is the
76to invoke everytime the filehandle becomes ready. 177callback to invoke each time the file handle becomes ready.
77 178
78Only one io watcher per C<fh> and C<poll> combination is allowed (i.e. on 179Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
79a socket you can have one r + one w, not any more (limitation comes from 180presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
80Tk - if you are sure you are not using Tk this limitation is gone). 181callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
81 182
82Filehandles will be kept alive, so as long as the watcher exists, the 183The I/O watcher might use the underlying file descriptor or a copy of it.
83filehandle exists, too. 184You must not close a file handle as long as any watcher is active on the
185underlying file descriptor.
84 186
85Example: 187Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should
188always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file
189handles.
86 190
87 # wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the watcher 191Example: wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the
192watcher.
193
88 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 194 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
89 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); 195 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>);
90 warn "read: $input\n"; 196 warn "read: $input\n";
91 undef $w; 197 undef $w;
92 }); 198 });
94=head2 TIME WATCHERS 200=head2 TIME WATCHERS
95 201
96You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >> 202You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>
97method with the following mandatory arguments: 203method with the following mandatory arguments:
98 204
99C<after> after how many seconds (fractions are supported) should the timer 205C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are
100activate. C<cb> the callback to invoke. 206supported) the callback should be invoked. C<cb> is the callback to invoke
207in that case.
101 208
102The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating 209Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
103timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk 210presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
104and Glib). 211callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks.
105 212
106Example: 213The callback will normally be invoked once only. If you specify another
214parameter, C<interval>, as a strictly positive number (> 0), then the
215callback will be invoked regularly at that interval (in fractional
216seconds) after the first invocation. If C<interval> is specified with a
217false value, then it is treated as if it were missing.
107 218
219The callback will be rescheduled before invoking the callback, but no
220attempt is done to avoid timer drift in most backends, so the interval is
221only approximate.
222
108 # fire an event after 7.7 seconds 223Example: fire an event after 7.7 seconds.
224
109 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub { 225 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub {
110 warn "timeout\n"; 226 warn "timeout\n";
111 }); 227 });
112 228
113 # to cancel the timer: 229 # to cancel the timer:
114 undef $w 230 undef $w;
115 231
116=head2 CONDITION WATCHERS 232Example 2: fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second.
117 233
118Condition watchers can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >> 234 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, interval => 1, cb => sub {
119method without any arguments. 235 warn "timeout\n";
236 };
120 237
121A condition watcher watches for a condition - precisely that the C<< 238=head3 TIMING ISSUES
122->broadcast >> method has been called.
123 239
124The watcher has only two methods: 240There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire
241in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12
242o'clock").
243
244While most event loops expect timers to specified in a relative way, they
245use absolute time internally. This makes a difference when your clock
246"jumps", for example, when ntp decides to set your clock backwards from
247the wrong date of 2014-01-01 to 2008-01-01, a watcher that is supposed to
248fire "after" a second might actually take six years to finally fire.
249
250AnyEvent cannot compensate for this. The only event loop that is conscious
251about these issues is L<EV>, which offers both relative (ev_timer, based
252on true relative time) and absolute (ev_periodic, based on wallclock time)
253timers.
254
255AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the
256AnyEvent API.
257
258AnyEvent has two additional methods that return the "current time":
125 259
126=over 4 260=over 4
127 261
128=item $cv->wait 262=item AnyEvent->time
129 263
130Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been 264This returns the "current wallclock time" as a fractional number of
131called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally. 265seconds since the Epoch (the same thing as C<time> or C<Time::HiRes::time>
266return, and the result is guaranteed to be compatible with those).
132 267
133Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case, so 268It progresses independently of any event loop processing, i.e. each call
134if you are using this from a module, never require a blocking wait, but 269will check the system clock, which usually gets updated frequently.
135let the caller decide wether the call will block or not (for example,
136by coupling condition variables with some kind of request results and
137supporting callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not
138block, while still suppporting blockign waits if the caller so desires).
139 270
140You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return 271=item AnyEvent->now
141immediately.
142 272
143=item $cv->broadcast 273This also returns the "current wallclock time", but unlike C<time>, above,
274this value might change only once per event loop iteration, depending on
275the event loop (most return the same time as C<time>, above). This is the
276time that AnyEvent's timers get scheduled against.
144 277
145Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further 278I<In almost all cases (in all cases if you don't care), this is the
146calls to C<wait> will return after this method has been called. If nobody 279function to call when you want to know the current time.>
147is waiting the broadcast will be remembered..
148 280
149Example: 281This function is also often faster then C<< AnyEvent->time >>, and
282thus the preferred method if you want some timestamp (for example,
283L<AnyEvent::Handle> uses this to update it's activity timeouts).
284
285The rest of this section is only of relevance if you try to be very exact
286with your timing, you can skip it without bad conscience.
287
288For a practical example of when these times differ, consider L<Event::Lib>
289and L<EV> and the following set-up:
290
291The event loop is running and has just invoked one of your callback at
292time=500 (assume no other callbacks delay processing). In your callback,
293you wait a second by executing C<sleep 1> (blocking the process for a
294second) and then (at time=501) you create a relative timer that fires
295after three seconds.
296
297With L<Event::Lib>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> will
298both return C<501>, because that is the current time, and the timer will
299be scheduled to fire at time=504 (C<501> + C<3>).
300
301With L<EV>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> returns C<501> (as that is the current
302time), but C<< AnyEvent->now >> returns C<500>, as that is the time the
303last event processing phase started. With L<EV>, your timer gets scheduled
304to run at time=503 (C<500> + C<3>).
305
306In one sense, L<Event::Lib> is more exact, as it uses the current time
307regardless of any delays introduced by event processing. However, most
308callbacks do not expect large delays in processing, so this causes a
309higher drift (and a lot more system calls to get the current time).
310
311In another sense, L<EV> is more exact, as your timer will be scheduled at
312the same time, regardless of how long event processing actually took.
313
314In either case, if you care (and in most cases, you don't), then you
315can get whatever behaviour you want with any event loop, by taking the
316difference between C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> into
317account.
318
319=back
320
321=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
322
323You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
324I<name> in uppercase and without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl
325callback to be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
326
327Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
328presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
329callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
330
331Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
332invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
333that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
334but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
335
336The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
337between multiple watchers.
338
339This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals
340directly will likely not work correctly.
341
342Example: exit on SIGINT
343
344 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
345
346=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
347
348You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status.
349
350The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it
351watches for any child process exit). The watcher will triggered only when
352the child process has finished and an exit status is available, not on
353any trace events (stopped/continued).
354
355The callback will be called with the pid and exit status (as returned by
356waitpid), so unlike other watcher types, you I<can> rely on child watcher
357callback arguments.
358
359This watcher type works by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>,
360and since it cannot be shared, nothing else should use SIGCHLD or reap
361random child processes (waiting for specific child processes, e.g. inside
362C<system>, is just fine).
363
364There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
365I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
366have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
367
368Not all event models handle this correctly (POE doesn't), but even for
369event models that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be
370loaded before the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place).
371
372This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first thing in an
373AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one watcher before you
374C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call C<AnyEvent::detect>).
375
376Example: fork a process and wait for it
377
378 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
379
380 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
381
382 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
383 pid => $pid,
384 cb => sub {
385 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
386 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
387 $done->send;
388 },
389 );
390
391 # do something else, then wait for process exit
392 $done->recv;
393
394=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
395
396If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
397require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
398will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
399
400AnyEvent is different, it expects somebody else to run the event loop and
401will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
402
403The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
404because they represent a condition that must become true.
405
406Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
407>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
408
409C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
410becomes true, with the condition variable as the first argument (but not
411the results).
412
413After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
414by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
415were a callback, read about the caveats in the description for the C<<
416->send >> method).
417
418Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
419optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
420in time where multiple outstanding events have been processed. And yet
421another way to call them is transactions - each condition variable can be
422used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
423a result.
424
425Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
426for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
427then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
428availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
429called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
430
431You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
432you can block your main program until an event occurs - for example, you
433could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
434button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
435
436Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
437two pieces of code that call C<< ->recv >> in a round-robin fashion, you
438lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
439you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
440as this asks for trouble.
441
442Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
443used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
444easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
445AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
446it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
447
448There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
449eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
450for the send to occur.
451
452Example: wait for a timer.
150 453
151 # wait till the result is ready 454 # wait till the result is ready
152 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar; 455 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
153 456
154 # do something such as adding a timer 457 # do something such as adding a timer
155 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast 458 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->send
156 # when the "result" is ready. 459 # when the "result" is ready.
460 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
461 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
462 after => 1,
463 cb => sub { $result_ready->send },
464 );
157 465
466 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
467 # calls send
158 $result_ready->wait; 468 $result_ready->recv;
469
470Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that
471condition variables are also code references.
472
473 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
474 my $delay = AnyEvent->timer (after => 5, cb => $done);
475 $done->recv;
476
477Example: Imagine an API that returns a condvar and doesn't support
478callbacks. This is how you make a synchronous call, for example from
479the main program:
480
481 use AnyEvent::CouchDB;
482
483 ...
484
485 my @info = $couchdb->info->recv;
486
487And this is how you would just ste a callback to be called whenever the
488results are available:
489
490 $couchdb->info->cb (sub {
491 my @info = $_[0]->recv;
492 });
493
494=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
495
496These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
497code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
498the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
499uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
500
501=over 4
502
503=item $cv->send (...)
504
505Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
506calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
507called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
508
509If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
510immediately from within send.
511
512Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
513future C<< ->recv >> calls.
514
515Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly
516(as a code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling
517C<send>. Note, however, that many C-based event loops do not handle
518overloading, so as tempting as it may be, passing a condition variable
519instead of a callback does not work. Both the pure perl and EV loops
520support overloading, however, as well as all functions that use perl to
521invoke a callback (as in L<AnyEvent::Socket> and L<AnyEvent::DNS> for
522example).
523
524=item $cv->croak ($error)
525
526Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
527C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
528
529This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
530user/consumer.
531
532=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
533
534=item $cv->end
535
536These two methods are EXPERIMENTAL and MIGHT CHANGE.
537
538These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
539one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
540to use a condition variable for the whole process.
541
542Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
543C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
544>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed. That callback
545is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send >>, but that is not required. If no
546callback was set, C<send> will be called without any arguments.
547
548Let's clarify this with the ping example:
549
550 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
551
552 my %result;
553 $cv->begin (sub { $cv->send (\%result) });
554
555 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
556 $cv->begin;
557 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
558 $result{$host} = ...;
559 $cv->end;
560 };
561 }
562
563 $cv->end;
564
565This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
566C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
567order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
568each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
569it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
570results arrive is not relevant.
571
572There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
573loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
574to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
575C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
576doesn't execute once).
577
578This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple subrequests:
579use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set the callback and ensure C<end>
580is called at least once, and then, for each subrequest you start, call
581C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish, call C<end>.
159 582
160=back 583=back
161 584
162=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS 585=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
163 586
164You can listen for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal 587These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
165I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix. Multiple signals events can be clumped 588code awaits the condition.
166together into one callback invocation, and callback invocation might or
167might not be asynchronous.
168 589
169These watchers might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals 590=over 4
170directly will likely not work correctly.
171 591
172Example: exit on SIGINT 592=item $cv->recv
173 593
174 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 }); 594Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
595>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
596normally.
175 597
176=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS 598You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
599will return immediately.
177 600
178You can also listen for the status of a child process specified by the 601If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
179C<pid> argument (or any child if the pid argument is 0). The watcher will 602function will call C<croak>.
180trigger as often as status change for the child are received. This works
181by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with
182the pid and exit status (as returned by waitpid).
183 603
184Example: wait for pid 1333 604In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
605in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
185 606
186 my $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => 1333, cb => sub { warn "exit status $?" }); 607Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
608(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
609using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the
610caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
611condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
612callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
613while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
187 614
188=head1 GLOBALS 615Another reason I<never> to C<< ->recv >> in a module is that you cannot
616sensibly have two C<< ->recv >>'s in parallel, as that would require
617multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent>
618can supply.
619
620The L<Coro> module, however, I<can> and I<does> supply coroutines and, in
621fact, L<Coro::AnyEvent> replaces AnyEvent's condvars by coroutine-safe
622versions and also integrates coroutines into AnyEvent, making blocking
623C<< ->recv >> calls perfectly safe as long as they are done from another
624coroutine (one that doesn't run the event loop).
625
626You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
627only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
628time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
629waits otherwise.
630
631=item $bool = $cv->ready
632
633Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
634C<croak> have been called.
635
636=item $cb = $cv->cb ($cb->($cv))
637
638This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
639replaces it before doing so.
640
641The callback will be called when the condition becomes "true", i.e. when
642C<send> or C<croak> are called, with the only argument being the condition
643variable itself. Calling C<recv> inside the callback or at any later time
644is guaranteed not to block.
645
646=back
647
648=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
189 649
190=over 4 650=over 4
191 651
192=item $AnyEvent::MODEL 652=item $AnyEvent::MODEL
193 653
197C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case 657C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case
198AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>). 658AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>).
199 659
200The known classes so far are: 660The known classes so far are:
201 661
202 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV based on Coro::EV, best choice.
203 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, also best choice). 662 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice).
204 AnyEvent::Impl::Coro based on Coro::Event, second best choice.
205 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, also second best choice :) 663 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice.
664 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
206 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, second-best choice. 665 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.
207 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice. 666 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
208 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient. 667 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).
668 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
669 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, not generic enough for full support.
670
671There is no support for WxWidgets, as WxWidgets has no support for
672watching file handles. However, you can use WxWidgets through the
673POE Adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply polls 20 times per
674second, which was considered to be too horrible to even consider for
675AnyEvent. Likewise, other POE backends can be used by AnyEvent by using
676it's adaptor.
677
678AnyEvent knows about L<Prima> and L<Wx> and will try to use L<POE> when
679autodetecting them.
209 680
210=item AnyEvent::detect 681=item AnyEvent::detect
211 682
212Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model if 683Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
213necessary. You should only call this function right before you would have 684if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
214created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, very late at runtime. 685have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
686runtime.
687
688=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
689
690Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
691autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
692
693If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
694that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed. See
695L<Coro::BDB> for a case where this is useful.
696
697=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
698
699If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
700before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
701the event loop has been chosen.
702
703You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
704if it contains a true value then the event loop has already been detected,
705and the array will be ignored.
706
707Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> instead.
215 708
216=back 709=back
217 710
218=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE 711=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
219 712
220As a module author, you should "use AnyEvent" and call AnyEvent methods 713As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods
221freely, but you should not load a specific event module or rely on it. 714freely, but you should not load a specific event module or rely on it.
222 715
223Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - Anyevent will 716Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
224decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so 717decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
225by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module 718by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
226to load the event module first. 719to load the event module first.
227 720
721Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
722the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
723because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
724events is to stay interactive.
725
726It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
727requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
728called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
729freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
730
228=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM 731=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
229 732
230There will always be a single main program - the only place that should 733There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
231dictate which event model to use. 734dictate which event model to use.
232 735
233If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not 736If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not
234do anything special and let AnyEvent decide which implementation to chose. 737do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
738decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
235 739
236If the main program relies on a specific event model (for example, in Gtk2 740If the main program relies on a specific event model - for example, in
237programs you have to rely on either Glib or Glib::Event), you should load 741Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module - you should load the
238it before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it, generally, as early 742event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
239as possible. The reason is that modules might create watchers when they 743speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
240are loaded, and AnyEvent will decide on the event model to use as soon as 744modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
241it creates watchers, and it might chose the wrong one unless you load the 745decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
242correct one yourself. 746might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
243 747
244You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by 748You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
245loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, but letting AnyEvent chose is 749C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
246generally better. 750everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
751
752=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
753
754Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
755only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
756
757In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
758
759 AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
760
761This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
762
763Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
764it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
765variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
766exit cleanly.
767
768
769=head1 OTHER MODULES
770
771The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
772AnyEvent and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent modules
773in the same program. Some of the modules come with AnyEvent, some are
774available via CPAN.
775
776=over 4
777
778=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
779
780Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
781functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
782
783=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
784
785Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
786addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
787connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
788
789=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
790
791Provide read and write buffers, manages watchers for reads and writes,
792supports raw and formatted I/O, I/O queued and fully transparent and
793non-blocking SSL/TLS.
794
795=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
796
797Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
798
799=item L<AnyEvent::HTTP>
800
801A simple-to-use HTTP library that is capable of making a lot of concurrent
802HTTP requests.
803
804=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
805
806Provides a simple web application server framework.
807
808=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
809
810The fastest ping in the west.
811
812=item L<AnyEvent::DBI>
813
814Executes L<DBI> requests asynchronously in a proxy process.
815
816=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>
817
818Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
819programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses L<IO::AIO> and AnyEvent
820together.
821
822=item L<AnyEvent::BDB>
823
824Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. AnyEvent::BDB transparently fuses
825L<BDB> and AnyEvent together.
826
827=item L<AnyEvent::GPSD>
828
829A non-blocking interface to gpsd, a daemon delivering GPS information.
830
831=item L<AnyEvent::IGS>
832
833A non-blocking interface to the Internet Go Server protocol (used by
834L<App::IGS>).
835
836=item L<AnyEvent::IRC>
837
838AnyEvent based IRC client module family (replacing the older Net::IRC3).
839
840=item L<Net::XMPP2>
841
842AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family.
843
844=item L<Net::FCP>
845
846AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
847of AnyEvent.
848
849=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
850
851High level API for event-based execution flow control.
852
853=item L<Coro>
854
855Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
856
857=item L<IO::Lambda>
858
859The lambda approach to I/O - don't ask, look there. Can use AnyEvent.
860
861=back
247 862
248=cut 863=cut
249 864
250package AnyEvent; 865package AnyEvent;
251 866
252no warnings; 867no warnings;
253use strict; 868use strict qw(vars subs);
254 869
255use Carp; 870use Carp;
256 871
257our $VERSION = '2.6'; 872our $VERSION = 4.341;
258our $MODEL; 873our $MODEL;
259 874
260our $AUTOLOAD; 875our $AUTOLOAD;
261our @ISA; 876our @ISA;
262 877
878our @REGISTRY;
879
880our $WIN32;
881
882BEGIN {
883 my $win32 = ! ! ($^O =~ /mswin32/i);
884 eval "sub WIN32(){ $win32 }";
885}
886
263our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1; 887our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
264 888
265our @REGISTRY; 889our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2), higher numbers are preferred
890
891{
892 my $idx;
893 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
894 for reverse split /\s*,\s*/,
895 $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
896}
266 897
267my @models = ( 898my @models = (
268 [Coro::EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV::],
269 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::], 899 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::],
270 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Coro::],
271 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 900 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::],
272 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::],
273 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::],
274 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::], 901 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::],
902 # everything below here will not be autoprobed
903 # as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
904 # and is usually faster
905 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], # crashes with many handles
906 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], # becomes extremely slow with many watchers
907 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
908 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
909 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
910 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
911 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
275); 912);
276 913
277our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer condvar broadcast wait signal one_event DESTROY); 914our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer time now signal child condvar one_event DESTROY);
915
916our @post_detect;
917
918sub post_detect(&) {
919 my ($cb) = @_;
920
921 if ($MODEL) {
922 $cb->();
923
924 1
925 } else {
926 push @post_detect, $cb;
927
928 defined wantarray
929 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::PostDetect"
930 : ()
931 }
932}
933
934sub AnyEvent::Util::PostDetect::DESTROY {
935 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
936}
278 937
279sub detect() { 938sub detect() {
280 unless ($MODEL) { 939 unless ($MODEL) {
281 no strict 'refs'; 940 no strict 'refs';
941 local $SIG{__DIE__};
942
943 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
944 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
945 if (eval "require $model") {
946 $MODEL = $model;
947 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
948 } else {
949 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL):\n$@" if $verbose;
950 }
951 }
282 952
283 # check for already loaded models 953 # check for already loaded models
954 unless ($MODEL) {
284 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 955 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
285 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 956 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
286 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 957 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
287 if (eval "require $model") { 958 if (eval "require $model") {
288 $MODEL = $model; 959 $MODEL = $model;
289 warn "AnyEvent: found model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 960 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
290 last; 961 last;
962 }
291 } 963 }
292 } 964 }
965
966 unless ($MODEL) {
967 # try to load a model
968
969 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
970 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
971 if (eval "require $package"
972 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
973 and eval "require $model") {
974 $MODEL = $model;
975 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
976 last;
977 }
978 }
979
980 $MODEL
981 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.";
982 }
293 } 983 }
294 984
295 unless ($MODEL) { 985 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
296 # try to load a model
297
298 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
299 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
300 if (eval "require $package"
301 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
302 and eval "require $model") {
303 $MODEL = $model;
304 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed and loaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
305 last;
306 }
307 }
308
309 $MODEL
310 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV (or Coro+EV), Event (or Coro+Event), Glib or Tk.";
311 }
312 986
313 unshift @ISA, $MODEL; 987 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
314 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base"; 988
989 require AnyEvent::Strict if $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT};
990
991 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
315 } 992 }
316 993
317 $MODEL 994 $MODEL
318} 995}
319 996
327 1004
328 my $class = shift; 1005 my $class = shift;
329 $class->$func (@_); 1006 $class->$func (@_);
330} 1007}
331 1008
1009# utility function to dup a filehandle. this is used by many backends
1010# to support binding more than one watcher per filehandle (they usually
1011# allow only one watcher per fd, so we dup it to get a different one).
1012sub _dupfh($$$$) {
1013 my ($poll, $fh, $r, $w) = @_;
1014
1015 # cygwin requires the fh mode to be matching, unix doesn't
1016 my ($rw, $mode) = $poll eq "r" ? ($r, "<")
1017 : $poll eq "w" ? ($w, ">")
1018 : Carp::croak "AnyEvent->io requires poll set to either 'r' or 'w'";
1019
1020 open my $fh2, "$mode&" . fileno $fh
1021 or die "cannot dup() filehandle: $!";
1022
1023 # we assume CLOEXEC is already set by perl in all important cases
1024
1025 ($fh2, $rw)
1026}
1027
332package AnyEvent::Base; 1028package AnyEvent::Base;
333 1029
1030# default implementation for now and time
1031
1032BEGIN {
1033 if (eval "use Time::HiRes (); time (); 1") {
1034 *_time = \&Time::HiRes::time;
1035 # if (eval "use POSIX (); (POSIX::times())...
1036 } else {
1037 *_time = sub { time }; # epic fail
1038 }
1039}
1040
1041sub time { _time }
1042sub now { _time }
1043
334# default implementation for ->condvar, ->wait, ->broadcast 1044# default implementation for ->condvar
335 1045
336sub condvar { 1046sub condvar {
337 bless \my $flag, "AnyEvent::Base::CondVar" 1047 bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, AnyEvent::CondVar::
338}
339
340sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::broadcast {
341 ${$_[0]}++;
342}
343
344sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::wait {
345 AnyEvent->one_event while !${$_[0]};
346} 1048}
347 1049
348# default implementation for ->signal 1050# default implementation for ->signal
349 1051
350our %SIG_CB; 1052our ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W, %SIG_CB, %SIG_EV, $SIG_IO);
1053
1054sub _signal_exec {
1055 sysread $SIGPIPE_R, my $dummy, 4;
1056
1057 while (%SIG_EV) {
1058 for (keys %SIG_EV) {
1059 delete $SIG_EV{$_};
1060 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$_} || {} };
1061 }
1062 }
1063}
351 1064
352sub signal { 1065sub signal {
353 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1066 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
354 1067
1068 unless ($SIGPIPE_R) {
1069 if (AnyEvent::WIN32) {
1070 ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_pipe ();
1071 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_R) if $SIGPIPE_R;
1072 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_W) if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1073 } else {
1074 pipe $SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W;
1075 require Fcntl;
1076 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_R;
1077 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1078 }
1079
1080 $SIGPIPE_R
1081 or Carp::croak "AnyEvent: unable to create a signal reporting pipe: $!\n";
1082
1083 $SIG_IO = AnyEvent->io (fh => $SIGPIPE_R, poll => "r", cb => \&_signal_exec);
1084 }
1085
355 my $signal = uc $arg{signal} 1086 my $signal = uc $arg{signal}
356 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing"; 1087 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing";
357 1088
358 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1089 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
359 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub { 1090 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub {
360 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} || {} }; 1091 syswrite $SIGPIPE_W, "\x00", 1 unless %SIG_EV;
1092 undef $SIG_EV{$signal};
361 }; 1093 };
362 1094
363 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Signal" 1095 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Signal"
364} 1096}
365 1097
366sub AnyEvent::Base::Signal::DESTROY { 1098sub AnyEvent::Base::Signal::DESTROY {
367 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]}; 1099 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
368 1100
369 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb}; 1101 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
370 1102
371 $SIG{$signal} = 'DEFAULT' unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} }; 1103 delete $SIG{$signal} unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
372} 1104}
373 1105
374# default implementation for ->child 1106# default implementation for ->child
375 1107
376our %PID_CB; 1108our %PID_CB;
377our $CHLD_W; 1109our $CHLD_W;
1110our $CHLD_DELAY_W;
378our $PID_IDLE; 1111our $PID_IDLE;
379our $WNOHANG; 1112our $WNOHANG;
380 1113
381sub _child_wait { 1114sub _child_wait {
382 while (0 <= (my $pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG)) { 1115 while (0 < (my $pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG)) {
383 $_->($pid, $?) for (values %{ $PID_CB{$pid} || {} }), 1116 $_->($pid, $?) for (values %{ $PID_CB{$pid} || {} }),
384 (values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} }); 1117 (values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} });
385 } 1118 }
386 1119
387 undef $PID_IDLE; 1120 undef $PID_IDLE;
388} 1121}
389 1122
1123sub _sigchld {
1124 # make sure we deliver these changes "synchronous" with the event loop.
1125 $CHLD_DELAY_W ||= AnyEvent->timer (after => 0, cb => sub {
1126 undef $CHLD_DELAY_W;
1127 &_child_wait;
1128 });
1129}
1130
390sub child { 1131sub child {
391 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1132 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
392 1133
393 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0) 1134 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0)
394 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing"; 1135 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing";
395 1136
396 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1137 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
397 1138
398 unless ($WNOHANG) { 1139 unless ($WNOHANG) {
399 $WNOHANG = eval { require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1; 1140 $WNOHANG = eval { local $SIG{__DIE__}; require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;
400 } 1141 }
401 1142
402 unless ($CHLD_W) { 1143 unless ($CHLD_W) {
403 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_child_wait); 1144 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld);
404 # child could be a zombie already 1145 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
405 $PID_IDLE ||= AnyEvent->timer (after => 0, cb => \&_child_wait); 1146 &_sigchld;
406 } 1147 }
407 1148
408 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Child" 1149 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Child"
409} 1150}
410 1151
415 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} }; 1156 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
416 1157
417 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB; 1158 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
418} 1159}
419 1160
1161package AnyEvent::CondVar;
1162
1163our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
1164
1165package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
1166
1167use overload
1168 '&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
1169 fallback => 1;
1170
1171sub _send {
1172 # nop
1173}
1174
1175sub send {
1176 my $cv = shift;
1177 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
1178 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
1179 $cv->_send;
1180}
1181
1182sub croak {
1183 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
1184 $_[0]->send;
1185}
1186
1187sub ready {
1188 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
1189}
1190
1191sub _wait {
1192 AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
1193}
1194
1195sub recv {
1196 $_[0]->_wait;
1197
1198 Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
1199 wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
1200}
1201
1202sub cb {
1203 $_[0]{_ae_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1204 $_[0]{_ae_cb}
1205}
1206
1207sub begin {
1208 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1209 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1210}
1211
1212sub end {
1213 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1214 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
1215}
1216
1217# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
1218*broadcast = \&send;
1219*wait = \&_wait;
1220
1221=head1 ERROR AND EXCEPTION HANDLING
1222
1223In general, AnyEvent does not do any error handling - it relies on the
1224caller to do that if required. The L<AnyEvent::Strict> module (see also
1225the C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT> environment variable, below) provides strict
1226checking of all AnyEvent methods, however, which is highly useful during
1227development.
1228
1229As for exception handling (i.e. runtime errors and exceptions thrown while
1230executing a callback), this is not only highly event-loop specific, but
1231also not in any way wrapped by this module, as this is the job of the main
1232program.
1233
1234The pure perl event loop simply re-throws the exception (usually
1235within C<< condvar->recv >>), the L<Event> and L<EV> modules call C<<
1236$Event/EV::DIED->() >>, L<Glib> uses C<< install_exception_handler >> and
1237so on.
1238
1239=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1240
1241The following environment variables are used by this module or its
1242submodules:
1243
1244=over 4
1245
1246=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
1247
1248By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
1249conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
1250talkative.
1251
1252When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
1253conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
1254C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
1255
1256When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
1257model it chooses.
1258
1259=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT>
1260
1261AnyEvent does not do much argument checking by default, as thorough
1262argument checking is very costly. Setting this variable to a true value
1263will cause AnyEvent to load C<AnyEvent::Strict> and then to thoroughly
1264check the arguments passed to most method calls. If it finds any problems
1265it will croak.
1266
1267In other words, enables "strict" mode.
1268
1269Unlike C<use strict>, it is definitely recommended ot keep it off in
1270production. Keeping C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT=1> in your environment while
1271developing programs can be very useful, however.
1272
1273=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
1274
1275This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
1276auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
1277entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
1278and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
1279used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
1280auto detection and -probing.
1281
1282This functionality might change in future versions.
1283
1284For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
1285could start your program like this:
1286
1287 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
1288
1289=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
1290
1291Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
1292for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
1293of auto probing).
1294
1295Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
1296current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
1297used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
1298list.
1299
1300This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
1301against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
1302small, as the program has to handle conenction and other failures anyways.
1303
1304Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
1305but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
1306- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
1307addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
1308IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
1309
1310=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
1311
1312Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
1313for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
1314some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
1315default.
1316
1317Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
1318EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
1319
1320=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_FORKS>
1321
1322The maximum number of child processes that C<AnyEvent::Util::fork_call>
1323will create in parallel.
1324
1325=back
1326
420=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 1327=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
1328
1329This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
1330a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
1331provide AnyEvent compatibility.
421 1332
422If you need to support another event library which isn't directly 1333If you need to support another event library which isn't directly
423supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by 1334supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by
424pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of 1335pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of
425the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto 1336the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto
426C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading 1337C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading
427AnyEvent. 1338AnyEvent, so it is reasonably cheap.
428 1339
429Example: 1340Example:
430 1341
431 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::]; 1342 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::];
432 1343
433This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::> 1344This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::>
434package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is loaded. When 1345package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is already loaded.
1346
435AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it will 1347When AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it
436first check for the presence of urxvt. 1348will first check for the presence of urxvt by trying to C<use> the
1349C<urxvt::anyevent> module.
437 1350
438The class should provide implementations for all watcher types (see 1351The class should provide implementations for all watcher types. See
439L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> 1352L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> (Source code)
440(Source code) and so on for actual examples, use C<perldoc -m 1353and so on for actual examples. Use C<perldoc -m AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to
441AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to see the sources). 1354see the sources.
442 1355
1356If you don't provide C<signal> and C<child> watchers than AnyEvent will
1357provide suitable (hopefully) replacements.
1358
443The above isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt) 1359The above example isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt)
444uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included in AnyEvent 1360terminal emulator uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included
445because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter inside 1361in AnyEvent because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter
446I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the 1362inside I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the
447I<rxvt-unicode> distribution. 1363I<rxvt-unicode> distribution.
448 1364
449I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to 1365I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to
450condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will 1366condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will
451C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must 1367C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must
452not be in an interactive application, so it makes sense. 1368not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense.
453 1369
454=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
455
456The following environment variables are used by this module:
457
458C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE> when set to C<2> or higher, reports which event
459model gets used.
460
461=head1 EXAMPLE 1370=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
462 1371
463The following program uses an io watcher to read data from stdin, a timer 1372The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
464to display a message once per second, and a condvar to exit the program 1373to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
465when the user enters quit: 1374program when the user enters quit:
466 1375
467 use AnyEvent; 1376 use AnyEvent;
468 1377
469 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar; 1378 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
470 1379
471 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 1380 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (
1381 fh => \*STDIN,
1382 poll => 'r',
1383 cb => sub {
472 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 1384 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
473 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 1385 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
474 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 1386 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
475 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 1387 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
1388 },
476 }); 1389 );
477 1390
478 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once 1391 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
479 1392
480 sub new_timer { 1393 sub new_timer {
481 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub { 1394 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub {
484 }); 1397 });
485 } 1398 }
486 1399
487 new_timer; # create first timer 1400 new_timer; # create first timer
488 1401
489 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 1402 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
490 1403
491=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 1404=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
492 1405
493Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 1406Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
494API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 1407API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
544 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 1457 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
545 or die "connection or write error"; 1458 or die "connection or write error";
546 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 1459 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
547 1460
548Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 1461Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
549result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished: 1462result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
550 1463
551 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 1464 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
552 1465
553 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 1466 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
554 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 1467 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
555 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 1468 $txn->{finished}->send;
556 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 1469 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
557 } 1470 }
558 1471
559The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 1472The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
560request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the 1473request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
561data: 1474data:
562 1475
563 $txn->{finished}->wait; 1476 $txn->{finished}->recv;
564 return $txn->{result}; 1477 return $txn->{result};
565 1478
566The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 1479The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
567that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 1480that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
568wether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 1481whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
569and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 1482and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
570problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a 1483problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
571random callback. 1484random callback.
572 1485
573All of this enables the following usage styles: 1486All of this enables the following usage styles:
574 1487
5751. Blocking: 14881. Blocking:
576 1489
577 my $data = $fcp->client_get ($url); 1490 my $data = $fcp->client_get ($url);
578 1491
5792. Blocking, but parallelizing: 14922. Blocking, but running in parallel:
580 1493
581 my @datas = map $_->result, 1494 my @datas = map $_->result,
582 map $fcp->txn_client_get ($_), 1495 map $fcp->txn_client_get ($_),
583 @urls; 1496 @urls;
584 1497
585Both blocking examples work without the module user having to know 1498Both blocking examples work without the module user having to know
586anything about events. 1499anything about events.
587 1500
5883a. Event-based in a main program, using any support Event module: 15013a. Event-based in a main program, using any supported event module:
589 1502
590 use Event; 1503 use EV;
591 1504
592 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 1505 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
593 my $txn = shift; 1506 my $txn = shift;
594 my $data = $txn->result; 1507 my $data = $txn->result;
595 ... 1508 ...
596 }); 1509 });
597 1510
598 Event::loop; 1511 EV::loop;
599 1512
6003b. The module user could use AnyEvent, too: 15133b. The module user could use AnyEvent, too:
601 1514
602 use AnyEvent; 1515 use AnyEvent;
603 1516
604 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 1517 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
605 1518
606 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 1519 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
607 ... 1520 ...
608 $quit->broadcast; 1521 $quit->send;
609 }); 1522 });
610 1523
611 $quit->wait; 1524 $quit->recv;
1525
1526
1527=head1 BENCHMARKS
1528
1529To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
1530over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
1531of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
1532
1533=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
1534
1535Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
1536through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
1537timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
1538which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
1539
1540Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
1541distribution.
1542
1543=head3 Explanation of the columns
1544
1545I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
1546different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
1547loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
1548and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
1549would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
1550of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
1551
1552I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
1553RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
1554and Perl-based overheads.
1555
1556I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
1557takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
1558all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
1559and memory usage is not included in the figures.
1560
1561I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
1562callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
1563invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
1564signal the end of this phase.
1565
1566I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
1567watcher.
1568
1569=head3 Results
1570
1571 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
1572 EV/EV 400000 224 0.47 0.35 0.27 EV native interface
1573 EV/Any 100000 224 2.88 0.34 0.27 EV + AnyEvent watchers
1574 CoroEV/Any 100000 224 2.85 0.35 0.28 coroutines + Coro::Signal
1575 Perl/Any 100000 452 4.13 0.73 0.95 pure perl implementation
1576 Event/Event 16000 517 32.20 31.80 0.81 Event native interface
1577 Event/Any 16000 590 35.85 31.55 1.06 Event + AnyEvent watchers
1578 Glib/Any 16000 1357 102.33 12.31 51.00 quadratic behaviour
1579 Tk/Any 2000 1860 27.20 66.31 14.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
1580 POE/Event 2000 6328 109.99 751.67 14.02 via POE::Loop::Event
1581 POE/Select 2000 6027 94.54 809.13 579.80 via POE::Loop::Select
1582
1583=head3 Discussion
1584
1585The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
1586well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
1587can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
1588file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
1589the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
1590boost.
1591
1592Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
1593overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
1594the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
1595higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
1596
1597To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
1598benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
1599EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
1600cycles with POE.
1601
1602C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
1603maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, it uses
1604far less memory than any other event loop and is still faster than Event
1605natively.
1606
1607The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
1608constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
1609interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
1610adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
1611performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
1612them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
1613
1614The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
1615cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
1616
1617C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
1618faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
1619C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
1620watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
1621making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
1622(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
1623inefficiencies of C<poll> do not account for this).
1624
1625The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
1626more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
1627precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
1628file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
1629employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
1630hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
1631above).
1632
1633C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
1634select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
1635be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
1636memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
1637as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
1638requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
1639invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
1640implementation.
1641
1642The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
1643for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
1644small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
1645optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
1646using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
1647memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
1648design).
1649
1650=head3 Summary
1651
1652=over 4
1653
1654=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
1655(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
1656performance with or without AnyEvent.
1657
1658=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
1659the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
1660adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
1661
1662=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
1663reasonable memory usage.
1664
1665=back
1666
1667=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
1668
1669This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
1670creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
1671timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
1672watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
1673watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
1674
1675The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
1676are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
1677fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
1678timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
1679most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
1680
1681In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
1682(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
1683connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
1684
1685Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
1686distribution.
1687
1688=head3 Explanation of the columns
1689
1690I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
1691each server has a read and write socket end).
1692
1693I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
1694nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
1695
1696I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
1697single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
1698it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
1699a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
1700
1701=head3 Results
1702
1703 name sockets create request
1704 EV 20000 69.01 11.16
1705 Perl 20000 73.32 35.87
1706 Event 20000 212.62 257.32
1707 Glib 20000 651.16 1896.30
1708 POE 20000 349.67 12317.24 uses POE::Loop::Event
1709
1710=head3 Discussion
1711
1712This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
1713particular event loop.
1714
1715EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
1716is relatively high, though.
1717
1718Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
1719loops Event and Glib.
1720
1721Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
1722understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
1723the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
1724uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
1725
1726Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
1727clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
1728
1729POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
1730as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
1731it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
1732
1733=head3 Summary
1734
1735=over 4
1736
1737=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
1738
1739=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
1740
1741=back
1742
1743=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
1744
1745While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
1746large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
1747I/O watchers.
1748
1749In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
1750case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
1751one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
1752well.
1753
1754The columns are identical to the previous table.
1755
1756=head3 Results
1757
1758 name sockets create request
1759 EV 16 20.00 6.54
1760 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
1761 Event 16 81.27 35.86
1762 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
1763 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
1764
1765=head3 Discussion
1766
1767The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
1768server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
1769in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
1770to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
1771speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
1772them).
1773
1774EV is again fastest.
1775
1776Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
1777loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
1778matter.
1779
1780POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
1781others.
1782
1783=head3 Summary
1784
1785=over 4
1786
1787=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
1788watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
1789
1790=back
1791
1792
1793=head1 SIGNALS
1794
1795AnyEvent currently installs handlers for these signals:
1796
1797=over 4
1798
1799=item SIGCHLD
1800
1801A handler for C<SIGCHLD> is installed by AnyEvent's child watcher
1802emulation for event loops that do not support them natively. Also, some
1803event loops install a similar handler.
1804
1805=item SIGPIPE
1806
1807A no-op handler is installed for C<SIGPIPE> when C<$SIG{PIPE}> is C<undef>
1808when AnyEvent gets loaded.
1809
1810The rationale for this is that AnyEvent users usually do not really depend
1811on SIGPIPE delivery (which is purely an optimisation for shell use, or
1812badly-written programs), but C<SIGPIPE> can cause spurious and rare
1813program exits as a lot of people do not expect C<SIGPIPE> when writing to
1814some random socket.
1815
1816The rationale for installing a no-op handler as opposed to ignoring it is
1817that this way, the handler will be restored to defaults on exec.
1818
1819Feel free to install your own handler, or reset it to defaults.
1820
1821=back
1822
1823=cut
1824
1825$SIG{PIPE} = sub { }
1826 unless defined $SIG{PIPE};
1827
1828
1829=head1 FORK
1830
1831Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
1832because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
1833calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
1834
1835If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
1836watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child.
1837
1838
1839=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
1840
1841AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
1842$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to
1843execute arbitrary code or directly gain access, it can easily be used to
1844make the program hang or malfunction in subtle ways, as AnyEvent watchers
1845will not be active when the program uses a different event model than
1846specified in the variable.
1847
1848You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
1849before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
1850
1851 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
1852
1853 use AnyEvent;
1854
1855Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
1856be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
1857probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), and
1858$ENV{PERL_ANYEGENT_STRICT}.
1859
1860
1861=head1 BUGS
1862
1863Perl 5.8 has numerous memleaks that sometimes hit this module and are hard
1864to work around. If you suffer from memleaks, first upgrade to Perl 5.10
1865and check wether the leaks still show up. (Perl 5.10.0 has other annoying
1866memleaks, such as leaking on C<map> and C<grep> but it is usually not as
1867pronounced).
1868
612 1869
613=head1 SEE ALSO 1870=head1 SEE ALSO
614 1871
615Event modules: L<Coro::Event>, L<Coro>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>. 1872Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
616 1873
617Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::Coro>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>. 1874Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
1875L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
618 1876
619Nontrivial usage example: L<Net::FCP>. 1877Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
1878L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
1879L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
1880L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>.
620 1881
621=head1 1882Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
1883servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>.
1884
1885Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
1886
1887Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>,
1888
1889Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>, L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
1890
1891
1892=head1 AUTHOR
1893
1894 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
1895 http://home.schmorp.de/
622 1896
623=cut 1897=cut
624 1898
6251 18991
626 1900

Diff Legend

Removed lines
+ Added lines
< Changed lines
> Changed lines