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1=head1 NAME 1=head1 NAME
2 2
3AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops 3AnyEvent - the DBI of event loop programming
4 4
5EV, Event, Coro::EV, Coro::Event, Glib, Tk, Perl, Event::Lib, Qt, POE - various supported event loops 5EV, Event, Glib, Tk, Perl, Event::Lib, Irssi, rxvt-unicode, IO::Async, Qt
6and POE are various supported event loops/environments.
6 7
7=head1 SYNOPSIS 8=head1 SYNOPSIS
8 9
9 use AnyEvent; 10 use AnyEvent;
10 11
12 # file descriptor readable
11 my $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh, poll => "r|w", cb => sub { 13 my $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh, poll => "r", cb => sub { ... });
14
15 # one-shot or repeating timers
16 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub { ... });
17 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, interval => $seconds, cb => ...
18
19 print AnyEvent->now; # prints current event loop time
20 print AnyEvent->time; # think Time::HiRes::time or simply CORE::time.
21
22 # POSIX signal
23 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "TERM", cb => sub { ... });
24
25 # child process exit
26 my $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => $pid, cb => sub {
27 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
12 ... 28 ...
13 }); 29 });
14 30
15 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub { 31 # called when event loop idle (if applicable)
16 ... 32 my $w = AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub { ... });
17 });
18 33
19 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged 34 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged
35 $w->send; # wake up current and all future recv's
20 $w->wait; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->broadcast 36 $w->recv; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->send
21 $w->broadcast; # wake up current and all future wait's 37 # use a condvar in callback mode:
38 $w->cb (sub { $_[0]->recv });
39
40=head1 INTRODUCTION/TUTORIAL
41
42This manpage is mainly a reference manual. If you are interested
43in a tutorial or some gentle introduction, have a look at the
44L<AnyEvent::Intro> manpage.
45
46=head1 SUPPORT
47
48There is a mailinglist for discussing all things AnyEvent, and an IRC
49channel, too.
50
51See the AnyEvent project page at the B<Schmorpforge Ta-Sa Software
52Repository>, at L<http://anyevent.schmorp.de>, for more info.
22 53
23=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT) 54=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT)
24 55
25Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen 56Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen
26nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent? 57nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?
27 58
28Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of 59Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of
29policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>. 60policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>.
30 61
31First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only 62First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only
32interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use in a 63interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use, in a
33pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike, 64pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike,
34the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general, 65the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general,
35only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent 66only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent
36helps hiding the differences between those event loops. 67cannot change this, but it can hide the differences between those event
68loops.
37 69
38The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event 70The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event
39programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a 71programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a
40religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your 72religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your
41module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event 73module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event
42model you use. 74model you use.
43 75
44For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is 76For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is
45actually doing all I/O I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is 77actually doing all I/O I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is
46like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you 78like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you
47cannot use anything else, as it is simply incompatible to everything that 79cannot use anything else, as they are simply incompatible to everything
48isn't itself. What's worse, all the potential users of your module are 80that isn't them. What's worse, all the potential users of your
49I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use. 81module are I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use.
50 82
51AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works 83AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works
52fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together 84fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together
53with the rest: POE + IO::Async? no go. Tk + Event? no go. Again: if 85with the rest: POE + IO::Async? No go. Tk + Event? No go. Again: if
54your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it, 86your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it,
55too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all 87too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all
56event models it supports (including stuff like POE and IO::Async, as long 88event models it supports (including stuff like IO::Async, as long as those
57as those use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new 89use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new event loops
58event loops to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof). 90to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof).
59 91
60In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event 92In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event
61model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar 93model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar
62modules, you get an enourmous amount of code and strict rules you have to 94modules, you get an enormous amount of code and strict rules you have to
63follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only 95follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only
64offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as 96offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as
65technically possible. 97technically possible.
66 98
99Of course, AnyEvent comes with a big (and fully optional!) toolbox
100of useful functionality, such as an asynchronous DNS resolver, 100%
101non-blocking connects (even with TLS/SSL, IPv6 and on broken platforms
102such as Windows) and lots of real-world knowledge and workarounds for
103platform bugs and differences.
104
67Of course, if you want lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat 105Now, if you I<do want> lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat
68useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event 106useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event
69model, you should I<not> use this module. 107model, you should I<not> use this module.
70
71#TODO#
72
73Net::IRC3
74AnyEvent::HTTPD
75AnyEvent::DNS
76IO::AnyEvent
77Net::FPing
78Net::XMPP2
79Coro
80
81AnyEvent::IRC
82AnyEvent::HTTPD
83AnyEvent::DNS
84AnyEvent::Handle
85AnyEvent::Socket
86AnyEvent::FPing
87AnyEvent::XMPP
88AnyEvent::SNMP
89Coro
90 108
91=head1 DESCRIPTION 109=head1 DESCRIPTION
92 110
93L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This 111L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This
94allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module 112allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module
98The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event> 116The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
99module. 117module.
100 118
101During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries 119During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries
102to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the 120to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the
103following modules is already loaded: L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>, L<EV>, 121following modules is already loaded: L<EV>,
104L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, 122L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>,
105L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries 123L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries
106to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl 124to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl
107adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can 125adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can
108be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be 126be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be
122starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to 140starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to
123use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly... 141use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly...
124 142
125The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called 143The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called
126C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it 144C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it
127explicitly. 145explicitly and enjoy the high availability of that event loop :)
128 146
129=head1 WATCHERS 147=head1 WATCHERS
130 148
131AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that 149AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that
132stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as 150stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as
133the callback to call, the filehandle to watch, etc. 151the callback to call, the file handle to watch, etc.
134 152
135These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After 153These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
136creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the 154creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the
137callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model 155callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model
138is in control). 156is in control).
139 157
158Note that B<callbacks must not permanently change global variables>
159potentially in use by the event loop (such as C<$_> or C<$[>) and that B<<
160callbacks must not C<die> >>. The former is good programming practise in
161Perl and the latter stems from the fact that exception handling differs
162widely between event loops.
163
140To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the 164To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the
141variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references 165variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references
142to it). 166to it).
143 167
144All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class. 168All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class.
146Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for 170Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for
147example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways. 171example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways.
148 172
149An any way to achieve that is this pattern: 173An any way to achieve that is this pattern:
150 174
151 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub { 175 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub {
152 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it 176 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it
153 undef $w; 177 undef $w;
154 }); 178 });
155 179
156Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl, 180Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,
157my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are 181my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are
158declared. 182declared.
159 183
160=head2 I/O WATCHERS 184=head2 I/O WATCHERS
161 185
186 $w = AnyEvent->io (
187 fh => <filehandle_or_fileno>,
188 poll => <"r" or "w">,
189 cb => <callback>,
190 );
191
162You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method 192You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
163with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments: 193with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
164 194
165C<fh> the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) to watch 195C<fh> is the Perl I<file handle> (or a naked file descriptor) to watch
196for events (AnyEvent might or might not keep a reference to this file
197handle). Note that only file handles pointing to things for which
198non-blocking operation makes sense are allowed. This includes sockets,
199most character devices, pipes, fifos and so on, but not for example files
200or block devices.
201
166for events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, 202C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, which creates a
167which creates a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events, 203watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events, respectively.
204
168respectively. C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle 205C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle becomes ready.
169becomes ready.
170 206
171Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and 207Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
172presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent 208presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
173callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks. 209callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
174 210
178 214
179Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should 215Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should
180always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file 216always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file
181handles. 217handles.
182 218
183Example:
184
185 # wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the watcher 219Example: wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the
220watcher.
221
186 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 222 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
187 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); 223 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>);
188 warn "read: $input\n"; 224 warn "read: $input\n";
189 undef $w; 225 undef $w;
190 }); 226 });
191 227
192=head2 TIME WATCHERS 228=head2 TIME WATCHERS
193 229
230 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => <seconds>, cb => <callback>);
231
232 $w = AnyEvent->timer (
233 after => <fractional_seconds>,
234 interval => <fractional_seconds>,
235 cb => <callback>,
236 );
237
194You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >> 238You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>
195method with the following mandatory arguments: 239method with the following mandatory arguments:
196 240
197C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are 241C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are
198supported) the callback should be invoked. C<cb> is the callback to invoke 242supported) the callback should be invoked. C<cb> is the callback to invoke
200 244
201Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and 245Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
202presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent 246presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
203callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks. 247callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks.
204 248
205The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating 249The callback will normally be invoked once only. If you specify another
206timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk 250parameter, C<interval>, as a strictly positive number (> 0), then the
207and Glib). 251callback will be invoked regularly at that interval (in fractional
252seconds) after the first invocation. If C<interval> is specified with a
253false value, then it is treated as if it were missing.
208 254
209Example: 255The callback will be rescheduled before invoking the callback, but no
256attempt is done to avoid timer drift in most backends, so the interval is
257only approximate.
210 258
211 # fire an event after 7.7 seconds 259Example: fire an event after 7.7 seconds.
260
212 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub { 261 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub {
213 warn "timeout\n"; 262 warn "timeout\n";
214 }); 263 });
215 264
216 # to cancel the timer: 265 # to cancel the timer:
217 undef $w; 266 undef $w;
218 267
219Example 2:
220
221 # fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second 268Example 2: fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second.
222 my $w;
223 269
224 my $cb = sub {
225 # cancel the old timer while creating a new one
226 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => $cb); 270 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, interval => 1, cb => sub {
271 warn "timeout\n";
227 }; 272 };
228
229 # start the "loop" by creating the first watcher
230 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, cb => $cb);
231 273
232=head3 TIMING ISSUES 274=head3 TIMING ISSUES
233 275
234There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire 276There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire
235in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12 277in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12
247timers. 289timers.
248 290
249AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the 291AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the
250AnyEvent API. 292AnyEvent API.
251 293
294AnyEvent has two additional methods that return the "current time":
295
296=over 4
297
298=item AnyEvent->time
299
300This returns the "current wallclock time" as a fractional number of
301seconds since the Epoch (the same thing as C<time> or C<Time::HiRes::time>
302return, and the result is guaranteed to be compatible with those).
303
304It progresses independently of any event loop processing, i.e. each call
305will check the system clock, which usually gets updated frequently.
306
307=item AnyEvent->now
308
309This also returns the "current wallclock time", but unlike C<time>, above,
310this value might change only once per event loop iteration, depending on
311the event loop (most return the same time as C<time>, above). This is the
312time that AnyEvent's timers get scheduled against.
313
314I<In almost all cases (in all cases if you don't care), this is the
315function to call when you want to know the current time.>
316
317This function is also often faster then C<< AnyEvent->time >>, and
318thus the preferred method if you want some timestamp (for example,
319L<AnyEvent::Handle> uses this to update it's activity timeouts).
320
321The rest of this section is only of relevance if you try to be very exact
322with your timing, you can skip it without bad conscience.
323
324For a practical example of when these times differ, consider L<Event::Lib>
325and L<EV> and the following set-up:
326
327The event loop is running and has just invoked one of your callback at
328time=500 (assume no other callbacks delay processing). In your callback,
329you wait a second by executing C<sleep 1> (blocking the process for a
330second) and then (at time=501) you create a relative timer that fires
331after three seconds.
332
333With L<Event::Lib>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> will
334both return C<501>, because that is the current time, and the timer will
335be scheduled to fire at time=504 (C<501> + C<3>).
336
337With L<EV>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> returns C<501> (as that is the current
338time), but C<< AnyEvent->now >> returns C<500>, as that is the time the
339last event processing phase started. With L<EV>, your timer gets scheduled
340to run at time=503 (C<500> + C<3>).
341
342In one sense, L<Event::Lib> is more exact, as it uses the current time
343regardless of any delays introduced by event processing. However, most
344callbacks do not expect large delays in processing, so this causes a
345higher drift (and a lot more system calls to get the current time).
346
347In another sense, L<EV> is more exact, as your timer will be scheduled at
348the same time, regardless of how long event processing actually took.
349
350In either case, if you care (and in most cases, you don't), then you
351can get whatever behaviour you want with any event loop, by taking the
352difference between C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> into
353account.
354
355=item AnyEvent->now_update
356
357Some event loops (such as L<EV> or L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) cache
358the current time for each loop iteration (see the discussion of L<<
359AnyEvent->now >>, above).
360
361When a callback runs for a long time (or when the process sleeps), then
362this "current" time will differ substantially from the real time, which
363might affect timers and time-outs.
364
365When this is the case, you can call this method, which will update the
366event loop's idea of "current time".
367
368A typical example would be a script in a web server (e.g. C<mod_perl>) -
369when mod_perl executes the script, then the event loop will have the wrong
370idea about the "current time" (being potentially far in the past, when the
371script ran the last time). In that case you should arrange a call to C<<
372AnyEvent->now_update >> each time the web server process wakes up again
373(e.g. at the start of your script, or in a handler).
374
375Note that updating the time I<might> cause some events to be handled.
376
377=back
378
252=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS 379=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
253 380
381 $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => <uppercase_signal_name>, cb => <callback>);
382
254You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal 383You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
255I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl callback to 384I<name> in uppercase and without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl
256be invoked whenever a signal occurs. 385callback to be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
257 386
258Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and 387Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
259presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent 388presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
260callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks. 389callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
261 390
262Multiple signal occurances can be clumped together into one callback 391Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
263invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. synchronous means 392invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
264that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process, 393that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
265but it is guarenteed not to interrupt any other callbacks. 394but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
266 395
267The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal 396The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
268between multiple watchers. 397between multiple watchers, and AnyEvent will ensure that signals will not
398interrupt your program at bad times.
269 399
270This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals 400This watcher might use C<%SIG> (depending on the event loop used),
271directly will likely not work correctly. 401so programs overwriting those signals directly will likely not work
402correctly.
272 403
273Example: exit on SIGINT 404Example: exit on SIGINT
274 405
275 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 }); 406 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
276 407
408=head3 Restart Behaviour
409
410While restart behaviour is up to the event loop implementation, most will
411not restart syscalls (that includes L<Async::Interrupt> and AnyEvent's
412pure perl implementation).
413
414=head3 Safe/Unsafe Signals
415
416Perl signals can be either "safe" (synchronous to opcode handling) or
417"unsafe" (asynchronous) - the former might get delayed indefinitely, the
418latter might corrupt your memory.
419
420AnyEvent signal handlers are, in addition, synchronous to the event loop,
421i.e. they will not interrupt your running perl program but will only be
422called as part of the normal event handling (just like timer, I/O etc.
423callbacks, too).
424
425=head3 Signal Races, Delays and Workarounds
426
427Many event loops (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt, IO::Async) do not support attaching
428callbacks to signals in a generic way, which is a pity, as you cannot
429do race-free signal handling in perl, requiring C libraries for
430this. AnyEvent will try to do it's best, which means in some cases,
431signals will be delayed. The maximum time a signal might be delayed is
432specified in C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY> (default: 10 seconds). This
433variable can be changed only before the first signal watcher is created,
434and should be left alone otherwise. This variable determines how often
435AnyEvent polls for signals (in case a wake-up was missed). Higher values
436will cause fewer spurious wake-ups, which is better for power and CPU
437saving.
438
439All these problems can be avoided by installing the optional
440L<Async::Interrupt> module, which works with most event loops. It will not
441work with inherently broken event loops such as L<Event> or L<Event::Lib>
442(and not with L<POE> currently, as POE does it's own workaround with
443one-second latency). For those, you just have to suffer the delays.
444
277=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS 445=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
278 446
447 $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => <process id>, cb => <callback>);
448
279You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status. 449You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status.
280 450
281The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it 451The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (one some backends,
282watches for any child process exit). The watcher will trigger as often 452using C<0> watches for any child process exit, on others this will
283as status change for the child are received. This works by installing a 453croak). The watcher will be triggered only when the child process has
284signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with the pid 454finished and an exit status is available, not on any trace events
285and exit status (as returned by waitpid), so unlike other watcher types, 455(stopped/continued).
286you I<can> rely on child watcher callback arguments. 456
457The callback will be called with the pid and exit status (as returned by
458waitpid), so unlike other watcher types, you I<can> rely on child watcher
459callback arguments.
460
461This watcher type works by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>,
462and since it cannot be shared, nothing else should use SIGCHLD or reap
463random child processes (waiting for specific child processes, e.g. inside
464C<system>, is just fine).
287 465
288There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them 466There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
289I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could 467I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
290have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore). 468have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
291 469
292Not all event models handle this correctly (POE doesn't), but even for 470Not all event models handle this correctly (neither POE nor IO::Async do,
471see their AnyEvent::Impl manpages for details), but even for event models
293event models that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be 472that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be loaded before
294loaded before the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place). 473the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place). AnyEvent's
474pure perl event loop handles all cases correctly regardless of when you
475start the watcher.
295 476
296This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first thing in an 477This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first
297AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one watcher before you 478thing in an AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one
298C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call C<AnyEvent::detect>). 479watcher before you C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call
480C<AnyEvent::detect>).
481
482As most event loops do not support waiting for child events, they will be
483emulated by AnyEvent in most cases, in which the latency and race problems
484mentioned in the description of signal watchers apply.
299 485
300Example: fork a process and wait for it 486Example: fork a process and wait for it
301 487
302 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar; 488 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
303 489
304 AnyEvent::detect; # force event module to be initialised
305
306 my $pid = fork or exit 5; 490 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
307 491
308 my $w = AnyEvent->child ( 492 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
309 pid => $pid, 493 pid => $pid,
310 cb => sub { 494 cb => sub {
311 my ($pid, $status) = @_; 495 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
312 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status"; 496 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
313 $done->broadcast; 497 $done->send;
314 }, 498 },
315 ); 499 );
316 500
317 # do something else, then wait for process exit 501 # do something else, then wait for process exit
318 $done->wait; 502 $done->recv;
503
504=head2 IDLE WATCHERS
505
506 $w = AnyEvent->idle (cb => <callback>);
507
508Repeatedly invoke the callback after the process becomes idle, until
509either the watcher is destroyed or new events have been detected.
510
511Idle watchers are useful when there is a need to do something, but it
512is not so important (or wise) to do it instantly. The callback will be
513invoked only when there is "nothing better to do", which is usually
514defined as "all outstanding events have been handled and no new events
515have been detected". That means that idle watchers ideally get invoked
516when the event loop has just polled for new events but none have been
517detected. Instead of blocking to wait for more events, the idle watchers
518will be invoked.
519
520Unfortunately, most event loops do not really support idle watchers (only
521EV, Event and Glib do it in a usable fashion) - for the rest, AnyEvent
522will simply call the callback "from time to time".
523
524Example: read lines from STDIN, but only process them when the
525program is otherwise idle:
526
527 my @lines; # read data
528 my $idle_w;
529 my $io_w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
530 push @lines, scalar <STDIN>;
531
532 # start an idle watcher, if not already done
533 $idle_w ||= AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub {
534 # handle only one line, when there are lines left
535 if (my $line = shift @lines) {
536 print "handled when idle: $line";
537 } else {
538 # otherwise disable the idle watcher again
539 undef $idle_w;
540 }
541 });
542 });
319 543
320=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES 544=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
321 545
546 $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
547
548 $cv->send (<list>);
549 my @res = $cv->recv;
550
551If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
552require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
553will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
554
555AnyEvent is slightly different: it expects somebody else to run the event
556loop and will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
557
558The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
559because they represent a condition that must become true.
560
561Now is probably a good time to look at the examples further below.
562
322Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >> 563Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
323method without any arguments. 564>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
565C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
566becomes true, with the condition variable as the first argument (but not
567the results).
324 568
325A condition variable waits for a condition - precisely that the C<< 569After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
326->broadcast >> method has been called. 570by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
571were a callback, read about the caveats in the description for the C<<
572->send >> method).
327 573
328They are very useful to signal that a condition has been fulfilled, for 574Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
575optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
576in time where multiple outstanding events have been processed. And yet
577another way to call them is transactions - each condition variable can be
578used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
579a result. And yet some people know them as "futures" - a promise to
580compute/deliver something that you can wait for.
581
582Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
329example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests, 583for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
330then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the 584then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
331availability of results. 585availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
586called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
332 587
333You can also use condition variables to block your main program until 588You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
334an event occurs - for example, you could C<< ->wait >> in your main 589you can block your main program until an event occurs - for example, you
335program until the user clicks the Quit button in your app, which would C<< 590could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
336->broadcast >> the "quit" event. 591button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
337 592
338Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have 593Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
339two pirces of code that call C<< ->wait >> in a round-robbin fashion, you 594two pieces of code that call C<< ->recv >> in a round-robin fashion, you
340lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but 595lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
341you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks, 596you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
342as this asks for trouble. 597as this asks for trouble.
343 598
344This object has two methods: 599Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
600used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
601easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
602AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
603it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
345 604
346=over 4 605There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
606eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
607for the send to occur.
347 608
348=item $cv->wait 609Example: wait for a timer.
349
350Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been
351called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally.
352
353You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return
354immediately.
355
356Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
357(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
358using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the
359caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
360condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
361callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
362while still suppporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
363
364Another reason I<never> to C<< ->wait >> in a module is that you cannot
365sensibly have two C<< ->wait >>'s in parallel, as that would require
366multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent>
367can supply (the coroutine-aware backends L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV> and
368L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent> explicitly support concurrent C<< ->wait >>'s
369from different coroutines, however).
370
371=item $cv->broadcast
372
373Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further
374calls to C<wait> will (eventually) return after this method has been
375called. If nobody is waiting the broadcast will be remembered..
376
377=back
378
379Example:
380 610
381 # wait till the result is ready 611 # wait till the result is ready
382 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar; 612 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
383 613
384 # do something such as adding a timer 614 # do something such as adding a timer
385 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast 615 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->send
386 # when the "result" is ready. 616 # when the "result" is ready.
387 # in this case, we simply use a timer: 617 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
388 my $w = AnyEvent->timer ( 618 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
389 after => 1, 619 after => 1,
390 cb => sub { $result_ready->broadcast }, 620 cb => sub { $result_ready->send },
391 ); 621 );
392 622
393 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the watcher 623 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
394 # calls broadcast 624 # calls ->send
395 $result_ready->wait; 625 $result_ready->recv;
626
627Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that condition
628variables are also callable directly.
629
630 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
631 my $delay = AnyEvent->timer (after => 5, cb => $done);
632 $done->recv;
633
634Example: Imagine an API that returns a condvar and doesn't support
635callbacks. This is how you make a synchronous call, for example from
636the main program:
637
638 use AnyEvent::CouchDB;
639
640 ...
641
642 my @info = $couchdb->info->recv;
643
644And this is how you would just set a callback to be called whenever the
645results are available:
646
647 $couchdb->info->cb (sub {
648 my @info = $_[0]->recv;
649 });
650
651=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
652
653These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
654code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
655the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
656uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
657
658=over 4
659
660=item $cv->send (...)
661
662Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
663calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
664called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
665
666If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
667immediately from within send.
668
669Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
670future C<< ->recv >> calls.
671
672Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly (as if
673they were a code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling
674C<send>.
675
676=item $cv->croak ($error)
677
678Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
679C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
680
681This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
682user/consumer. Doing it this way instead of calling C<croak> directly
683delays the error detetcion, but has the overwhelmign advantage that it
684diagnoses the error at the place where the result is expected, and not
685deep in some event clalback without connection to the actual code causing
686the problem.
687
688=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
689
690=item $cv->end
691
692These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
693one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
694to use a condition variable for the whole process.
695
696Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
697C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
698>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed, passing the
699condvar as first argument. That callback is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send
700>>, but that is not required. If no group callback was set, C<send> will
701be called without any arguments.
702
703You can think of C<< $cv->send >> giving you an OR condition (one call
704sends), while C<< $cv->begin >> and C<< $cv->end >> giving you an AND
705condition (all C<begin> calls must be C<end>'ed before the condvar sends).
706
707Let's start with a simple example: you have two I/O watchers (for example,
708STDOUT and STDERR for a program), and you want to wait for both streams to
709close before activating a condvar:
710
711 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
712
713 $cv->begin; # first watcher
714 my $w1 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh1, cb => sub {
715 defined sysread $fh1, my $buf, 4096
716 or $cv->end;
717 });
718
719 $cv->begin; # second watcher
720 my $w2 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh2, cb => sub {
721 defined sysread $fh2, my $buf, 4096
722 or $cv->end;
723 });
724
725 $cv->recv;
726
727This works because for every event source (EOF on file handle), there is
728one call to C<begin>, so the condvar waits for all calls to C<end> before
729sending.
730
731The ping example mentioned above is slightly more complicated, as the
732there are results to be passwd back, and the number of tasks that are
733begung can potentially be zero:
734
735 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
736
737 my %result;
738 $cv->begin (sub { shift->send (\%result) });
739
740 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
741 $cv->begin;
742 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
743 $result{$host} = ...;
744 $cv->end;
745 };
746 }
747
748 $cv->end;
749
750This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
751C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
752order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
753each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
754it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
755results arrive is not relevant.
756
757There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
758loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
759to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
760C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
761doesn't execute once).
762
763This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple (but
764potentially none) subrequests: use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set
765the callback and ensure C<end> is called at least once, and then, for each
766subrequest you start, call C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish,
767call C<end>.
768
769=back
770
771=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
772
773These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
774code awaits the condition.
775
776=over 4
777
778=item $cv->recv
779
780Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
781>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
782normally.
783
784You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
785will return immediately.
786
787If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
788function will call C<croak>.
789
790In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
791in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
792
793Note that doing a blocking wait in a callback is not supported by any
794event loop, that is, recursive invocation of a blocking C<< ->recv
795>> is not allowed, and the C<recv> call will C<croak> if such a
796condition is detected. This condition can be slightly loosened by using
797L<Coro::AnyEvent>, which allows you to do a blocking C<< ->recv >> from
798any thread that doesn't run the event loop itself.
799
800Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
801(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
802using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>. Instead, let the
803caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
804condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
805callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
806while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
807
808You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
809only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
810time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
811waits otherwise.
812
813=item $bool = $cv->ready
814
815Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
816C<croak> have been called.
817
818=item $cb = $cv->cb ($cb->($cv))
819
820This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
821replaces it before doing so.
822
823The callback will be called when the condition becomes (or already was)
824"true", i.e. when C<send> or C<croak> are called (or were called), with
825the only argument being the condition variable itself. Calling C<recv>
826inside the callback or at any later time is guaranteed not to block.
827
828=back
829
830=head1 SUPPORTED EVENT LOOPS/BACKENDS
831
832The available backend classes are (every class has its own manpage):
833
834=over 4
835
836=item Backends that are autoprobed when no other event loop can be found.
837
838EV is the preferred backend when no other event loop seems to be in
839use. If EV is not installed, then AnyEvent will fall back to its own
840pure-perl implementation, which is available everywhere as it comes with
841AnyEvent itself.
842
843 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (interface to libev, best choice).
844 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
845
846=item Backends that are transparently being picked up when they are used.
847
848These will be used when they are currently loaded when the first watcher
849is created, in which case it is assumed that the application is using
850them. This means that AnyEvent will automatically pick the right backend
851when the main program loads an event module before anything starts to
852create watchers. Nothing special needs to be done by the main program.
853
854 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, very stable, few glitches.
855 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, slow but very stable.
856 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very broken.
857 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
858 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, very slow, some limitations.
859 AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi used when running within irssi.
860
861=item Backends with special needs.
862
863Qt requires the Qt::Application to be instantiated first, but will
864otherwise be picked up automatically. As long as the main program
865instantiates the application before any AnyEvent watchers are created,
866everything should just work.
867
868 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt.
869
870Support for IO::Async can only be partial, as it is too broken and
871architecturally limited to even support the AnyEvent API. It also
872is the only event loop that needs the loop to be set explicitly, so
873it can only be used by a main program knowing about AnyEvent. See
874L<AnyEvent::Impl::Async> for the gory details.
875
876 AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync based on IO::Async, cannot be autoprobed.
877
878=item Event loops that are indirectly supported via other backends.
879
880Some event loops can be supported via other modules:
881
882There is no direct support for WxWidgets (L<Wx>) or L<Prima>.
883
884B<WxWidgets> has no support for watching file handles. However, you can
885use WxWidgets through the POE adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply
886polls 20 times per second, which was considered to be too horrible to even
887consider for AnyEvent.
888
889B<Prima> is not supported as nobody seems to be using it, but it has a POE
890backend, so it can be supported through POE.
891
892AnyEvent knows about both L<Prima> and L<Wx>, however, and will try to
893load L<POE> when detecting them, in the hope that POE will pick them up,
894in which case everything will be automatic.
895
896=back
396 897
397=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS 898=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
398 899
900These are not normally required to use AnyEvent, but can be useful to
901write AnyEvent extension modules.
902
399=over 4 903=over 4
400 904
401=item $AnyEvent::MODEL 905=item $AnyEvent::MODEL
402 906
403Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created. Then it 907Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created, before the
908backend has been autodetected.
909
404contains the event model that is being used, which is the name of the 910Afterwards it contains the event model that is being used, which is the
405Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one of the 911name of the Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one
406C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case 912of the C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the
407AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>). 913case AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode> it
408 914will be C<urxvt::anyevent>).
409The known classes so far are:
410
411 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV based on Coro::EV, best choice.
412 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent based on Coro::Event, second best choice.
413 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice).
414 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice.
415 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.
416 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient but portable.
417 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
418 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).
419 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
420 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, not generic enough for full support.
421
422There is no support for WxWidgets, as WxWidgets has no support for
423watching file handles. However, you can use WxWidgets through the
424POE Adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply polls 20 times per
425second, which was considered to be too horrible to even consider for
426AnyEvent. Likewise, other POE backends can be used by AnyEvent by using
427it's adaptor.
428
429AnyEvent knows about L<Prima> and L<Wx> and will try to use L<POE> when
430autodetecting them.
431 915
432=item AnyEvent::detect 916=item AnyEvent::detect
433 917
434Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model 918Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
435if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would 919if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
436have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at 920have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
437runtime. 921runtime, and not e.g. while initialising of your module.
922
923If you need to do some initialisation before AnyEvent watchers are
924created, use C<post_detect>.
925
926=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
927
928Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
929autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
930
931The block will be executed I<after> the actual backend has been detected
932(C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> is set), but I<before> any watchers have been
933created, so it is possible to e.g. patch C<@AnyEvent::ISA> or do
934other initialisations - see the sources of L<AnyEvent::Strict> or
935L<AnyEvent::AIO> to see how this is used.
936
937The most common usage is to create some global watchers, without forcing
938event module detection too early, for example, L<AnyEvent::AIO> creates
939and installs the global L<IO::AIO> watcher in a C<post_detect> block to
940avoid autodetecting the event module at load time.
941
942If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
943that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed (or
944C<undef> when the hook was immediately executed). See L<AnyEvent::AIO> for
945a case where this is useful.
946
947Example: Create a watcher for the IO::AIO module and store it in
948C<$WATCHER>. Only do so after the event loop is initialised, though.
949
950 our WATCHER;
951
952 my $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect {
953 $WATCHER = AnyEvent->io (fh => IO::AIO::poll_fileno, poll => 'r', cb => \&IO::AIO::poll_cb);
954 };
955
956 # the ||= is important in case post_detect immediately runs the block,
957 # as to not clobber the newly-created watcher. assigning both watcher and
958 # post_detect guard to the same variable has the advantage of users being
959 # able to just C<undef $WATCHER> if the watcher causes them grief.
960
961 $WATCHER ||= $guard;
962
963=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
964
965If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
966before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
967the event loop has been chosen.
968
969You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
970if it is defined then the event loop has already been detected, and the
971array will be ignored.
972
973Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> when your application allows
974it, as it takes care of these details.
975
976This variable is mainly useful for modules that can do something useful
977when AnyEvent is used and thus want to know when it is initialised, but do
978not need to even load it by default. This array provides the means to hook
979into AnyEvent passively, without loading it.
980
981Example: To load Coro::AnyEvent whenever Coro and AnyEvent are used
982together, you could put this into Coro (this is the actual code used by
983Coro to accomplish this):
984
985 if (defined $AnyEvent::MODEL) {
986 # AnyEvent already initialised, so load Coro::AnyEvent
987 require Coro::AnyEvent;
988 } else {
989 # AnyEvent not yet initialised, so make sure to load Coro::AnyEvent
990 # as soon as it is
991 push @AnyEvent::post_detect, sub { require Coro::AnyEvent };
992 }
438 993
439=back 994=back
440 995
441=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE 996=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
442 997
446Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will 1001Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
447decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so 1002decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
448by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module 1003by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
449to load the event module first. 1004to load the event module first.
450 1005
451Never call C<< ->wait >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that 1006Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
452the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been called on it already. This is 1007the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
453because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using 1008because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
454events is to stay interactive. 1009events is to stay interactive.
455 1010
456It is fine, however, to call C<< ->wait >> when the user of your module 1011It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
457requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method 1012requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
458called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->wait >> 1013called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
459freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always). 1014freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
460 1015
461=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM 1016=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
462 1017
463There will always be a single main program - the only place that should 1018There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
465 1020
466If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not 1021If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not
467do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent 1022do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
468decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it. 1023decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
469 1024
470If the main program relies on a specific event model. For example, in 1025If the main program relies on a specific event model - for example, in
471Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module. You should load the 1026Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module - you should load the
472event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally 1027event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
473speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that 1028speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
474modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will 1029modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
475decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it 1030decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
476might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself. 1031might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
477 1032
478You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by 1033You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
479loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar 1034C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
480behaviour everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose is generally better. 1035everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
1036
1037=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
1038
1039Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
1040only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
1041
1042In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
1043
1044 AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
1045
1046This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
1047
1048Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
1049it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
1050variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
1051exit cleanly.
1052
1053
1054=head1 OTHER MODULES
1055
1056The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
1057AnyEvent as a client and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent
1058modules and other event loops in the same program. Some of the modules
1059come with AnyEvent, most are available via CPAN.
1060
1061=over 4
1062
1063=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
1064
1065Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
1066functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
1067
1068=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
1069
1070Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
1071addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
1072connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
1073
1074=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
1075
1076Provide read and write buffers, manages watchers for reads and writes,
1077supports raw and formatted I/O, I/O queued and fully transparent and
1078non-blocking SSL/TLS (via L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
1079
1080=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
1081
1082Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
1083
1084=item L<AnyEvent::HTTP>
1085
1086A simple-to-use HTTP library that is capable of making a lot of concurrent
1087HTTP requests.
1088
1089=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
1090
1091Provides a simple web application server framework.
1092
1093=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
1094
1095The fastest ping in the west.
1096
1097=item L<AnyEvent::DBI>
1098
1099Executes L<DBI> requests asynchronously in a proxy process.
1100
1101=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>
1102
1103Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
1104programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses L<IO::AIO> and AnyEvent
1105together.
1106
1107=item L<AnyEvent::BDB>
1108
1109Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. AnyEvent::BDB transparently fuses
1110L<BDB> and AnyEvent together.
1111
1112=item L<AnyEvent::GPSD>
1113
1114A non-blocking interface to gpsd, a daemon delivering GPS information.
1115
1116=item L<AnyEvent::IRC>
1117
1118AnyEvent based IRC client module family (replacing the older Net::IRC3).
1119
1120=item L<AnyEvent::XMPP>
1121
1122AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family (replacing the older
1123Net::XMPP2>.
1124
1125=item L<AnyEvent::IGS>
1126
1127A non-blocking interface to the Internet Go Server protocol (used by
1128L<App::IGS>).
1129
1130=item L<Net::FCP>
1131
1132AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
1133of AnyEvent.
1134
1135=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
1136
1137High level API for event-based execution flow control.
1138
1139=item L<Coro>
1140
1141Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
1142
1143=back
481 1144
482=cut 1145=cut
483 1146
484package AnyEvent; 1147package AnyEvent;
485 1148
486no warnings; 1149# basically a tuned-down version of common::sense
487use strict; 1150sub common_sense {
1151 # from common:.sense 1.0
1152 ${^WARNING_BITS} = "\xfc\x3f\x33\x00\x0f\xf3\xcf\xc0\xf3\xfc\x33\x00";
1153 # use strict vars subs - NO UTF-8, as Util.pm doesn't like this atm. (uts46data.pl)
1154 $^H |= 0x00000600;
1155}
488 1156
1157BEGIN { AnyEvent::common_sense }
1158
489use Carp; 1159use Carp ();
490 1160
491our $VERSION = '3.3'; 1161our $VERSION = '5.24';
492our $MODEL; 1162our $MODEL;
493 1163
494our $AUTOLOAD; 1164our $AUTOLOAD;
495our @ISA; 1165our @ISA;
496 1166
497our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
498
499our @REGISTRY; 1167our @REGISTRY;
500 1168
1169our $VERBOSE;
1170
1171BEGIN {
1172 eval "sub CYGWIN(){" . (($^O =~ /cygwin/i) *1) . "}";
1173 eval "sub WIN32 (){" . (($^O =~ /mswin32/i)*1) . "}";
1174 eval "sub TAINT (){" . (${^TAINT} *1) . "}";
1175
1176 delete @ENV{grep /^PERL_ANYEVENT_/, keys %ENV}
1177 if ${^TAINT};
1178
1179 $VERBOSE = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
1180
1181}
1182
1183our $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY = 10;
1184
1185our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2), higher numbers are preferred
1186
1187{
1188 my $idx;
1189 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
1190 for reverse split /\s*,\s*/,
1191 $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
1192}
1193
501my @models = ( 1194my @models = (
502 [Coro::EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV::],
503 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent::],
504 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::], 1195 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV:: , 1],
1196 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: , 1],
1197 # everything below here will not (normally) be autoprobed
1198 # as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
1199 # and is usually faster
505 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 1200 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::, 1],
506 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], 1201 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib:: , 1], # becomes extremely slow with many watchers
1202 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
1203 [Irssi:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi::], # Irssi has a bogus "Event" package
507 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], 1204 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], # crashes with many handles
1205 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
1206 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
508 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], 1207 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
509 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], 1208 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
510 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::], 1209 # IO::Async is just too broken - we would need workarounds for its
511 # everything below here will not be autoprobed as the pureperl backend should work everywhere 1210 # byzantine signal and broken child handling, among others.
512 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy 1211 # IO::Async is rather hard to detect, as it doesn't have any
1212 # obvious default class.
513 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program 1213 [IO::Async:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
514 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza 1214 [IO::Async::Loop:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1215 [IO::Async::Notifier:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1216 [AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
515); 1217);
516 1218
517our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer signal child condvar broadcast wait one_event DESTROY); 1219our %method = map +($_ => 1),
1220 qw(io timer time now now_update signal child idle condvar one_event DESTROY);
1221
1222our @post_detect;
1223
1224sub post_detect(&) {
1225 my ($cb) = @_;
1226
1227 if ($MODEL) {
1228 $cb->();
1229
1230 undef
1231 } else {
1232 push @post_detect, $cb;
1233
1234 defined wantarray
1235 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::postdetect"
1236 : ()
1237 }
1238}
1239
1240sub AnyEvent::Util::postdetect::DESTROY {
1241 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
1242}
518 1243
519sub detect() { 1244sub detect() {
1245 # free some memory
1246 *detect = sub () { $MODEL };
1247
1248 local $!; # for good measure
1249 local $SIG{__DIE__};
1250
1251 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
1252 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
1253 if (eval "require $model") {
1254 $MODEL = $model;
1255 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}), using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
1256 } else {
1257 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}):\n$@" if $VERBOSE;
1258 }
1259 }
1260
1261 # check for already loaded models
520 unless ($MODEL) { 1262 unless ($MODEL) {
521 no strict 'refs'; 1263 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
522 1264 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
523 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) { 1265 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
524 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
525 if (eval "require $model") { 1266 if (eval "require $model") {
526 $MODEL = $model; 1267 $MODEL = $model;
527 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1268 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
528 } else { 1269 last;
529 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL):\n$@" if $verbose; 1270 }
530 } 1271 }
531 } 1272 }
532 1273
533 # check for already loaded models
534 unless ($MODEL) { 1274 unless ($MODEL) {
1275 # try to autoload a model
535 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 1276 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
536 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 1277 my ($package, $model, $autoload) = @$_;
1278 if (
1279 $autoload
1280 and eval "require $package"
537 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 1281 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
538 if (eval "require $model") { 1282 and eval "require $model"
1283 ) {
539 $MODEL = $model; 1284 $MODEL = $model;
540 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1285 warn "AnyEvent: autoloaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
541 last; 1286 last;
542 }
543 } 1287 }
544 } 1288 }
545 1289
546 unless ($MODEL) {
547 # try to load a model
548
549 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
550 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
551 if (eval "require $package"
552 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
553 and eval "require $model") {
554 $MODEL = $model;
555 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
556 last;
557 }
558 }
559
560 $MODEL 1290 $MODEL
561 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV (or Coro+EV), Event (or Coro+Event) or Glib."; 1291 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.\n";
562 }
563 } 1292 }
564
565 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
566 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
567 } 1293 }
1294
1295 @models = (); # free probe data
1296
1297 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
1298 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
1299
1300 require AnyEvent::Strict if $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT};
1301
1302 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
568 1303
569 $MODEL 1304 $MODEL
570} 1305}
571 1306
572sub AUTOLOAD { 1307sub AUTOLOAD {
573 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://; 1308 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://;
574 1309
575 $method{$func} 1310 $method{$func}
576 or croak "$func: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects"; 1311 or Carp::croak "$func: not a valid AnyEvent class method";
577 1312
578 detect unless $MODEL; 1313 detect;
579 1314
580 my $class = shift; 1315 my $class = shift;
581 $class->$func (@_); 1316 $class->$func (@_);
582} 1317}
583 1318
1319# utility function to dup a filehandle. this is used by many backends
1320# to support binding more than one watcher per filehandle (they usually
1321# allow only one watcher per fd, so we dup it to get a different one).
1322sub _dupfh($$;$$) {
1323 my ($poll, $fh, $r, $w) = @_;
1324
1325 # cygwin requires the fh mode to be matching, unix doesn't
1326 my ($rw, $mode) = $poll eq "r" ? ($r, "<&") : ($w, ">&");
1327
1328 open my $fh2, $mode, $fh
1329 or die "AnyEvent->io: cannot dup() filehandle in mode '$poll': $!,";
1330
1331 # we assume CLOEXEC is already set by perl in all important cases
1332
1333 ($fh2, $rw)
1334}
1335
1336=head1 SIMPLIFIED AE API
1337
1338Starting with version 5.0, AnyEvent officially supports a second, much
1339simpler, API that is designed to reduce the calling, typing and memory
1340overhead.
1341
1342See the L<AE> manpage for details.
1343
1344=cut
1345
1346package AE;
1347
1348our $VERSION = $AnyEvent::VERSION;
1349
1350sub io($$$) {
1351 AnyEvent->io (fh => $_[0], poll => $_[1] ? "w" : "r", cb => $_[2])
1352}
1353
1354sub timer($$$) {
1355 AnyEvent->timer (after => $_[0], interval => $_[1], cb => $_[2])
1356}
1357
1358sub signal($$) {
1359 AnyEvent->signal (signal => $_[0], cb => $_[1])
1360}
1361
1362sub child($$) {
1363 AnyEvent->child (pid => $_[0], cb => $_[1])
1364}
1365
1366sub idle($) {
1367 AnyEvent->idle (cb => $_[0])
1368}
1369
1370sub cv(;&) {
1371 AnyEvent->condvar (@_ ? (cb => $_[0]) : ())
1372}
1373
1374sub now() {
1375 AnyEvent->now
1376}
1377
1378sub now_update() {
1379 AnyEvent->now_update
1380}
1381
1382sub time() {
1383 AnyEvent->time
1384}
1385
584package AnyEvent::Base; 1386package AnyEvent::Base;
585 1387
1388# default implementations for many methods
1389
1390sub _time() {
1391 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading
1392 # probe for availability of Time::HiRes
1393 if (eval "use Time::HiRes (); Time::HiRes::time (); 1") {
1394 warn "AnyEvent: using Time::HiRes for sub-second timing accuracy.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1395 *_time = \&Time::HiRes::time;
1396 # if (eval "use POSIX (); (POSIX::times())...
1397 } else {
1398 warn "AnyEvent: using built-in time(), WARNING, no sub-second resolution!\n" if $VERBOSE;
1399 *_time = sub (){ time }; # epic fail
1400 }
1401 };
1402 die if $@;
1403
1404 &_time
1405}
1406
1407sub time { _time }
1408sub now { _time }
1409sub now_update { }
1410
586# default implementation for ->condvar, ->wait, ->broadcast 1411# default implementation for ->condvar
587 1412
588sub condvar { 1413sub condvar {
589 bless \my $flag, "AnyEvent::Base::CondVar" 1414 bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, "AnyEvent::CondVar"
590}
591
592sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::broadcast {
593 ${$_[0]}++;
594}
595
596sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::wait {
597 AnyEvent->one_event while !${$_[0]};
598} 1415}
599 1416
600# default implementation for ->signal 1417# default implementation for ->signal
601 1418
602our %SIG_CB; 1419our $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1420
1421sub _have_async_interrupt() {
1422 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT = 1*(!$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT}
1423 && eval "use Async::Interrupt 1.02 (); 1")
1424 unless defined $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1425
1426 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1427}
1428
1429our ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W, %SIG_CB, %SIG_EV, $SIG_IO);
1430our (%SIG_ASY, %SIG_ASY_W);
1431our ($SIG_COUNT, $SIG_TW);
1432
1433# install a dummy wakeup watcher to reduce signal catching latency
1434# used by Impls
1435sub _sig_add() {
1436 unless ($SIG_COUNT++) {
1437 # try to align timer on a full-second boundary, if possible
1438 my $NOW = AE::now;
1439
1440 $SIG_TW = AE::timer
1441 $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY - ($NOW - int $NOW),
1442 $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY,
1443 sub { } # just for the PERL_ASYNC_CHECK
1444 ;
1445 }
1446}
1447
1448sub _sig_del {
1449 undef $SIG_TW
1450 unless --$SIG_COUNT;
1451}
1452
1453our $_sig_name_init; $_sig_name_init = sub {
1454 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading
1455 undef $_sig_name_init;
1456
1457 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1458 *sig2num = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2num;
1459 *sig2name = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2name;
1460 } else {
1461 require Config;
1462
1463 my %signame2num;
1464 @signame2num{ split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_name} }
1465 = split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_num};
1466
1467 my @signum2name;
1468 @signum2name[values %signame2num] = keys %signame2num;
1469
1470 *sig2num = sub($) {
1471 $_[0] > 0 ? shift : $signame2num{+shift}
1472 };
1473 *sig2name = sub ($) {
1474 $_[0] > 0 ? $signum2name[+shift] : shift
1475 };
1476 }
1477 };
1478 die if $@;
1479};
1480
1481sub sig2num ($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2num }
1482sub sig2name($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2name }
603 1483
604sub signal { 1484sub signal {
1485 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1486 # probe for availability of Async::Interrupt
1487 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1488 warn "AnyEvent: using Async::Interrupt for race-free signal handling.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1489
1490 $SIGPIPE_R = new Async::Interrupt::EventPipe;
1491 $SIG_IO = AE::io $SIGPIPE_R->fileno, 0, \&_signal_exec;
1492
1493 } else {
1494 warn "AnyEvent: using emulated perl signal handling with latency timer.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1495
1496 require Fcntl;
1497
1498 if (AnyEvent::WIN32) {
1499 require AnyEvent::Util;
1500
1501 ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_pipe ();
1502 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_R, 1) if $SIGPIPE_R;
1503 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_W, 1) if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1504 } else {
1505 pipe $SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W;
1506 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_R;
1507 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1508
1509 # not strictly required, as $^F is normally 2, but let's make sure...
1510 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1511 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1512 }
1513
1514 $SIGPIPE_R
1515 or Carp::croak "AnyEvent: unable to create a signal reporting pipe: $!\n";
1516
1517 $SIG_IO = AE::io $SIGPIPE_R, 0, \&_signal_exec;
1518 }
1519
1520 *signal = sub {
605 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1521 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
606 1522
607 my $signal = uc $arg{signal} 1523 my $signal = uc $arg{signal}
608 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing"; 1524 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing";
609 1525
1526 if ($HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT) {
1527 # async::interrupt
1528
1529 $signal = sig2num $signal;
610 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1530 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1531
1532 $SIG_ASY{$signal} ||= new Async::Interrupt
1533 cb => sub { undef $SIG_EV{$signal} },
1534 signal => $signal,
1535 pipe => [$SIGPIPE_R->filenos],
1536 pipe_autodrain => 0,
1537 ;
1538
1539 } else {
1540 # pure perl
1541
1542 # AE::Util has been loaded in signal
1543 $signal = sig2name $signal;
1544 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1545
611 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub { 1546 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub {
1547 local $!;
1548 syswrite $SIGPIPE_W, "\x00", 1 unless %SIG_EV;
1549 undef $SIG_EV{$signal};
1550 };
1551
1552 # can't do signal processing without introducing races in pure perl,
1553 # so limit the signal latency.
1554 _sig_add;
1555 }
1556
1557 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::signal"
1558 };
1559
1560 *AnyEvent::Base::signal::DESTROY = sub {
1561 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
1562
1563 _sig_del;
1564
1565 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
1566
1567 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1568 ? delete $SIG_ASY{$signal}
1569 : # delete doesn't work with older perls - they then
1570 # print weird messages, or just unconditionally exit
1571 # instead of getting the default action.
1572 undef $SIG{$signal}
1573 unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
1574 };
1575
1576 *_signal_exec = sub {
1577 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1578 ? $SIGPIPE_R->drain
1579 : sysread $SIGPIPE_R, (my $dummy), 9;
1580
1581 while (%SIG_EV) {
1582 for (keys %SIG_EV) {
1583 delete $SIG_EV{$_};
612 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} || {} }; 1584 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$_} || {} };
1585 }
1586 }
1587 };
613 }; 1588 };
1589 die if $@;
614 1590
615 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Signal" 1591 &signal
616}
617
618sub AnyEvent::Base::Signal::DESTROY {
619 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
620
621 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
622
623 $SIG{$signal} = 'DEFAULT' unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
624} 1592}
625 1593
626# default implementation for ->child 1594# default implementation for ->child
627 1595
628our %PID_CB; 1596our %PID_CB;
629our $CHLD_W; 1597our $CHLD_W;
630our $CHLD_DELAY_W; 1598our $CHLD_DELAY_W;
631our $PID_IDLE;
632our $WNOHANG; 1599our $WNOHANG;
633 1600
634sub _child_wait { 1601# used by many Impl's
635 while (0 < (my $pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG)) { 1602sub _emit_childstatus($$) {
1603 my (undef, $rpid, $rstatus) = @_;
1604
1605 $_->($rpid, $rstatus)
636 $_->($pid, $?) for (values %{ $PID_CB{$pid} || {} }), 1606 for values %{ $PID_CB{$rpid} || {} },
637 (values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} }); 1607 values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} };
638 }
639
640 undef $PID_IDLE;
641}
642
643sub _sigchld {
644 # make sure we deliver these changes "synchronous" with the event loop.
645 $CHLD_DELAY_W ||= AnyEvent->timer (after => 0, cb => sub {
646 undef $CHLD_DELAY_W;
647 &_child_wait;
648 });
649} 1608}
650 1609
651sub child { 1610sub child {
1611 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1612 *_sigchld = sub {
1613 my $pid;
1614
1615 AnyEvent->_emit_childstatus ($pid, $?)
1616 while ($pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG) > 0;
1617 };
1618
1619 *child = sub {
652 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1620 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
653 1621
654 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0) 1622 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0)
655 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing"; 1623 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing";
656 1624
657 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1625 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
658 1626
659 unless ($WNOHANG) { 1627 # WNOHANG is almost cetrainly 1 everywhere
660 $WNOHANG = eval { require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1; 1628 $WNOHANG ||= $^O =~ /^(?:openbsd|netbsd|linux|freebsd|cygwin|MSWin32)$/
661 } 1629 ? 1
1630 : eval { local $SIG{__DIE__}; require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;
662 1631
663 unless ($CHLD_W) { 1632 unless ($CHLD_W) {
664 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld); 1633 $CHLD_W = AE::signal CHLD => \&_sigchld;
665 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round 1634 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
666 &_sigchld; 1635 &_sigchld;
667 } 1636 }
668 1637
669 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Child" 1638 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::child"
670} 1639 };
671 1640
672sub AnyEvent::Base::Child::DESTROY { 1641 *AnyEvent::Base::child::DESTROY = sub {
673 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]}; 1642 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
674 1643
675 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb}; 1644 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb};
676 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} }; 1645 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
677 1646
678 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB; 1647 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
1648 };
1649 };
1650 die if $@;
1651
1652 &child
679} 1653}
1654
1655# idle emulation is done by simply using a timer, regardless
1656# of whether the process is idle or not, and not letting
1657# the callback use more than 50% of the time.
1658sub idle {
1659 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1660 *idle = sub {
1661 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1662
1663 my ($cb, $w, $rcb) = $arg{cb};
1664
1665 $rcb = sub {
1666 if ($cb) {
1667 $w = _time;
1668 &$cb;
1669 $w = _time - $w;
1670
1671 # never use more then 50% of the time for the idle watcher,
1672 # within some limits
1673 $w = 0.0001 if $w < 0.0001;
1674 $w = 5 if $w > 5;
1675
1676 $w = AE::timer $w, 0, $rcb;
1677 } else {
1678 # clean up...
1679 undef $w;
1680 undef $rcb;
1681 }
1682 };
1683
1684 $w = AE::timer 0.05, 0, $rcb;
1685
1686 bless \\$cb, "AnyEvent::Base::idle"
1687 };
1688
1689 *AnyEvent::Base::idle::DESTROY = sub {
1690 undef $${$_[0]};
1691 };
1692 };
1693 die if $@;
1694
1695 &idle
1696}
1697
1698package AnyEvent::CondVar;
1699
1700our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
1701
1702package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
1703
1704#use overload
1705# '&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
1706# fallback => 1;
1707
1708# save 300+ kilobytes by dirtily hardcoding overloading
1709${"AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::OVERLOAD"}{dummy}++; # Register with magic by touching.
1710*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = sub { }; # "Make it findable via fetchmethod."
1711*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::(&{}'} = sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } }; # &{}
1712${'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = 1; # fallback
1713
1714our $WAITING;
1715
1716sub _send {
1717 # nop
1718}
1719
1720sub send {
1721 my $cv = shift;
1722 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
1723 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
1724 $cv->_send;
1725}
1726
1727sub croak {
1728 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
1729 $_[0]->send;
1730}
1731
1732sub ready {
1733 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
1734}
1735
1736sub _wait {
1737 $WAITING
1738 and !$_[0]{_ae_sent}
1739 and Carp::croak "AnyEvent::CondVar: recursive blocking wait detected";
1740
1741 local $WAITING = 1;
1742 AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
1743}
1744
1745sub recv {
1746 $_[0]->_wait;
1747
1748 Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
1749 wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
1750}
1751
1752sub cb {
1753 my $cv = shift;
1754
1755 @_
1756 and $cv->{_ae_cb} = shift
1757 and $cv->{_ae_sent}
1758 and (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv);
1759
1760 $cv->{_ae_cb}
1761}
1762
1763sub begin {
1764 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1765 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1766}
1767
1768sub end {
1769 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1770 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
1771}
1772
1773# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
1774*broadcast = \&send;
1775*wait = \&_wait;
1776
1777=head1 ERROR AND EXCEPTION HANDLING
1778
1779In general, AnyEvent does not do any error handling - it relies on the
1780caller to do that if required. The L<AnyEvent::Strict> module (see also
1781the C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT> environment variable, below) provides strict
1782checking of all AnyEvent methods, however, which is highly useful during
1783development.
1784
1785As for exception handling (i.e. runtime errors and exceptions thrown while
1786executing a callback), this is not only highly event-loop specific, but
1787also not in any way wrapped by this module, as this is the job of the main
1788program.
1789
1790The pure perl event loop simply re-throws the exception (usually
1791within C<< condvar->recv >>), the L<Event> and L<EV> modules call C<<
1792$Event/EV::DIED->() >>, L<Glib> uses C<< install_exception_handler >> and
1793so on.
1794
1795=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1796
1797The following environment variables are used by this module or its
1798submodules.
1799
1800Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
1801C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
1802enabled.
1803
1804=over 4
1805
1806=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
1807
1808By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
1809conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
1810talkative.
1811
1812When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
1813conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
1814C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
1815
1816When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
1817model it chooses.
1818
1819When set to C<8> or higher, then AnyEvent will report extra information on
1820which optional modules it loads and how it implements certain features.
1821
1822=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT>
1823
1824AnyEvent does not do much argument checking by default, as thorough
1825argument checking is very costly. Setting this variable to a true value
1826will cause AnyEvent to load C<AnyEvent::Strict> and then to thoroughly
1827check the arguments passed to most method calls. If it finds any problems,
1828it will croak.
1829
1830In other words, enables "strict" mode.
1831
1832Unlike C<use strict> (or it's modern cousin, C<< use L<common::sense>
1833>>, it is definitely recommended to keep it off in production. Keeping
1834C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT=1> in your environment while developing programs
1835can be very useful, however.
1836
1837=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
1838
1839This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
1840auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
1841entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
1842and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
1843used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
1844auto detection and -probing.
1845
1846This functionality might change in future versions.
1847
1848For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
1849could start your program like this:
1850
1851 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
1852
1853=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
1854
1855Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
1856for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
1857of auto probing).
1858
1859Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
1860current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
1861used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
1862list.
1863
1864This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
1865against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
1866small, as the program has to handle conenction and other failures anyways.
1867
1868Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
1869but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
1870- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
1871addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
1872IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
1873
1874=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
1875
1876Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
1877for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
1878some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
1879default.
1880
1881Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
1882EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
1883
1884=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_FORKS>
1885
1886The maximum number of child processes that C<AnyEvent::Util::fork_call>
1887will create in parallel.
1888
1889=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_OUTSTANDING_DNS>
1890
1891The default value for the C<max_outstanding> parameter for the default DNS
1892resolver - this is the maximum number of parallel DNS requests that are
1893sent to the DNS server.
1894
1895=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_RESOLV_CONF>
1896
1897The file to use instead of F</etc/resolv.conf> (or OS-specific
1898configuration) in the default resolver. When set to the empty string, no
1899default config will be used.
1900
1901=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_FILE>, C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_PATH>.
1902
1903When neither C<ca_file> nor C<ca_path> was specified during
1904L<AnyEvent::TLS> context creation, and either of these environment
1905variables exist, they will be used to specify CA certificate locations
1906instead of a system-dependent default.
1907
1908=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_GUARD> and C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT>
1909
1910When these are set to C<1>, then the respective modules are not
1911loaded. Mostly good for testing AnyEvent itself.
1912
1913=back
680 1914
681=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 1915=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
682 1916
683This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in 1917This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
684a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to 1918a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
718 1952
719I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to 1953I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to
720condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will 1954condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will
721C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must 1955C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must
722not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense. 1956not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense.
723
724=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
725
726The following environment variables are used by this module:
727
728=over 4
729
730=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
731
732By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
733conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
734talkative.
735
736When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
737conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
738C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
739
740When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
741model it chooses.
742
743=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
744
745This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
746autodetection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
747entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
748and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
749used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
750autodetection and -probing.
751
752This functionality might change in future versions.
753
754For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
755could start your program like this:
756
757 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
758
759=back
760 1957
761=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM 1958=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
762 1959
763The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer 1960The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
764to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the 1961to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
773 poll => 'r', 1970 poll => 'r',
774 cb => sub { 1971 cb => sub {
775 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 1972 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
776 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 1973 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
777 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 1974 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
778 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 1975 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
779 }, 1976 },
780 ); 1977 );
781 1978
782 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
783
784 sub new_timer {
785 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub { 1979 my $time_watcher = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, interval => 1, cb => sub {
786 warn "timeout\n"; # print 'timeout' about every second 1980 warn "timeout\n"; # print 'timeout' at most every second
787 &new_timer; # and restart the time
788 }); 1981 });
789 }
790 1982
791 new_timer; # create first timer
792
793 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 1983 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
794 1984
795=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 1985=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
796 1986
797Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 1987Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
798API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 1988API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
848 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 2038 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
849 or die "connection or write error"; 2039 or die "connection or write error";
850 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 2040 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
851 2041
852Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 2042Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
853result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished: 2043result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
854 2044
855 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 2045 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
856 2046
857 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 2047 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
858 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 2048 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
859 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 2049 $txn->{finished}->send;
860 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 2050 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
861 } 2051 }
862 2052
863The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 2053The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
864request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the 2054request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
865data: 2055data:
866 2056
867 $txn->{finished}->wait; 2057 $txn->{finished}->recv;
868 return $txn->{result}; 2058 return $txn->{result};
869 2059
870The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 2060The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
871that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 2061that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
872whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 2062whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
873and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 2063and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
874problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a 2064problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
875random callback. 2065random callback.
876 2066
907 2097
908 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 2098 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
909 2099
910 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 2100 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
911 ... 2101 ...
912 $quit->broadcast; 2102 $quit->send;
913 }); 2103 });
914 2104
915 $quit->wait; 2105 $quit->recv;
916 2106
917 2107
918=head1 BENCHMARKS 2108=head1 BENCHMARKS
919 2109
920To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds 2110To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
922of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks. 2112of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
923 2113
924=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD 2114=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
925 2115
926Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and 2116Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
927through anyevent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero 2117through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
928timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable, 2118timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
929which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again. 2119which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
930 2120
931Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent 2121Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
932distribution. 2122distribution. It uses the L<AE> interface, which makes a real difference
2123for the EV and Perl backends only.
933 2124
934=head3 Explanation of the columns 2125=head3 Explanation of the columns
935 2126
936I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since 2127I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
937different event models feature vastly different performances, each event 2128different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
949all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation 2140all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
950and memory usage is not included in the figures. 2141and memory usage is not included in the figures.
951 2142
952I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple 2143I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
953callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was 2144callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
954invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->broadcast >> a condvar once to 2145invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
955signal the end of this phase. 2146signal the end of this phase.
956 2147
957I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single 2148I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
958watcher. 2149watcher.
959 2150
960=head3 Results 2151=head3 Results
961 2152
962 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment 2153 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
963 EV/EV 400000 244 0.56 0.46 0.31 EV native interface 2154 EV/EV 100000 223 0.47 0.43 0.27 EV native interface
964 EV/Any 100000 244 2.50 0.46 0.29 EV + AnyEvent watchers 2155 EV/Any 100000 223 0.48 0.42 0.26 EV + AnyEvent watchers
965 CoroEV/Any 100000 244 2.49 0.44 0.29 coroutines + Coro::Signal 2156 Coro::EV/Any 100000 223 0.47 0.42 0.26 coroutines + Coro::Signal
966 Perl/Any 100000 513 4.92 0.87 1.12 pure perl implementation 2157 Perl/Any 100000 431 2.70 0.74 0.92 pure perl implementation
967 Event/Event 16000 516 31.88 31.30 0.85 Event native interface 2158 Event/Event 16000 516 31.16 31.84 0.82 Event native interface
968 Event/Any 16000 590 35.75 31.42 1.08 Event + AnyEvent watchers 2159 Event/Any 16000 1203 42.61 34.79 1.80 Event + AnyEvent watchers
2160 IOAsync/Any 16000 1911 41.92 27.45 16.81 via IO::Async::Loop::IO_Poll
2161 IOAsync/Any 16000 1726 40.69 26.37 15.25 via IO::Async::Loop::Epoll
969 Glib/Any 16000 1357 98.22 12.41 54.00 quadratic behaviour 2162 Glib/Any 16000 1118 89.00 12.57 51.17 quadratic behaviour
970 Tk/Any 2000 1860 26.97 67.98 14.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers 2163 Tk/Any 2000 1346 20.96 10.75 8.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
971 POE/Event 2000 6644 108.64 736.02 14.73 via POE::Loop::Event 2164 POE/Any 2000 6951 108.97 795.32 14.24 via POE::Loop::Event
972 POE/Select 2000 6343 94.13 809.12 565.96 via POE::Loop::Select 2165 POE/Any 2000 6648 94.79 774.40 575.51 via POE::Loop::Select
973 2166
974=head3 Discussion 2167=head3 Discussion
975 2168
976The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very 2169The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
977well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one) 2170well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
989benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with 2182benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
990EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU 2183EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
991cycles with POE. 2184cycles with POE.
992 2185
993C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both 2186C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
994maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, it uses 2187maximal/minimal, respectively. When using the L<AE> API there is zero
2188overhead (when going through the AnyEvent API create is about 5-6 times
2189slower, with other times being equal, so still uses far less memory than
995far less memory than any other event loop and is still faster than Event 2190any other event loop and is still faster than Event natively).
996natively.
997 2191
998The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the 2192The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
999constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl 2193constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
1000interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it 2194interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
1001adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its 2195adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
1002performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of 2196performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
1003them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark. 2197them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
1004 2198
1005The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation 2199The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
1006cost, but overall scores in on the third place. 2200cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
2201
2202C<IO::Async> performs admirably well, about on par with C<Event>, even
2203when using its pure perl backend.
1007 2204
1008C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a 2205C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
1009faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as 2206faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
1010C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of 2207C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
1011watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four, 2208watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
1019file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup() 2216file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
1020employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a 2217employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
1021hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures 2218hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
1022above). 2219above).
1023 2220
1024C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure 2221C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
1025perl select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend 2222select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
1026couldn't be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance 2223be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
1027and memory usage: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory as 2224memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
1028EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory 2225as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
1029requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher 2226requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
1030invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl 2227invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
2228implementation.
2229
1031implementation. The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not 2230The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
1032really account for this, as session creation overhead is small compared 2231for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
1033to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty optimally within 2232small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
1034L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>. POE simply seems to be abysmally slow. 2233optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
2234using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
2235memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
2236design).
1035 2237
1036=head3 Summary 2238=head3 Summary
1037 2239
1038=over 4 2240=over 4
1039 2241
1050 2252
1051=back 2253=back
1052 2254
1053=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE 2255=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
1054 2256
1055This benchmark atcually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by 2257This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
1056creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socketpair, a 2258creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
1057timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O 2259timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
1058watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket 2260watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
1059watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server". 2261watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
1060 2262
1061The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which 2263The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
1062are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active 2264are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
1063fds for each loop iterstaion, but which fds these are is random). The 2265fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
1064timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how 2266timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
1065most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops). 2267most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
1066 2268
1067In this benchmark, we use 10000 socketpairs (20000 sockets), of which 100 2269In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
1068(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many 2270(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
1069connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time. 2271connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
1070 2272
1071Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent 2273Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
1072distribution. 2274distribution. It uses the L<AE> interface, which makes a real difference
2275for the EV and Perl backends only.
1073 2276
1074=head3 Explanation of the columns 2277=head3 Explanation of the columns
1075 2278
1076I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as 2279I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
1077each server has a read and write socket end). 2280each server has a read and write socket end).
1078 2281
1079I<create> is the time it takes to create a socketpair (which is 2282I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
1080nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher. 2283nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
1081 2284
1082I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a 2285I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
1083single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding 2286single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
1084it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating 2287it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
1085a new one that moves the timeout into the future. 2288a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
1086 2289
1087=head3 Results 2290=head3 Results
1088 2291
1089 name sockets create request 2292 name sockets create request
1090 EV 20000 69.01 11.16 2293 EV 20000 62.66 7.99
1091 Perl 20000 75.28 112.76 2294 Perl 20000 68.32 32.64
1092 Event 20000 212.62 257.32 2295 IOAsync 20000 174.06 101.15 epoll
1093 Glib 20000 651.16 1896.30 2296 IOAsync 20000 174.67 610.84 poll
2297 Event 20000 202.69 242.91
2298 Glib 20000 557.01 1689.52
1094 POE 20000 349.67 12317.24 uses POE::Loop::Event 2299 POE 20000 341.54 12086.32 uses POE::Loop::Event
1095 2300
1096=head3 Discussion 2301=head3 Discussion
1097 2302
1098This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the 2303This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
1099particular event loop. 2304particular event loop.
1101EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time 2306EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
1102is relatively high, though. 2307is relatively high, though.
1103 2308
1104Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event 2309Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
1105loops Event and Glib. 2310loops Event and Glib.
2311
2312IO::Async performs very well when using its epoll backend, and still quite
2313good compared to Glib when using its pure perl backend.
1106 2314
1107Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will 2315Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
1108understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to 2316understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
1109the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event 2317the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
1110uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations. 2318uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
1118 2326
1119=head3 Summary 2327=head3 Summary
1120 2328
1121=over 4 2329=over 4
1122 2330
1123=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well, considering 2331=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
1124that it uses select.
1125 2332
1126=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters. 2333=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
1127 2334
1128=back 2335=back
1129 2336
1142 2349
1143=head3 Results 2350=head3 Results
1144 2351
1145 name sockets create request 2352 name sockets create request
1146 EV 16 20.00 6.54 2353 EV 16 20.00 6.54
2354 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
1147 Event 16 81.27 35.86 2355 Event 16 81.27 35.86
1148 Glib 16 32.63 15.48 2356 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
1149 Perl 16 24.62 162.37
1150 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event 2357 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
1151 2358
1152=head3 Discussion 2359=head3 Discussion
1153 2360
1154The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small 2361The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
1158speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of 2365speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
1159them). 2366them).
1160 2367
1161EV is again fastest. 2368EV is again fastest.
1162 2369
1163The C-based event loops Event and Glib come in second this time, as the 2370Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
1164overhead of running an iteration is much smaller in C than in Perl (little 2371loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
1165code to execute in the inner loop, and perl's function calling overhead is 2372matter.
1166high, and updating all the data structures is costly).
1167
1168The pure perl event loop is much slower, but still competitive.
1169 2373
1170POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the 2374POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
1171others. 2375others.
1172 2376
1173=head3 Summary 2377=head3 Summary
1177=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of 2381=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
1178watchers, as the management overhead dominates. 2382watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
1179 2383
1180=back 2384=back
1181 2385
2386=head2 THE IO::Lambda BENCHMARK
2387
2388Recently I was told about the benchmark in the IO::Lambda manpage, which
2389could be misinterpreted to make AnyEvent look bad. In fact, the benchmark
2390simply compares IO::Lambda with POE, and IO::Lambda looks better (which
2391shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody). As such, the benchmark is
2392fine, and mostly shows that the AnyEvent backend from IO::Lambda isn't
2393very optimal. But how would AnyEvent compare when used without the extra
2394baggage? To explore this, I wrote the equivalent benchmark for AnyEvent.
2395
2396The benchmark itself creates an echo-server, and then, for 500 times,
2397connects to the echo server, sends a line, waits for the reply, and then
2398creates the next connection. This is a rather bad benchmark, as it doesn't
2399test the efficiency of the framework or much non-blocking I/O, but it is a
2400benchmark nevertheless.
2401
2402 name runtime
2403 Lambda/select 0.330 sec
2404 + optimized 0.122 sec
2405 Lambda/AnyEvent 0.327 sec
2406 + optimized 0.138 sec
2407 Raw sockets/select 0.077 sec
2408 POE/select, components 0.662 sec
2409 POE/select, raw sockets 0.226 sec
2410 POE/select, optimized 0.404 sec
2411
2412 AnyEvent/select/nb 0.085 sec
2413 AnyEvent/EV/nb 0.068 sec
2414 +state machine 0.134 sec
2415
2416The benchmark is also a bit unfair (my fault): the IO::Lambda/POE
2417benchmarks actually make blocking connects and use 100% blocking I/O,
2418defeating the purpose of an event-based solution. All of the newly
2419written AnyEvent benchmarks use 100% non-blocking connects (using
2420AnyEvent::Socket::tcp_connect and the asynchronous pure perl DNS
2421resolver), so AnyEvent is at a disadvantage here, as non-blocking connects
2422generally require a lot more bookkeeping and event handling than blocking
2423connects (which involve a single syscall only).
2424
2425The last AnyEvent benchmark additionally uses L<AnyEvent::Handle>, which
2426offers similar expressive power as POE and IO::Lambda, using conventional
2427Perl syntax. This means that both the echo server and the client are 100%
2428non-blocking, further placing it at a disadvantage.
2429
2430As you can see, the AnyEvent + EV combination even beats the
2431hand-optimised "raw sockets benchmark", while AnyEvent + its pure perl
2432backend easily beats IO::Lambda and POE.
2433
2434And even the 100% non-blocking version written using the high-level (and
2435slow :) L<AnyEvent::Handle> abstraction beats both POE and IO::Lambda
2436higher level ("unoptimised") abstractions by a large margin, even though
2437it does all of DNS, tcp-connect and socket I/O in a non-blocking way.
2438
2439The two AnyEvent benchmarks programs can be found as F<eg/ae0.pl> and
2440F<eg/ae2.pl> in the AnyEvent distribution, the remaining benchmarks are
2441part of the IO::Lambda distribution and were used without any changes.
2442
2443
2444=head1 SIGNALS
2445
2446AnyEvent currently installs handlers for these signals:
2447
2448=over 4
2449
2450=item SIGCHLD
2451
2452A handler for C<SIGCHLD> is installed by AnyEvent's child watcher
2453emulation for event loops that do not support them natively. Also, some
2454event loops install a similar handler.
2455
2456Additionally, when AnyEvent is loaded and SIGCHLD is set to IGNORE, then
2457AnyEvent will reset it to default, to avoid losing child exit statuses.
2458
2459=item SIGPIPE
2460
2461A no-op handler is installed for C<SIGPIPE> when C<$SIG{PIPE}> is C<undef>
2462when AnyEvent gets loaded.
2463
2464The rationale for this is that AnyEvent users usually do not really depend
2465on SIGPIPE delivery (which is purely an optimisation for shell use, or
2466badly-written programs), but C<SIGPIPE> can cause spurious and rare
2467program exits as a lot of people do not expect C<SIGPIPE> when writing to
2468some random socket.
2469
2470The rationale for installing a no-op handler as opposed to ignoring it is
2471that this way, the handler will be restored to defaults on exec.
2472
2473Feel free to install your own handler, or reset it to defaults.
2474
2475=back
2476
2477=cut
2478
2479undef $SIG{CHLD}
2480 if $SIG{CHLD} eq 'IGNORE';
2481
2482$SIG{PIPE} = sub { }
2483 unless defined $SIG{PIPE};
2484
2485=head1 RECOMMENDED/OPTIONAL MODULES
2486
2487One of AnyEvent's main goals is to be 100% Pure-Perl(tm): only perl (and
2488it's built-in modules) are required to use it.
2489
2490That does not mean that AnyEvent won't take advantage of some additional
2491modules if they are installed.
2492
2493This section explains which additional modules will be used, and how they
2494affect AnyEvent's operation.
2495
2496=over 4
2497
2498=item L<Async::Interrupt>
2499
2500This slightly arcane module is used to implement fast signal handling: To
2501my knowledge, there is no way to do completely race-free and quick
2502signal handling in pure perl. To ensure that signals still get
2503delivered, AnyEvent will start an interval timer to wake up perl (and
2504catch the signals) with some delay (default is 10 seconds, look for
2505C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>).
2506
2507If this module is available, then it will be used to implement signal
2508catching, which means that signals will not be delayed, and the event loop
2509will not be interrupted regularly, which is more efficient (and good for
2510battery life on laptops).
2511
2512This affects not just the pure-perl event loop, but also other event loops
2513that have no signal handling on their own (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt).
2514
2515Some event loops (POE, Event, Event::Lib) offer signal watchers natively,
2516and either employ their own workarounds (POE) or use AnyEvent's workaround
2517(using C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>). Installing L<Async::Interrupt>
2518does nothing for those backends.
2519
2520=item L<EV>
2521
2522This module isn't really "optional", as it is simply one of the backend
2523event loops that AnyEvent can use. However, it is simply the best event
2524loop available in terms of features, speed and stability: It supports
2525the AnyEvent API optimally, implements all the watcher types in XS, does
2526automatic timer adjustments even when no monotonic clock is available,
2527can take avdantage of advanced kernel interfaces such as C<epoll> and
2528C<kqueue>, and is the fastest backend I<by far>. You can even embed
2529L<Glib>/L<Gtk2> in it (or vice versa, see L<EV::Glib> and L<Glib::EV>).
2530
2531=item L<Guard>
2532
2533The guard module, when used, will be used to implement
2534C<AnyEvent::Util::guard>. This speeds up guards considerably (and uses a
2535lot less memory), but otherwise doesn't affect guard operation much. It is
2536purely used for performance.
2537
2538=item L<JSON> and L<JSON::XS>
2539
2540One of these modules is required when you want to read or write JSON data
2541via L<AnyEvent::Handle>. It is also written in pure-perl, but can take
2542advantage of the ultra-high-speed L<JSON::XS> module when it is installed.
2543
2544In fact, L<AnyEvent::Handle> will use L<JSON::XS> by default if it is
2545installed.
2546
2547=item L<Net::SSLeay>
2548
2549Implementing TLS/SSL in Perl is certainly interesting, but not very
2550worthwhile: If this module is installed, then L<AnyEvent::Handle> (with
2551the help of L<AnyEvent::TLS>), gains the ability to do TLS/SSL.
2552
2553=item L<Time::HiRes>
2554
2555This module is part of perl since release 5.008. It will be used when the
2556chosen event library does not come with a timing source on it's own. The
2557pure-perl event loop (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) will additionally use it to
2558try to use a monotonic clock for timing stability.
2559
2560=back
2561
1182 2562
1183=head1 FORK 2563=head1 FORK
1184 2564
1185Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are 2565Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
1186because they are so inefficient. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware. 2566because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll> calls
2567- higher performance APIs such as BSD's kqueue or the dreaded Linux epoll
2568are usually badly thought-out hacks that are incompatible with fork in
2569one way or another. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware and ensures that you
2570continue event-processing in both parent and child (or both, if you know
2571what you are doing).
2572
2573This means that, in general, you cannot fork and do event processing in
2574the child if the event library was initialised before the fork (which
2575usually happens when the first AnyEvent watcher is created, or the library
2576is loaded).
1187 2577
1188If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first 2578If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
1189watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child. 2579watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child OR you must do
2580something completely out of the scope of AnyEvent.
2581
2582The problem of doing event processing in the parent I<and> the child
2583is much more complicated: even for backends that I<are> fork-aware or
2584fork-safe, their behaviour is not usually what you want: fork clones all
2585watchers, that means all timers, I/O watchers etc. are active in both
2586parent and child, which is almost never what you want. USing C<exec>
2587to start worker children from some kind of manage rprocess is usually
2588preferred, because it is much easier and cleaner, at the expense of having
2589to have another binary.
1190 2590
1191 2591
1192=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS 2592=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
1193 2593
1194AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via 2594AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
1199specified in the variable. 2599specified in the variable.
1200 2600
1201You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it 2601You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
1202before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block: 2602before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
1203 2603
1204 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} } 2604 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
1205 2605
1206 use AnyEvent; 2606 use AnyEvent;
2607
2608Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
2609be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
2610probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), and
2611$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT}.
2612
2613Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
2614C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
2615enabled.
2616
2617
2618=head1 BUGS
2619
2620Perl 5.8 has numerous memleaks that sometimes hit this module and are hard
2621to work around. If you suffer from memleaks, first upgrade to Perl 5.10
2622and check wether the leaks still show up. (Perl 5.10.0 has other annoying
2623memleaks, such as leaking on C<map> and C<grep> but it is usually not as
2624pronounced).
1207 2625
1208 2626
1209=head1 SEE ALSO 2627=head1 SEE ALSO
1210 2628
1211Event modules: L<Coro::EV>, L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, 2629Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
1212L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>, L<Coro>, L<Tk>, 2630
2631Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
1213L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>. 2632L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
1214 2633
1215Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, 2634Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
2635L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
2636L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
1216L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, 2637L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync>, L<Anyevent::Impl::Irssi>.
1217L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>,
1218L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>.
1219 2638
2639Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
2640servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>, L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
2641
2642Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
2643
2644Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>,
2645L<Coro::Event>,
2646
1220Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>. 2647Nontrivial usage examples: L<AnyEvent::GPSD>, L<AnyEvent::XMPP>,
2648L<AnyEvent::HTTP>.
1221 2649
1222 2650
1223=head1 AUTHOR 2651=head1 AUTHOR
1224 2652
1225 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 2653 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
1226 http://home.schmorp.de/ 2654 http://home.schmorp.de/
1227 2655
1228=cut 2656=cut
1229 2657
12301 26581
1231 2659

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