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Revision 1.229 by root, Wed Jul 8 02:01:12 2009 UTC

1	=head1 NAME	1	=head1 NAME
2		2
3	AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops	3	AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops
4		4
5	EV, Event, Coro::EV, Coro::Event, Glib, Tk, Perl, Event::Lib, Qt, POE - various supported event loops	5	EV, Event, Glib, Tk, Perl, Event::Lib, Qt and POE are various supported
		6	event loops.
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
		42	This manpage is mainly a reference manual. If you are interested
		43	in a tutorial or some gentle introduction, have a look at the
		44	L<AnyEvent::Intro> manpage.
22		45
23	=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT)	46	=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT)
24		47
25	Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen	48	Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen
26	nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?	49	nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?
27		50
28	Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of	51	Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of
29	policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>.	52	policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>.
30		53
31	First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only	54	First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only
32	interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use in a	55	interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use, in a
33	pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike,	56	pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike,
34	the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general,	57	the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general,
35	only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent	58	only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent
36	helps hiding the differences between those event loops.	59	cannot change this, but it can hide the differences between those event
		60	loops.
37		61
38	The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event	62	The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event
39	programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a	63	programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a
40	religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your	64	religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your
41	module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event	65	module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event
42	model you use.	66	model you use.
43		67
44	For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is	68	For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is
45	actually doing all I/O I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is	69	actually doing all I/O I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is
46	like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you	70	like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you
47	cannot use anything else, as it is simply incompatible to everything that	71	cannot use anything else, as they are simply incompatible to everything
48	isn't itself. What's worse, all the potential users of your module are	72	that isn't them. What's worse, all the potential users of your
49	I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use.	73	module are I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use.
50		74
51	AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works	75	AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works
52	fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together	76	fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together
53	with the rest: POE + IO::Async? no go. Tk + Event? no go. Again: if	77	with the rest: POE + IO::Async? No go. Tk + Event? No go. Again: if
54	your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it,	78	your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it,
55	too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all	79	too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all
56	event models it supports (including stuff like POE and IO::Async, as long	80	event models it supports (including stuff like IO::Async, as long as those
57	as those use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new	81	use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new event loops
58	event loops to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof).	82	to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof).
59		83
60	In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event	84	In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event
61	model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar	85	model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar
62	modules, you get an enourmous amount of code and strict rules you have to	86	modules, you get an enormous amount of code and strict rules you have to
63	follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only	87	follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only
64	offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as	88	offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as
65	technically possible.	89	technically possible.
66		90
		91	Of course, AnyEvent comes with a big (and fully optional!) toolbox
		92	of useful functionality, such as an asynchronous DNS resolver, 100%
		93	non-blocking connects (even with TLS/SSL, IPv6 and on broken platforms
		94	such as Windows) and lots of real-world knowledge and workarounds for
		95	platform bugs and differences.
		96
67	Of course, if you want lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat	97	Now, if you I<do want> lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat
68	useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event	98	useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event
69	model, you should I<not> use this module.	99	model, you should I<not> use this module.
70
71		100
72	=head1 DESCRIPTION	101	=head1 DESCRIPTION
73		102
74	L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This	103	L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This
75	allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module	104	allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module
…		…
79	The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>	108	The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
80	module.	109	module.
81		110
82	During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries	111	During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries
83	to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the	112	to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the
84	following modules is already loaded: L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>, L<EV>,	113	following modules is already loaded: L<EV>,
85	L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>,	114	L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>,
86	L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries	115	L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries
87	to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl	116	to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl
88	adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can	117	adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can
89	be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be	118	be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be
…		…
103	starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to	132	starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to
104	use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly...	133	use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly...
105		134
106	The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called	135	The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called
107	C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it	136	C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it
108	explicitly.	137	explicitly and enjoy the high availability of that event loop :)
109		138
110	=head1 WATCHERS	139	=head1 WATCHERS
111		140
112	AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that	141	AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that
113	stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as	142	stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as
114	the callback to call, the filehandle to watch, etc.	143	the callback to call, the file handle to watch, etc.
115		144
116	These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After	145	These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
117	creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the	146	creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the
118	callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model	147	callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model
119	is in control).	148	is in control).
120		149
		150	Note that B<callbacks must not permanently change global variables>
		151	potentially in use by the event loop (such as C<$_> or C<$[>) and that B<<
		152	callbacks must not C<die> >>. The former is good programming practise in
		153	Perl and the latter stems from the fact that exception handling differs
		154	widely between event loops.
		155
121	To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the	156	To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the
122	variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references	157	variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references
123	to it).	158	to it).
124		159
125	All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class.	160	All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class.
…		…
127	Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for	162	Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for
128	example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways.	163	example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways.
129		164
130	An any way to achieve that is this pattern:	165	An any way to achieve that is this pattern:
131		166
132	my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub {	167	my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub {
133	# you can use $w here, for example to undef it	168	# you can use $w here, for example to undef it
134	undef $w;	169	undef $w;
135	});	170	});
136		171
137	Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,	172	Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,
138	my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are	173	my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are
139	declared.	174	declared.
140		175
141	=head2 I/O WATCHERS	176	=head2 I/O WATCHERS
142		177
143	You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method	178	You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
144	with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:	179	with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
145		180
146	C<fh> the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) to watch for	181	C<fh> is the Perl I<file handle> (or a naked file descriptor) to watch
		182	for events (AnyEvent might or might not keep a reference to this file
		183	handle). Note that only file handles pointing to things for which
		184	non-blocking operation makes sense are allowed. This includes sockets,
		185	most character devices, pipes, fifos and so on, but not for example files
		186	or block devices.
		187
147	events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, which	188	C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, which creates a
148	creates a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events,	189	watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events, respectively.
		190
149	respectively. C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle	191	C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle becomes ready.
150	becomes ready.
151		192
152	As long as the I/O watcher exists it will keep the file descriptor or a	193	Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
153	copy of it alive/open.	194	presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
		195	callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
154		196
		197	The I/O watcher might use the underlying file descriptor or a copy of it.
155	It is not allowed to close a file handle as long as any watcher is active	198	You must not close a file handle as long as any watcher is active on the
156	on the underlying file descriptor.	199	underlying file descriptor.
157		200
158	Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should	201	Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should
159	always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file	202	always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file
160	handles.	203	handles.
161		204
162	Example:
163
164	# wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the watcher	205	Example: wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the
		206	watcher.
		207
165	my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {	208	my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
166	chomp (my $input = <STDIN>);	209	chomp (my $input = <STDIN>);
167	warn "read: $input\n";	210	warn "read: $input\n";
168	undef $w;	211	undef $w;
169	});	212	});
…		…
172		215
173	You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>	216	You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>
174	method with the following mandatory arguments:	217	method with the following mandatory arguments:
175		218
176	C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are	219	C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are
177	supported) should the timer activate. C<cb> the callback to invoke in that	220	supported) the callback should be invoked. C<cb> is the callback to invoke
178	case.	221	in that case.
179		222
180	The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating	223	Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
181	timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk	224	presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
182	and Glib).	225	callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks.
183		226
184	Example:	227	The callback will normally be invoked once only. If you specify another
		228	parameter, C<interval>, as a strictly positive number (> 0), then the
		229	callback will be invoked regularly at that interval (in fractional
		230	seconds) after the first invocation. If C<interval> is specified with a
		231	false value, then it is treated as if it were missing.
185		232
		233	The callback will be rescheduled before invoking the callback, but no
		234	attempt is done to avoid timer drift in most backends, so the interval is
		235	only approximate.
		236
186	# fire an event after 7.7 seconds	237	Example: fire an event after 7.7 seconds.
		238
187	my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub {	239	my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub {
188	warn "timeout\n";	240	warn "timeout\n";
189	});	241	});
190		242
191	# to cancel the timer:	243	# to cancel the timer:
192	undef $w;	244	undef $w;
193		245
194	Example 2:
195
196	# fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second	246	Example 2: fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second.
197	my $w;
198		247
199	my $cb = sub {
200	# cancel the old timer while creating a new one
201	$w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => $cb);	248	my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, interval => 1, cb => sub {
		249	warn "timeout\n";
202	};	250	};
203
204	# start the "loop" by creating the first watcher
205	$w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, cb => $cb);
206		251
207	=head3 TIMING ISSUES	252	=head3 TIMING ISSUES
208		253
209	There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire	254	There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire
210	in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12	255	in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12
…		…
222	timers.	267	timers.
223		268
224	AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the	269	AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the
225	AnyEvent API.	270	AnyEvent API.
226		271
		272	AnyEvent has two additional methods that return the "current time":
		273
		274	=over 4
		275
		276	=item AnyEvent->time
		277
		278	This returns the "current wallclock time" as a fractional number of
		279	seconds since the Epoch (the same thing as C<time> or C<Time::HiRes::time>
		280	return, and the result is guaranteed to be compatible with those).
		281
		282	It progresses independently of any event loop processing, i.e. each call
		283	will check the system clock, which usually gets updated frequently.
		284
		285	=item AnyEvent->now
		286
		287	This also returns the "current wallclock time", but unlike C<time>, above,
		288	this value might change only once per event loop iteration, depending on
		289	the event loop (most return the same time as C<time>, above). This is the
		290	time that AnyEvent's timers get scheduled against.
		291
		292	I<In almost all cases (in all cases if you don't care), this is the
		293	function to call when you want to know the current time.>
		294
		295	This function is also often faster then C<< AnyEvent->time >>, and
		296	thus the preferred method if you want some timestamp (for example,
		297	L<AnyEvent::Handle> uses this to update it's activity timeouts).
		298
		299	The rest of this section is only of relevance if you try to be very exact
		300	with your timing, you can skip it without bad conscience.
		301
		302	For a practical example of when these times differ, consider L<Event::Lib>
		303	and L<EV> and the following set-up:
		304
		305	The event loop is running and has just invoked one of your callback at
		306	time=500 (assume no other callbacks delay processing). In your callback,
		307	you wait a second by executing C<sleep 1> (blocking the process for a
		308	second) and then (at time=501) you create a relative timer that fires
		309	after three seconds.
		310
		311	With L<Event::Lib>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> will
		312	both return C<501>, because that is the current time, and the timer will
		313	be scheduled to fire at time=504 (C<501> + C<3>).
		314
		315	With L<EV>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> returns C<501> (as that is the current
		316	time), but C<< AnyEvent->now >> returns C<500>, as that is the time the
		317	last event processing phase started. With L<EV>, your timer gets scheduled
		318	to run at time=503 (C<500> + C<3>).
		319
		320	In one sense, L<Event::Lib> is more exact, as it uses the current time
		321	regardless of any delays introduced by event processing. However, most
		322	callbacks do not expect large delays in processing, so this causes a
		323	higher drift (and a lot more system calls to get the current time).
		324
		325	In another sense, L<EV> is more exact, as your timer will be scheduled at
		326	the same time, regardless of how long event processing actually took.
		327
		328	In either case, if you care (and in most cases, you don't), then you
		329	can get whatever behaviour you want with any event loop, by taking the
		330	difference between C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> into
		331	account.
		332
		333	=item AnyEvent->now_update
		334
		335	Some event loops (such as L<EV> or L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) cache
		336	the current time for each loop iteration (see the discussion of L<<
		337	AnyEvent->now >>, above).
		338
		339	When a callback runs for a long time (or when the process sleeps), then
		340	this "current" time will differ substantially from the real time, which
		341	might affect timers and time-outs.
		342
		343	When this is the case, you can call this method, which will update the
		344	event loop's idea of "current time".
		345
		346	Note that updating the time I<might> cause some events to be handled.
		347
		348	=back
		349
227	=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS	350	=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
228		351
229	You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal	352	You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
230	I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl callback to	353	I<name> in uppercase and without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl
231	be invoked whenever a signal occurs.	354	callback to be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
232		355
		356	Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
		357	presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
		358	callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
		359
233	Multiple signal occurances can be clumped together into one callback	360	Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
234	invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. synchronous means	361	invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
235	that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,	362	that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
236	but it is guarenteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.	363	but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
237		364
238	The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal	365	The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
239	between multiple watchers.	366	between multiple watchers.
240		367
241	This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals	368	This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals
…		…
248	=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS	375	=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
249		376
250	You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status.	377	You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status.
251		378
252	The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it	379	The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it
253	watches for any child process exit). The watcher will trigger as often	380	watches for any child process exit). The watcher will triggered only when
254	as status change for the child are received. This works by installing a	381	the child process has finished and an exit status is available, not on
255	signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with the pid	382	any trace events (stopped/continued).
256	and exit status (as returned by waitpid).
257		383
258	Example: wait for pid 1333	384	The callback will be called with the pid and exit status (as returned by
		385	waitpid), so unlike other watcher types, you I<can> rely on child watcher
		386	callback arguments.
259		387
		388	This watcher type works by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>,
		389	and since it cannot be shared, nothing else should use SIGCHLD or reap
		390	random child processes (waiting for specific child processes, e.g. inside
		391	C<system>, is just fine).
		392
		393	There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
		394	I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
		395	have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
		396
		397	Not all event models handle this correctly (neither POE nor IO::Async do,
		398	see their AnyEvent::Impl manpages for details), but even for event models
		399	that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be loaded before
		400	the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place). AnyEvent's
		401	pure perl event loop handles all cases correctly regardless of when you
		402	start the watcher.
		403
		404	This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first
		405	thing in an AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one
		406	watcher before you C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call
		407	C<AnyEvent::detect>).
		408
		409	Example: fork a process and wait for it
		410
		411	my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
		412
		413	my $pid = fork or exit 5;
		414
260	my $w = AnyEvent->child (	415	my $w = AnyEvent->child (
261	pid => 1333,	416	pid => $pid,
262	cb => sub {	417	cb => sub {
263	my ($pid, $status) = @_;	418	my ($pid, $status) = @_;
264	warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";	419	warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
		420	$done->send;
265	},	421	},
266	);	422	);
		423
		424	# do something else, then wait for process exit
		425	$done->recv;
		426
		427	=head2 IDLE WATCHERS
		428
		429	Sometimes there is a need to do something, but it is not so important
		430	to do it instantly, but only when there is nothing better to do. This
		431	"nothing better to do" is usually defined to be "no other events need
		432	attention by the event loop".
		433
		434	Idle watchers ideally get invoked when the event loop has nothing
		435	better to do, just before it would block the process to wait for new
		436	events. Instead of blocking, the idle watcher is invoked.
		437
		438	Most event loops unfortunately do not really support idle watchers (only
		439	EV, Event and Glib do it in a usable fashion) - for the rest, AnyEvent
		440	will simply call the callback "from time to time".
		441
		442	Example: read lines from STDIN, but only process them when the
		443	program is otherwise idle:
		444
		445	my @lines; # read data
		446	my $idle_w;
		447	my $io_w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
		448	push @lines, scalar <STDIN>;
		449
		450	# start an idle watcher, if not already done
		451	$idle_w ||= AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub {
		452	# handle only one line, when there are lines left
		453	if (my $line = shift @lines) {
		454	print "handled when idle: $line";
		455	} else {
		456	# otherwise disable the idle watcher again
		457	undef $idle_w;
		458	}
		459	});
		460	});
267		461
268	=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES	462	=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
269		463
		464	If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
		465	require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
		466	will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
		467
		468	AnyEvent is different, it expects somebody else to run the event loop and
		469	will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
		470
		471	The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
		472	because they represent a condition that must become true.
		473
270	Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >>	474	Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
271	method without any arguments.	475	>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
272		476
273	A condition variable waits for a condition - precisely that the C<<	477	C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
274	->broadcast >> method has been called.	478	becomes true, with the condition variable as the first argument (but not
		479	the results).
275		480
276	They are very useful to signal that a condition has been fulfilled, for	481	After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
		482	by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
		483	were a callback, read about the caveats in the description for the C<<
		484	->send >> method).
		485
		486	Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
		487	optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
		488	in time where multiple outstanding events have been processed. And yet
		489	another way to call them is transactions - each condition variable can be
		490	used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
		491	a result.
		492
		493	Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
277	example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,	494	for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
278	then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the	495	then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
279	availability of results.	496	availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
		497	called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
280		498
281	You can also use condition variables to block your main program until	499	You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
282	an event occurs - for example, you could C<< ->wait >> in your main	500	you can block your main program until an event occurs - for example, you
283	program until the user clicks the Quit button in your app, which would C<<	501	could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
284	->broadcast >> the "quit" event.	502	button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
285		503
286	Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have	504	Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
287	two pirces of code that call C<< ->wait >> in a round-robbin fashion, you	505	two pieces of code that call C<< ->recv >> in a round-robin fashion, you
288	lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but	506	lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
289	you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,	507	you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
290	as this asks for trouble.	508	as this asks for trouble.
291		509
292	This object has two methods:	510	Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
		511	used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
		512	easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
		513	AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
		514	it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
		515
		516	There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
		517	eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
		518	for the send to occur.
		519
		520	Example: wait for a timer.
		521
		522	# wait till the result is ready
		523	my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
		524
		525	# do something such as adding a timer
		526	# or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->send
		527	# when the "result" is ready.
		528	# in this case, we simply use a timer:
		529	my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
		530	after => 1,
		531	cb => sub { $result_ready->send },
		532	);
		533
		534	# this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
		535	# calls send
		536	$result_ready->recv;
		537
		538	Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that
		539	condition variables are also code references.
		540
		541	my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
		542	my $delay = AnyEvent->timer (after => 5, cb => $done);
		543	$done->recv;
		544
		545	Example: Imagine an API that returns a condvar and doesn't support
		546	callbacks. This is how you make a synchronous call, for example from
		547	the main program:
		548
		549	use AnyEvent::CouchDB;
		550
		551	...
		552
		553	my @info = $couchdb->info->recv;
		554
		555	And this is how you would just ste a callback to be called whenever the
		556	results are available:
		557
		558	$couchdb->info->cb (sub {
		559	my @info = $_[0]->recv;
		560	});
		561
		562	=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
		563
		564	These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
		565	code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
		566	the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
		567	uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
293		568
294	=over 4	569	=over 4
295		570
		571	=item $cv->send (...)
		572
		573	Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
		574	calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
		575	called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
		576
		577	If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
		578	immediately from within send.
		579
		580	Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
		581	future C<< ->recv >> calls.
		582
		583	Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly
		584	(as a code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling
		585	C<send>. Note, however, that many C-based event loops do not handle
		586	overloading, so as tempting as it may be, passing a condition variable
		587	instead of a callback does not work. Both the pure perl and EV loops
		588	support overloading, however, as well as all functions that use perl to
		589	invoke a callback (as in L<AnyEvent::Socket> and L<AnyEvent::DNS> for
		590	example).
		591
		592	=item $cv->croak ($error)
		593
		594	Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
		595	C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
		596
		597	This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
		598	user/consumer.
		599
		600	=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
		601
296	=item $cv->wait	602	=item $cv->end
297		603
298	Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been	604	These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
		605	one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
		606	to use a condition variable for the whole process.
		607
		608	Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
		609	C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
		610	>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed. That callback
		611	is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send >>, but that is not required. If no
		612	callback was set, C<send> will be called without any arguments.
		613
		614	You can think of C<< $cv->send >> giving you an OR condition (one call
		615	sends), while C<< $cv->begin >> and C<< $cv->end >> giving you an AND
		616	condition (all C<begin> calls must be C<end>'ed before the condvar sends).
		617
		618	Let's start with a simple example: you have two I/O watchers (for example,
		619	STDOUT and STDERR for a program), and you want to wait for both streams to
		620	close before activating a condvar:
		621
		622	my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
		623
		624	$cv->begin; # first watcher
		625	my $w1 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh1, cb => sub {
		626	defined sysread $fh1, my $buf, 4096
		627	or $cv->end;
		628	});
		629
		630	$cv->begin; # second watcher
		631	my $w2 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh2, cb => sub {
		632	defined sysread $fh2, my $buf, 4096
		633	or $cv->end;
		634	});
		635
		636	$cv->recv;
		637
		638	This works because for every event source (EOF on file handle), there is
		639	one call to C<begin>, so the condvar waits for all calls to C<end> before
		640	sending.
		641
		642	The ping example mentioned above is slightly more complicated, as the
		643	there are results to be passwd back, and the number of tasks that are
		644	begung can potentially be zero:
		645
		646	my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
		647
		648	my %result;
		649	$cv->begin (sub { $cv->send (\%result) });
		650
		651	for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
		652	$cv->begin;
		653	ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
		654	$result{$host} = ...;
		655	$cv->end;
		656	};
		657	}
		658
		659	$cv->end;
		660
		661	This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
		662	C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
		663	order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
		664	each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
		665	it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
		666	results arrive is not relevant.
		667
		668	There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
		669	loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
		670	to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
		671	C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
		672	doesn't execute once).
		673
		674	This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple (but
		675	potentially none) subrequests: use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set
		676	the callback and ensure C<end> is called at least once, and then, for each
		677	subrequest you start, call C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish,
		678	call C<end>.
		679
		680	=back
		681
		682	=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
		683
		684	These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
		685	code awaits the condition.
		686
		687	=over 4
		688
		689	=item $cv->recv
		690
		691	Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
299	called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally.	692	>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
		693	normally.
300		694
301	You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return	695	You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
302	immediately.	696	will return immediately.
		697
		698	If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
		699	function will call C<croak>.
		700
		701	In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
		702	in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
303		703
304	Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case	704	Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
305	(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are	705	(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
306	using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the	706	using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the
307	caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling	707	caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
308	condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting	708	condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
309	callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,	709	callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
310	while still suppporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).	710	while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
311		711
312	Another reason I<never> to C<< ->wait >> in a module is that you cannot	712	Another reason I<never> to C<< ->recv >> in a module is that you cannot
313	sensibly have two C<< ->wait >>'s in parallel, as that would require	713	sensibly have two C<< ->recv >>'s in parallel, as that would require
314	multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent>	714	multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent>
315	can supply (the coroutine-aware backends L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV> and	715	can supply.
316	L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent> explicitly support concurrent C<< ->wait >>'s
317	from different coroutines, however).
318		716
319	=item $cv->broadcast	717	The L<Coro> module, however, I<can> and I<does> supply coroutines and, in
		718	fact, L<Coro::AnyEvent> replaces AnyEvent's condvars by coroutine-safe
		719	versions and also integrates coroutines into AnyEvent, making blocking
		720	C<< ->recv >> calls perfectly safe as long as they are done from another
		721	coroutine (one that doesn't run the event loop).
320		722
321	Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further	723	You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
322	calls to C<wait> will (eventually) return after this method has been	724	only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
323	called. If nobody is waiting the broadcast will be remembered..	725	time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
		726	waits otherwise.
		727
		728	=item $bool = $cv->ready
		729
		730	Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
		731	C<croak> have been called.
		732
		733	=item $cb = $cv->cb ($cb->($cv))
		734
		735	This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
		736	replaces it before doing so.
		737
		738	The callback will be called when the condition becomes "true", i.e. when
		739	C<send> or C<croak> are called, with the only argument being the condition
		740	variable itself. Calling C<recv> inside the callback or at any later time
		741	is guaranteed not to block.
324		742
325	=back	743	=back
326
327	Example:
328
329	# wait till the result is ready
330	my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
331
332	# do something such as adding a timer
333	# or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast
334	# when the "result" is ready.
335	# in this case, we simply use a timer:
336	my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
337	after => 1,
338	cb => sub { $result_ready->broadcast },
339	);
340
341	# this "blocks" (while handling events) till the watcher
342	# calls broadcast
343	$result_ready->wait;
344		744
345	=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS	745	=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
346		746
347	=over 4	747	=over 4
348		748
…		…
354	C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case	754	C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case
355	AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>).	755	AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>).
356		756
357	The known classes so far are:	757	The known classes so far are:
358		758
359	AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV based on Coro::EV, best choice.
360	AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent based on Coro::Event, second best choice.
361	AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice).	759	AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice).
362	AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice.	760	AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice.
		761	AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
363	AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.	762	AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.
364	AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient but portable.
365	AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.	763	AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
366	AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).	764	AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).
367	AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.	765	AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
368	AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, not generic enough for full support.	766	AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, not generic enough for full support.
		767
		768	# warning, support for IO::Async is only partial, as it is too broken
		769	# and limited toe ven support the AnyEvent API. See AnyEvent::Impl::Async.
		770	AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync based on IO::Async, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).
369		771
370	There is no support for WxWidgets, as WxWidgets has no support for	772	There is no support for WxWidgets, as WxWidgets has no support for
371	watching file handles. However, you can use WxWidgets through the	773	watching file handles. However, you can use WxWidgets through the
372	POE Adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply polls 20 times per	774	POE Adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply polls 20 times per
373	second, which was considered to be too horrible to even consider for	775	second, which was considered to be too horrible to even consider for
…		…
382	Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model	784	Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
383	if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would	785	if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
384	have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at	786	have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
385	runtime.	787	runtime.
386		788
		789	=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
		790
		791	Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
		792	autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
		793
		794	If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
		795	that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed. See
		796	L<Coro::BDB> for a case where this is useful.
		797
		798	=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
		799
		800	If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
		801	before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
		802	the event loop has been chosen.
		803
		804	You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
		805	if it contains a true value then the event loop has already been detected,
		806	and the array will be ignored.
		807
		808	Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> instead.
		809
387	=back	810	=back
388		811
389	=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE	812	=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
390		813
391	As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods	814	As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods
…		…
394	Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will	817	Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
395	decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so	818	decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
396	by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module	819	by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
397	to load the event module first.	820	to load the event module first.
398		821
399	Never call C<< ->wait >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that	822	Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
400	the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been called on it already. This is	823	the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
401	because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using	824	because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
402	events is to stay interactive.	825	events is to stay interactive.
403		826
404	It is fine, however, to call C<< ->wait >> when the user of your module	827	It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
405	requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method	828	requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
406	called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->wait >>	829	called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
407	freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).	830	freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
408		831
409	=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM	832	=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
410		833
411	There will always be a single main program - the only place that should	834	There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
…		…
413		836
414	If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not	837	If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not
415	do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent	838	do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
416	decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.	839	decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
417		840
418	If the main program relies on a specific event model. For example, in	841	If the main program relies on a specific event model - for example, in
419	Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module. You should load the	842	Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module - you should load the
420	event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally	843	event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
421	speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that	844	speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
422	modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will	845	modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
423	decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it	846	decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
424	might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.	847	might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
425		848
426	You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by	849	You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
427	loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar	850	C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
428	behaviour everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose is generally better.	851	everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
		852
		853	=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
		854
		855	Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
		856	only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
		857
		858	In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
		859
		860	AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
		861
		862	This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
		863
		864	Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
		865	it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
		866	variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
		867	exit cleanly.
		868
		869
		870	=head1 OTHER MODULES
		871
		872	The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
		873	AnyEvent and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent modules
		874	in the same program. Some of the modules come with AnyEvent, some are
		875	available via CPAN.
		876
		877	=over 4
		878
		879	=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
		880
		881	Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
		882	functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
		883
		884	=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
		885
		886	Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
		887	addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
		888	connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
		889
		890	=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
		891
		892	Provide read and write buffers, manages watchers for reads and writes,
		893	supports raw and formatted I/O, I/O queued and fully transparent and
		894	non-blocking SSL/TLS.
		895
		896	=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
		897
		898	Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
		899
		900	=item L<AnyEvent::HTTP>
		901
		902	A simple-to-use HTTP library that is capable of making a lot of concurrent
		903	HTTP requests.
		904
		905	=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
		906
		907	Provides a simple web application server framework.
		908
		909	=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
		910
		911	The fastest ping in the west.
		912
		913	=item L<AnyEvent::DBI>
		914
		915	Executes L<DBI> requests asynchronously in a proxy process.
		916
		917	=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>
		918
		919	Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
		920	programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses L<IO::AIO> and AnyEvent
		921	together.
		922
		923	=item L<AnyEvent::BDB>
		924
		925	Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. AnyEvent::BDB transparently fuses
		926	L<BDB> and AnyEvent together.
		927
		928	=item L<AnyEvent::GPSD>
		929
		930	A non-blocking interface to gpsd, a daemon delivering GPS information.
		931
		932	=item L<AnyEvent::IGS>
		933
		934	A non-blocking interface to the Internet Go Server protocol (used by
		935	L<App::IGS>).
		936
		937	=item L<AnyEvent::IRC>
		938
		939	AnyEvent based IRC client module family (replacing the older Net::IRC3).
		940
		941	=item L<Net::XMPP2>
		942
		943	AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family.
		944
		945	=item L<Net::FCP>
		946
		947	AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
		948	of AnyEvent.
		949
		950	=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
		951
		952	High level API for event-based execution flow control.
		953
		954	=item L<Coro>
		955
		956	Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
		957
		958	=item L<IO::Lambda>
		959
		960	The lambda approach to I/O - don't ask, look there. Can use AnyEvent.
		961
		962	=back
429		963
430	=cut	964	=cut
431		965
432	package AnyEvent;	966	package AnyEvent;
433		967
434	no warnings;	968	no warnings;
435	use strict;	969	use strict qw(vars subs);
436		970
437	use Carp;	971	use Carp;
438		972
439	our $VERSION = '3.3';	973	our $VERSION = 4.8;
440	our $MODEL;	974	our $MODEL;
441		975
442	our $AUTOLOAD;	976	our $AUTOLOAD;
443	our @ISA;	977	our @ISA;
444		978
		979	our @REGISTRY;
		980
		981	our $WIN32;
		982
		983	BEGIN {
		984	eval "sub WIN32(){ " . (($^O =~ /mswin32/i)*1) ." }";
		985	eval "sub TAINT(){ " . (${^TAINT}*1) . " }";
		986
		987	delete @ENV{grep /^PERL_ANYEVENT_/, keys %ENV}
		988	if ${^TAINT};
		989	}
		990
445	our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;	991	our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
446		992
447	our @REGISTRY;	993	our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2), higher numbers are preferred
		994
		995	{
		996	my $idx;
		997	$PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
		998	for reverse split /\s*,\s*/,
		999	$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
		1000	}
448		1001
449	my @models = (	1002	my @models = (
450	[Coro::EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV::],
451	[Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent::],
452	[EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::],	1003	[EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::],
453	[Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::],	1004	[Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::],
454	[Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::],
455	[Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::],
456	[Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
457	[Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
458	[AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::],	1005	[AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::],
459	# everything below here will not be autoprobed as the pureperl backend should work everywhere	1006	# everything below here will not be autoprobed
		1007	# as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
		1008	# and is usually faster
		1009	[Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], # crashes with many handles
		1010	[Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], # becomes extremely slow with many watchers
460	[Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy	1011	[Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
461	[Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program	1012	[Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
462	[POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza	1013	[POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
		1014	[Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
		1015	[Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
		1016	# IO::Async is just too broken - we would need workaorunds for its
		1017	# byzantine signal and broken child handling, among others.
		1018	# IO::Async is rather hard to detect, as it doesn't have any
		1019	# obvious default class.
		1020	# [IO::Async:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
		1021	# [IO::Async::Loop:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
		1022	# [IO::Async::Notifier:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
463	);	1023	);
464		1024
465	our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer signal child condvar broadcast wait one_event DESTROY);	1025	our %method = map +($_ => 1),
		1026	qw(io timer time now now_update signal child idle condvar one_event DESTROY);
		1027
		1028	our @post_detect;
		1029
		1030	sub post_detect(&) {
		1031	my ($cb) = @_;
		1032
		1033	if ($MODEL) {
		1034	$cb->();
		1035
		1036	1
		1037	} else {
		1038	push @post_detect, $cb;
		1039
		1040	defined wantarray
		1041	? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::postdetect"
		1042	: ()
		1043	}
		1044	}
		1045
		1046	sub AnyEvent::Util::postdetect::DESTROY {
		1047	@post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
		1048	}
466		1049
467	sub detect() {	1050	sub detect() {
468	unless ($MODEL) {	1051	unless ($MODEL) {
469	no strict 'refs';	1052	no strict 'refs';
		1053	local $SIG{__DIE__};
470		1054
471	if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {	1055	if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
472	my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";	1056	my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
473	if (eval "require $model") {	1057	if (eval "require $model") {
474	$MODEL = $model;	1058	$MODEL = $model;
…		…
504	last;	1088	last;
505	}	1089	}
506	}	1090	}
507		1091
508	$MODEL	1092	$MODEL
509	or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV (or Coro+EV), Event (or Coro+Event) or Glib.";	1093	or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.\n";
510	}	1094	}
511	}	1095	}
512		1096
		1097	push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
		1098
513	unshift @ISA, $MODEL;	1099	unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
514	push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";	1100
		1101	require AnyEvent::Strict if $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT};
		1102
		1103	(shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
515	}	1104	}
516		1105
517	$MODEL	1106	$MODEL
518	}	1107	}
519		1108
…		…
527		1116
528	my $class = shift;	1117	my $class = shift;
529	$class->$func (@_);	1118	$class->$func (@_);
530	}	1119	}
531		1120
		1121	# utility function to dup a filehandle. this is used by many backends
		1122	# to support binding more than one watcher per filehandle (they usually
		1123	# allow only one watcher per fd, so we dup it to get a different one).
		1124	sub _dupfh($$;$$) {
		1125	my ($poll, $fh, $r, $w) = @_;
		1126
		1127	# cygwin requires the fh mode to be matching, unix doesn't
		1128	my ($rw, $mode) = $poll eq "r" ? ($r, "<") : ($w, ">");
		1129
		1130	open my $fh2, "$mode&", $fh
		1131	or die "AnyEvent->io: cannot dup() filehandle in mode '$poll': $!,";
		1132
		1133	# we assume CLOEXEC is already set by perl in all important cases
		1134
		1135	($fh2, $rw)
		1136	}
		1137
532	package AnyEvent::Base;	1138	package AnyEvent::Base;
533		1139
		1140	# default implementations for many methods
		1141
		1142	BEGIN {
		1143	if (eval "use Time::HiRes (); Time::HiRes::time (); 1") {
		1144	*_time = \&Time::HiRes::time;
		1145	# if (eval "use POSIX (); (POSIX::times())...
		1146	} else {
		1147	*_time = sub { time }; # epic fail
		1148	}
		1149	}
		1150
		1151	sub time { _time }
		1152	sub now { _time }
		1153	sub now_update { }
		1154
534	# default implementation for ->condvar, ->wait, ->broadcast	1155	# default implementation for ->condvar
535		1156
536	sub condvar {	1157	sub condvar {
537	bless \my $flag, "AnyEvent::Base::CondVar"	1158	bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, "AnyEvent::CondVar"
538	}
539
540	sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::broadcast {
541	${$_[0]}++;
542	}
543
544	sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::wait {
545	AnyEvent->one_event while !${$_[0]};
546	}	1159	}
547		1160
548	# default implementation for ->signal	1161	# default implementation for ->signal
549		1162
550	our %SIG_CB;	1163	our ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W, %SIG_CB, %SIG_EV, $SIG_IO);
		1164
		1165	sub _signal_exec {
		1166	sysread $SIGPIPE_R, my $dummy, 4;
		1167
		1168	while (%SIG_EV) {
		1169	for (keys %SIG_EV) {
		1170	delete $SIG_EV{$_};
		1171	$_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$_} || {} };
		1172	}
		1173	}
		1174	}
551		1175
552	sub signal {	1176	sub signal {
553	my (undef, %arg) = @_;	1177	my (undef, %arg) = @_;
554		1178
		1179	unless ($SIGPIPE_R) {
		1180	require Fcntl;
		1181
		1182	if (AnyEvent::WIN32) {
		1183	require AnyEvent::Util;
		1184
		1185	($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_pipe ();
		1186	AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_R) if $SIGPIPE_R;
		1187	AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_W) if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
		1188	} else {
		1189	pipe $SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W;
		1190	fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_R;
		1191	fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
		1192
		1193	# not strictly required, as $^F is normally 2, but let's make sure...
		1194	fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
		1195	fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
		1196	}
		1197
		1198	$SIGPIPE_R
		1199	or Carp::croak "AnyEvent: unable to create a signal reporting pipe: $!\n";
		1200
		1201	$SIG_IO = AnyEvent->io (fh => $SIGPIPE_R, poll => "r", cb => \&_signal_exec);
		1202	}
		1203
555	my $signal = uc $arg{signal}	1204	my $signal = uc $arg{signal}
556	or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing";	1205	or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing";
557		1206
558	$SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};	1207	$SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
559	$SIG{$signal} ||= sub {	1208	$SIG{$signal} ||= sub {
560	$_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} || {} };	1209	local $!;
		1210	syswrite $SIGPIPE_W, "\x00", 1 unless %SIG_EV;
		1211	undef $SIG_EV{$signal};
561	};	1212	};
562		1213
563	bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Signal"	1214	bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::signal"
564	}	1215	}
565		1216
566	sub AnyEvent::Base::Signal::DESTROY {	1217	sub AnyEvent::Base::signal::DESTROY {
567	my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};	1218	my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
568		1219
569	delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};	1220	delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
570		1221
		1222	# delete doesn't work with older perls - they then
		1223	# print weird messages, or just unconditionally exit
		1224	# instead of getting the default action.
571	$SIG{$signal} = 'DEFAULT' unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };	1225	undef $SIG{$signal} unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
572	}	1226	}
573		1227
574	# default implementation for ->child	1228	# default implementation for ->child
575		1229
576	our %PID_CB;	1230	our %PID_CB;
577	our $CHLD_W;	1231	our $CHLD_W;
578	our $CHLD_DELAY_W;	1232	our $CHLD_DELAY_W;
579	our $PID_IDLE;
580	our $WNOHANG;	1233	our $WNOHANG;
581		1234
582	sub _child_wait {	1235	sub _sigchld {
583	while (0 < (my $pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG)) {	1236	while (0 < (my $pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG)) {
584	$_->($pid, $?) for (values %{ $PID_CB{$pid} || {} }),	1237	$_->($pid, $?) for (values %{ $PID_CB{$pid} || {} }),
585	(values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} });	1238	(values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} });
586	}	1239	}
587
588	undef $PID_IDLE;
589	}
590
591	sub _sigchld {
592	# make sure we deliver these changes "synchronous" with the event loop.
593	$CHLD_DELAY_W ||= AnyEvent->timer (after => 0, cb => sub {
594	undef $CHLD_DELAY_W;
595	&_child_wait;
596	});
597	}	1240	}
598		1241
599	sub child {	1242	sub child {
600	my (undef, %arg) = @_;	1243	my (undef, %arg) = @_;
601		1244
602	defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0)	1245	defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0)
603	or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing";	1246	or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing";
604		1247
605	$PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};	1248	$PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
606		1249
607	unless ($WNOHANG) {
608	$WNOHANG = eval { require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;	1250	$WNOHANG ||= eval { local $SIG{__DIE__}; require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;
609	}
610		1251
611	unless ($CHLD_W) {	1252	unless ($CHLD_W) {
612	$CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld);	1253	$CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld);
613	# child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round	1254	# child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
614	&_sigchld;	1255	&_sigchld;
615	}	1256	}
616		1257
617	bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Child"	1258	bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::child"
618	}	1259	}
619		1260
620	sub AnyEvent::Base::Child::DESTROY {	1261	sub AnyEvent::Base::child::DESTROY {
621	my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]};	1262	my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
622		1263
623	delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb};	1264	delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb};
624	delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };	1265	delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
625		1266
626	undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;	1267	undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
627	}	1268	}
		1269
		1270	# idle emulation is done by simply using a timer, regardless
		1271	# of whether the process is idle or not, and not letting
		1272	# the callback use more than 50% of the time.
		1273	sub idle {
		1274	my (undef, %arg) = @_;
		1275
		1276	my ($cb, $w, $rcb) = $arg{cb};
		1277
		1278	$rcb = sub {
		1279	if ($cb) {
		1280	$w = _time;
		1281	&$cb;
		1282	$w = _time - $w;
		1283
		1284	# never use more then 50% of the time for the idle watcher,
		1285	# within some limits
		1286	$w = 0.0001 if $w < 0.0001;
		1287	$w = 5 if $w > 5;
		1288
		1289	$w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $w, cb => $rcb);
		1290	} else {
		1291	# clean up...
		1292	undef $w;
		1293	undef $rcb;
		1294	}
		1295	};
		1296
		1297	$w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.05, cb => $rcb);
		1298
		1299	bless \\$cb, "AnyEvent::Base::idle"
		1300	}
		1301
		1302	sub AnyEvent::Base::idle::DESTROY {
		1303	undef $${$_[0]};
		1304	}
		1305
		1306	package AnyEvent::CondVar;
		1307
		1308	our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
		1309
		1310	package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
		1311
		1312	use overload
		1313	'&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
		1314	fallback => 1;
		1315
		1316	sub _send {
		1317	# nop
		1318	}
		1319
		1320	sub send {
		1321	my $cv = shift;
		1322	$cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
		1323	(delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
		1324	$cv->_send;
		1325	}
		1326
		1327	sub croak {
		1328	$_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
		1329	$_[0]->send;
		1330	}
		1331
		1332	sub ready {
		1333	$_[0]{_ae_sent}
		1334	}
		1335
		1336	sub _wait {
		1337	AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
		1338	}
		1339
		1340	sub recv {
		1341	$_[0]->_wait;
		1342
		1343	Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
		1344	wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
		1345	}
		1346
		1347	sub cb {
		1348	$_[0]{_ae_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
		1349	$_[0]{_ae_cb}
		1350	}
		1351
		1352	sub begin {
		1353	++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
		1354	$_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
		1355	}
		1356
		1357	sub end {
		1358	return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
		1359	&{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
		1360	}
		1361
		1362	# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
		1363	*broadcast = \&send;
		1364	*wait = \&_wait;
		1365
		1366	=head1 ERROR AND EXCEPTION HANDLING
		1367
		1368	In general, AnyEvent does not do any error handling - it relies on the
		1369	caller to do that if required. The L<AnyEvent::Strict> module (see also
		1370	the C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT> environment variable, below) provides strict
		1371	checking of all AnyEvent methods, however, which is highly useful during
		1372	development.
		1373
		1374	As for exception handling (i.e. runtime errors and exceptions thrown while
		1375	executing a callback), this is not only highly event-loop specific, but
		1376	also not in any way wrapped by this module, as this is the job of the main
		1377	program.
		1378
		1379	The pure perl event loop simply re-throws the exception (usually
		1380	within C<< condvar->recv >>), the L<Event> and L<EV> modules call C<<
		1381	$Event/EV::DIED->() >>, L<Glib> uses C<< install_exception_handler >> and
		1382	so on.
		1383
		1384	=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
		1385
		1386	The following environment variables are used by this module or its
		1387	submodules.
		1388
		1389	Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
		1390	C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
		1391	enabled.
		1392
		1393	=over 4
		1394
		1395	=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
		1396
		1397	By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
		1398	conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
		1399	talkative.
		1400
		1401	When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
		1402	conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
		1403	C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
		1404
		1405	When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
		1406	model it chooses.
		1407
		1408	=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT>
		1409
		1410	AnyEvent does not do much argument checking by default, as thorough
		1411	argument checking is very costly. Setting this variable to a true value
		1412	will cause AnyEvent to load C<AnyEvent::Strict> and then to thoroughly
		1413	check the arguments passed to most method calls. If it finds any problems,
		1414	it will croak.
		1415
		1416	In other words, enables "strict" mode.
		1417
		1418	Unlike C<use strict>, it is definitely recommended to keep it off in
		1419	production. Keeping C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT=1> in your environment while
		1420	developing programs can be very useful, however.
		1421
		1422	=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
		1423
		1424	This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
		1425	auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
		1426	entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
		1427	and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
		1428	used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
		1429	auto detection and -probing.
		1430
		1431	This functionality might change in future versions.
		1432
		1433	For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
		1434	could start your program like this:
		1435
		1436	PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
		1437
		1438	=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
		1439
		1440	Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
		1441	for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
		1442	of auto probing).
		1443
		1444	Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
		1445	current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
		1446	used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
		1447	list.
		1448
		1449	This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
		1450	against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
		1451	small, as the program has to handle conenction and other failures anyways.
		1452
		1453	Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
		1454	but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
		1455	- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
		1456	addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
		1457	IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
		1458
		1459	=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
		1460
		1461	Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
		1462	for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
		1463	some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
		1464	default.
		1465
		1466	Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
		1467	EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
		1468
		1469	=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_FORKS>
		1470
		1471	The maximum number of child processes that C<AnyEvent::Util::fork_call>
		1472	will create in parallel.
		1473
		1474	=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_OUTSTANDING_DNS>
		1475
		1476	The default value for the C<max_outstanding> parameter for the default DNS
		1477	resolver - this is the maximum number of parallel DNS requests that are
		1478	sent to the DNS server.
		1479
		1480	=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_RESOLV_CONF>
		1481
		1482	The file to use instead of F</etc/resolv.conf> (or OS-specific
		1483	configuration) in the default resolver. When set to the empty string, no
		1484	default config will be used.
		1485
		1486	=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_FILE>, C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_PATH>.
		1487
		1488	When neither C<ca_file> nor C<ca_path> was specified during
		1489	L<AnyEvent::TLS> context creation, and either of these environment
		1490	variables exist, they will be used to specify CA certificate locations
		1491	instead of a system-dependent default.
		1492
		1493	=back
628		1494
629	=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE	1495	=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
630		1496
631	This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in	1497	This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
632	a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to	1498	a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
…		…
666		1532
667	I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to	1533	I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to
668	condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will	1534	condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will
669	C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must	1535	C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must
670	not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense.	1536	not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense.
671
672	=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
673
674	The following environment variables are used by this module:
675
676	=over 4
677
678	=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
679
680	By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
681	conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
682	talkative.
683
684	When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
685	conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
686	C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
687
688	When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
689	model it chooses.
690
691	=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
692
693	This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
694	autodetection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
695	entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
696	and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
697	used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
698	autodetection and -probing.
699
700	This functionality might change in future versions.
701
702	For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
703	could start your program like this:
704
705	PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
706
707	=back
708		1537
709	=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM	1538	=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
710		1539
711	The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer	1540	The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
712	to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the	1541	to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
…		…
721	poll => 'r',	1550	poll => 'r',
722	cb => sub {	1551	cb => sub {
723	warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>	1552	warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
724	chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line	1553	chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
725	warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read	1554	warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
726	$cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i	1555	$cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
727	},	1556	},
728	);	1557	);
729		1558
730	my $time_watcher; # can only be used once	1559	my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
731		1560
…		…
736	});	1565	});
737	}	1566	}
738		1567
739	new_timer; # create first timer	1568	new_timer; # create first timer
740		1569
741	$cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i	1570	$cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
742		1571
743	=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE	1572	=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
744		1573
745	Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following	1574	Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
746	API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:	1575	API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
…		…
796	syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}	1625	syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
797	or die "connection or write error";	1626	or die "connection or write error";
798	$txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });	1627	$txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
799		1628
800	Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the	1629	Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
801	result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished:	1630	result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
802		1631
803	sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};	1632	sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
804		1633
805	if (end-of-file or data complete) {	1634	if (end-of-file or data complete) {
806	$txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};	1635	$txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
807	$txn->{finished}->broadcast;	1636	$txn->{finished}->send;
808	$txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback	1637	$txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
809	}	1638	}
810		1639
811	The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the	1640	The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
812	request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the	1641	request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
813	data:	1642	data:
814		1643
815	$txn->{finished}->wait;	1644	$txn->{finished}->recv;
816	return $txn->{result};	1645	return $txn->{result};
817		1646
818	The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)	1647	The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
819	that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects	1648	that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
820	whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)	1649	whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
821	and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other	1650	and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
822	problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a	1651	problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
823	random callback.	1652	random callback.
824		1653
…		…
855		1684
856	my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;	1685	my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
857		1686
858	$fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {	1687	$fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
859	...	1688	...
860	$quit->broadcast;	1689	$quit->send;
861	});	1690	});
862		1691
863	$quit->wait;	1692	$quit->recv;
864		1693
865		1694
866	=head1 BENCHMARK	1695	=head1 BENCHMARKS
867		1696
868	To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds	1697	To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
869	over the event loops themselves (and to give you an impression of the	1698	over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
870	speed of various event loops), here is a benchmark of various supported	1699	of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
871	event models natively and with anyevent. The benchmark creates a lot of	1700
872	timers (with a zero timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to	1701	=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
		1702
		1703	Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
		1704	through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
		1705	timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
873	become writable, which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys	1706	which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
874	them again.
875		1707
876	Rewriting the benchmark to use many different sockets instead of using	1708	Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
877	the same filehandle for all I/O watchers results in a much longer runtime	1709	distribution.
878	(socket creation is expensive), but qualitatively the same figures, so it
879	was not used.
880		1710
881	=head2 Explanation of the columns	1711	=head3 Explanation of the columns
882		1712
883	I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since	1713	I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
884	different event models feature vastly different performances, each event	1714	different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
885	loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable	1715	loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
886	and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib	1716	and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
…		…
896	all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation	1726	all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
897	and memory usage is not included in the figures.	1727	and memory usage is not included in the figures.
898		1728
899	I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple	1729	I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
900	callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was	1730	callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
901	invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->broadcast >> a condvar once to	1731	invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
902	signal the end of this phase.	1732	signal the end of this phase.
903		1733
904	I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single	1734	I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
905	watcher.	1735	watcher.
906		1736
907	=head2 Results	1737	=head3 Results
908		1738
909	name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment	1739	name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
910	EV/EV 400000 244 0.56 0.46 0.31 EV native interface	1740	EV/EV 400000 224 0.47 0.35 0.27 EV native interface
911	EV/Any 100000 610 3.52 0.91 0.75 EV + AnyEvent watchers	1741	EV/Any 100000 224 2.88 0.34 0.27 EV + AnyEvent watchers
912	CoroEV/Any 100000 610 3.49 0.92 0.75 coroutines + Coro::Signal	1742	CoroEV/Any 100000 224 2.85 0.35 0.28 coroutines + Coro::Signal
913	Perl/Any 100000 513 4.91 0.92 1.15 pure perl implementation	1743	Perl/Any 100000 452 4.13 0.73 0.95 pure perl implementation
914	Event/Event 16000 523 28.05 21.38 0.86 Event native interface	1744	Event/Event 16000 517 32.20 31.80 0.81 Event native interface
915	Event/Any 16000 943 34.43 20.48 1.39 Event + AnyEvent watchers	1745	Event/Any 16000 590 35.85 31.55 1.06 Event + AnyEvent watchers
		1746	IOAsync/Any 16000 989 38.10 32.77 11.13 via IO::Async::Loop::IO_Poll
		1747	IOAsync/Any 16000 990 37.59 29.50 10.61 via IO::Async::Loop::Epoll
916	Glib/Any 16000 1357 96.99 12.55 55.51 quadratic behaviour	1748	Glib/Any 16000 1357 102.33 12.31 51.00 quadratic behaviour
917	Tk/Any 2000 1855 27.01 66.61 14.03 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers	1749	Tk/Any 2000 1860 27.20 66.31 14.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
918	POE/Event 2000 6644 108.15 768.19 14.33 via POE::Loop::Event	1750	POE/Event 2000 6328 109.99 751.67 14.02 via POE::Loop::Event
919	POE/Select 2000 6343 94.69 807.65 562.69 via POE::Loop::Select	1751	POE/Select 2000 6027 94.54 809.13 579.80 via POE::Loop::Select
920		1752
921	=head2 Discussion	1753	=head3 Discussion
922		1754
923	The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very	1755	The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
924	well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)	1756	well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
925	can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of	1757	can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
926	file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at	1758	file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
927	the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed	1759	the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
928	boost.	1760	boost.
929		1761
		1762	Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
		1763	overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
		1764	the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
		1765	higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
		1766
		1767	To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
		1768	benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
		1769	EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
		1770	cycles with POE.
		1771
930	C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both	1772	C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
931	maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, there are	1773	maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, it uses
932	only two event loops that use slightly less memory (the C<Event> module	1774	far less memory than any other event loop and is still faster than Event
933	natively and the pure perl backend), and no faster event models, not even	1775	natively.
934	C<Event> natively.
935		1776
936	The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the	1777	The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
937	zero timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl	1778	constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
938	interpreter and the backend itself, and all watchers become ready at the	1779	interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
939	same time). Nevertheless this shows that it adds very little overhead in	1780	adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
940	itself. Like any select-based backend its performance becomes really bad	1781	performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
941	with lots of file descriptors (and few of them active), of course, but	1782	them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
942	this was not subject of this benchmark.
943		1783
944	The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation cost,	1784	The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
945	but overall scores on the third place.	1785	cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
946		1786
		1787	C<IO::Async> performs admirably well, about on par with C<Event>, even
		1788	when using its pure perl backend.
		1789
947	C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit bit higher, but it features a	1790	C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
948	faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as	1791	faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
949	C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of	1792	C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
950	watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,	1793	watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
951	making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers	1794	making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
952	(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so	1795	(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
…		…
955	The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with	1798	The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
956	more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes	1799	more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
957	precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the	1800	precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
958	file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()	1801	file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
959	employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a	1802	employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
960	hidden memory cost inside the kernel, though, that is not reflected in the	1803	hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
961	figures above).	1804	above).
962		1805
963	C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (wether using its pure perl	1806	C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
964	select-based backend or the Event module) shows abysmal performance and	1807	select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
		1808	be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
965	memory usage: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory as EV watchers,	1809	memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
966	and 10 times as much memory as both Event or EV via AnyEvent. Watcher	1810	as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
		1811	requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
967	invocation is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl	1812	invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
		1813	implementation.
		1814
968	implementation. The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not	1815	The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
969	really account for this, as session creation overhead is small compared	1816	for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
970	to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty optimally within	1817	small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
971	L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>. POE simply seems to be abysmally slow.	1818	optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
		1819	using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
		1820	memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
		1821	design).
972		1822
973	=head2 Summary	1823	=head3 Summary
974		1824
		1825	=over 4
		1826
975	Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop, but most	1827	=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
976	event loops have acceptable performance with or without AnyEvent.	1828	(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
		1829	performance with or without AnyEvent.
977		1830
978	The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of	1831	=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
979	the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as the EV	1832	the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
980	adds AnyEvent significant overhead.	1833	adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
981		1834
982	And you should simply avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or	1835	=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
983	reasonable memory usage.	1836	reasonable memory usage.
984		1837
		1838	=back
		1839
		1840	=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
		1841
		1842	This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
		1843	creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
		1844	timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
		1845	watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
		1846	watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
		1847
		1848	The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
		1849	are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
		1850	fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
		1851	timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
		1852	most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
		1853
		1854	In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
		1855	(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
		1856	connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
		1857
		1858	Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
		1859	distribution.
		1860
		1861	=head3 Explanation of the columns
		1862
		1863	I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
		1864	each server has a read and write socket end).
		1865
		1866	I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
		1867	nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
		1868
		1869	I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
		1870	single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
		1871	it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
		1872	a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
		1873
		1874	=head3 Results
		1875
		1876	name sockets create request
		1877	EV 20000 69.01 11.16
		1878	Perl 20000 73.32 35.87
		1879	IOAsync 20000 157.00 98.14 epoll
		1880	IOAsync 20000 159.31 616.06 poll
		1881	Event 20000 212.62 257.32
		1882	Glib 20000 651.16 1896.30
		1883	POE 20000 349.67 12317.24 uses POE::Loop::Event
		1884
		1885	=head3 Discussion
		1886
		1887	This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
		1888	particular event loop.
		1889
		1890	EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
		1891	is relatively high, though.
		1892
		1893	Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
		1894	loops Event and Glib.
		1895
		1896	IO::Async performs very well when using its epoll backend, and still quite
		1897	good compared to Glib when using its pure perl backend.
		1898
		1899	Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
		1900	understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
		1901	the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
		1902	uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
		1903
		1904	Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
		1905	clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
		1906
		1907	POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
		1908	as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
		1909	it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
		1910
		1911	=head3 Summary
		1912
		1913	=over 4
		1914
		1915	=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
		1916
		1917	=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
		1918
		1919	=back
		1920
		1921	=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
		1922
		1923	While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
		1924	large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
		1925	I/O watchers.
		1926
		1927	In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
		1928	case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
		1929	one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
		1930	well.
		1931
		1932	The columns are identical to the previous table.
		1933
		1934	=head3 Results
		1935
		1936	name sockets create request
		1937	EV 16 20.00 6.54
		1938	Perl 16 25.75 12.62
		1939	Event 16 81.27 35.86
		1940	Glib 16 32.63 15.48
		1941	POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
		1942
		1943	=head3 Discussion
		1944
		1945	The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
		1946	server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
		1947	in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
		1948	to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
		1949	speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
		1950	them).
		1951
		1952	EV is again fastest.
		1953
		1954	Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
		1955	loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
		1956	matter.
		1957
		1958	POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
		1959	others.
		1960
		1961	=head3 Summary
		1962
		1963	=over 4
		1964
		1965	=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
		1966	watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
		1967
		1968	=back
		1969
		1970	=head2 THE IO::Lambda BENCHMARK
		1971
		1972	Recently I was told about the benchmark in the IO::Lambda manpage, which
		1973	could be misinterpreted to make AnyEvent look bad. In fact, the benchmark
		1974	simply compares IO::Lambda with POE, and IO::Lambda looks better (which
		1975	shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody). As such, the benchmark is
		1976	fine, and mostly shows that the AnyEvent backend from IO::Lambda isn't
		1977	very optimal. But how would AnyEvent compare when used without the extra
		1978	baggage? To explore this, I wrote the equivalent benchmark for AnyEvent.
		1979
		1980	The benchmark itself creates an echo-server, and then, for 500 times,
		1981	connects to the echo server, sends a line, waits for the reply, and then
		1982	creates the next connection. This is a rather bad benchmark, as it doesn't
		1983	test the efficiency of the framework or much non-blocking I/O, but it is a
		1984	benchmark nevertheless.
		1985
		1986	name runtime
		1987	Lambda/select 0.330 sec
		1988	+ optimized 0.122 sec
		1989	Lambda/AnyEvent 0.327 sec
		1990	+ optimized 0.138 sec
		1991	Raw sockets/select 0.077 sec
		1992	POE/select, components 0.662 sec
		1993	POE/select, raw sockets 0.226 sec
		1994	POE/select, optimized 0.404 sec
		1995
		1996	AnyEvent/select/nb 0.085 sec
		1997	AnyEvent/EV/nb 0.068 sec
		1998	+state machine 0.134 sec
		1999
		2000	The benchmark is also a bit unfair (my fault): the IO::Lambda/POE
		2001	benchmarks actually make blocking connects and use 100% blocking I/O,
		2002	defeating the purpose of an event-based solution. All of the newly
		2003	written AnyEvent benchmarks use 100% non-blocking connects (using
		2004	AnyEvent::Socket::tcp_connect and the asynchronous pure perl DNS
		2005	resolver), so AnyEvent is at a disadvantage here, as non-blocking connects
		2006	generally require a lot more bookkeeping and event handling than blocking
		2007	connects (which involve a single syscall only).
		2008
		2009	The last AnyEvent benchmark additionally uses L<AnyEvent::Handle>, which
		2010	offers similar expressive power as POE and IO::Lambda, using conventional
		2011	Perl syntax. This means that both the echo server and the client are 100%
		2012	non-blocking, further placing it at a disadvantage.
		2013
		2014	As you can see, the AnyEvent + EV combination even beats the
		2015	hand-optimised "raw sockets benchmark", while AnyEvent + its pure perl
		2016	backend easily beats IO::Lambda and POE.
		2017
		2018	And even the 100% non-blocking version written using the high-level (and
		2019	slow :) L<AnyEvent::Handle> abstraction beats both POE and IO::Lambda by a
		2020	large margin, even though it does all of DNS, tcp-connect and socket I/O
		2021	in a non-blocking way.
		2022
		2023	The two AnyEvent benchmarks programs can be found as F<eg/ae0.pl> and
		2024	F<eg/ae2.pl> in the AnyEvent distribution, the remaining benchmarks are
		2025	part of the IO::lambda distribution and were used without any changes.
		2026
		2027
		2028	=head1 SIGNALS
		2029
		2030	AnyEvent currently installs handlers for these signals:
		2031
		2032	=over 4
		2033
		2034	=item SIGCHLD
		2035
		2036	A handler for C<SIGCHLD> is installed by AnyEvent's child watcher
		2037	emulation for event loops that do not support them natively. Also, some
		2038	event loops install a similar handler.
		2039
		2040	If, when AnyEvent is loaded, SIGCHLD is set to IGNORE, then AnyEvent will
		2041	reset it to default, to avoid losing child exit statuses.
		2042
		2043	=item SIGPIPE
		2044
		2045	A no-op handler is installed for C<SIGPIPE> when C<$SIG{PIPE}> is C<undef>
		2046	when AnyEvent gets loaded.
		2047
		2048	The rationale for this is that AnyEvent users usually do not really depend
		2049	on SIGPIPE delivery (which is purely an optimisation for shell use, or
		2050	badly-written programs), but C<SIGPIPE> can cause spurious and rare
		2051	program exits as a lot of people do not expect C<SIGPIPE> when writing to
		2052	some random socket.
		2053
		2054	The rationale for installing a no-op handler as opposed to ignoring it is
		2055	that this way, the handler will be restored to defaults on exec.
		2056
		2057	Feel free to install your own handler, or reset it to defaults.
		2058
		2059	=back
		2060
		2061	=cut
		2062
		2063	undef $SIG{CHLD}
		2064	if $SIG{CHLD} eq 'IGNORE';
		2065
		2066	$SIG{PIPE} = sub { }
		2067	unless defined $SIG{PIPE};
985		2068
986	=head1 FORK	2069	=head1 FORK
987		2070
988	Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are	2071	Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
989	because they are so inefficient. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.	2072	because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
		2073	calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
990		2074
991	If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first	2075	If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
992	watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child.	2076	watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child.
993		2077
994		2078
…		…
1002	specified in the variable.	2086	specified in the variable.
1003		2087
1004	You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it	2088	You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
1005	before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:	2089	before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
1006		2090
1007	BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }	2091	BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
1008		2092
1009	use AnyEvent;	2093	use AnyEvent;
		2094
		2095	Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
		2096	be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
		2097	probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), and
		2098	$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT}.
		2099
		2100	Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
		2101	C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
		2102	enabled.
		2103
		2104
		2105	=head1 BUGS
		2106
		2107	Perl 5.8 has numerous memleaks that sometimes hit this module and are hard
		2108	to work around. If you suffer from memleaks, first upgrade to Perl 5.10
		2109	and check wether the leaks still show up. (Perl 5.10.0 has other annoying
		2110	memleaks, such as leaking on C<map> and C<grep> but it is usually not as
		2111	pronounced).
1010		2112
1011		2113
1012	=head1 SEE ALSO	2114	=head1 SEE ALSO
1013		2115
1014	Event modules: L<Coro::EV>, L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>,	2116	Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
1015	L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>, L<Coro>, L<Tk>,	2117
		2118	Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
1016	L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.	2119	L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
1017		2120
1018	Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>,	2121	Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
1019	L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>,	2122	L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
1020	L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>,	2123	L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
1021	L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>.	2124	L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>.
1022		2125
		2126	Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
		2127	servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>.
		2128
		2129	Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
		2130
		2131	Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>,
		2132
1023	Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>.	2133	Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>, L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
1024		2134
1025		2135
1026	=head1 AUTHOR	2136	=head1 AUTHOR
1027		2137
1028	Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>	2138	Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
1029	http://home.schmorp.de/	2139	http://home.schmorp.de/
1030		2140
1031	=cut	2141	=cut
1032		2142
1033	1	2143	1
1034		2144

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