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

Comparing AnyEvent/lib/AnyEvent.pm (file contents):
Revision 1.23 by root, Wed Mar 7 17:37:24 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.297 by root, Thu Nov 19 01:55:57 2009 UTC

1=head1 NAME 1=head1 NAME
2 2
3AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops 3AnyEvent - the DBI of event loop programming
4 4
5Event, Coro, Glib, Tk, Perl - various supported event loops 5EV, Event, Glib, Tk, Perl, Event::Lib, Irssi, rxvt-unicode, IO::Async, Qt
6and POE are various supported event loops/environments.
6 7
7=head1 SYNOPSIS 8=head1 SYNOPSIS
8 9
9 use AnyEvent; 10 use AnyEvent;
10 11
12 # file descriptor readable
11 my $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh, poll => "r|w", cb => sub { 13 my $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh, poll => "r", cb => sub { ... });
14
15 # one-shot or repeating timers
16 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub { ... });
17 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, interval => $seconds, cb => ...
18
19 print AnyEvent->now; # prints current event loop time
20 print AnyEvent->time; # think Time::HiRes::time or simply CORE::time.
21
22 # POSIX signal
23 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "TERM", cb => sub { ... });
24
25 # child process exit
26 my $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => $pid, cb => sub {
27 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
12 ... 28 ...
13 }); 29 });
14 30
15 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub { 31 # called when event loop idle (if applicable)
16 ... 32 my $w = AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub { ... });
17 });
18 33
19 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores wether a condition was flagged 34 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged
35 $w->send; # wake up current and all future recv's
20 $w->wait; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->broadcast 36 $w->recv; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->send
21 $w->broadcast; # wake up current and all future wait's 37 # use a condvar in callback mode:
38 $w->cb (sub { $_[0]->recv });
39
40=head1 INTRODUCTION/TUTORIAL
41
42This manpage is mainly a reference manual. If you are interested
43in a tutorial or some gentle introduction, have a look at the
44L<AnyEvent::Intro> manpage.
45
46=head1 SUPPORT
47
48There is a mailinglist for discussing all things AnyEvent, and an IRC
49channel, too.
50
51See the AnyEvent project page at the B<Schmorpforge Ta-Sa Software
52Repository>, at L<http://anyevent.schmorp.de>, for more info.
53
54=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT)
55
56Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen
57nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?
58
59Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of
60policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>.
61
62First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only
63interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use, in a
64pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike,
65the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general,
66only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent
67cannot change this, but it can hide the differences between those event
68loops.
69
70The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event
71programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a
72religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your
73module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event
74model you use.
75
76For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is
77actually doing all I/O I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is
78like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you
79cannot use anything else, as they are simply incompatible to everything
80that isn't them. What's worse, all the potential users of your
81module are I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use.
82
83AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works
84fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together
85with the rest: POE + IO::Async? No go. Tk + Event? No go. Again: if
86your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it,
87too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all
88event models it supports (including stuff like IO::Async, as long as those
89use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new event loops
90to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof).
91
92In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event
93model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar
94modules, you get an enormous amount of code and strict rules you have to
95follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only
96offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as
97technically possible.
98
99Of course, AnyEvent comes with a big (and fully optional!) toolbox
100of useful functionality, such as an asynchronous DNS resolver, 100%
101non-blocking connects (even with TLS/SSL, IPv6 and on broken platforms
102such as Windows) and lots of real-world knowledge and workarounds for
103platform bugs and differences.
104
105Now, if you I<do want> lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat
106useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event
107model, you should I<not> use this module.
22 108
23=head1 DESCRIPTION 109=head1 DESCRIPTION
24 110
25L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This 111L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This
26allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module 112allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module
27users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist 113users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist
28peacefully at any one time). 114peacefully at any one time).
29 115
30The interface itself is vaguely similar but not identical to the Event 116The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
31module. 117module.
32 118
33On the first call of any method, the module tries to detect the currently 119During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries
34loaded event loop by probing wether any of the following modules is 120to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the
35loaded: L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<Tk>. The first one found is 121following modules is already loaded: L<EV>,
36used. If none is found, the module tries to load these modules in the 122L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>,
37order given. The first one that could be successfully loaded will be 123L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries
38used. If still none could be found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl 124to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl
39event loop, which is also not very efficient. 125adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can
126be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be
127found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl event loop, which is not
128very efficient, but should work everywhere.
40 129
41Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading 130Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading
42an Event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make 131an event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make
43that model the default. For example: 132that model the default. For example:
44 133
45 use Tk; 134 use Tk;
46 use AnyEvent; 135 use AnyEvent;
47 136
48 # .. AnyEvent will likely default to Tk 137 # .. AnyEvent will likely default to Tk
49 138
139The I<likely> means that, if any module loads another event model and
140starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to
141use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly...
142
50The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called 143The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called
51C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it 144C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it
52explicitly. 145explicitly and enjoy the high availability of that event loop :)
53 146
54=head1 WATCHERS 147=head1 WATCHERS
55 148
56AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that 149AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that
57stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as 150stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as
58the callback to call, the filehandle to watch, etc. 151the callback to call, the file handle to watch, etc.
59 152
60These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After 153These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
61creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke 154creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the
155callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model
156is in control).
157
158Note that B<callbacks must not permanently change global variables>
159potentially in use by the event loop (such as C<$_> or C<$[>) and that B<<
160callbacks must not C<die> >>. The former is good programming practise in
161Perl and the latter stems from the fact that exception handling differs
162widely between event loops.
163
62the callback. To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by 164To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the
63setting the variable that stores it to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all 165variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references
64references to it). 166to it).
65 167
66All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class. 168All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class.
67 169
170Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for
171example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways.
172
173An any way to achieve that is this pattern:
174
175 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub {
176 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it
177 undef $w;
178 });
179
180Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,
181my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are
182declared.
183
68=head2 IO WATCHERS 184=head2 I/O WATCHERS
69 185
186 $w = AnyEvent->io (
187 fh => <filehandle_or_fileno>,
188 poll => <"r" or "w">,
189 cb => <callback>,
190 );
191
70You can create I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method with 192You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
71the following mandatory arguments: 193with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
72 194
73C<fh> the Perl I<filehandle> (not filedescriptor) to watch for 195C<fh> is the Perl I<file handle> (or a naked file descriptor) to watch
196for events (AnyEvent might or might not keep a reference to this file
197handle). Note that only file handles pointing to things for which
198non-blocking operation makes sense are allowed. This includes sockets,
199most character devices, pipes, fifos and so on, but not for example files
200or block devices.
201
74events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, that creates 202C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, which creates a
75a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events. C<cb> teh callback 203watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events, respectively.
76to invoke everytime the filehandle becomes ready.
77 204
78Only one io watcher per C<fh> and C<poll> combination is allowed (i.e. on 205C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle becomes ready.
79a socket you can have one r + one w, not any more (limitation comes from
80Tk - if you are sure you are not using Tk this limitation is gone).
81 206
82Filehandles will be kept alive, so as long as the watcher exists, the 207Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
83filehandle exists, too. 208presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
209callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
84 210
85Example: 211The I/O watcher might use the underlying file descriptor or a copy of it.
212You must not close a file handle as long as any watcher is active on the
213underlying file descriptor.
86 214
215Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should
216always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file
217handles.
218
87 # wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the watcher 219Example: wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the
220watcher.
221
88 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 222 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
89 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); 223 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>);
90 warn "read: $input\n"; 224 warn "read: $input\n";
91 undef $w; 225 undef $w;
92 }); 226 });
93 227
94=head2 TIME WATCHERS 228=head2 TIME WATCHERS
95 229
230 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => <seconds>, cb => <callback>);
231
232 $w = AnyEvent->timer (
233 after => <fractional_seconds>,
234 interval => <fractional_seconds>,
235 cb => <callback>,
236 );
237
96You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >> 238You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>
97method with the following mandatory arguments: 239method with the following mandatory arguments:
98 240
99C<after> after how many seconds (fractions are supported) should the timer 241C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are
100activate. C<cb> the callback to invoke. 242supported) the callback should be invoked. C<cb> is the callback to invoke
243in that case.
101 244
102The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating 245Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
103timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk 246presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
104and Glib). 247callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks.
105 248
106Example: 249The callback will normally be invoked once only. If you specify another
250parameter, C<interval>, as a strictly positive number (> 0), then the
251callback will be invoked regularly at that interval (in fractional
252seconds) after the first invocation. If C<interval> is specified with a
253false value, then it is treated as if it were missing.
107 254
255The callback will be rescheduled before invoking the callback, but no
256attempt is done to avoid timer drift in most backends, so the interval is
257only approximate.
258
108 # fire an event after 7.7 seconds 259Example: fire an event after 7.7 seconds.
260
109 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub { 261 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub {
110 warn "timeout\n"; 262 warn "timeout\n";
111 }); 263 });
112 264
113 # to cancel the timer: 265 # to cancel the timer:
114 undef $w 266 undef $w;
115 267
116=head2 CONDITION WATCHERS 268Example 2: fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second.
117 269
118Condition watchers can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >> 270 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, interval => 1, cb => sub {
119method without any arguments. 271 warn "timeout\n";
272 };
120 273
121A condition watcher watches for a condition - precisely that the C<< 274=head3 TIMING ISSUES
122->broadcast >> method has been called.
123 275
124The watcher has only two methods: 276There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire
277in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12
278o'clock").
279
280While most event loops expect timers to specified in a relative way, they
281use absolute time internally. This makes a difference when your clock
282"jumps", for example, when ntp decides to set your clock backwards from
283the wrong date of 2014-01-01 to 2008-01-01, a watcher that is supposed to
284fire "after" a second might actually take six years to finally fire.
285
286AnyEvent cannot compensate for this. The only event loop that is conscious
287about these issues is L<EV>, which offers both relative (ev_timer, based
288on true relative time) and absolute (ev_periodic, based on wallclock time)
289timers.
290
291AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the
292AnyEvent API.
293
294AnyEvent has two additional methods that return the "current time":
125 295
126=over 4 296=over 4
127 297
128=item $cv->wait 298=item AnyEvent->time
129 299
130Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been 300This returns the "current wallclock time" as a fractional number of
131called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally. 301seconds since the Epoch (the same thing as C<time> or C<Time::HiRes::time>
302return, and the result is guaranteed to be compatible with those).
132 303
133Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case, so 304It progresses independently of any event loop processing, i.e. each call
134if you are using this from a module, never require a blocking wait, but 305will check the system clock, which usually gets updated frequently.
135let the caller decide wether the call will block or not (for example,
136by coupling condition variables with some kind of request results and
137supporting callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not
138block, while still suppporting blockign waits if the caller so desires).
139 306
140You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return 307=item AnyEvent->now
141immediately.
142 308
143=item $cv->broadcast 309This also returns the "current wallclock time", but unlike C<time>, above,
310this value might change only once per event loop iteration, depending on
311the event loop (most return the same time as C<time>, above). This is the
312time that AnyEvent's timers get scheduled against.
144 313
145Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further 314I<In almost all cases (in all cases if you don't care), this is the
146calls to C<wait> will return after this method has been called. If nobody 315function to call when you want to know the current time.>
147is waiting the broadcast will be remembered..
148 316
149Example: 317This function is also often faster then C<< AnyEvent->time >>, and
318thus the preferred method if you want some timestamp (for example,
319L<AnyEvent::Handle> uses this to update it's activity timeouts).
320
321The rest of this section is only of relevance if you try to be very exact
322with your timing, you can skip it without bad conscience.
323
324For a practical example of when these times differ, consider L<Event::Lib>
325and L<EV> and the following set-up:
326
327The event loop is running and has just invoked one of your callback at
328time=500 (assume no other callbacks delay processing). In your callback,
329you wait a second by executing C<sleep 1> (blocking the process for a
330second) and then (at time=501) you create a relative timer that fires
331after three seconds.
332
333With L<Event::Lib>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> will
334both return C<501>, because that is the current time, and the timer will
335be scheduled to fire at time=504 (C<501> + C<3>).
336
337With L<EV>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> returns C<501> (as that is the current
338time), but C<< AnyEvent->now >> returns C<500>, as that is the time the
339last event processing phase started. With L<EV>, your timer gets scheduled
340to run at time=503 (C<500> + C<3>).
341
342In one sense, L<Event::Lib> is more exact, as it uses the current time
343regardless of any delays introduced by event processing. However, most
344callbacks do not expect large delays in processing, so this causes a
345higher drift (and a lot more system calls to get the current time).
346
347In another sense, L<EV> is more exact, as your timer will be scheduled at
348the same time, regardless of how long event processing actually took.
349
350In either case, if you care (and in most cases, you don't), then you
351can get whatever behaviour you want with any event loop, by taking the
352difference between C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> into
353account.
354
355=item AnyEvent->now_update
356
357Some event loops (such as L<EV> or L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) cache
358the current time for each loop iteration (see the discussion of L<<
359AnyEvent->now >>, above).
360
361When a callback runs for a long time (or when the process sleeps), then
362this "current" time will differ substantially from the real time, which
363might affect timers and time-outs.
364
365When this is the case, you can call this method, which will update the
366event loop's idea of "current time".
367
368A typical example would be a script in a web server (e.g. C<mod_perl>) -
369when mod_perl executes the script, then the event loop will have the wrong
370idea about the "current time" (being potentially far in the past, when the
371script ran the last time). In that case you should arrange a call to C<<
372AnyEvent->now_update >> each time the web server process wakes up again
373(e.g. at the start of your script, or in a handler).
374
375Note that updating the time I<might> cause some events to be handled.
376
377=back
378
379=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
380
381 $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => <uppercase_signal_name>, cb => <callback>);
382
383You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
384I<name> in uppercase and without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl
385callback to be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
386
387Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
388presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
389callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
390
391Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
392invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
393that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
394but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
395
396The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
397between multiple watchers, and AnyEvent will ensure that signals will not
398interrupt your program at bad times.
399
400This watcher might use C<%SIG> (depending on the event loop used),
401so programs overwriting those signals directly will likely not work
402correctly.
403
404Example: exit on SIGINT
405
406 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
407
408=head3 Signal Races, Delays and Workarounds
409
410Many event loops (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt, IO::Async) do not support attaching
411callbacks to signals in a generic way, which is a pity, as you cannot
412do race-free signal handling in perl, requiring C libraries for
413this. AnyEvent will try to do it's best, which means in some cases,
414signals will be delayed. The maximum time a signal might be delayed is
415specified in C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY> (default: 10 seconds). This
416variable can be changed only before the first signal watcher is created,
417and should be left alone otherwise. This variable determines how often
418AnyEvent polls for signals (in case a wake-up was missed). Higher values
419will cause fewer spurious wake-ups, which is better for power and CPU
420saving.
421
422All these problems can be avoided by installing the optional
423L<Async::Interrupt> module, which works with most event loops. It will not
424work with inherently broken event loops such as L<Event> or L<Event::Lib>
425(and not with L<POE> currently, as POE does it's own workaround with
426one-second latency). For those, you just have to suffer the delays.
427
428=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
429
430 $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => <process id>, cb => <callback>);
431
432You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status.
433
434The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (one some backends,
435using C<0> watches for any child process exit, on others this will
436croak). The watcher will be triggered only when the child process has
437finished and an exit status is available, not on any trace events
438(stopped/continued).
439
440The callback will be called with the pid and exit status (as returned by
441waitpid), so unlike other watcher types, you I<can> rely on child watcher
442callback arguments.
443
444This watcher type works by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>,
445and since it cannot be shared, nothing else should use SIGCHLD or reap
446random child processes (waiting for specific child processes, e.g. inside
447C<system>, is just fine).
448
449There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
450I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
451have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
452
453Not all event models handle this correctly (neither POE nor IO::Async do,
454see their AnyEvent::Impl manpages for details), but even for event models
455that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be loaded before
456the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place). AnyEvent's
457pure perl event loop handles all cases correctly regardless of when you
458start the watcher.
459
460This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first
461thing in an AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one
462watcher before you C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call
463C<AnyEvent::detect>).
464
465As most event loops do not support waiting for child events, they will be
466emulated by AnyEvent in most cases, in which the latency and race problems
467mentioned in the description of signal watchers apply.
468
469Example: fork a process and wait for it
470
471 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
472
473 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
474
475 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
476 pid => $pid,
477 cb => sub {
478 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
479 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
480 $done->send;
481 },
482 );
483
484 # do something else, then wait for process exit
485 $done->recv;
486
487=head2 IDLE WATCHERS
488
489 $w = AnyEvent->idle (cb => <callback>);
490
491Sometimes there is a need to do something, but it is not so important
492to do it instantly, but only when there is nothing better to do. This
493"nothing better to do" is usually defined to be "no other events need
494attention by the event loop".
495
496Idle watchers ideally get invoked when the event loop has nothing
497better to do, just before it would block the process to wait for new
498events. Instead of blocking, the idle watcher is invoked.
499
500Most event loops unfortunately do not really support idle watchers (only
501EV, Event and Glib do it in a usable fashion) - for the rest, AnyEvent
502will simply call the callback "from time to time".
503
504Example: read lines from STDIN, but only process them when the
505program is otherwise idle:
506
507 my @lines; # read data
508 my $idle_w;
509 my $io_w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
510 push @lines, scalar <STDIN>;
511
512 # start an idle watcher, if not already done
513 $idle_w ||= AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub {
514 # handle only one line, when there are lines left
515 if (my $line = shift @lines) {
516 print "handled when idle: $line";
517 } else {
518 # otherwise disable the idle watcher again
519 undef $idle_w;
520 }
521 });
522 });
523
524=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
525
526 $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
527
528 $cv->send (<list>);
529 my @res = $cv->recv;
530
531If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
532require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
533will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
534
535AnyEvent is slightly different: it expects somebody else to run the event
536loop and will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
537
538The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
539because they represent a condition that must become true.
540
541Now is probably a good time to look at the examples further below.
542
543Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
544>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
545C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
546becomes true, with the condition variable as the first argument (but not
547the results).
548
549After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
550by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
551were a callback, read about the caveats in the description for the C<<
552->send >> method).
553
554Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
555optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
556in time where multiple outstanding events have been processed. And yet
557another way to call them is transactions - each condition variable can be
558used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
559a result. And yet some people know them as "futures" - a promise to
560compute/deliver something that you can wait for.
561
562Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
563for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
564then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
565availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
566called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
567
568You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
569you can block your main program until an event occurs - for example, you
570could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
571button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
572
573Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
574two pieces of code that call C<< ->recv >> in a round-robin fashion, you
575lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
576you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
577as this asks for trouble.
578
579Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
580used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
581easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
582AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
583it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
584
585There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
586eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
587for the send to occur.
588
589Example: wait for a timer.
150 590
151 # wait till the result is ready 591 # wait till the result is ready
152 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar; 592 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
153 593
154 # do something such as adding a timer 594 # do something such as adding a timer
155 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast 595 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->send
156 # when the "result" is ready. 596 # when the "result" is ready.
597 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
598 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
599 after => 1,
600 cb => sub { $result_ready->send },
601 );
157 602
603 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
604 # calls ->send
158 $result_ready->wait; 605 $result_ready->recv;
606
607Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that condition
608variables are also callable directly.
609
610 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
611 my $delay = AnyEvent->timer (after => 5, cb => $done);
612 $done->recv;
613
614Example: Imagine an API that returns a condvar and doesn't support
615callbacks. This is how you make a synchronous call, for example from
616the main program:
617
618 use AnyEvent::CouchDB;
619
620 ...
621
622 my @info = $couchdb->info->recv;
623
624And this is how you would just set a callback to be called whenever the
625results are available:
626
627 $couchdb->info->cb (sub {
628 my @info = $_[0]->recv;
629 });
630
631=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
632
633These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
634code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
635the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
636uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
637
638=over 4
639
640=item $cv->send (...)
641
642Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
643calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
644called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
645
646If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
647immediately from within send.
648
649Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
650future C<< ->recv >> calls.
651
652Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly (as if
653they were a code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling
654C<send>.
655
656=item $cv->croak ($error)
657
658Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
659C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
660
661This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
662user/consumer. Doing it this way instead of calling C<croak> directly
663delays the error detetcion, but has the overwhelmign advantage that it
664diagnoses the error at the place where the result is expected, and not
665deep in some event clalback without connection to the actual code causing
666the problem.
667
668=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
669
670=item $cv->end
671
672These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
673one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
674to use a condition variable for the whole process.
675
676Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
677C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
678>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed, passing the
679condvar as first argument. That callback is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send
680>>, but that is not required. If no group callback was set, C<send> will
681be called without any arguments.
682
683You can think of C<< $cv->send >> giving you an OR condition (one call
684sends), while C<< $cv->begin >> and C<< $cv->end >> giving you an AND
685condition (all C<begin> calls must be C<end>'ed before the condvar sends).
686
687Let's start with a simple example: you have two I/O watchers (for example,
688STDOUT and STDERR for a program), and you want to wait for both streams to
689close before activating a condvar:
690
691 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
692
693 $cv->begin; # first watcher
694 my $w1 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh1, cb => sub {
695 defined sysread $fh1, my $buf, 4096
696 or $cv->end;
697 });
698
699 $cv->begin; # second watcher
700 my $w2 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh2, cb => sub {
701 defined sysread $fh2, my $buf, 4096
702 or $cv->end;
703 });
704
705 $cv->recv;
706
707This works because for every event source (EOF on file handle), there is
708one call to C<begin>, so the condvar waits for all calls to C<end> before
709sending.
710
711The ping example mentioned above is slightly more complicated, as the
712there are results to be passwd back, and the number of tasks that are
713begung can potentially be zero:
714
715 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
716
717 my %result;
718 $cv->begin (sub { shift->send (\%result) });
719
720 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
721 $cv->begin;
722 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
723 $result{$host} = ...;
724 $cv->end;
725 };
726 }
727
728 $cv->end;
729
730This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
731C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
732order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
733each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
734it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
735results arrive is not relevant.
736
737There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
738loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
739to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
740C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
741doesn't execute once).
742
743This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple (but
744potentially none) subrequests: use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set
745the callback and ensure C<end> is called at least once, and then, for each
746subrequest you start, call C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish,
747call C<end>.
159 748
160=back 749=back
161 750
162=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS 751=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
163 752
164You can listen for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal 753These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
165I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix. Multiple signals events can be clumped 754code awaits the condition.
166together into one callback invocation, and callback invocation might or
167might not be asynchronous.
168
169These watchers might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals
170directly will likely not work correctly.
171
172Example: exit on SIGINT
173
174 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
175
176=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
177
178You can also listen for the status of a child process specified by the
179C<pid> argument. The watcher will only trigger once. This works by
180installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>.
181
182Example: wait for pid 1333
183
184 my $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => 1333, cb => sub { warn "exit status $?" });
185
186=head1 GLOBALS
187 755
188=over 4 756=over 4
189 757
758=item $cv->recv
759
760Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
761>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
762normally.
763
764You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
765will return immediately.
766
767If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
768function will call C<croak>.
769
770In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
771in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
772
773Note that doing a blocking wait in a callback is not supported by any
774event loop, that is, recursive invocation of a blocking C<< ->recv
775>> is not allowed, and the C<recv> call will C<croak> if such a
776condition is detected. This condition can be slightly loosened by using
777L<Coro::AnyEvent>, which allows you to do a blocking C<< ->recv >> from
778any thread that doesn't run the event loop itself.
779
780Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
781(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
782using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>. Instead, let the
783caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
784condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
785callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
786while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
787
788You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
789only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
790time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
791waits otherwise.
792
793=item $bool = $cv->ready
794
795Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
796C<croak> have been called.
797
798=item $cb = $cv->cb ($cb->($cv))
799
800This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
801replaces it before doing so.
802
803The callback will be called when the condition becomes (or already was)
804"true", i.e. when C<send> or C<croak> are called (or were called), with
805the only argument being the condition variable itself. Calling C<recv>
806inside the callback or at any later time is guaranteed not to block.
807
808=back
809
810=head1 SUPPORTED EVENT LOOPS/BACKENDS
811
812The available backend classes are (every class has its own manpage):
813
814=over 4
815
816=item Backends that are autoprobed when no other event loop can be found.
817
818EV is the preferred backend when no other event loop seems to be in
819use. If EV is not installed, then AnyEvent will fall back to its own
820pure-perl implementation, which is available everywhere as it comes with
821AnyEvent itself.
822
823 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (interface to libev, best choice).
824 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
825
826=item Backends that are transparently being picked up when they are used.
827
828These will be used when they are currently loaded when the first watcher
829is created, in which case it is assumed that the application is using
830them. This means that AnyEvent will automatically pick the right backend
831when the main program loads an event module before anything starts to
832create watchers. Nothing special needs to be done by the main program.
833
834 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, very stable, few glitches.
835 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, slow but very stable.
836 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very broken.
837 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
838 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, very slow, some limitations.
839 AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi used when running within irssi.
840
841=item Backends with special needs.
842
843Qt requires the Qt::Application to be instantiated first, but will
844otherwise be picked up automatically. As long as the main program
845instantiates the application before any AnyEvent watchers are created,
846everything should just work.
847
848 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt.
849
850Support for IO::Async can only be partial, as it is too broken and
851architecturally limited to even support the AnyEvent API. It also
852is the only event loop that needs the loop to be set explicitly, so
853it can only be used by a main program knowing about AnyEvent. See
854L<AnyEvent::Impl::Async> for the gory details.
855
856 AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync based on IO::Async, cannot be autoprobed.
857
858=item Event loops that are indirectly supported via other backends.
859
860Some event loops can be supported via other modules:
861
862There is no direct support for WxWidgets (L<Wx>) or L<Prima>.
863
864B<WxWidgets> has no support for watching file handles. However, you can
865use WxWidgets through the POE adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply
866polls 20 times per second, which was considered to be too horrible to even
867consider for AnyEvent.
868
869B<Prima> is not supported as nobody seems to be using it, but it has a POE
870backend, so it can be supported through POE.
871
872AnyEvent knows about both L<Prima> and L<Wx>, however, and will try to
873load L<POE> when detecting them, in the hope that POE will pick them up,
874in which case everything will be automatic.
875
876=back
877
878=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
879
880These are not normally required to use AnyEvent, but can be useful to
881write AnyEvent extension modules.
882
883=over 4
884
190=item $AnyEvent::MODEL 885=item $AnyEvent::MODEL
191 886
192Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created. Then it 887Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created, before the
888backend has been autodetected.
889
193contains the event model that is being used, which is the name of the 890Afterwards it contains the event model that is being used, which is the
194Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one of the 891name of the Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one
195C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case 892of the C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the
196AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>). 893case AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode> it
197 894will be C<urxvt::anyevent>).
198The known classes so far are:
199
200 AnyEvent::Impl::Coro based on Coro::Event, best choise.
201 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, also best choice :)
202 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, second-best choice.
203 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
204 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient.
205 895
206=item AnyEvent::detect 896=item AnyEvent::detect
207 897
208Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model if 898Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
209necessary. You should only call this function right before you would have 899if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
210created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, very late at runtime. 900have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
901runtime, and not e.g. while initialising of your module.
902
903If you need to do some initialisation before AnyEvent watchers are
904created, use C<post_detect>.
905
906=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
907
908Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
909autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
910
911The block will be executed I<after> the actual backend has been detected
912(C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> is set), but I<before> any watchers have been
913created, so it is possible to e.g. patch C<@AnyEvent::ISA> or do
914other initialisations - see the sources of L<AnyEvent::Strict> or
915L<AnyEvent::AIO> to see how this is used.
916
917The most common usage is to create some global watchers, without forcing
918event module detection too early, for example, L<AnyEvent::AIO> creates
919and installs the global L<IO::AIO> watcher in a C<post_detect> block to
920avoid autodetecting the event module at load time.
921
922If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
923that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed (or
924C<undef> when the hook was immediately executed). See L<AnyEvent::AIO> for
925a case where this is useful.
926
927Example: Create a watcher for the IO::AIO module and store it in
928C<$WATCHER>. Only do so after the event loop is initialised, though.
929
930 our WATCHER;
931
932 my $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect {
933 $WATCHER = AnyEvent->io (fh => IO::AIO::poll_fileno, poll => 'r', cb => \&IO::AIO::poll_cb);
934 };
935
936 # the ||= is important in case post_detect immediately runs the block,
937 # as to not clobber the newly-created watcher. assigning both watcher and
938 # post_detect guard to the same variable has the advantage of users being
939 # able to just C<undef $WATCHER> if the watcher causes them grief.
940
941 $WATCHER ||= $guard;
942
943=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
944
945If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
946before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
947the event loop has been chosen.
948
949You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
950if it is defined then the event loop has already been detected, and the
951array will be ignored.
952
953Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> when your application allows
954it,as it takes care of these details.
955
956This variable is mainly useful for modules that can do something useful
957when AnyEvent is used and thus want to know when it is initialised, but do
958not need to even load it by default. This array provides the means to hook
959into AnyEvent passively, without loading it.
211 960
212=back 961=back
213 962
214=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE 963=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
215 964
216As a module author, you should "use AnyEvent" and call AnyEvent methods 965As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods
217freely, but you should not load a specific event module or rely on it. 966freely, but you should not load a specific event module or rely on it.
218 967
219Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - Anyevent will 968Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
220decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so 969decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
221by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module 970by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
222to load the event module first. 971to load the event module first.
223 972
973Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
974the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
975because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
976events is to stay interactive.
977
978It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
979requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
980called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
981freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
982
224=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM 983=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
225 984
226There will always be a single main program - the only place that should 985There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
227dictate which event model to use. 986dictate which event model to use.
228 987
229If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not 988If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not
230do anything special and let AnyEvent decide which implementation to chose. 989do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
990decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
231 991
232If the main program relies on a specific event model (for example, in Gtk2 992If the main program relies on a specific event model - for example, in
233programs you have to rely on either Glib or Glib::Event), you should load 993Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module - you should load the
234it before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it, generally, as early 994event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
235as possible. The reason is that modules might create watchers when they 995speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
236are loaded, and AnyEvent will decide on the event model to use as soon as 996modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
237it creates watchers, and it might chose the wrong one unless you load the 997decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
238correct one yourself. 998might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
239 999
240You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by 1000You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
241loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, but letting AnyEvent chose is 1001C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
242generally better. 1002everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
1003
1004=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
1005
1006Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
1007only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
1008
1009In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
1010
1011 AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
1012
1013This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
1014
1015Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
1016it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
1017variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
1018exit cleanly.
1019
1020
1021=head1 OTHER MODULES
1022
1023The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
1024AnyEvent as a client and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent
1025modules and other event loops in the same program. Some of the modules
1026come with AnyEvent, most are available via CPAN.
1027
1028=over 4
1029
1030=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
1031
1032Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
1033functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
1034
1035=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
1036
1037Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
1038addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
1039connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
1040
1041=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
1042
1043Provide read and write buffers, manages watchers for reads and writes,
1044supports raw and formatted I/O, I/O queued and fully transparent and
1045non-blocking SSL/TLS (via L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
1046
1047=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
1048
1049Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
1050
1051=item L<AnyEvent::HTTP>
1052
1053A simple-to-use HTTP library that is capable of making a lot of concurrent
1054HTTP requests.
1055
1056=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
1057
1058Provides a simple web application server framework.
1059
1060=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
1061
1062The fastest ping in the west.
1063
1064=item L<AnyEvent::DBI>
1065
1066Executes L<DBI> requests asynchronously in a proxy process.
1067
1068=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>
1069
1070Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
1071programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses L<IO::AIO> and AnyEvent
1072together.
1073
1074=item L<AnyEvent::BDB>
1075
1076Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. AnyEvent::BDB transparently fuses
1077L<BDB> and AnyEvent together.
1078
1079=item L<AnyEvent::GPSD>
1080
1081A non-blocking interface to gpsd, a daemon delivering GPS information.
1082
1083=item L<AnyEvent::IRC>
1084
1085AnyEvent based IRC client module family (replacing the older Net::IRC3).
1086
1087=item L<AnyEvent::XMPP>
1088
1089AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family (replacing the older
1090Net::XMPP2>.
1091
1092=item L<AnyEvent::IGS>
1093
1094A non-blocking interface to the Internet Go Server protocol (used by
1095L<App::IGS>).
1096
1097=item L<Net::FCP>
1098
1099AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
1100of AnyEvent.
1101
1102=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
1103
1104High level API for event-based execution flow control.
1105
1106=item L<Coro>
1107
1108Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
1109
1110=back
243 1111
244=cut 1112=cut
245 1113
246package AnyEvent; 1114package AnyEvent;
247 1115
248no warnings; 1116# basically a tuned-down version of common::sense
249use strict; 1117sub common_sense {
1118 # from common:.sense 1.0
1119 ${^WARNING_BITS} = "\xfc\x3f\xf3\x00\x0f\xf3\xcf\xc0\xf3\xfc\x33\x03";
1120 # use strict vars subs
1121 $^H |= 0x00000600;
1122}
1123
1124BEGIN { AnyEvent::common_sense }
1125
250use Carp; 1126use Carp ();
251 1127
252our $VERSION = '2.52'; 1128our $VERSION = '5.21';
253our $MODEL; 1129our $MODEL;
254 1130
255our $AUTOLOAD; 1131our $AUTOLOAD;
256our @ISA; 1132our @ISA;
257 1133
258our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
259
260our @REGISTRY; 1134our @REGISTRY;
261 1135
1136our $VERBOSE;
1137
1138BEGIN {
1139 eval "sub WIN32(){ " . (($^O =~ /mswin32/i)*1) ." }";
1140 eval "sub TAINT(){ " . (${^TAINT}*1) . " }";
1141
1142 delete @ENV{grep /^PERL_ANYEVENT_/, keys %ENV}
1143 if ${^TAINT};
1144
1145 $VERBOSE = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
1146
1147}
1148
1149our $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY = 10;
1150
1151our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2), higher numbers are preferred
1152
1153{
1154 my $idx;
1155 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
1156 for reverse split /\s*,\s*/,
1157 $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
1158}
1159
262my @models = ( 1160my @models = (
263 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Coro::], 1161 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV:: , 1],
1162 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: , 1],
1163 # everything below here will not (normally) be autoprobed
1164 # as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
1165 # and is usually faster
264 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 1166 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::, 1],
265 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], 1167 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib:: , 1], # becomes extremely slow with many watchers
1168 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
1169 [Irssi:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi::], # Irssi has a bogus "Event" package
1170 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], # crashes with many handles
1171 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
1172 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
266 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], 1173 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
267 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::], 1174 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
1175 # IO::Async is just too broken - we would need workarounds for its
1176 # byzantine signal and broken child handling, among others.
1177 # IO::Async is rather hard to detect, as it doesn't have any
1178 # obvious default class.
1179 [IO::Async:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1180 [IO::Async::Loop:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1181 [IO::Async::Notifier:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1182 [AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
268); 1183);
269 1184
270our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer condvar broadcast wait signal one_event DESTROY); 1185our %method = map +($_ => 1),
1186 qw(io timer time now now_update signal child idle condvar one_event DESTROY);
1187
1188our @post_detect;
1189
1190sub post_detect(&) {
1191 my ($cb) = @_;
1192
1193 if ($MODEL) {
1194 $cb->();
1195
1196 undef
1197 } else {
1198 push @post_detect, $cb;
1199
1200 defined wantarray
1201 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::postdetect"
1202 : ()
1203 }
1204}
1205
1206sub AnyEvent::Util::postdetect::DESTROY {
1207 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
1208}
271 1209
272sub detect() { 1210sub detect() {
273 unless ($MODEL) { 1211 unless ($MODEL) {
274 no strict 'refs'; 1212 local $SIG{__DIE__};
1213
1214 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
1215 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
1216 if (eval "require $model") {
1217 $MODEL = $model;
1218 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}), using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
1219 } else {
1220 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}):\n$@" if $VERBOSE;
1221 }
1222 }
275 1223
276 # check for already loaded models 1224 # check for already loaded models
1225 unless ($MODEL) {
277 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 1226 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
278 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 1227 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
279 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 1228 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
280 if (eval "require $model") { 1229 if (eval "require $model") {
281 $MODEL = $model; 1230 $MODEL = $model;
282 warn "AnyEvent: found model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1231 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
283 last; 1232 last;
1233 }
284 } 1234 }
285 } 1235 }
1236
1237 unless ($MODEL) {
1238 # try to autoload a model
1239 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
1240 my ($package, $model, $autoload) = @$_;
1241 if (
1242 $autoload
1243 and eval "require $package"
1244 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
1245 and eval "require $model"
1246 ) {
1247 $MODEL = $model;
1248 warn "AnyEvent: autoloaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
1249 last;
1250 }
1251 }
1252
1253 $MODEL
1254 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.\n";
1255 }
286 } 1256 }
287 1257
288 unless ($MODEL) { 1258 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
289 # try to load a model
290
291 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
292 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
293 if (eval "require $package"
294 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
295 and eval "require $model") {
296 $MODEL = $model;
297 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed and loaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
298 last;
299 }
300 }
301
302 $MODEL
303 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: Event (or Coro+Event), Glib or Tk.";
304 }
305 1259
306 unshift @ISA, $MODEL; 1260 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
307 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base"; 1261
1262 require AnyEvent::Strict if $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT};
1263
1264 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
308 } 1265 }
309 1266
310 $MODEL 1267 $MODEL
311} 1268}
312 1269
313sub AUTOLOAD { 1270sub AUTOLOAD {
314 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://; 1271 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://;
315 1272
316 $method{$func} 1273 $method{$func}
317 or croak "$func: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects"; 1274 or Carp::croak "$func: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects";
318 1275
319 detect unless $MODEL; 1276 detect unless $MODEL;
320 1277
321 my $class = shift; 1278 my $class = shift;
322 $class->$func (@_); 1279 $class->$func (@_);
323} 1280}
324 1281
1282# utility function to dup a filehandle. this is used by many backends
1283# to support binding more than one watcher per filehandle (they usually
1284# allow only one watcher per fd, so we dup it to get a different one).
1285sub _dupfh($$;$$) {
1286 my ($poll, $fh, $r, $w) = @_;
1287
1288 # cygwin requires the fh mode to be matching, unix doesn't
1289 my ($rw, $mode) = $poll eq "r" ? ($r, "<&") : ($w, ">&");
1290
1291 open my $fh2, $mode, $fh
1292 or die "AnyEvent->io: cannot dup() filehandle in mode '$poll': $!,";
1293
1294 # we assume CLOEXEC is already set by perl in all important cases
1295
1296 ($fh2, $rw)
1297}
1298
1299=head1 SIMPLIFIED AE API
1300
1301Starting with version 5.0, AnyEvent officially supports a second, much
1302simpler, API that is designed to reduce the calling, typing and memory
1303overhead.
1304
1305See the L<AE> manpage for details.
1306
1307=cut
1308
1309package AE;
1310
1311our $VERSION = $AnyEvent::VERSION;
1312
1313sub io($$$) {
1314 AnyEvent->io (fh => $_[0], poll => $_[1] ? "w" : "r", cb => $_[2])
1315}
1316
1317sub timer($$$) {
1318 AnyEvent->timer (after => $_[0], interval => $_[1], cb => $_[2])
1319}
1320
1321sub signal($$) {
1322 AnyEvent->signal (signal => $_[0], cb => $_[1])
1323}
1324
1325sub child($$) {
1326 AnyEvent->child (pid => $_[0], cb => $_[1])
1327}
1328
1329sub idle($) {
1330 AnyEvent->idle (cb => $_[0])
1331}
1332
1333sub cv(;&) {
1334 AnyEvent->condvar (@_ ? (cb => $_[0]) : ())
1335}
1336
1337sub now() {
1338 AnyEvent->now
1339}
1340
1341sub now_update() {
1342 AnyEvent->now_update
1343}
1344
1345sub time() {
1346 AnyEvent->time
1347}
1348
325package AnyEvent::Base; 1349package AnyEvent::Base;
326 1350
1351# default implementations for many methods
1352
1353sub _time() {
1354 # probe for availability of Time::HiRes
1355 if (eval "use Time::HiRes (); Time::HiRes::time (); 1") {
1356 warn "AnyEvent: using Time::HiRes for sub-second timing accuracy.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1357 *_time = \&Time::HiRes::time;
1358 # if (eval "use POSIX (); (POSIX::times())...
1359 } else {
1360 warn "AnyEvent: using built-in time(), WARNING, no sub-second resolution!\n" if $VERBOSE;
1361 *_time = sub { time }; # epic fail
1362 }
1363
1364 &_time
1365}
1366
1367sub time { _time }
1368sub now { _time }
1369sub now_update { }
1370
327# default implementation for ->condvar, ->wait, ->broadcast 1371# default implementation for ->condvar
328 1372
329sub condvar { 1373sub condvar {
330 bless \my $flag, "AnyEvent::Base::CondVar" 1374 bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, "AnyEvent::CondVar"
331}
332
333sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::broadcast {
334 ${$_[0]}++;
335}
336
337sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::wait {
338 AnyEvent->one_event while !${$_[0]};
339} 1375}
340 1376
341# default implementation for ->signal 1377# default implementation for ->signal
342 1378
343our %SIG_CB; 1379our $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1380
1381sub _have_async_interrupt() {
1382 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT = 1*(!$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT}
1383 && eval "use Async::Interrupt 1.02 (); 1")
1384 unless defined $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1385
1386 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1387}
1388
1389our ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W, %SIG_CB, %SIG_EV, $SIG_IO);
1390our (%SIG_ASY, %SIG_ASY_W);
1391our ($SIG_COUNT, $SIG_TW);
1392
1393sub _signal_exec {
1394 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1395 ? $SIGPIPE_R->drain
1396 : sysread $SIGPIPE_R, (my $dummy), 9;
1397
1398 while (%SIG_EV) {
1399 for (keys %SIG_EV) {
1400 delete $SIG_EV{$_};
1401 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$_} || {} };
1402 }
1403 }
1404}
1405
1406# install a dummy wakeup watcher to reduce signal catching latency
1407sub _sig_add() {
1408 unless ($SIG_COUNT++) {
1409 # try to align timer on a full-second boundary, if possible
1410 my $NOW = AE::now;
1411
1412 $SIG_TW = AE::timer
1413 $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY - ($NOW - int $NOW),
1414 $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY,
1415 sub { } # just for the PERL_ASYNC_CHECK
1416 ;
1417 }
1418}
1419
1420sub _sig_del {
1421 undef $SIG_TW
1422 unless --$SIG_COUNT;
1423}
1424
1425our $_sig_name_init; $_sig_name_init = sub {
1426 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading
1427 undef $_sig_name_init;
1428
1429 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1430 *sig2num = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2num;
1431 *sig2name = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2name;
1432 } else {
1433 require Config;
1434
1435 my %signame2num;
1436 @signame2num{ split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_name} }
1437 = split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_num};
1438
1439 my @signum2name;
1440 @signum2name[values %signame2num] = keys %signame2num;
1441
1442 *sig2num = sub($) {
1443 $_[0] > 0 ? shift : $signame2num{+shift}
1444 };
1445 *sig2name = sub ($) {
1446 $_[0] > 0 ? $signum2name[+shift] : shift
1447 };
1448 }
1449 };
1450 die if $@;
1451};
1452
1453sub sig2num ($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2num }
1454sub sig2name($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2name }
344 1455
345sub signal { 1456sub signal {
1457 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1458 # probe for availability of Async::Interrupt
1459 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1460 warn "AnyEvent: using Async::Interrupt for race-free signal handling.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1461
1462 $SIGPIPE_R = new Async::Interrupt::EventPipe;
1463 $SIG_IO = AE::io $SIGPIPE_R->fileno, 0, \&_signal_exec;
1464
1465 } else {
1466 warn "AnyEvent: using emulated perl signal handling with latency timer.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1467
1468 require Fcntl;
1469
1470 if (AnyEvent::WIN32) {
1471 require AnyEvent::Util;
1472
1473 ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_pipe ();
1474 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_R, 1) if $SIGPIPE_R;
1475 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_W, 1) if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1476 } else {
1477 pipe $SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W;
1478 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_R;
1479 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1480
1481 # not strictly required, as $^F is normally 2, but let's make sure...
1482 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1483 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1484 }
1485
1486 $SIGPIPE_R
1487 or Carp::croak "AnyEvent: unable to create a signal reporting pipe: $!\n";
1488
1489 $SIG_IO = AE::io $SIGPIPE_R, 0, \&_signal_exec;
1490 }
1491
1492 *signal = sub {
346 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1493 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
347 1494
348 my $signal = uc $arg{signal} 1495 my $signal = uc $arg{signal}
349 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing"; 1496 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing";
350 1497
1498 if ($HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT) {
1499 # async::interrupt
1500
1501 $signal = sig2num $signal;
351 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1502 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1503
1504 $SIG_ASY{$signal} ||= new Async::Interrupt
1505 cb => sub { undef $SIG_EV{$signal} },
1506 signal => $signal,
1507 pipe => [$SIGPIPE_R->filenos],
1508 pipe_autodrain => 0,
1509 ;
1510
1511 } else {
1512 # pure perl
1513
1514 # AE::Util has been loaded in signal
1515 $signal = sig2name $signal;
1516 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1517
352 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub { 1518 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub {
353 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} || {} }; 1519 local $!;
1520 syswrite $SIGPIPE_W, "\x00", 1 unless %SIG_EV;
1521 undef $SIG_EV{$signal};
1522 };
1523
1524 # can't do signal processing without introducing races in pure perl,
1525 # so limit the signal latency.
1526 _sig_add;
1527 }
1528
1529 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::signal"
1530 };
1531
1532 *AnyEvent::Base::signal::DESTROY = sub {
1533 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
1534
1535 _sig_del;
1536
1537 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
1538
1539 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1540 ? delete $SIG_ASY{$signal}
1541 : # delete doesn't work with older perls - they then
1542 # print weird messages, or just unconditionally exit
1543 # instead of getting the default action.
1544 undef $SIG{$signal}
1545 unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
1546 };
354 }; 1547 };
355 1548 die if $@;
356 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Signal" 1549 &signal
357}
358
359sub AnyEvent::Base::Signal::DESTROY {
360 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
361
362 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
363
364 $SIG{$signal} = 'DEFAULT' unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
365} 1550}
366 1551
367# default implementation for ->child 1552# default implementation for ->child
368 1553
369our %PID_CB; 1554our %PID_CB;
370our $CHLD_W; 1555our $CHLD_W;
371our $PID_IDLE; 1556our $CHLD_DELAY_W;
372our $WNOHANG; 1557our $WNOHANG;
373 1558
374sub _child_wait { 1559sub _emit_childstatus($$) {
375 while (0 < (my $pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG)) { 1560 my (undef, $rpid, $rstatus) = @_;
1561
1562 $_->($rpid, $rstatus)
376 $_->() for values %{ (delete $PID_CB{$pid}) || {} }; 1563 for values %{ $PID_CB{$rpid} || {} },
377 } 1564 values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} };
1565}
378 1566
379 undef $PID_IDLE; 1567sub _sigchld {
1568 my $pid;
1569
1570 AnyEvent->_emit_childstatus ($pid, $?)
1571 while ($pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG) > 0;
380} 1572}
381 1573
382sub child { 1574sub child {
383 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1575 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
384 1576
385 my $pid = uc $arg{pid} 1577 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0)
386 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing"; 1578 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing";
387 1579
388 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1580 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
389 1581
390 unless ($WNOHANG) { 1582 # WNOHANG is almost cetrainly 1 everywhere
391 $WNOHANG = eval { require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1; 1583 $WNOHANG ||= $^O =~ /^(?:openbsd|netbsd|linux|freebsd|cygwin|MSWin32)$/
1584 ? 1
1585 : eval { local $SIG{__DIE__}; require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;
1586
1587 unless ($CHLD_W) {
1588 $CHLD_W = AE::signal CHLD => \&_sigchld;
1589 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
1590 &_sigchld;
392 } 1591 }
393 1592
394 unless ($CHLD_W) {
395 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_child_wait);
396 # child could be a zombie already
397 $PID_IDLE ||= AnyEvent->timer (after => 0, cb => \&_child_wait);
398 }
399
400 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Child" 1593 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::child"
401} 1594}
402 1595
403sub AnyEvent::Base::Child::DESTROY { 1596sub AnyEvent::Base::child::DESTROY {
404 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]}; 1597 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
405 1598
406 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb}; 1599 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb};
407 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} }; 1600 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
408 1601
409 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB; 1602 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
410} 1603}
411 1604
1605# idle emulation is done by simply using a timer, regardless
1606# of whether the process is idle or not, and not letting
1607# the callback use more than 50% of the time.
1608sub idle {
1609 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1610
1611 my ($cb, $w, $rcb) = $arg{cb};
1612
1613 $rcb = sub {
1614 if ($cb) {
1615 $w = _time;
1616 &$cb;
1617 $w = _time - $w;
1618
1619 # never use more then 50% of the time for the idle watcher,
1620 # within some limits
1621 $w = 0.0001 if $w < 0.0001;
1622 $w = 5 if $w > 5;
1623
1624 $w = AE::timer $w, 0, $rcb;
1625 } else {
1626 # clean up...
1627 undef $w;
1628 undef $rcb;
1629 }
1630 };
1631
1632 $w = AE::timer 0.05, 0, $rcb;
1633
1634 bless \\$cb, "AnyEvent::Base::idle"
1635}
1636
1637sub AnyEvent::Base::idle::DESTROY {
1638 undef $${$_[0]};
1639}
1640
1641package AnyEvent::CondVar;
1642
1643our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
1644
1645package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
1646
1647#use overload
1648# '&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
1649# fallback => 1;
1650
1651# save 300+ kilobytes by dirtily hardcoding overloading
1652${"AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::OVERLOAD"}{dummy}++; # Register with magic by touching.
1653*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = sub { }; # "Make it findable via fetchmethod."
1654*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::(&{}'} = sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } }; # &{}
1655${'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = 1; # fallback
1656
1657our $WAITING;
1658
1659sub _send {
1660 # nop
1661}
1662
1663sub send {
1664 my $cv = shift;
1665 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
1666 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
1667 $cv->_send;
1668}
1669
1670sub croak {
1671 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
1672 $_[0]->send;
1673}
1674
1675sub ready {
1676 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
1677}
1678
1679sub _wait {
1680 $WAITING
1681 and !$_[0]{_ae_sent}
1682 and Carp::croak "AnyEvent::CondVar: recursive blocking wait detected";
1683
1684 local $WAITING = 1;
1685 AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
1686}
1687
1688sub recv {
1689 $_[0]->_wait;
1690
1691 Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
1692 wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
1693}
1694
1695sub cb {
1696 my $cv = shift;
1697
1698 @_
1699 and $cv->{_ae_cb} = shift
1700 and $cv->{_ae_sent}
1701 and (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv);
1702
1703 $cv->{_ae_cb}
1704}
1705
1706sub begin {
1707 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1708 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1709}
1710
1711sub end {
1712 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1713 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
1714}
1715
1716# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
1717*broadcast = \&send;
1718*wait = \&_wait;
1719
1720=head1 ERROR AND EXCEPTION HANDLING
1721
1722In general, AnyEvent does not do any error handling - it relies on the
1723caller to do that if required. The L<AnyEvent::Strict> module (see also
1724the C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT> environment variable, below) provides strict
1725checking of all AnyEvent methods, however, which is highly useful during
1726development.
1727
1728As for exception handling (i.e. runtime errors and exceptions thrown while
1729executing a callback), this is not only highly event-loop specific, but
1730also not in any way wrapped by this module, as this is the job of the main
1731program.
1732
1733The pure perl event loop simply re-throws the exception (usually
1734within C<< condvar->recv >>), the L<Event> and L<EV> modules call C<<
1735$Event/EV::DIED->() >>, L<Glib> uses C<< install_exception_handler >> and
1736so on.
1737
1738=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1739
1740The following environment variables are used by this module or its
1741submodules.
1742
1743Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
1744C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
1745enabled.
1746
1747=over 4
1748
1749=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
1750
1751By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
1752conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
1753talkative.
1754
1755When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
1756conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
1757C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
1758
1759When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
1760model it chooses.
1761
1762When set to C<8> or higher, then AnyEvent will report extra information on
1763which optional modules it loads and how it implements certain features.
1764
1765=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT>
1766
1767AnyEvent does not do much argument checking by default, as thorough
1768argument checking is very costly. Setting this variable to a true value
1769will cause AnyEvent to load C<AnyEvent::Strict> and then to thoroughly
1770check the arguments passed to most method calls. If it finds any problems,
1771it will croak.
1772
1773In other words, enables "strict" mode.
1774
1775Unlike C<use strict> (or it's modern cousin, C<< use L<common::sense>
1776>>, it is definitely recommended to keep it off in production. Keeping
1777C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT=1> in your environment while developing programs
1778can be very useful, however.
1779
1780=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
1781
1782This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
1783auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
1784entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
1785and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
1786used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
1787auto detection and -probing.
1788
1789This functionality might change in future versions.
1790
1791For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
1792could start your program like this:
1793
1794 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
1795
1796=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
1797
1798Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
1799for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
1800of auto probing).
1801
1802Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
1803current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
1804used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
1805list.
1806
1807This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
1808against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
1809small, as the program has to handle conenction and other failures anyways.
1810
1811Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
1812but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
1813- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
1814addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
1815IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
1816
1817=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
1818
1819Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
1820for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
1821some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
1822default.
1823
1824Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
1825EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
1826
1827=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_FORKS>
1828
1829The maximum number of child processes that C<AnyEvent::Util::fork_call>
1830will create in parallel.
1831
1832=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_OUTSTANDING_DNS>
1833
1834The default value for the C<max_outstanding> parameter for the default DNS
1835resolver - this is the maximum number of parallel DNS requests that are
1836sent to the DNS server.
1837
1838=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_RESOLV_CONF>
1839
1840The file to use instead of F</etc/resolv.conf> (or OS-specific
1841configuration) in the default resolver. When set to the empty string, no
1842default config will be used.
1843
1844=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_FILE>, C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_PATH>.
1845
1846When neither C<ca_file> nor C<ca_path> was specified during
1847L<AnyEvent::TLS> context creation, and either of these environment
1848variables exist, they will be used to specify CA certificate locations
1849instead of a system-dependent default.
1850
1851=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_GUARD> and C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT>
1852
1853When these are set to C<1>, then the respective modules are not
1854loaded. Mostly good for testing AnyEvent itself.
1855
1856=back
1857
412=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 1858=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
1859
1860This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
1861a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
1862provide AnyEvent compatibility.
413 1863
414If you need to support another event library which isn't directly 1864If you need to support another event library which isn't directly
415supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by 1865supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by
416pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of 1866pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of
417the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto 1867the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto
418C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading 1868C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading
419AnyEvent. 1869AnyEvent, so it is reasonably cheap.
420 1870
421Example: 1871Example:
422 1872
423 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::]; 1873 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::];
424 1874
425This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::> 1875This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::>
426package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is loaded. When 1876package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is already loaded.
1877
427AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it will 1878When AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it
428first check for the presence of urxvt. 1879will first check for the presence of urxvt by trying to C<use> the
1880C<urxvt::anyevent> module.
429 1881
430The class should provide implementations for all watcher types (see 1882The class should provide implementations for all watcher types. See
431L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> 1883L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> (Source code)
432(Source code) and so on for actual examples, use C<perldoc -m 1884and so on for actual examples. Use C<perldoc -m AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to
433AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to see the sources). 1885see the sources.
434 1886
1887If you don't provide C<signal> and C<child> watchers than AnyEvent will
1888provide suitable (hopefully) replacements.
1889
435The above isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt) 1890The above example isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt)
436uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included in AnyEvent 1891terminal emulator uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included
437because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter inside 1892in AnyEvent because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter
438I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the 1893inside I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the
439I<rxvt-unicode> distribution. 1894I<rxvt-unicode> distribution.
440 1895
441I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to 1896I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to
442condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will 1897condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will
443C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must 1898C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must
444not be in an interactive appliation, so it makes sense. 1899not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense.
445 1900
446=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
447
448The following environment variables are used by this module:
449
450C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE> when set to C<2> or higher, reports which event
451model gets used.
452
453=head1 EXAMPLE 1901=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
454 1902
455The following program uses an io watcher to read data from stdin, a timer 1903The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
456to display a message once per second, and a condvar to exit the program 1904to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
457when the user enters quit: 1905program when the user enters quit:
458 1906
459 use AnyEvent; 1907 use AnyEvent;
460 1908
461 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar; 1909 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
462 1910
463 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 1911 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (
1912 fh => \*STDIN,
1913 poll => 'r',
1914 cb => sub {
464 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 1915 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
465 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 1916 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
466 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 1917 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
467 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 1918 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
1919 },
1920 );
1921
1922 my $time_watcher = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, interval => 1, cb => sub {
1923 warn "timeout\n"; # print 'timeout' at most every second
468 }); 1924 });
469 1925
470 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
471
472 sub new_timer {
473 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub {
474 warn "timeout\n"; # print 'timeout' about every second
475 &new_timer; # and restart the time
476 });
477 }
478
479 new_timer; # create first timer
480
481 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 1926 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
482 1927
483=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 1928=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
484 1929
485Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 1930Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
486API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 1931API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
536 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 1981 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
537 or die "connection or write error"; 1982 or die "connection or write error";
538 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 1983 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
539 1984
540Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 1985Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
541result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished: 1986result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
542 1987
543 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 1988 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
544 1989
545 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 1990 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
546 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 1991 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
547 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 1992 $txn->{finished}->send;
548 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 1993 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
549 } 1994 }
550 1995
551The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 1996The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
552request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the 1997request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
553data: 1998data:
554 1999
555 $txn->{finished}->wait; 2000 $txn->{finished}->recv;
556 return $txn->{result}; 2001 return $txn->{result};
557 2002
558The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 2003The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
559that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 2004that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
560wether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 2005whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
561and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 2006and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
562problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a 2007problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
563random callback. 2008random callback.
564 2009
565All of this enables the following usage styles: 2010All of this enables the following usage styles:
566 2011
5671. Blocking: 20121. Blocking:
568 2013
569 my $data = $fcp->client_get ($url); 2014 my $data = $fcp->client_get ($url);
570 2015
5712. Blocking, but parallelizing: 20162. Blocking, but running in parallel:
572 2017
573 my @datas = map $_->result, 2018 my @datas = map $_->result,
574 map $fcp->txn_client_get ($_), 2019 map $fcp->txn_client_get ($_),
575 @urls; 2020 @urls;
576 2021
577Both blocking examples work without the module user having to know 2022Both blocking examples work without the module user having to know
578anything about events. 2023anything about events.
579 2024
5803a. Event-based in a main program, using any support Event module: 20253a. Event-based in a main program, using any supported event module:
581 2026
582 use Event; 2027 use EV;
583 2028
584 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 2029 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
585 my $txn = shift; 2030 my $txn = shift;
586 my $data = $txn->result; 2031 my $data = $txn->result;
587 ... 2032 ...
588 }); 2033 });
589 2034
590 Event::loop; 2035 EV::loop;
591 2036
5923b. The module user could use AnyEvent, too: 20373b. The module user could use AnyEvent, too:
593 2038
594 use AnyEvent; 2039 use AnyEvent;
595 2040
596 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 2041 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
597 2042
598 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 2043 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
599 ... 2044 ...
600 $quit->broadcast; 2045 $quit->send;
601 }); 2046 });
602 2047
603 $quit->wait; 2048 $quit->recv;
2049
2050
2051=head1 BENCHMARKS
2052
2053To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
2054over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
2055of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
2056
2057=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
2058
2059Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
2060through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
2061timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
2062which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
2063
2064Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
2065distribution. It uses the L<AE> interface, which makes a real difference
2066for the EV and Perl backends only.
2067
2068=head3 Explanation of the columns
2069
2070I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
2071different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
2072loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
2073and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
2074would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
2075of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
2076
2077I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
2078RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
2079and Perl-based overheads.
2080
2081I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
2082takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
2083all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
2084and memory usage is not included in the figures.
2085
2086I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
2087callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
2088invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
2089signal the end of this phase.
2090
2091I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
2092watcher.
2093
2094=head3 Results
2095
2096 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
2097 EV/EV 100000 223 0.47 0.43 0.27 EV native interface
2098 EV/Any 100000 223 0.48 0.42 0.26 EV + AnyEvent watchers
2099 Coro::EV/Any 100000 223 0.47 0.42 0.26 coroutines + Coro::Signal
2100 Perl/Any 100000 431 2.70 0.74 0.92 pure perl implementation
2101 Event/Event 16000 516 31.16 31.84 0.82 Event native interface
2102 Event/Any 16000 1203 42.61 34.79 1.80 Event + AnyEvent watchers
2103 IOAsync/Any 16000 1911 41.92 27.45 16.81 via IO::Async::Loop::IO_Poll
2104 IOAsync/Any 16000 1726 40.69 26.37 15.25 via IO::Async::Loop::Epoll
2105 Glib/Any 16000 1118 89.00 12.57 51.17 quadratic behaviour
2106 Tk/Any 2000 1346 20.96 10.75 8.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
2107 POE/Any 2000 6951 108.97 795.32 14.24 via POE::Loop::Event
2108 POE/Any 2000 6648 94.79 774.40 575.51 via POE::Loop::Select
2109
2110=head3 Discussion
2111
2112The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
2113well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
2114can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
2115file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
2116the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
2117boost.
2118
2119Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
2120overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
2121the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
2122higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
2123
2124To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
2125benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
2126EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
2127cycles with POE.
2128
2129C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
2130maximal/minimal, respectively. When using the L<AE> API there is zero
2131overhead (when going through the AnyEvent API create is about 5-6 times
2132slower, with other times being equal, so still uses far less memory than
2133any other event loop and is still faster than Event natively).
2134
2135The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
2136constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
2137interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
2138adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
2139performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
2140them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
2141
2142The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
2143cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
2144
2145C<IO::Async> performs admirably well, about on par with C<Event>, even
2146when using its pure perl backend.
2147
2148C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
2149faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
2150C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
2151watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
2152making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
2153(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
2154inefficiencies of C<poll> do not account for this).
2155
2156The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
2157more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
2158precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
2159file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
2160employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
2161hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
2162above).
2163
2164C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
2165select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
2166be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
2167memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
2168as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
2169requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
2170invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
2171implementation.
2172
2173The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
2174for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
2175small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
2176optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
2177using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
2178memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
2179design).
2180
2181=head3 Summary
2182
2183=over 4
2184
2185=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
2186(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
2187performance with or without AnyEvent.
2188
2189=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
2190the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
2191adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
2192
2193=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
2194reasonable memory usage.
2195
2196=back
2197
2198=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
2199
2200This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
2201creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
2202timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
2203watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
2204watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
2205
2206The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
2207are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
2208fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
2209timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
2210most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
2211
2212In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
2213(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
2214connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
2215
2216Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
2217distribution. It uses the L<AE> interface, which makes a real difference
2218for the EV and Perl backends only.
2219
2220=head3 Explanation of the columns
2221
2222I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
2223each server has a read and write socket end).
2224
2225I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
2226nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
2227
2228I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
2229single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
2230it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
2231a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
2232
2233=head3 Results
2234
2235 name sockets create request
2236 EV 20000 62.66 7.99
2237 Perl 20000 68.32 32.64
2238 IOAsync 20000 174.06 101.15 epoll
2239 IOAsync 20000 174.67 610.84 poll
2240 Event 20000 202.69 242.91
2241 Glib 20000 557.01 1689.52
2242 POE 20000 341.54 12086.32 uses POE::Loop::Event
2243
2244=head3 Discussion
2245
2246This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
2247particular event loop.
2248
2249EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
2250is relatively high, though.
2251
2252Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
2253loops Event and Glib.
2254
2255IO::Async performs very well when using its epoll backend, and still quite
2256good compared to Glib when using its pure perl backend.
2257
2258Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
2259understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
2260the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
2261uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
2262
2263Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
2264clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
2265
2266POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
2267as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
2268it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
2269
2270=head3 Summary
2271
2272=over 4
2273
2274=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
2275
2276=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
2277
2278=back
2279
2280=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
2281
2282While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
2283large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
2284I/O watchers.
2285
2286In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
2287case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
2288one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
2289well.
2290
2291The columns are identical to the previous table.
2292
2293=head3 Results
2294
2295 name sockets create request
2296 EV 16 20.00 6.54
2297 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
2298 Event 16 81.27 35.86
2299 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
2300 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
2301
2302=head3 Discussion
2303
2304The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
2305server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
2306in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
2307to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
2308speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
2309them).
2310
2311EV is again fastest.
2312
2313Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
2314loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
2315matter.
2316
2317POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
2318others.
2319
2320=head3 Summary
2321
2322=over 4
2323
2324=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
2325watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
2326
2327=back
2328
2329=head2 THE IO::Lambda BENCHMARK
2330
2331Recently I was told about the benchmark in the IO::Lambda manpage, which
2332could be misinterpreted to make AnyEvent look bad. In fact, the benchmark
2333simply compares IO::Lambda with POE, and IO::Lambda looks better (which
2334shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody). As such, the benchmark is
2335fine, and mostly shows that the AnyEvent backend from IO::Lambda isn't
2336very optimal. But how would AnyEvent compare when used without the extra
2337baggage? To explore this, I wrote the equivalent benchmark for AnyEvent.
2338
2339The benchmark itself creates an echo-server, and then, for 500 times,
2340connects to the echo server, sends a line, waits for the reply, and then
2341creates the next connection. This is a rather bad benchmark, as it doesn't
2342test the efficiency of the framework or much non-blocking I/O, but it is a
2343benchmark nevertheless.
2344
2345 name runtime
2346 Lambda/select 0.330 sec
2347 + optimized 0.122 sec
2348 Lambda/AnyEvent 0.327 sec
2349 + optimized 0.138 sec
2350 Raw sockets/select 0.077 sec
2351 POE/select, components 0.662 sec
2352 POE/select, raw sockets 0.226 sec
2353 POE/select, optimized 0.404 sec
2354
2355 AnyEvent/select/nb 0.085 sec
2356 AnyEvent/EV/nb 0.068 sec
2357 +state machine 0.134 sec
2358
2359The benchmark is also a bit unfair (my fault): the IO::Lambda/POE
2360benchmarks actually make blocking connects and use 100% blocking I/O,
2361defeating the purpose of an event-based solution. All of the newly
2362written AnyEvent benchmarks use 100% non-blocking connects (using
2363AnyEvent::Socket::tcp_connect and the asynchronous pure perl DNS
2364resolver), so AnyEvent is at a disadvantage here, as non-blocking connects
2365generally require a lot more bookkeeping and event handling than blocking
2366connects (which involve a single syscall only).
2367
2368The last AnyEvent benchmark additionally uses L<AnyEvent::Handle>, which
2369offers similar expressive power as POE and IO::Lambda, using conventional
2370Perl syntax. This means that both the echo server and the client are 100%
2371non-blocking, further placing it at a disadvantage.
2372
2373As you can see, the AnyEvent + EV combination even beats the
2374hand-optimised "raw sockets benchmark", while AnyEvent + its pure perl
2375backend easily beats IO::Lambda and POE.
2376
2377And even the 100% non-blocking version written using the high-level (and
2378slow :) L<AnyEvent::Handle> abstraction beats both POE and IO::Lambda
2379higher level ("unoptimised") abstractions by a large margin, even though
2380it does all of DNS, tcp-connect and socket I/O in a non-blocking way.
2381
2382The two AnyEvent benchmarks programs can be found as F<eg/ae0.pl> and
2383F<eg/ae2.pl> in the AnyEvent distribution, the remaining benchmarks are
2384part of the IO::Lambda distribution and were used without any changes.
2385
2386
2387=head1 SIGNALS
2388
2389AnyEvent currently installs handlers for these signals:
2390
2391=over 4
2392
2393=item SIGCHLD
2394
2395A handler for C<SIGCHLD> is installed by AnyEvent's child watcher
2396emulation for event loops that do not support them natively. Also, some
2397event loops install a similar handler.
2398
2399Additionally, when AnyEvent is loaded and SIGCHLD is set to IGNORE, then
2400AnyEvent will reset it to default, to avoid losing child exit statuses.
2401
2402=item SIGPIPE
2403
2404A no-op handler is installed for C<SIGPIPE> when C<$SIG{PIPE}> is C<undef>
2405when AnyEvent gets loaded.
2406
2407The rationale for this is that AnyEvent users usually do not really depend
2408on SIGPIPE delivery (which is purely an optimisation for shell use, or
2409badly-written programs), but C<SIGPIPE> can cause spurious and rare
2410program exits as a lot of people do not expect C<SIGPIPE> when writing to
2411some random socket.
2412
2413The rationale for installing a no-op handler as opposed to ignoring it is
2414that this way, the handler will be restored to defaults on exec.
2415
2416Feel free to install your own handler, or reset it to defaults.
2417
2418=back
2419
2420=cut
2421
2422undef $SIG{CHLD}
2423 if $SIG{CHLD} eq 'IGNORE';
2424
2425$SIG{PIPE} = sub { }
2426 unless defined $SIG{PIPE};
2427
2428=head1 RECOMMENDED/OPTIONAL MODULES
2429
2430One of AnyEvent's main goals is to be 100% Pure-Perl(tm): only perl (and
2431it's built-in modules) are required to use it.
2432
2433That does not mean that AnyEvent won't take advantage of some additional
2434modules if they are installed.
2435
2436This section epxlains which additional modules will be used, and how they
2437affect AnyEvent's operetion.
2438
2439=over 4
2440
2441=item L<Async::Interrupt>
2442
2443This slightly arcane module is used to implement fast signal handling: To
2444my knowledge, there is no way to do completely race-free and quick
2445signal handling in pure perl. To ensure that signals still get
2446delivered, AnyEvent will start an interval timer to wake up perl (and
2447catch the signals) with some delay (default is 10 seconds, look for
2448C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>).
2449
2450If this module is available, then it will be used to implement signal
2451catching, which means that signals will not be delayed, and the event loop
2452will not be interrupted regularly, which is more efficient (And good for
2453battery life on laptops).
2454
2455This affects not just the pure-perl event loop, but also other event loops
2456that have no signal handling on their own (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt).
2457
2458Some event loops (POE, Event, Event::Lib) offer signal watchers natively,
2459and either employ their own workarounds (POE) or use AnyEvent's workaround
2460(using C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>). Installing L<Async::Interrupt>
2461does nothing for those backends.
2462
2463=item L<EV>
2464
2465This module isn't really "optional", as it is simply one of the backend
2466event loops that AnyEvent can use. However, it is simply the best event
2467loop available in terms of features, speed and stability: It supports
2468the AnyEvent API optimally, implements all the watcher types in XS, does
2469automatic timer adjustments even when no monotonic clock is available,
2470can take avdantage of advanced kernel interfaces such as C<epoll> and
2471C<kqueue>, and is the fastest backend I<by far>. You can even embed
2472L<Glib>/L<Gtk2> in it (or vice versa, see L<EV::Glib> and L<Glib::EV>).
2473
2474=item L<Guard>
2475
2476The guard module, when used, will be used to implement
2477C<AnyEvent::Util::guard>. This speeds up guards considerably (and uses a
2478lot less memory), but otherwise doesn't affect guard operation much. It is
2479purely used for performance.
2480
2481=item L<JSON> and L<JSON::XS>
2482
2483One of these modules is required when you want to read or write JSON data
2484via L<AnyEvent::Handle>. It is also written in pure-perl, but can take
2485advantage of the ultra-high-speed L<JSON::XS> module when it is installed.
2486
2487In fact, L<AnyEvent::Handle> will use L<JSON::XS> by default if it is
2488installed.
2489
2490=item L<Net::SSLeay>
2491
2492Implementing TLS/SSL in Perl is certainly interesting, but not very
2493worthwhile: If this module is installed, then L<AnyEvent::Handle> (with
2494the help of L<AnyEvent::TLS>), gains the ability to do TLS/SSL.
2495
2496=item L<Time::HiRes>
2497
2498This module is part of perl since release 5.008. It will be used when the
2499chosen event library does not come with a timing source on it's own. The
2500pure-perl event loop (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) will additionally use it to
2501try to use a monotonic clock for timing stability.
2502
2503=back
2504
2505
2506=head1 FORK
2507
2508Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
2509because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
2510calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
2511
2512If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
2513watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child OR you must do
2514something completely out of the scope of AnyEvent.
2515
2516
2517=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
2518
2519AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
2520$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to
2521execute arbitrary code or directly gain access, it can easily be used to
2522make the program hang or malfunction in subtle ways, as AnyEvent watchers
2523will not be active when the program uses a different event model than
2524specified in the variable.
2525
2526You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
2527before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
2528
2529 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
2530
2531 use AnyEvent;
2532
2533Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
2534be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
2535probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), and
2536$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT}.
2537
2538Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
2539C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
2540enabled.
2541
2542
2543=head1 BUGS
2544
2545Perl 5.8 has numerous memleaks that sometimes hit this module and are hard
2546to work around. If you suffer from memleaks, first upgrade to Perl 5.10
2547and check wether the leaks still show up. (Perl 5.10.0 has other annoying
2548memleaks, such as leaking on C<map> and C<grep> but it is usually not as
2549pronounced).
2550
604 2551
605=head1 SEE ALSO 2552=head1 SEE ALSO
606 2553
607Event modules: L<Coro::Event>, L<Coro>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>. 2554Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
608 2555
609Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::Coro>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>. 2556Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
2557L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
610 2558
611Nontrivial usage example: L<Net::FCP>. 2559Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
2560L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
2561L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
2562L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync>, L<Anyevent::Impl::Irssi>.
612 2563
613=head1 2564Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
2565servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>, L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
2566
2567Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
2568
2569Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>,
2570L<Coro::Event>,
2571
2572Nontrivial usage examples: L<AnyEvent::GPSD>, L<AnyEvent::XMPP>,
2573L<AnyEvent::HTTP>.
2574
2575
2576=head1 AUTHOR
2577
2578 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
2579 http://home.schmorp.de/
614 2580
615=cut 2581=cut
616 2582
6171 25831
618 2584

Diff Legend

Removed lines
+ Added lines
< Changed lines
> Changed lines