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1=head1 NAME 1=head1 NAME
2 2
3AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops 3AnyEvent - the DBI of event loop programming
4 4
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
368Note that updating the time I<might> cause some events to be handled.
369
370=back
371
372=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
373
374 $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => <uppercase_signal_name>, cb => <callback>);
375
376You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
377I<name> in uppercase and without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl
378callback to be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
379
380Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
381presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
382callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
383
384Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
385invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
386that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
387but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
388
389The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
390between multiple watchers, and AnyEvent will ensure that signals will not
391interrupt your program at bad times.
392
393This watcher might use C<%SIG> (depending on the event loop used),
394so programs overwriting those signals directly will likely not work
395correctly.
396
397Example: exit on SIGINT
398
399 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
400
401=head3 Signal Races, Delays and Workarounds
402
403Many event loops (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt, IO::Async) do not support attaching
404callbacks to signals in a generic way, which is a pity, as you cannot
405do race-free signal handling in perl, requiring C libraries for
406this. AnyEvent will try to do it's best, which means in some cases,
407signals will be delayed. The maximum time a signal might be delayed is
408specified in C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY> (default: 10 seconds). This
409variable can be changed only before the first signal watcher is created,
410and should be left alone otherwise. This variable determines how often
411AnyEvent polls for signals (in case a wake-up was missed). Higher values
412will cause fewer spurious wake-ups, which is better for power and CPU
413saving.
414
415All these problems can be avoided by installing the optional
416L<Async::Interrupt> module, which works with most event loops. It will not
417work with inherently broken event loops such as L<Event> or L<Event::Lib>
418(and not with L<POE> currently, as POE does it's own workaround with
419one-second latency). For those, you just have to suffer the delays.
420
421=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
422
423 $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => <process id>, cb => <callback>);
424
425You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status.
426
427The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (one some backends,
428using C<0> watches for any child process exit, on others this will
429croak). The watcher will be triggered only when the child process has
430finished and an exit status is available, not on any trace events
431(stopped/continued).
432
433The callback will be called with the pid and exit status (as returned by
434waitpid), so unlike other watcher types, you I<can> rely on child watcher
435callback arguments.
436
437This watcher type works by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>,
438and since it cannot be shared, nothing else should use SIGCHLD or reap
439random child processes (waiting for specific child processes, e.g. inside
440C<system>, is just fine).
441
442There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
443I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
444have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
445
446Not all event models handle this correctly (neither POE nor IO::Async do,
447see their AnyEvent::Impl manpages for details), but even for event models
448that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be loaded before
449the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place). AnyEvent's
450pure perl event loop handles all cases correctly regardless of when you
451start the watcher.
452
453This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first
454thing in an AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one
455watcher before you C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call
456C<AnyEvent::detect>).
457
458As most event loops do not support waiting for child events, they will be
459emulated by AnyEvent in most cases, in which the latency and race problems
460mentioned in the description of signal watchers apply.
461
462Example: fork a process and wait for it
463
464 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
465
466 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
467
468 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
469 pid => $pid,
470 cb => sub {
471 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
472 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
473 $done->send;
474 },
475 );
476
477 # do something else, then wait for process exit
478 $done->recv;
479
480=head2 IDLE WATCHERS
481
482 $w = AnyEvent->idle (cb => <callback>);
483
484Sometimes there is a need to do something, but it is not so important
485to do it instantly, but only when there is nothing better to do. This
486"nothing better to do" is usually defined to be "no other events need
487attention by the event loop".
488
489Idle watchers ideally get invoked when the event loop has nothing
490better to do, just before it would block the process to wait for new
491events. Instead of blocking, the idle watcher is invoked.
492
493Most event loops unfortunately do not really support idle watchers (only
494EV, Event and Glib do it in a usable fashion) - for the rest, AnyEvent
495will simply call the callback "from time to time".
496
497Example: read lines from STDIN, but only process them when the
498program is otherwise idle:
499
500 my @lines; # read data
501 my $idle_w;
502 my $io_w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
503 push @lines, scalar <STDIN>;
504
505 # start an idle watcher, if not already done
506 $idle_w ||= AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub {
507 # handle only one line, when there are lines left
508 if (my $line = shift @lines) {
509 print "handled when idle: $line";
510 } else {
511 # otherwise disable the idle watcher again
512 undef $idle_w;
513 }
514 });
515 });
516
517=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
518
519 $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
520
521 $cv->send (<list>);
522 my @res = $cv->recv;
523
524If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
525require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
526will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
527
528AnyEvent is slightly different: it expects somebody else to run the event
529loop and will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
530
531The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
532because they represent a condition that must become true.
533
534Now is probably a good time to look at the examples further below.
535
536Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
537>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
538C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
539becomes true, with the condition variable as the first argument (but not
540the results).
541
542After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
543by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
544were a callback, read about the caveats in the description for the C<<
545->send >> method).
546
547Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
548optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
549in time where multiple outstanding events have been processed. And yet
550another way to call them is transactions - each condition variable can be
551used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
552a result. And yet some people know them as "futures" - a promise to
553compute/deliver something that you can wait for.
554
555Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
556for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
557then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
558availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
559called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
560
561You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
562you can block your main program until an event occurs - for example, you
563could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
564button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
565
566Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
567two pieces of code that call C<< ->recv >> in a round-robin fashion, you
568lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
569you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
570as this asks for trouble.
571
572Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
573used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
574easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
575AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
576it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
577
578There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
579eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
580for the send to occur.
581
582Example: wait for a timer.
150 583
151 # wait till the result is ready 584 # wait till the result is ready
152 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar; 585 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
153 586
154 # do something such as adding a timer 587 # do something such as adding a timer
155 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast 588 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->send
156 # when the "result" is ready. 589 # when the "result" is ready.
590 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
591 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
592 after => 1,
593 cb => sub { $result_ready->send },
594 );
157 595
596 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
597 # calls -<send
158 $result_ready->wait; 598 $result_ready->recv;
599
600Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that condition
601variables are also callable directly.
602
603 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
604 my $delay = AnyEvent->timer (after => 5, cb => $done);
605 $done->recv;
606
607Example: Imagine an API that returns a condvar and doesn't support
608callbacks. This is how you make a synchronous call, for example from
609the main program:
610
611 use AnyEvent::CouchDB;
612
613 ...
614
615 my @info = $couchdb->info->recv;
616
617And this is how you would just set a callback to be called whenever the
618results are available:
619
620 $couchdb->info->cb (sub {
621 my @info = $_[0]->recv;
622 });
623
624=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
625
626These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
627code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
628the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
629uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
630
631=over 4
632
633=item $cv->send (...)
634
635Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
636calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
637called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
638
639If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
640immediately from within send.
641
642Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
643future C<< ->recv >> calls.
644
645Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly (as if
646they were a code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling
647C<send>.
648
649=item $cv->croak ($error)
650
651Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
652C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
653
654This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
655user/consumer. Doing it this way instead of calling C<croak> directly
656delays the error detetcion, but has the overwhelmign advantage that it
657diagnoses the error at the place where the result is expected, and not
658deep in some event clalback without connection to the actual code causing
659the problem.
660
661=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
662
663=item $cv->end
664
665These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
666one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
667to use a condition variable for the whole process.
668
669Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
670C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
671>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed. That callback
672is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send >>, but that is not required. If no
673callback was set, C<send> will be called without any arguments.
674
675You can think of C<< $cv->send >> giving you an OR condition (one call
676sends), while C<< $cv->begin >> and C<< $cv->end >> giving you an AND
677condition (all C<begin> calls must be C<end>'ed before the condvar sends).
678
679Let's start with a simple example: you have two I/O watchers (for example,
680STDOUT and STDERR for a program), and you want to wait for both streams to
681close before activating a condvar:
682
683 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
684
685 $cv->begin; # first watcher
686 my $w1 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh1, cb => sub {
687 defined sysread $fh1, my $buf, 4096
688 or $cv->end;
689 });
690
691 $cv->begin; # second watcher
692 my $w2 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh2, cb => sub {
693 defined sysread $fh2, my $buf, 4096
694 or $cv->end;
695 });
696
697 $cv->recv;
698
699This works because for every event source (EOF on file handle), there is
700one call to C<begin>, so the condvar waits for all calls to C<end> before
701sending.
702
703The ping example mentioned above is slightly more complicated, as the
704there are results to be passwd back, and the number of tasks that are
705begung can potentially be zero:
706
707 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
708
709 my %result;
710 $cv->begin (sub { $cv->send (\%result) });
711
712 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
713 $cv->begin;
714 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
715 $result{$host} = ...;
716 $cv->end;
717 };
718 }
719
720 $cv->end;
721
722This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
723C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
724order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
725each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
726it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
727results arrive is not relevant.
728
729There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
730loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
731to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
732C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
733doesn't execute once).
734
735This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple (but
736potentially none) subrequests: use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set
737the callback and ensure C<end> is called at least once, and then, for each
738subrequest you start, call C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish,
739call C<end>.
159 740
160=back 741=back
161 742
162=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS 743=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
163 744
164You can listen for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal 745These 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 746code 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 (or any child if the pid argument is 0). The watcher will
180trigger as often as status change for the child are received. This works
181by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with
182the pid and exit status (as returned by waitpid).
183
184Example: wait for pid 1333
185
186 my $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => 1333, cb => sub { warn "exit status $?" });
187
188=head1 GLOBALS
189 747
190=over 4 748=over 4
191 749
750=item $cv->recv
751
752Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
753>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
754normally.
755
756You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
757will return immediately.
758
759If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
760function will call C<croak>.
761
762In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
763in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
764
765Note that doing a blocking wait in a callback is not supported by any
766event loop, that is, recursive invocation of a blocking C<< ->recv
767>> is not allowed, and the C<recv> call will C<croak> if such a
768condition is detected. This condition can be slightly loosened by using
769L<Coro::AnyEvent>, which allows you to do a blocking C<< ->recv >> from
770any thread that doesn't run the event loop itself.
771
772Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
773(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
774using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>. Instead, let the
775caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
776condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
777callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
778while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
779
780You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
781only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
782time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
783waits otherwise.
784
785=item $bool = $cv->ready
786
787Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
788C<croak> have been called.
789
790=item $cb = $cv->cb ($cb->($cv))
791
792This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
793replaces it before doing so.
794
795The callback will be called when the condition becomes (or already was)
796"true", i.e. when C<send> or C<croak> are called (or were called), with
797the only argument being the condition variable itself. Calling C<recv>
798inside the callback or at any later time is guaranteed not to block.
799
800=back
801
802=head1 SUPPORTED EVENT LOOPS/BACKENDS
803
804The available backend classes are (every class has its own manpage):
805
806=over 4
807
808=item Backends that are autoprobed when no other event loop can be found.
809
810EV is the preferred backend when no other event loop seems to be in
811use. If EV is not installed, then AnyEvent will fall back to its own
812pure-perl implementation, which is available everywhere as it comes with
813AnyEvent itself.
814
815 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (interface to libev, best choice).
816 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
817
818=item Backends that are transparently being picked up when they are used.
819
820These will be used when they are currently loaded when the first watcher
821is created, in which case it is assumed that the application is using
822them. This means that AnyEvent will automatically pick the right backend
823when the main program loads an event module before anything starts to
824create watchers. Nothing special needs to be done by the main program.
825
826 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, very stable, few glitches.
827 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, slow but very stable.
828 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very broken.
829 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
830 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, very slow, some limitations.
831 AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi used when running within irssi.
832
833=item Backends with special needs.
834
835Qt requires the Qt::Application to be instantiated first, but will
836otherwise be picked up automatically. As long as the main program
837instantiates the application before any AnyEvent watchers are created,
838everything should just work.
839
840 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt.
841
842Support for IO::Async can only be partial, as it is too broken and
843architecturally limited to even support the AnyEvent API. It also
844is the only event loop that needs the loop to be set explicitly, so
845it can only be used by a main program knowing about AnyEvent. See
846L<AnyEvent::Impl::Async> for the gory details.
847
848 AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync based on IO::Async, cannot be autoprobed.
849
850=item Event loops that are indirectly supported via other backends.
851
852Some event loops can be supported via other modules:
853
854There is no direct support for WxWidgets (L<Wx>) or L<Prima>.
855
856B<WxWidgets> has no support for watching file handles. However, you can
857use WxWidgets through the POE adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply
858polls 20 times per second, which was considered to be too horrible to even
859consider for AnyEvent.
860
861B<Prima> is not supported as nobody seems to be using it, but it has a POE
862backend, so it can be supported through POE.
863
864AnyEvent knows about both L<Prima> and L<Wx>, however, and will try to
865load L<POE> when detecting them, in the hope that POE will pick them up,
866in which case everything will be automatic.
867
868=back
869
870=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
871
872These are not normally required to use AnyEvent, but can be useful to
873write AnyEvent extension modules.
874
875=over 4
876
192=item $AnyEvent::MODEL 877=item $AnyEvent::MODEL
193 878
194Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created. Then it 879Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created, before the
880backend has been autodetected.
881
195contains the event model that is being used, which is the name of the 882Afterwards it contains the event model that is being used, which is the
196Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one of the 883name of the Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one
197C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case 884of the C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the
198AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>). 885case AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode> it
199 886will be C<urxvt::anyevent>).
200The known classes so far are:
201
202 EV::AnyEvent based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice)
203 AnyEvent::Impl::Coro based on Coro::Event, second best choice.
204 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, also second best choice :)
205 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, second-best choice.
206 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
207 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient.
208 887
209=item AnyEvent::detect 888=item AnyEvent::detect
210 889
211Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model if 890Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
212necessary. You should only call this function right before you would have 891if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
213created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, very late at runtime. 892have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
893runtime, and not e.g. while initialising of your module.
894
895If you need to do some initialisation before AnyEvent watchers are
896created, use C<post_detect>.
897
898=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
899
900Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
901autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
902
903The block will be executed I<after> the actual backend has been detected
904(C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> is set), but I<before> any watchers have been
905created, so it is possible to e.g. patch C<@AnyEvent::ISA> or do
906other initialisations - see the sources of L<AnyEvent::Strict> or
907L<AnyEvent::AIO> to see how this is used.
908
909The most common usage is to create some global watchers, without forcing
910event module detection too early, for example, L<AnyEvent::AIO> creates
911and installs the global L<IO::AIO> watcher in a C<post_detect> block to
912avoid autodetecting the event module at load time.
913
914If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
915that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed (or
916C<undef> when the hook was immediately executed). See L<AnyEvent::AIO> for
917a case where this is useful.
918
919Example: Create a watcher for the IO::AIO module and store it in
920C<$WATCHER>. Only do so after the event loop is initialised, though.
921
922 our WATCHER;
923
924 my $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect {
925 $WATCHER = AnyEvent->io (fh => IO::AIO::poll_fileno, poll => 'r', cb => \&IO::AIO::poll_cb);
926 };
927
928 # the ||= is important in case post_detect immediately runs the block,
929 # as to not clobber the newly-created watcher. assigning both watcher and
930 # post_detect guard to the same variable has the advantage of users being
931 # able to just C<undef $WATCHER> if the watcher causes them grief.
932
933 $WATCHER ||= $guard;
934
935=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
936
937If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
938before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
939the event loop has been chosen.
940
941You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
942if it is defined then the event loop has already been detected, and the
943array will be ignored.
944
945Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> when your application allows
946it,as it takes care of these details.
947
948This variable is mainly useful for modules that can do something useful
949when AnyEvent is used and thus want to know when it is initialised, but do
950not need to even load it by default. This array provides the means to hook
951into AnyEvent passively, without loading it.
214 952
215=back 953=back
216 954
217=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE 955=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
218 956
219As a module author, you should "use AnyEvent" and call AnyEvent methods 957As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods
220freely, but you should not load a specific event module or rely on it. 958freely, but you should not load a specific event module or rely on it.
221 959
222Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - Anyevent will 960Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
223decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so 961decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
224by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module 962by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
225to load the event module first. 963to load the event module first.
226 964
965Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
966the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
967because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
968events is to stay interactive.
969
970It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
971requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
972called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
973freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
974
227=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM 975=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
228 976
229There will always be a single main program - the only place that should 977There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
230dictate which event model to use. 978dictate which event model to use.
231 979
232If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not 980If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not
233do anything special and let AnyEvent decide which implementation to chose. 981do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
982decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
234 983
235If the main program relies on a specific event model (for example, in Gtk2 984If the main program relies on a specific event model - for example, in
236programs you have to rely on either Glib or Glib::Event), you should load 985Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module - you should load the
237it before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it, generally, as early 986event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
238as possible. The reason is that modules might create watchers when they 987speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
239are loaded, and AnyEvent will decide on the event model to use as soon as 988modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
240it creates watchers, and it might chose the wrong one unless you load the 989decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
241correct one yourself. 990might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
242 991
243You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by 992You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
244loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, but letting AnyEvent chose is 993C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
245generally better. 994everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
995
996=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
997
998Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
999only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
1000
1001In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
1002
1003 AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
1004
1005This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
1006
1007Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
1008it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
1009variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
1010exit cleanly.
1011
1012
1013=head1 OTHER MODULES
1014
1015The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
1016AnyEvent as a client and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent
1017modules and other event loops in the same program. Some of the modules
1018come with AnyEvent, most are available via CPAN.
1019
1020=over 4
1021
1022=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
1023
1024Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
1025functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
1026
1027=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
1028
1029Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
1030addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
1031connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
1032
1033=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
1034
1035Provide read and write buffers, manages watchers for reads and writes,
1036supports raw and formatted I/O, I/O queued and fully transparent and
1037non-blocking SSL/TLS (via L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
1038
1039=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
1040
1041Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
1042
1043=item L<AnyEvent::HTTP>
1044
1045A simple-to-use HTTP library that is capable of making a lot of concurrent
1046HTTP requests.
1047
1048=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
1049
1050Provides a simple web application server framework.
1051
1052=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
1053
1054The fastest ping in the west.
1055
1056=item L<AnyEvent::DBI>
1057
1058Executes L<DBI> requests asynchronously in a proxy process.
1059
1060=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>
1061
1062Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
1063programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses L<IO::AIO> and AnyEvent
1064together.
1065
1066=item L<AnyEvent::BDB>
1067
1068Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. AnyEvent::BDB transparently fuses
1069L<BDB> and AnyEvent together.
1070
1071=item L<AnyEvent::GPSD>
1072
1073A non-blocking interface to gpsd, a daemon delivering GPS information.
1074
1075=item L<AnyEvent::IRC>
1076
1077AnyEvent based IRC client module family (replacing the older Net::IRC3).
1078
1079=item L<AnyEvent::XMPP>
1080
1081AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family (replacing the older
1082Net::XMPP2>.
1083
1084=item L<AnyEvent::IGS>
1085
1086A non-blocking interface to the Internet Go Server protocol (used by
1087L<App::IGS>).
1088
1089=item L<Net::FCP>
1090
1091AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
1092of AnyEvent.
1093
1094=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
1095
1096High level API for event-based execution flow control.
1097
1098=item L<Coro>
1099
1100Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
1101
1102=back
246 1103
247=cut 1104=cut
248 1105
249package AnyEvent; 1106package AnyEvent;
250 1107
1108# basically a tuned-down version of common::sense
1109sub common_sense {
251no warnings; 1110 # no warnings
252use strict; 1111 ${^WARNING_BITS} ^= ${^WARNING_BITS};
1112 # use strict vars subs
1113 $^H |= 0x00000600;
1114}
253 1115
1116BEGIN { AnyEvent::common_sense }
1117
254use Carp; 1118use Carp ();
255 1119
256our $VERSION = '2.55'; 1120our $VERSION = '5.0';
257our $MODEL; 1121our $MODEL;
258 1122
259our $AUTOLOAD; 1123our $AUTOLOAD;
260our @ISA; 1124our @ISA;
261 1125
262our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
263
264our @REGISTRY; 1126our @REGISTRY;
265 1127
1128our $WIN32;
1129
1130our $VERBOSE;
1131
1132BEGIN {
1133 eval "sub WIN32(){ " . (($^O =~ /mswin32/i)*1) ." }";
1134 eval "sub TAINT(){ " . (${^TAINT}*1) . " }";
1135
1136 delete @ENV{grep /^PERL_ANYEVENT_/, keys %ENV}
1137 if ${^TAINT};
1138
1139 $VERBOSE = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
1140
1141}
1142
1143our $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY = 10;
1144
1145our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2), higher numbers are preferred
1146
1147{
1148 my $idx;
1149 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
1150 for reverse split /\s*,\s*/,
1151 $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
1152}
1153
266my @models = ( 1154my @models = (
267 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Coro::],
268 [EV:: => EV::AnyEvent::], 1155 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV:: , 1],
1156 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: , 1],
1157 # everything below here will not (normally) be autoprobed
1158 # as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
1159 # and is usually faster
269 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 1160 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::, 1],
270 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], 1161 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib:: , 1], # becomes extremely slow with many watchers
1162 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
1163 [Irssi:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi::], # Irssi has a bogus "Event" package
1164 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], # crashes with many handles
1165 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
1166 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
271 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], 1167 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
272 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::], 1168 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
1169 # IO::Async is just too broken - we would need workarounds for its
1170 # byzantine signal and broken child handling, among others.
1171 # IO::Async is rather hard to detect, as it doesn't have any
1172 # obvious default class.
1173 [IO::Async:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1174 [IO::Async::Loop:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1175 [IO::Async::Notifier:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1176 [AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
273); 1177);
274 1178
275our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer condvar broadcast wait signal one_event DESTROY); 1179our %method = map +($_ => 1),
1180 qw(io timer time now now_update signal child idle condvar one_event DESTROY);
1181
1182our @post_detect;
1183
1184sub post_detect(&) {
1185 my ($cb) = @_;
1186
1187 if ($MODEL) {
1188 $cb->();
1189
1190 undef
1191 } else {
1192 push @post_detect, $cb;
1193
1194 defined wantarray
1195 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::postdetect"
1196 : ()
1197 }
1198}
1199
1200sub AnyEvent::Util::postdetect::DESTROY {
1201 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
1202}
276 1203
277sub detect() { 1204sub detect() {
278 unless ($MODEL) { 1205 unless ($MODEL) {
279 no strict 'refs'; 1206 local $SIG{__DIE__};
1207
1208 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
1209 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
1210 if (eval "require $model") {
1211 $MODEL = $model;
1212 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}), using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
1213 } else {
1214 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}):\n$@" if $VERBOSE;
1215 }
1216 }
280 1217
281 # check for already loaded models 1218 # check for already loaded models
1219 unless ($MODEL) {
282 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 1220 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
283 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 1221 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
284 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 1222 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
285 if (eval "require $model") { 1223 if (eval "require $model") {
286 $MODEL = $model; 1224 $MODEL = $model;
287 warn "AnyEvent: found model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1225 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
288 last; 1226 last;
1227 }
289 } 1228 }
290 } 1229 }
1230
1231 unless ($MODEL) {
1232 # try to autoload a model
1233 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
1234 my ($package, $model, $autoload) = @$_;
1235 if (
1236 $autoload
1237 and eval "require $package"
1238 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
1239 and eval "require $model"
1240 ) {
1241 $MODEL = $model;
1242 warn "AnyEvent: autoloaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
1243 last;
1244 }
1245 }
1246
1247 $MODEL
1248 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.\n";
1249 }
291 } 1250 }
292 1251
293 unless ($MODEL) { 1252 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
294 # try to load a model
295
296 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
297 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
298 if (eval "require $package"
299 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
300 and eval "require $model") {
301 $MODEL = $model;
302 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed and loaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
303 last;
304 }
305 }
306
307 $MODEL
308 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: Event (or Coro+Event), Glib or Tk.";
309 }
310 1253
311 unshift @ISA, $MODEL; 1254 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
312 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base"; 1255
1256 require AnyEvent::Strict if $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT};
1257
1258 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
313 } 1259 }
314 1260
315 $MODEL 1261 $MODEL
316} 1262}
317 1263
318sub AUTOLOAD { 1264sub AUTOLOAD {
319 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://; 1265 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://;
320 1266
321 $method{$func} 1267 $method{$func}
322 or croak "$func: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects"; 1268 or Carp::croak "$func: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects";
323 1269
324 detect unless $MODEL; 1270 detect unless $MODEL;
325 1271
326 my $class = shift; 1272 my $class = shift;
327 $class->$func (@_); 1273 $class->$func (@_);
328} 1274}
329 1275
1276# utility function to dup a filehandle. this is used by many backends
1277# to support binding more than one watcher per filehandle (they usually
1278# allow only one watcher per fd, so we dup it to get a different one).
1279sub _dupfh($$;$$) {
1280 my ($poll, $fh, $r, $w) = @_;
1281
1282 # cygwin requires the fh mode to be matching, unix doesn't
1283 my ($rw, $mode) = $poll eq "r" ? ($r, "<&") : ($w, ">&");
1284
1285 open my $fh2, $mode, $fh
1286 or die "AnyEvent->io: cannot dup() filehandle in mode '$poll': $!,";
1287
1288 # we assume CLOEXEC is already set by perl in all important cases
1289
1290 ($fh2, $rw)
1291}
1292
1293=head1 SIMPLIFIED AE API
1294
1295Starting with version 5.0, AnyEvent officially supports a second, much
1296simpler, API that is designed to reduce the calling, typing and memory
1297overhead.
1298
1299See the L<AE> manpage for details.
1300
1301=cut
1302
1303package AE;
1304
1305our $VERSION = $AnyEvent::VERSION;
1306
1307sub io($$$) {
1308 AnyEvent->io (fh => $_[0], poll => $_[1] ? "w" : "r", cb => $_[2])
1309}
1310
1311sub timer($$$) {
1312 AnyEvent->timer (after => $_[0], interval => $_[1], cb => $_[2])
1313}
1314
1315sub signal($$) {
1316 AnyEvent->signal (signal => $_[0], cb => $_[1])
1317}
1318
1319sub child($$) {
1320 AnyEvent->child (pid => $_[0], cb => $_[1])
1321}
1322
1323sub idle($) {
1324 AnyEvent->idle (cb => $_[0])
1325}
1326
1327sub cv(;&) {
1328 AnyEvent->condvar (@_ ? (cb => $_[0]) : ())
1329}
1330
1331sub now() {
1332 AnyEvent->now
1333}
1334
1335sub now_update() {
1336 AnyEvent->now_update
1337}
1338
1339sub time() {
1340 AnyEvent->time
1341}
1342
330package AnyEvent::Base; 1343package AnyEvent::Base;
331 1344
1345# default implementations for many methods
1346
1347sub _time {
1348 # probe for availability of Time::HiRes
1349 if (eval "use Time::HiRes (); Time::HiRes::time (); 1") {
1350 warn "AnyEvent: using Time::HiRes for sub-second timing accuracy.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1351 *_time = \&Time::HiRes::time;
1352 # if (eval "use POSIX (); (POSIX::times())...
1353 } else {
1354 warn "AnyEvent: using built-in time(), WARNING, no sub-second resolution!\n" if $VERBOSE;
1355 *_time = sub { time }; # epic fail
1356 }
1357
1358 &_time
1359}
1360
1361sub time { _time }
1362sub now { _time }
1363sub now_update { }
1364
332# default implementation for ->condvar, ->wait, ->broadcast 1365# default implementation for ->condvar
333 1366
334sub condvar { 1367sub condvar {
335 bless \my $flag, "AnyEvent::Base::CondVar" 1368 bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, "AnyEvent::CondVar"
336}
337
338sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::broadcast {
339 ${$_[0]}++;
340}
341
342sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::wait {
343 AnyEvent->one_event while !${$_[0]};
344} 1369}
345 1370
346# default implementation for ->signal 1371# default implementation for ->signal
347 1372
348our %SIG_CB; 1373our $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1374
1375sub _have_async_interrupt() {
1376 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT = 1*(!$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT}
1377 && eval "use Async::Interrupt 1.0 (); 1")
1378 unless defined $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1379
1380 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1381}
1382
1383our ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W, %SIG_CB, %SIG_EV, $SIG_IO);
1384our (%SIG_ASY, %SIG_ASY_W);
1385our ($SIG_COUNT, $SIG_TW);
1386
1387sub _signal_exec {
1388 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1389 ? $SIGPIPE_R->drain
1390 : sysread $SIGPIPE_R, my $dummy, 9;
1391
1392 while (%SIG_EV) {
1393 for (keys %SIG_EV) {
1394 delete $SIG_EV{$_};
1395 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$_} || {} };
1396 }
1397 }
1398}
1399
1400# install a dummy wakeup watcher to reduce signal catching latency
1401sub _sig_add() {
1402 unless ($SIG_COUNT++) {
1403 # try to align timer on a full-second boundary, if possible
1404 my $NOW = AE::now;
1405
1406 $SIG_TW = AE::timer
1407 $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY - ($NOW - int $NOW),
1408 $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY,
1409 sub { } # just for the PERL_ASYNC_CHECK
1410 ;
1411 }
1412}
1413
1414sub _sig_del {
1415 undef $SIG_TW
1416 unless --$SIG_COUNT;
1417}
1418
1419our $_sig_name_init; $_sig_name_init = sub {
1420 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading
1421 undef $_sig_name_init;
1422
1423 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1424 *sig2num = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2num;
1425 *sig2name = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2name;
1426 } else {
1427 require Config;
1428
1429 my %signame2num;
1430 @signame2num{ split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_name} }
1431 = split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_num};
1432
1433 my @signum2name;
1434 @signum2name[values %signame2num] = keys %signame2num;
1435
1436 *sig2num = sub($) {
1437 $_[0] > 0 ? shift : $signame2num{+shift}
1438 };
1439 *sig2name = sub ($) {
1440 $_[0] > 0 ? $signum2name[+shift] : shift
1441 };
1442 }
1443 };
1444 die if $@;
1445};
1446
1447sub sig2num ($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2num }
1448sub sig2name($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2name }
349 1449
350sub signal { 1450sub signal {
1451 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1452 # probe for availability of Async::Interrupt
1453 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1454 warn "AnyEvent: using Async::Interrupt for race-free signal handling.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1455
1456 $SIGPIPE_R = new Async::Interrupt::EventPipe;
1457 $SIG_IO = AE::io $SIGPIPE_R->fileno, 0, \&_signal_exec;
1458
1459 } else {
1460 warn "AnyEvent: using emulated perl signal handling with latency timer.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1461
1462 require Fcntl;
1463
1464 if (AnyEvent::WIN32) {
1465 require AnyEvent::Util;
1466
1467 ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_pipe ();
1468 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_R, 1) if $SIGPIPE_R;
1469 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_W, 1) if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1470 } else {
1471 pipe $SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W;
1472 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_R;
1473 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1474
1475 # not strictly required, as $^F is normally 2, but let's make sure...
1476 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1477 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1478 }
1479
1480 $SIGPIPE_R
1481 or Carp::croak "AnyEvent: unable to create a signal reporting pipe: $!\n";
1482
1483 $SIG_IO = AE::io $SIGPIPE_R, 0, \&_signal_exec;
1484 }
1485
1486 *signal = sub {
351 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1487 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
352 1488
353 my $signal = uc $arg{signal} 1489 my $signal = uc $arg{signal}
354 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing"; 1490 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing";
355 1491
1492 if ($HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT) {
1493 # async::interrupt
1494
1495 $signal = sig2num $signal;
356 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1496 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1497
1498 $SIG_ASY{$signal} ||= new Async::Interrupt
1499 cb => sub { undef $SIG_EV{$signal} },
1500 signal => $signal,
1501 pipe => [$SIGPIPE_R->filenos],
1502 pipe_autodrain => 0,
1503 ;
1504
1505 } else {
1506 # pure perl
1507
1508 # AE::Util has been loaded in signal
1509 $signal = sig2name $signal;
1510 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1511
357 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub { 1512 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub {
358 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} || {} }; 1513 local $!;
1514 syswrite $SIGPIPE_W, "\x00", 1 unless %SIG_EV;
1515 undef $SIG_EV{$signal};
1516 };
1517
1518 # can't do signal processing without introducing races in pure perl,
1519 # so limit the signal latency.
1520 _sig_add;
1521 }
1522
1523 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::signal"
1524 };
1525
1526 *AnyEvent::Base::signal::DESTROY = sub {
1527 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
1528
1529 _sig_del;
1530
1531 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
1532
1533 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1534 ? delete $SIG_ASY{$signal}
1535 : # delete doesn't work with older perls - they then
1536 # print weird messages, or just unconditionally exit
1537 # instead of getting the default action.
1538 undef $SIG{$signal}
1539 unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
1540 };
359 }; 1541 };
360 1542 die if $@;
361 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Signal" 1543 &signal
362}
363
364sub AnyEvent::Base::Signal::DESTROY {
365 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
366
367 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
368
369 $SIG{$signal} = 'DEFAULT' unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
370} 1544}
371 1545
372# default implementation for ->child 1546# default implementation for ->child
373 1547
374our %PID_CB; 1548our %PID_CB;
375our $CHLD_W; 1549our $CHLD_W;
376our $PID_IDLE; 1550our $CHLD_DELAY_W;
377our $WNOHANG; 1551our $WNOHANG;
378 1552
379sub _child_wait { 1553sub _emit_childstatus($$) {
380 while (0 <= (my $pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG)) { 1554 my (undef, $rpid, $rstatus) = @_;
1555
1556 $_->($rpid, $rstatus)
381 $_->($pid, $?) for (values %{ $PID_CB{$pid} || {} }), 1557 for values %{ $PID_CB{$rpid} || {} },
382 (values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} }); 1558 values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} };
383 } 1559}
384 1560
385 undef $PID_IDLE; 1561sub _sigchld {
1562 my $pid;
1563
1564 AnyEvent->_emit_childstatus ($pid, $?)
1565 while ($pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG) > 0;
386} 1566}
387 1567
388sub child { 1568sub child {
389 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1569 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
390 1570
391 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0) 1571 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0)
392 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing"; 1572 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing";
393 1573
394 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1574 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
395 1575
396 unless ($WNOHANG) { 1576 # WNOHANG is almost cetrainly 1 everywhere
397 $WNOHANG = eval { require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1; 1577 $WNOHANG ||= $^O =~ /^(?:openbsd|netbsd|linux|freebsd|cygwin|MSWin32)$/
1578 ? 1
1579 : eval { local $SIG{__DIE__}; require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;
1580
1581 unless ($CHLD_W) {
1582 $CHLD_W = AE::signal CHLD => \&_sigchld;
1583 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
1584 &_sigchld;
398 } 1585 }
399 1586
400 unless ($CHLD_W) {
401 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_child_wait);
402 # child could be a zombie already
403 $PID_IDLE ||= AnyEvent->timer (after => 0, cb => \&_child_wait);
404 }
405
406 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Child" 1587 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::child"
407} 1588}
408 1589
409sub AnyEvent::Base::Child::DESTROY { 1590sub AnyEvent::Base::child::DESTROY {
410 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]}; 1591 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
411 1592
412 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb}; 1593 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb};
413 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} }; 1594 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
414 1595
415 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB; 1596 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
416} 1597}
417 1598
1599# idle emulation is done by simply using a timer, regardless
1600# of whether the process is idle or not, and not letting
1601# the callback use more than 50% of the time.
1602sub idle {
1603 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1604
1605 my ($cb, $w, $rcb) = $arg{cb};
1606
1607 $rcb = sub {
1608 if ($cb) {
1609 $w = _time;
1610 &$cb;
1611 $w = _time - $w;
1612
1613 # never use more then 50% of the time for the idle watcher,
1614 # within some limits
1615 $w = 0.0001 if $w < 0.0001;
1616 $w = 5 if $w > 5;
1617
1618 $w = AE::timer $w, 0, $rcb;
1619 } else {
1620 # clean up...
1621 undef $w;
1622 undef $rcb;
1623 }
1624 };
1625
1626 $w = AE::timer 0.05, 0, $rcb;
1627
1628 bless \\$cb, "AnyEvent::Base::idle"
1629}
1630
1631sub AnyEvent::Base::idle::DESTROY {
1632 undef $${$_[0]};
1633}
1634
1635package AnyEvent::CondVar;
1636
1637our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
1638
1639package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
1640
1641#use overload
1642# '&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
1643# fallback => 1;
1644
1645# save 300+ kilobytes by dirtily hardcoding overloading
1646${"AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::OVERLOAD"}{dummy}++; # Register with magic by touching.
1647*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = sub { }; # "Make it findable via fetchmethod."
1648*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::(&{}'} = sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } }; # &{}
1649${'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = 1; # fallback
1650
1651our $WAITING;
1652
1653sub _send {
1654 # nop
1655}
1656
1657sub send {
1658 my $cv = shift;
1659 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
1660 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
1661 $cv->_send;
1662}
1663
1664sub croak {
1665 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
1666 $_[0]->send;
1667}
1668
1669sub ready {
1670 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
1671}
1672
1673sub _wait {
1674 $WAITING
1675 and !$_[0]{_ae_sent}
1676 and Carp::croak "AnyEvent::CondVar: recursive blocking wait detected";
1677
1678 local $WAITING = 1;
1679 AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
1680}
1681
1682sub recv {
1683 $_[0]->_wait;
1684
1685 Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
1686 wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
1687}
1688
1689sub cb {
1690 my $cv = shift;
1691
1692 @_
1693 and $cv->{_ae_cb} = shift
1694 and $cv->{_ae_sent}
1695 and (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv);
1696
1697 $cv->{_ae_cb}
1698}
1699
1700sub begin {
1701 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1702 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1703}
1704
1705sub end {
1706 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1707 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
1708}
1709
1710# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
1711*broadcast = \&send;
1712*wait = \&_wait;
1713
1714=head1 ERROR AND EXCEPTION HANDLING
1715
1716In general, AnyEvent does not do any error handling - it relies on the
1717caller to do that if required. The L<AnyEvent::Strict> module (see also
1718the C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT> environment variable, below) provides strict
1719checking of all AnyEvent methods, however, which is highly useful during
1720development.
1721
1722As for exception handling (i.e. runtime errors and exceptions thrown while
1723executing a callback), this is not only highly event-loop specific, but
1724also not in any way wrapped by this module, as this is the job of the main
1725program.
1726
1727The pure perl event loop simply re-throws the exception (usually
1728within C<< condvar->recv >>), the L<Event> and L<EV> modules call C<<
1729$Event/EV::DIED->() >>, L<Glib> uses C<< install_exception_handler >> and
1730so on.
1731
1732=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1733
1734The following environment variables are used by this module or its
1735submodules.
1736
1737Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
1738C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
1739enabled.
1740
1741=over 4
1742
1743=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
1744
1745By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
1746conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
1747talkative.
1748
1749When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
1750conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
1751C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
1752
1753When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
1754model it chooses.
1755
1756When set to C<8> or higher, then AnyEvent will report extra information on
1757which optional modules it loads and how it implements certain features.
1758
1759=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT>
1760
1761AnyEvent does not do much argument checking by default, as thorough
1762argument checking is very costly. Setting this variable to a true value
1763will cause AnyEvent to load C<AnyEvent::Strict> and then to thoroughly
1764check the arguments passed to most method calls. If it finds any problems,
1765it will croak.
1766
1767In other words, enables "strict" mode.
1768
1769Unlike C<use strict> (or it's modern cousin, C<< use L<common::sense>
1770>>, it is definitely recommended to keep it off in production. Keeping
1771C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT=1> in your environment while developing programs
1772can be very useful, however.
1773
1774=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
1775
1776This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
1777auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
1778entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
1779and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
1780used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
1781auto detection and -probing.
1782
1783This functionality might change in future versions.
1784
1785For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
1786could start your program like this:
1787
1788 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
1789
1790=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
1791
1792Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
1793for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
1794of auto probing).
1795
1796Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
1797current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
1798used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
1799list.
1800
1801This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
1802against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
1803small, as the program has to handle conenction and other failures anyways.
1804
1805Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
1806but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
1807- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
1808addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
1809IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
1810
1811=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
1812
1813Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
1814for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
1815some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
1816default.
1817
1818Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
1819EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
1820
1821=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_FORKS>
1822
1823The maximum number of child processes that C<AnyEvent::Util::fork_call>
1824will create in parallel.
1825
1826=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_OUTSTANDING_DNS>
1827
1828The default value for the C<max_outstanding> parameter for the default DNS
1829resolver - this is the maximum number of parallel DNS requests that are
1830sent to the DNS server.
1831
1832=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_RESOLV_CONF>
1833
1834The file to use instead of F</etc/resolv.conf> (or OS-specific
1835configuration) in the default resolver. When set to the empty string, no
1836default config will be used.
1837
1838=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_FILE>, C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_PATH>.
1839
1840When neither C<ca_file> nor C<ca_path> was specified during
1841L<AnyEvent::TLS> context creation, and either of these environment
1842variables exist, they will be used to specify CA certificate locations
1843instead of a system-dependent default.
1844
1845=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_GUARD> and C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT>
1846
1847When these are set to C<1>, then the respective modules are not
1848loaded. Mostly good for testing AnyEvent itself.
1849
1850=back
1851
418=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 1852=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
1853
1854This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
1855a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
1856provide AnyEvent compatibility.
419 1857
420If you need to support another event library which isn't directly 1858If you need to support another event library which isn't directly
421supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by 1859supported by AnyEvent, you can supply your own interface to it by
422pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of 1860pushing, before the first watcher gets created, the package name of
423the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto 1861the event module and the package name of the interface to use onto
424C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading 1862C<@AnyEvent::REGISTRY>. You can do that before and even without loading
425AnyEvent. 1863AnyEvent, so it is reasonably cheap.
426 1864
427Example: 1865Example:
428 1866
429 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::]; 1867 push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [urxvt => urxvt::anyevent::];
430 1868
431This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::> 1869This tells AnyEvent to (literally) use the C<urxvt::anyevent::>
432package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is loaded. When 1870package/class when it finds the C<urxvt> package/module is already loaded.
1871
433AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it will 1872When AnyEvent is loaded and asked to find a suitable event model, it
434first check for the presence of urxvt. 1873will first check for the presence of urxvt by trying to C<use> the
1874C<urxvt::anyevent> module.
435 1875
436The class should provide implementations for all watcher types (see 1876The class should provide implementations for all watcher types. See
437L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> 1877L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV> (source code), L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> (Source code)
438(Source code) and so on for actual examples, use C<perldoc -m 1878and so on for actual examples. Use C<perldoc -m AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to
439AnyEvent::Impl::Glib> to see the sources). 1879see the sources.
440 1880
1881If you don't provide C<signal> and C<child> watchers than AnyEvent will
1882provide suitable (hopefully) replacements.
1883
441The above isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt) 1884The above example isn't fictitious, the I<rxvt-unicode> (a.k.a. urxvt)
442uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included in AnyEvent 1885terminal emulator uses the above line as-is. An interface isn't included
443because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter inside 1886in AnyEvent because it doesn't make sense outside the embedded interpreter
444I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the 1887inside I<rxvt-unicode>, and it is updated and maintained as part of the
445I<rxvt-unicode> distribution. 1888I<rxvt-unicode> distribution.
446 1889
447I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to 1890I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to
448condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will 1891condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will
449C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must 1892C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must
450not be in an interactive application, so it makes sense. 1893not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense.
451 1894
452=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
453
454The following environment variables are used by this module:
455
456C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE> when set to C<2> or higher, reports which event
457model gets used.
458
459=head1 EXAMPLE 1895=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
460 1896
461The following program uses an io watcher to read data from stdin, a timer 1897The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
462to display a message once per second, and a condvar to exit the program 1898to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
463when the user enters quit: 1899program when the user enters quit:
464 1900
465 use AnyEvent; 1901 use AnyEvent;
466 1902
467 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar; 1903 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
468 1904
469 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 1905 my $io_watcher = AnyEvent->io (
1906 fh => \*STDIN,
1907 poll => 'r',
1908 cb => sub {
470 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 1909 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
471 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 1910 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
472 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 1911 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
473 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 1912 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
1913 },
474 }); 1914 );
475 1915
476 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once 1916 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
477 1917
478 sub new_timer { 1918 sub new_timer {
479 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub { 1919 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub {
482 }); 1922 });
483 } 1923 }
484 1924
485 new_timer; # create first timer 1925 new_timer; # create first timer
486 1926
487 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 1927 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
488 1928
489=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 1929=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
490 1930
491Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 1931Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
492API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 1932API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
542 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 1982 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
543 or die "connection or write error"; 1983 or die "connection or write error";
544 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 1984 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
545 1985
546Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 1986Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
547result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished: 1987result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
548 1988
549 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 1989 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
550 1990
551 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 1991 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
552 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 1992 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
553 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 1993 $txn->{finished}->send;
554 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 1994 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
555 } 1995 }
556 1996
557The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 1997The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
558request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the 1998request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
559data: 1999data:
560 2000
561 $txn->{finished}->wait; 2001 $txn->{finished}->recv;
562 return $txn->{result}; 2002 return $txn->{result};
563 2003
564The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 2004The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
565that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 2005that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
566wether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 2006whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
567and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 2007and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
568problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a 2008problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
569random callback. 2009random callback.
570 2010
571All of this enables the following usage styles: 2011All of this enables the following usage styles:
572 2012
5731. Blocking: 20131. Blocking:
574 2014
575 my $data = $fcp->client_get ($url); 2015 my $data = $fcp->client_get ($url);
576 2016
5772. Blocking, but parallelizing: 20172. Blocking, but running in parallel:
578 2018
579 my @datas = map $_->result, 2019 my @datas = map $_->result,
580 map $fcp->txn_client_get ($_), 2020 map $fcp->txn_client_get ($_),
581 @urls; 2021 @urls;
582 2022
583Both blocking examples work without the module user having to know 2023Both blocking examples work without the module user having to know
584anything about events. 2024anything about events.
585 2025
5863a. Event-based in a main program, using any support Event module: 20263a. Event-based in a main program, using any supported event module:
587 2027
588 use Event; 2028 use EV;
589 2029
590 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 2030 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
591 my $txn = shift; 2031 my $txn = shift;
592 my $data = $txn->result; 2032 my $data = $txn->result;
593 ... 2033 ...
594 }); 2034 });
595 2035
596 Event::loop; 2036 EV::loop;
597 2037
5983b. The module user could use AnyEvent, too: 20383b. The module user could use AnyEvent, too:
599 2039
600 use AnyEvent; 2040 use AnyEvent;
601 2041
602 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 2042 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
603 2043
604 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 2044 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
605 ... 2045 ...
606 $quit->broadcast; 2046 $quit->send;
607 }); 2047 });
608 2048
609 $quit->wait; 2049 $quit->recv;
2050
2051
2052=head1 BENCHMARKS
2053
2054To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
2055over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
2056of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
2057
2058=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
2059
2060Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
2061through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
2062timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
2063which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
2064
2065Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
2066distribution. It uses the L<AE> interface, which makes a real difference
2067for the EV and Perl backends only.
2068
2069=head3 Explanation of the columns
2070
2071I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
2072different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
2073loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
2074and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
2075would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
2076of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
2077
2078I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
2079RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
2080and Perl-based overheads.
2081
2082I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
2083takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
2084all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
2085and memory usage is not included in the figures.
2086
2087I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
2088callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
2089invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
2090signal the end of this phase.
2091
2092I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
2093watcher.
2094
2095=head3 Results
2096
2097 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
2098 EV/EV 100000 223 0.47 0.43 0.27 EV native interface
2099 EV/Any 100000 223 0.48 0.42 0.26 EV + AnyEvent watchers
2100 Coro::EV/Any 100000 223 0.47 0.42 0.26 coroutines + Coro::Signal
2101 Perl/Any 100000 431 2.70 0.74 0.92 pure perl implementation
2102 Event/Event 16000 516 31.16 31.84 0.82 Event native interface
2103 Event/Any 16000 1203 42.61 34.79 1.80 Event + AnyEvent watchers
2104 IOAsync/Any 16000 1911 41.92 27.45 16.81 via IO::Async::Loop::IO_Poll
2105 IOAsync/Any 16000 1726 40.69 26.37 15.25 via IO::Async::Loop::Epoll
2106 Glib/Any 16000 1118 89.00 12.57 51.17 quadratic behaviour
2107 Tk/Any 2000 1346 20.96 10.75 8.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
2108 POE/Any 2000 6951 108.97 795.32 14.24 via POE::Loop::Event
2109 POE/Any 2000 6648 94.79 774.40 575.51 via POE::Loop::Select
2110
2111=head3 Discussion
2112
2113The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
2114well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
2115can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
2116file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
2117the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
2118boost.
2119
2120Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
2121overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
2122the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
2123higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
2124
2125To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
2126benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
2127EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
2128cycles with POE.
2129
2130C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
2131maximal/minimal, respectively. When using the L<AE> API there is zero
2132overhead (when going through the AnyEvent API create is about 5-6 times
2133slower, with other times being equal, so still uses far less memory than
2134any other event loop and is still faster than Event natively).
2135
2136The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
2137constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
2138interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
2139adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
2140performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
2141them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
2142
2143The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
2144cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
2145
2146C<IO::Async> performs admirably well, about on par with C<Event>, even
2147when using its pure perl backend.
2148
2149C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
2150faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
2151C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
2152watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
2153making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
2154(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
2155inefficiencies of C<poll> do not account for this).
2156
2157The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
2158more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
2159precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
2160file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
2161employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
2162hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
2163above).
2164
2165C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
2166select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
2167be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
2168memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
2169as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
2170requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
2171invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
2172implementation.
2173
2174The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
2175for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
2176small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
2177optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
2178using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
2179memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
2180design).
2181
2182=head3 Summary
2183
2184=over 4
2185
2186=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
2187(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
2188performance with or without AnyEvent.
2189
2190=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
2191the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
2192adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
2193
2194=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
2195reasonable memory usage.
2196
2197=back
2198
2199=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
2200
2201This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
2202creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
2203timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
2204watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
2205watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
2206
2207The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
2208are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
2209fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
2210timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
2211most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
2212
2213In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
2214(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
2215connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
2216
2217Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
2218distribution. It uses the L<AE> interface, which makes a real difference
2219for the EV and Perl backends only.
2220
2221=head3 Explanation of the columns
2222
2223I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
2224each server has a read and write socket end).
2225
2226I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
2227nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
2228
2229I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
2230single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
2231it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
2232a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
2233
2234=head3 Results
2235
2236 name sockets create request
2237 EV 20000 62.66 7.99
2238 Perl 20000 68.32 32.64
2239 IOAsync 20000 174.06 101.15 epoll
2240 IOAsync 20000 174.67 610.84 poll
2241 Event 20000 202.69 242.91
2242 Glib 20000 557.01 1689.52
2243 POE 20000 341.54 12086.32 uses POE::Loop::Event
2244
2245=head3 Discussion
2246
2247This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
2248particular event loop.
2249
2250EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
2251is relatively high, though.
2252
2253Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
2254loops Event and Glib.
2255
2256IO::Async performs very well when using its epoll backend, and still quite
2257good compared to Glib when using its pure perl backend.
2258
2259Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
2260understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
2261the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
2262uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
2263
2264Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
2265clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
2266
2267POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
2268as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
2269it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
2270
2271=head3 Summary
2272
2273=over 4
2274
2275=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
2276
2277=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
2278
2279=back
2280
2281=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
2282
2283While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
2284large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
2285I/O watchers.
2286
2287In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
2288case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
2289one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
2290well.
2291
2292The columns are identical to the previous table.
2293
2294=head3 Results
2295
2296 name sockets create request
2297 EV 16 20.00 6.54
2298 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
2299 Event 16 81.27 35.86
2300 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
2301 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
2302
2303=head3 Discussion
2304
2305The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
2306server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
2307in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
2308to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
2309speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
2310them).
2311
2312EV is again fastest.
2313
2314Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
2315loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
2316matter.
2317
2318POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
2319others.
2320
2321=head3 Summary
2322
2323=over 4
2324
2325=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
2326watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
2327
2328=back
2329
2330=head2 THE IO::Lambda BENCHMARK
2331
2332Recently I was told about the benchmark in the IO::Lambda manpage, which
2333could be misinterpreted to make AnyEvent look bad. In fact, the benchmark
2334simply compares IO::Lambda with POE, and IO::Lambda looks better (which
2335shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody). As such, the benchmark is
2336fine, and mostly shows that the AnyEvent backend from IO::Lambda isn't
2337very optimal. But how would AnyEvent compare when used without the extra
2338baggage? To explore this, I wrote the equivalent benchmark for AnyEvent.
2339
2340The benchmark itself creates an echo-server, and then, for 500 times,
2341connects to the echo server, sends a line, waits for the reply, and then
2342creates the next connection. This is a rather bad benchmark, as it doesn't
2343test the efficiency of the framework or much non-blocking I/O, but it is a
2344benchmark nevertheless.
2345
2346 name runtime
2347 Lambda/select 0.330 sec
2348 + optimized 0.122 sec
2349 Lambda/AnyEvent 0.327 sec
2350 + optimized 0.138 sec
2351 Raw sockets/select 0.077 sec
2352 POE/select, components 0.662 sec
2353 POE/select, raw sockets 0.226 sec
2354 POE/select, optimized 0.404 sec
2355
2356 AnyEvent/select/nb 0.085 sec
2357 AnyEvent/EV/nb 0.068 sec
2358 +state machine 0.134 sec
2359
2360The benchmark is also a bit unfair (my fault): the IO::Lambda/POE
2361benchmarks actually make blocking connects and use 100% blocking I/O,
2362defeating the purpose of an event-based solution. All of the newly
2363written AnyEvent benchmarks use 100% non-blocking connects (using
2364AnyEvent::Socket::tcp_connect and the asynchronous pure perl DNS
2365resolver), so AnyEvent is at a disadvantage here, as non-blocking connects
2366generally require a lot more bookkeeping and event handling than blocking
2367connects (which involve a single syscall only).
2368
2369The last AnyEvent benchmark additionally uses L<AnyEvent::Handle>, which
2370offers similar expressive power as POE and IO::Lambda, using conventional
2371Perl syntax. This means that both the echo server and the client are 100%
2372non-blocking, further placing it at a disadvantage.
2373
2374As you can see, the AnyEvent + EV combination even beats the
2375hand-optimised "raw sockets benchmark", while AnyEvent + its pure perl
2376backend easily beats IO::Lambda and POE.
2377
2378And even the 100% non-blocking version written using the high-level (and
2379slow :) L<AnyEvent::Handle> abstraction beats both POE and IO::Lambda by a
2380large margin, even though it does all of DNS, tcp-connect and socket I/O
2381in a non-blocking way.
2382
2383The two AnyEvent benchmarks programs can be found as F<eg/ae0.pl> and
2384F<eg/ae2.pl> in the AnyEvent distribution, the remaining benchmarks are
2385part of the IO::lambda distribution and were used without any changes.
2386
2387
2388=head1 SIGNALS
2389
2390AnyEvent currently installs handlers for these signals:
2391
2392=over 4
2393
2394=item SIGCHLD
2395
2396A handler for C<SIGCHLD> is installed by AnyEvent's child watcher
2397emulation for event loops that do not support them natively. Also, some
2398event loops install a similar handler.
2399
2400Additionally, when AnyEvent is loaded and SIGCHLD is set to IGNORE, then
2401AnyEvent will reset it to default, to avoid losing child exit statuses.
2402
2403=item SIGPIPE
2404
2405A no-op handler is installed for C<SIGPIPE> when C<$SIG{PIPE}> is C<undef>
2406when AnyEvent gets loaded.
2407
2408The rationale for this is that AnyEvent users usually do not really depend
2409on SIGPIPE delivery (which is purely an optimisation for shell use, or
2410badly-written programs), but C<SIGPIPE> can cause spurious and rare
2411program exits as a lot of people do not expect C<SIGPIPE> when writing to
2412some random socket.
2413
2414The rationale for installing a no-op handler as opposed to ignoring it is
2415that this way, the handler will be restored to defaults on exec.
2416
2417Feel free to install your own handler, or reset it to defaults.
2418
2419=back
2420
2421=cut
2422
2423undef $SIG{CHLD}
2424 if $SIG{CHLD} eq 'IGNORE';
2425
2426$SIG{PIPE} = sub { }
2427 unless defined $SIG{PIPE};
2428
2429=head1 RECOMMENDED/OPTIONAL MODULES
2430
2431One of AnyEvent's main goals is to be 100% Pure-Perl(tm): only perl (and
2432it's built-in modules) are required to use it.
2433
2434That does not mean that AnyEvent won't take advantage of some additional
2435modules if they are installed.
2436
2437This section epxlains which additional modules will be used, and how they
2438affect AnyEvent's operetion.
2439
2440=over 4
2441
2442=item L<Async::Interrupt>
2443
2444This slightly arcane module is used to implement fast signal handling: To
2445my knowledge, there is no way to do completely race-free and quick
2446signal handling in pure perl. To ensure that signals still get
2447delivered, AnyEvent will start an interval timer to wake up perl (and
2448catch the signals) with some delay (default is 10 seconds, look for
2449C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>).
2450
2451If this module is available, then it will be used to implement signal
2452catching, which means that signals will not be delayed, and the event loop
2453will not be interrupted regularly, which is more efficient (And good for
2454battery life on laptops).
2455
2456This affects not just the pure-perl event loop, but also other event loops
2457that have no signal handling on their own (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt).
2458
2459Some event loops (POE, Event, Event::Lib) offer signal watchers natively,
2460and either employ their own workarounds (POE) or use AnyEvent's workaround
2461(using C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>). Installing L<Async::Interrupt>
2462does nothing for those backends.
2463
2464=item L<EV>
2465
2466This module isn't really "optional", as it is simply one of the backend
2467event loops that AnyEvent can use. However, it is simply the best event
2468loop available in terms of features, speed and stability: It supports
2469the AnyEvent API optimally, implements all the watcher types in XS, does
2470automatic timer adjustments even when no monotonic clock is available,
2471can take avdantage of advanced kernel interfaces such as C<epoll> and
2472C<kqueue>, and is the fastest backend I<by far>. You can even embed
2473L<Glib>/L<Gtk2> in it (or vice versa, see L<EV::Glib> and L<Glib::EV>).
2474
2475=item L<Guard>
2476
2477The guard module, when used, will be used to implement
2478C<AnyEvent::Util::guard>. This speeds up guards considerably (and uses a
2479lot less memory), but otherwise doesn't affect guard operation much. It is
2480purely used for performance.
2481
2482=item L<JSON> and L<JSON::XS>
2483
2484This module is required when you want to read or write JSON data via
2485L<AnyEvent::Handle>. It is also written in pure-perl, but can take
2486advantage of the ultra-high-speed L<JSON::XS> module when it is installed.
2487
2488In fact, L<AnyEvent::Handle> will use L<JSON::XS> by default if it is
2489installed.
2490
2491=item L<Net::SSLeay>
2492
2493Implementing TLS/SSL in Perl is certainly interesting, but not very
2494worthwhile: If this module is installed, then L<AnyEvent::Handle> (with
2495the help of L<AnyEvent::TLS>), gains the ability to do TLS/SSL.
2496
2497=item L<Time::HiRes>
2498
2499This module is part of perl since release 5.008. It will be used when the
2500chosen event library does not come with a timing source on it's own. The
2501pure-perl event loop (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) will additionally use it to
2502try to use a monotonic clock for timing stability.
2503
2504=back
2505
2506
2507=head1 FORK
2508
2509Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
2510because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
2511calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
2512
2513If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
2514watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child OR you must do
2515something completely out of the scope of AnyEvent.
2516
2517
2518=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
2519
2520AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
2521$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to
2522execute arbitrary code or directly gain access, it can easily be used to
2523make the program hang or malfunction in subtle ways, as AnyEvent watchers
2524will not be active when the program uses a different event model than
2525specified in the variable.
2526
2527You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
2528before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
2529
2530 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
2531
2532 use AnyEvent;
2533
2534Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
2535be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
2536probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), and
2537$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT}.
2538
2539Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
2540C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
2541enabled.
2542
2543
2544=head1 BUGS
2545
2546Perl 5.8 has numerous memleaks that sometimes hit this module and are hard
2547to work around. If you suffer from memleaks, first upgrade to Perl 5.10
2548and check wether the leaks still show up. (Perl 5.10.0 has other annoying
2549memleaks, such as leaking on C<map> and C<grep> but it is usually not as
2550pronounced).
2551
610 2552
611=head1 SEE ALSO 2553=head1 SEE ALSO
612 2554
613Event modules: L<Coro::Event>, L<Coro>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>. 2555Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
614 2556
615Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::Coro>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>. 2557Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
2558L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
616 2559
617Nontrivial usage example: L<Net::FCP>. 2560Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
2561L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
2562L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
2563L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync>, L<Anyevent::Impl::Irssi>.
618 2564
619=head1 2565Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
2566servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>, L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
2567
2568Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
2569
2570Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>,
2571L<Coro::Event>,
2572
2573Nontrivial usage examples: L<AnyEvent::GPSD>, L<AnyEvent::XMPP>,
2574L<AnyEvent::HTTP>.
2575
2576
2577=head1 AUTHOR
2578
2579 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
2580 http://home.schmorp.de/
620 2581
621=cut 2582=cut
622 2583
6231 25841
624 2585

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