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1=head1 NAME 1=head1 NAME
2 2
3AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops 3AnyEvent - the DBI of event loop programming
4 4
5EV, Event, Coro::EV, Coro::Event, Glib, Tk, Perl, Event::Lib - various supported event loops 5EV, Event, Glib, Tk, Perl, Event::Lib, Irssi, rxvt-unicode, IO::Async, Qt
6and POE are various supported event loops/environments.
6 7
7=head1 SYNOPSIS 8=head1 SYNOPSIS
8 9
9 use AnyEvent; 10 use AnyEvent;
10 11
12 # file descriptor readable
11 my $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh, poll => "r|w", cb => sub { 13 my $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh, poll => "r", cb => sub { ... });
14
15 # one-shot or repeating timers
16 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub { ... });
17 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, interval => $seconds, cb => ...
18
19 print AnyEvent->now; # prints current event loop time
20 print AnyEvent->time; # think Time::HiRes::time or simply CORE::time.
21
22 # POSIX signal
23 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "TERM", cb => sub { ... });
24
25 # child process exit
26 my $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => $pid, cb => sub {
27 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
12 ... 28 ...
13 }); 29 });
14 30
15 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub { 31 # called when event loop idle (if applicable)
16 ... 32 my $w = AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub { ... });
17 });
18 33
19 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged 34 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged
35 $w->send; # wake up current and all future recv's
20 $w->wait; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->broadcast 36 $w->recv; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->send
21 $w->broadcast; # wake up current and all future wait's 37 # use a condvar in callback mode:
38 $w->cb (sub { $_[0]->recv });
39
40=head1 INTRODUCTION/TUTORIAL
41
42This manpage is mainly a reference manual. If you are interested
43in a tutorial or some gentle introduction, have a look at the
44L<AnyEvent::Intro> manpage.
45
46=head1 SUPPORT
47
48There is a mailinglist for discussing all things AnyEvent, and an IRC
49channel, too.
50
51See the AnyEvent project page at the B<Schmorpforge Ta-Sa Software
52Repository>, at L<http://anyevent.schmorp.de>, for more info.
22 53
23=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT) 54=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT)
24 55
25Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen 56Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen
26nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent? 57nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?
27 58
28Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of 59Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of
29policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>. 60policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>.
30 61
31First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only 62First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only
32interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use in a 63interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use, in a
33pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike, 64pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike,
34the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general, 65the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general,
35only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent 66only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent
36helps hiding the differences between those event loops. 67cannot change this, but it can hide the differences between those event
68loops.
37 69
38The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event 70The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event
39programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a 71programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a
40religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your 72religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your
41module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event 73module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event
42model you use. 74model you use.
43 75
44For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is 76For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is
45actually doing all I/O I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is 77actually doing all I/O I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is
46like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you 78like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you
47cannot use anything else, as it is simply incompatible to everything that 79cannot use anything else, as they are simply incompatible to everything
48isn't itself. What's worse, all the potential users of your module are 80that isn't them. What's worse, all the potential users of your
49I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use. 81module are I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use.
50 82
51AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works 83AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works
52fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together 84fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together
53with the rest: POE + IO::Async? no go. Tk + Event? no go. Again: if 85with the rest: POE + IO::Async? No go. Tk + Event? No go. Again: if
54your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it, 86your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it,
55too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all 87too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all
56event models it supports (including stuff like POE and IO::Async, as long 88event models it supports (including stuff like IO::Async, as long as those
57as those use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new 89use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new event loops
58event loops to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof). 90to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof).
59 91
60In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event 92In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event
61model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar 93model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar
62modules, you get an enourmous amount of code and strict rules you have to 94modules, you get an enormous amount of code and strict rules you have to
63follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only 95follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only
64offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as 96offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as
65technically possible. 97technically possible.
66 98
99Of course, AnyEvent comes with a big (and fully optional!) toolbox
100of useful functionality, such as an asynchronous DNS resolver, 100%
101non-blocking connects (even with TLS/SSL, IPv6 and on broken platforms
102such as Windows) and lots of real-world knowledge and workarounds for
103platform bugs and differences.
104
67Of course, if you want lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat 105Now, if you I<do want> lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat
68useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event 106useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event
69model, you should I<not> use this module. 107model, you should I<not> use this module.
70
71 108
72=head1 DESCRIPTION 109=head1 DESCRIPTION
73 110
74L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This 111L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This
75allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module 112allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module
79The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event> 116The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
80module. 117module.
81 118
82During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries 119During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries
83to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the 120to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the
84following modules is already loaded: L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>, L<EV>, 121following modules is already loaded: L<EV>,
85L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<Tk>. The first one found is used. If none are found, 122L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>,
86the module tries to load these modules in the stated order. The first one 123L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries
124to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl
125adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can
87that can be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none 126be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be
88could be found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl event loop, which 127found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl event loop, which is not
89is not very efficient, but should work everywhere. 128very efficient, but should work everywhere.
90 129
91Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading 130Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading
92an event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make 131an event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make
93that model the default. For example: 132that model the default. For example:
94 133
101starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to 140starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to
102use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly... 141use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly...
103 142
104The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called 143The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called
105C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it 144C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it
106explicitly. 145explicitly and enjoy the high availability of that event loop :)
107 146
108=head1 WATCHERS 147=head1 WATCHERS
109 148
110AnyEvent 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
111stores 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
112the callback to call, the filehandle to watch, etc. 151the callback to call, the file handle to watch, etc.
113 152
114These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After 153These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
115creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the 154creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the
116callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model 155callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model
117is in control). 156is in control).
118 157
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
119To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the 164To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the
120variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references 165variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references
121to it). 166to it).
122 167
123All 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.
125Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for 170Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for
126example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways. 171example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways.
127 172
128An any way to achieve that is this pattern: 173An any way to achieve that is this pattern:
129 174
130 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub { 175 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub {
131 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it 176 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it
132 undef $w; 177 undef $w;
133 }); 178 });
134 179
135Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl, 180Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,
136my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are 181my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are
137declared. 182declared.
138 183
139=head2 IO WATCHERS 184=head2 I/O WATCHERS
185
186 $w = AnyEvent->io (
187 fh => <filehandle_or_fileno>,
188 poll => <"r" or "w">,
189 cb => <callback>,
190 );
140 191
141You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method 192You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
142with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments: 193with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
143 194
144C<fh> the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) 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
145events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, which 202C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, which creates a
146creates a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events, 203watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events, respectively.
204
147respectively. C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle 205C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle becomes ready.
148becomes ready.
149 206
150File handles will be kept alive, so as long as the watcher exists, the 207Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
151file handle exists, too. 208presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
209callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
152 210
211The I/O watcher might use the underlying file descriptor or a copy of it.
153It is not allowed to close a file handle as long as any watcher is active 212You must not close a file handle as long as any watcher is active on the
154on the underlying file descriptor. 213underlying file descriptor.
155 214
156Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should 215Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should
157always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file 216always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file
158handles. 217handles.
159 218
160Example:
161
162 # 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
163 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 222 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
164 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); 223 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>);
165 warn "read: $input\n"; 224 warn "read: $input\n";
166 undef $w; 225 undef $w;
167 }); 226 });
168 227
169=head2 TIME WATCHERS 228=head2 TIME WATCHERS
170 229
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
171You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >> 238You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>
172method with the following mandatory arguments: 239method with the following mandatory arguments:
173 240
174C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are 241C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are
175supported) should the timer activate. C<cb> the callback to invoke in that 242supported) the callback should be invoked. C<cb> is the callback to invoke
176case. 243in that case.
177 244
178The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating 245Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
179timer 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
180and Glib). 247callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks.
181 248
182Example: 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.
183 254
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
184 # fire an event after 7.7 seconds 259Example: fire an event after 7.7 seconds.
260
185 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub { 261 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub {
186 warn "timeout\n"; 262 warn "timeout\n";
187 }); 263 });
188 264
189 # to cancel the timer: 265 # to cancel the timer:
190 undef $w; 266 undef $w;
191 267
192Example 2:
193
194 # fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second 268Example 2: fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second.
195 my $w;
196 269
197 my $cb = sub {
198 # cancel the old timer while creating a new one
199 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => $cb); 270 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, interval => 1, cb => sub {
271 warn "timeout\n";
200 }; 272 };
201
202 # start the "loop" by creating the first watcher
203 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, cb => $cb);
204 273
205=head3 TIMING ISSUES 274=head3 TIMING ISSUES
206 275
207There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire 276There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire
208in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12 277in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12
209o'clock"). 278o'clock").
210 279
211While most event loops expect timers to specified in a relative way, they use 280While most event loops expect timers to specified in a relative way, they
212absolute time internally. This makes a difference when your clock "jumps", 281use absolute time internally. This makes a difference when your clock
213for example, when ntp decides to set your clock backwards from the wrong 2014-01-01 to 282"jumps", for example, when ntp decides to set your clock backwards from
2142008-01-01, a watcher that you created to fire "after" a second might actually take 283the wrong date of 2014-01-01 to 2008-01-01, a watcher that is supposed to
215six years to finally fire. 284fire "after" a second might actually take six years to finally fire.
216 285
217AnyEvent cannot compensate for this. The only event loop that is conscious 286AnyEvent cannot compensate for this. The only event loop that is conscious
218about these issues is L<EV>, which offers both relative (ev_timer) and 287about these issues is L<EV>, which offers both relative (ev_timer, based
219absolute (ev_periodic) timers. 288on true relative time) and absolute (ev_periodic, based on wallclock time)
289timers.
220 290
221AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the 291AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the
222AnyEvent API. 292AnyEvent API.
223 293
294AnyEvent has two additional methods that return the "current time":
295
296=over 4
297
298=item AnyEvent->time
299
300This returns the "current wallclock time" as a fractional number of
301seconds since the Epoch (the same thing as C<time> or C<Time::HiRes::time>
302return, and the result is guaranteed to be compatible with those).
303
304It progresses independently of any event loop processing, i.e. each call
305will check the system clock, which usually gets updated frequently.
306
307=item AnyEvent->now
308
309This also returns the "current wallclock time", but unlike C<time>, above,
310this value might change only once per event loop iteration, depending on
311the event loop (most return the same time as C<time>, above). This is the
312time that AnyEvent's timers get scheduled against.
313
314I<In almost all cases (in all cases if you don't care), this is the
315function to call when you want to know the current time.>
316
317This function is also often faster then C<< AnyEvent->time >>, and
318thus the preferred method if you want some timestamp (for example,
319L<AnyEvent::Handle> uses this to update it's activity timeouts).
320
321The rest of this section is only of relevance if you try to be very exact
322with your timing, you can skip it without bad conscience.
323
324For a practical example of when these times differ, consider L<Event::Lib>
325and L<EV> and the following set-up:
326
327The event loop is running and has just invoked one of your callback at
328time=500 (assume no other callbacks delay processing). In your callback,
329you wait a second by executing C<sleep 1> (blocking the process for a
330second) and then (at time=501) you create a relative timer that fires
331after three seconds.
332
333With L<Event::Lib>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> will
334both return C<501>, because that is the current time, and the timer will
335be scheduled to fire at time=504 (C<501> + C<3>).
336
337With L<EV>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> returns C<501> (as that is the current
338time), but C<< AnyEvent->now >> returns C<500>, as that is the time the
339last event processing phase started. With L<EV>, your timer gets scheduled
340to run at time=503 (C<500> + C<3>).
341
342In one sense, L<Event::Lib> is more exact, as it uses the current time
343regardless of any delays introduced by event processing. However, most
344callbacks do not expect large delays in processing, so this causes a
345higher drift (and a lot more system calls to get the current time).
346
347In another sense, L<EV> is more exact, as your timer will be scheduled at
348the same time, regardless of how long event processing actually took.
349
350In either case, if you care (and in most cases, you don't), then you
351can get whatever behaviour you want with any event loop, by taking the
352difference between C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> into
353account.
354
355=item AnyEvent->now_update
356
357Some event loops (such as L<EV> or L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) cache
358the current time for each loop iteration (see the discussion of L<<
359AnyEvent->now >>, above).
360
361When a callback runs for a long time (or when the process sleeps), then
362this "current" time will differ substantially from the real time, which
363might affect timers and time-outs.
364
365When this is the case, you can call this method, which will update the
366event loop's idea of "current time".
367
368Note that updating the time I<might> cause some events to be handled.
369
370=back
371
224=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS 372=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
225 373
374 $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => <uppercase_signal_name>, cb => <callback>);
375
226You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal 376You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
227I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl callback to 377I<name> in uppercase and without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl
228be invoked whenever a signal occurs. 378callback to be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
229 379
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
230Multiple signals occurances can be clumped together into one callback 384Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
231invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. synchronous means 385invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
232that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process, 386that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
233but it is guarenteed not to interrupt any other callbacks. 387but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
234 388
235The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal 389The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
236between multiple watchers. 390between multiple watchers, and AnyEvent will ensure that signals will not
391interrupt your program at bad times.
237 392
238This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals 393This watcher might use C<%SIG> (depending on the event loop used),
239directly will likely not work correctly. 394so programs overwriting those signals directly will likely not work
395correctly.
240 396
241Example: exit on SIGINT 397Example: exit on SIGINT
242 398
243 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 }); 399 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
244 400
401=head3 Signal Races, Delays and Workarounds
402
403Many event loops (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt, IO::Async) do not support attaching
404callbacks to signals in a generic way, which is a pity, as you cannot do
405race-free signal handling in perl. AnyEvent will try to do it's best, but
406in some cases, signals will be delayed. The maximum time a signal might
407be delayed is specified in C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY> (default: 10
408seconds). This variable can be changed only before the first signal
409watcher is created, and should be left alone otherwise. Higher values
410will cause fewer spurious wake-ups, which is better for power and CPU
411saving. All these problems can be avoided by installing the optional
412L<Async::Interrupt> module. This will not work with inherently broken
413event loops such as L<Event> or L<Event::Lib> (and not with L<POE>
414currently, as POE does it's own workaround with one-second latency). With
415those, you just have to suffer the delays.
416
245=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS 417=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
246 418
419 $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => <process id>, cb => <callback>);
420
247You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status. 421You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status.
248 422
249The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it 423The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (one some backends,
250watches for any child process exit). The watcher will trigger as often 424using C<0> watches for any child process exit, on others this will
251as status change for the child are received. This works by installing a 425croak). The watcher will be triggered only when the child process has
252signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with the pid 426finished and an exit status is available, not on any trace events
253and exit status (as returned by waitpid). 427(stopped/continued).
254 428
255Example: wait for pid 1333 429The callback will be called with the pid and exit status (as returned by
430waitpid), so unlike other watcher types, you I<can> rely on child watcher
431callback arguments.
256 432
433This watcher type works by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>,
434and since it cannot be shared, nothing else should use SIGCHLD or reap
435random child processes (waiting for specific child processes, e.g. inside
436C<system>, is just fine).
437
438There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
439I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
440have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
441
442Not all event models handle this correctly (neither POE nor IO::Async do,
443see their AnyEvent::Impl manpages for details), but even for event models
444that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be loaded before
445the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place). AnyEvent's
446pure perl event loop handles all cases correctly regardless of when you
447start the watcher.
448
449This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first
450thing in an AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one
451watcher before you C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call
452C<AnyEvent::detect>).
453
454As most event loops do not support waiting for child events, they will be
455emulated by AnyEvent in most cases, in which the latency and race problems
456mentioned in the description of signal watchers apply.
457
458Example: fork a process and wait for it
459
460 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
461
462 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
463
257 my $w = AnyEvent->child ( 464 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
258 pid => 1333, 465 pid => $pid,
259 cb => sub { 466 cb => sub {
260 my ($pid, $status) = @_; 467 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
261 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status"; 468 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
469 $done->send;
262 }, 470 },
263 ); 471 );
472
473 # do something else, then wait for process exit
474 $done->recv;
475
476=head2 IDLE WATCHERS
477
478 $w = AnyEvent->idle (cb => <callback>);
479
480Sometimes there is a need to do something, but it is not so important
481to do it instantly, but only when there is nothing better to do. This
482"nothing better to do" is usually defined to be "no other events need
483attention by the event loop".
484
485Idle watchers ideally get invoked when the event loop has nothing
486better to do, just before it would block the process to wait for new
487events. Instead of blocking, the idle watcher is invoked.
488
489Most event loops unfortunately do not really support idle watchers (only
490EV, Event and Glib do it in a usable fashion) - for the rest, AnyEvent
491will simply call the callback "from time to time".
492
493Example: read lines from STDIN, but only process them when the
494program is otherwise idle:
495
496 my @lines; # read data
497 my $idle_w;
498 my $io_w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
499 push @lines, scalar <STDIN>;
500
501 # start an idle watcher, if not already done
502 $idle_w ||= AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub {
503 # handle only one line, when there are lines left
504 if (my $line = shift @lines) {
505 print "handled when idle: $line";
506 } else {
507 # otherwise disable the idle watcher again
508 undef $idle_w;
509 }
510 });
511 });
264 512
265=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES 513=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
266 514
515 $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
516
517 $cv->send (<list>);
518 my @res = $cv->recv;
519
520If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
521require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
522will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
523
524AnyEvent is slightly different: it expects somebody else to run the event
525loop and will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
526
527The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
528because they represent a condition that must become true.
529
530Now is probably a good time to look at the examples further below.
531
267Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >> 532Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
268method without any arguments. 533>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
534C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
535becomes true, with the condition variable as the first argument (but not
536the results).
269 537
270A condition variable waits for a condition - precisely that the C<< 538After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
271->broadcast >> method has been called. 539by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
540were a callback, read about the caveats in the description for the C<<
541->send >> method).
272 542
273They are very useful to signal that a condition has been fulfilled, for 543Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
544optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
545in time where multiple outstanding events have been processed. And yet
546another way to call them is transactions - each condition variable can be
547used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
548a result. And yet some people know them as "futures" - a promise to
549compute/deliver something that you can wait for.
550
551Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
274example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests, 552for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
275then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the 553then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
276availability of results. 554availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
555called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
277 556
278You can also use condition variables to block your main program until 557You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
279an event occurs - for example, you could C<< ->wait >> in your main 558you can block your main program until an event occurs - for example, you
280program until the user clicks the Quit button in your app, which would C<< 559could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
281->broadcast >> the "quit" event. 560button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
282 561
283Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have 562Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
284two pirces of code that call C<< ->wait >> in a round-robbin fashion, you 563two pieces of code that call C<< ->recv >> in a round-robin fashion, you
285lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but 564lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
286you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks, 565you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
287as this asks for trouble. 566as this asks for trouble.
288 567
289This object has two methods: 568Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
569used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
570easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
571AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
572it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
290 573
291=over 4 574There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
575eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
576for the send to occur.
292 577
293=item $cv->wait 578Example: wait for a timer.
294
295Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been
296called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally.
297
298You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return
299immediately.
300
301Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
302(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
303using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the
304caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
305condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
306callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
307while still suppporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
308
309Another reason I<never> to C<< ->wait >> in a module is that you cannot
310sensibly have two C<< ->wait >>'s in parallel, as that would require
311multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent>
312can supply (the coroutine-aware backends L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV> and
313L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent> explicitly support concurrent C<< ->wait >>'s
314from different coroutines, however).
315
316=item $cv->broadcast
317
318Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further
319calls to C<wait> will (eventually) return after this method has been
320called. If nobody is waiting the broadcast will be remembered..
321
322=back
323
324Example:
325 579
326 # wait till the result is ready 580 # wait till the result is ready
327 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar; 581 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
328 582
329 # do something such as adding a timer 583 # do something such as adding a timer
330 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast 584 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->send
331 # when the "result" is ready. 585 # when the "result" is ready.
332 # in this case, we simply use a timer: 586 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
333 my $w = AnyEvent->timer ( 587 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
334 after => 1, 588 after => 1,
335 cb => sub { $result_ready->broadcast }, 589 cb => sub { $result_ready->send },
336 ); 590 );
337 591
338 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the watcher 592 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
339 # calls broadcast 593 # calls -<send
340 $result_ready->wait; 594 $result_ready->recv;
595
596Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that condition
597variables are also callable directly.
598
599 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
600 my $delay = AnyEvent->timer (after => 5, cb => $done);
601 $done->recv;
602
603Example: Imagine an API that returns a condvar and doesn't support
604callbacks. This is how you make a synchronous call, for example from
605the main program:
606
607 use AnyEvent::CouchDB;
608
609 ...
610
611 my @info = $couchdb->info->recv;
612
613And this is how you would just set a callback to be called whenever the
614results are available:
615
616 $couchdb->info->cb (sub {
617 my @info = $_[0]->recv;
618 });
619
620=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
621
622These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
623code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
624the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
625uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
626
627=over 4
628
629=item $cv->send (...)
630
631Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
632calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
633called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
634
635If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
636immediately from within send.
637
638Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
639future C<< ->recv >> calls.
640
641Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly (as if
642they were a code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling
643C<send>.
644
645=item $cv->croak ($error)
646
647Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
648C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
649
650This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
651user/consumer. Doing it this way instead of calling C<croak> directly
652delays the error detetcion, but has the overwhelmign advantage that it
653diagnoses the error at the place where the result is expected, and not
654deep in some event clalback without connection to the actual code causing
655the problem.
656
657=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
658
659=item $cv->end
660
661These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
662one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
663to use a condition variable for the whole process.
664
665Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
666C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
667>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed. That callback
668is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send >>, but that is not required. If no
669callback was set, C<send> will be called without any arguments.
670
671You can think of C<< $cv->send >> giving you an OR condition (one call
672sends), while C<< $cv->begin >> and C<< $cv->end >> giving you an AND
673condition (all C<begin> calls must be C<end>'ed before the condvar sends).
674
675Let's start with a simple example: you have two I/O watchers (for example,
676STDOUT and STDERR for a program), and you want to wait for both streams to
677close before activating a condvar:
678
679 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
680
681 $cv->begin; # first watcher
682 my $w1 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh1, cb => sub {
683 defined sysread $fh1, my $buf, 4096
684 or $cv->end;
685 });
686
687 $cv->begin; # second watcher
688 my $w2 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh2, cb => sub {
689 defined sysread $fh2, my $buf, 4096
690 or $cv->end;
691 });
692
693 $cv->recv;
694
695This works because for every event source (EOF on file handle), there is
696one call to C<begin>, so the condvar waits for all calls to C<end> before
697sending.
698
699The ping example mentioned above is slightly more complicated, as the
700there are results to be passwd back, and the number of tasks that are
701begung can potentially be zero:
702
703 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
704
705 my %result;
706 $cv->begin (sub { $cv->send (\%result) });
707
708 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
709 $cv->begin;
710 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
711 $result{$host} = ...;
712 $cv->end;
713 };
714 }
715
716 $cv->end;
717
718This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
719C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
720order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
721each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
722it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
723results arrive is not relevant.
724
725There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
726loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
727to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
728C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
729doesn't execute once).
730
731This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple (but
732potentially none) subrequests: use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set
733the callback and ensure C<end> is called at least once, and then, for each
734subrequest you start, call C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish,
735call C<end>.
736
737=back
738
739=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
740
741These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
742code awaits the condition.
743
744=over 4
745
746=item $cv->recv
747
748Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
749>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
750normally.
751
752You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
753will return immediately.
754
755If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
756function will call C<croak>.
757
758In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
759in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
760
761Note that doing a blocking wait in a callback is not supported by any
762event loop, that is, recursive invocation of a blocking C<< ->recv
763>> is not allowed, and the C<recv> call will C<croak> if such a
764condition is detected. This condition can be slightly loosened by using
765L<Coro::AnyEvent>, which allows you to do a blocking C<< ->recv >> from
766any thread that doesn't run the event loop itself.
767
768Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
769(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
770using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>. Instead, let the
771caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
772condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
773callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
774while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
775
776You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
777only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
778time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
779waits otherwise.
780
781=item $bool = $cv->ready
782
783Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
784C<croak> have been called.
785
786=item $cb = $cv->cb ($cb->($cv))
787
788This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
789replaces it before doing so.
790
791The callback will be called when the condition becomes "true", i.e. when
792C<send> or C<croak> are called, with the only argument being the condition
793variable itself. Calling C<recv> inside the callback or at any later time
794is guaranteed not to block.
795
796=back
797
798=head1 SUPPORTED EVENT LOOPS/BACKENDS
799
800The available backend classes are (every class has its own manpage):
801
802=over 4
803
804=item Backends that are autoprobed when no other event loop can be found.
805
806EV is the preferred backend when no other event loop seems to be in
807use. If EV is not installed, then AnyEvent will try Event, and, failing
808that, will fall back to its own pure-perl implementation, which is
809available everywhere as it comes with AnyEvent itself.
810
811 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (interface to libev, best choice).
812 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, very stable, few glitches.
813 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
814
815=item Backends that are transparently being picked up when they are used.
816
817These will be used when they are currently loaded when the first watcher
818is created, in which case it is assumed that the application is using
819them. This means that AnyEvent will automatically pick the right backend
820when the main program loads an event module before anything starts to
821create watchers. Nothing special needs to be done by the main program.
822
823 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, slow but very stable.
824 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very broken.
825 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
826 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, very slow, some limitations.
827 AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi used when running within irssi.
828
829=item Backends with special needs.
830
831Qt requires the Qt::Application to be instantiated first, but will
832otherwise be picked up automatically. As long as the main program
833instantiates the application before any AnyEvent watchers are created,
834everything should just work.
835
836 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt.
837
838Support for IO::Async can only be partial, as it is too broken and
839architecturally limited to even support the AnyEvent API. It also
840is the only event loop that needs the loop to be set explicitly, so
841it can only be used by a main program knowing about AnyEvent. See
842L<AnyEvent::Impl::Async> for the gory details.
843
844 AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync based on IO::Async, cannot be autoprobed.
845
846=item Event loops that are indirectly supported via other backends.
847
848Some event loops can be supported via other modules:
849
850There is no direct support for WxWidgets (L<Wx>) or L<Prima>.
851
852B<WxWidgets> has no support for watching file handles. However, you can
853use WxWidgets through the POE adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply
854polls 20 times per second, which was considered to be too horrible to even
855consider for AnyEvent.
856
857B<Prima> is not supported as nobody seems to be using it, but it has a POE
858backend, so it can be supported through POE.
859
860AnyEvent knows about both L<Prima> and L<Wx>, however, and will try to
861load L<POE> when detecting them, in the hope that POE will pick them up,
862in which case everything will be automatic.
863
864=back
341 865
342=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS 866=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
343 867
868These are not normally required to use AnyEvent, but can be useful to
869write AnyEvent extension modules.
870
344=over 4 871=over 4
345 872
346=item $AnyEvent::MODEL 873=item $AnyEvent::MODEL
347 874
348Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created. Then it 875Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created, before the
876backend has been autodetected.
877
349contains the event model that is being used, which is the name of the 878Afterwards it contains the event model that is being used, which is the
350Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one of the 879name of the Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one
351C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case 880of the C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the
352AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>). 881case AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode> it
353 882will be C<urxvt::anyevent>).
354The known classes so far are:
355
356 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV based on Coro::EV, best choice.
357 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent based on Coro::Event, second best choice.
358 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, also best choice).
359 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, also second best choice :)
360 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.
361 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
362 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient but portable.
363 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
364 883
365=item AnyEvent::detect 884=item AnyEvent::detect
366 885
367Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model 886Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
368if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would 887if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
369have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at 888have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
370runtime. 889runtime, and not e.g. while initialising of your module.
890
891If you need to do some initialisation before AnyEvent watchers are
892created, use C<post_detect>.
893
894=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
895
896Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
897autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
898
899The block will be executed I<after> the actual backend has been detected
900(C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> is set), but I<before> any watchers have been
901created, so it is possible to e.g. patch C<@AnyEvent::ISA> or do
902other initialisations - see the sources of L<AnyEvent::Strict> or
903L<AnyEvent::AIO> to see how this is used.
904
905The most common usage is to create some global watchers, without forcing
906event module detection too early, for example, L<AnyEvent::AIO> creates
907and installs the global L<IO::AIO> watcher in a C<post_detect> block to
908avoid autodetecting the event module at load time.
909
910If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
911that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed (or
912C<undef> when the hook was immediately executed). See L<AnyEvent::AIO> for
913a case where this is useful.
914
915Example: Create a watcher for the IO::AIO module and store it in
916C<$WATCHER>. Only do so after the event loop is initialised, though.
917
918 our WATCHER;
919
920 my $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect {
921 $WATCHER = AnyEvent->io (fh => IO::AIO::poll_fileno, poll => 'r', cb => \&IO::AIO::poll_cb);
922 };
923
924 # the ||= is important in case post_detect immediately runs the block,
925 # as to not clobber the newly-created watcher. assigning both watcher and
926 # post_detect guard to the same variable has the advantage of users being
927 # able to just C<undef $WATCHER> if the watcher causes them grief.
928
929 $WATCHER ||= $guard;
930
931=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
932
933If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
934before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
935the event loop has been chosen.
936
937You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
938if it is defined then the event loop has already been detected, and the
939array will be ignored.
940
941Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> when your application allows
942it,as it takes care of these details.
943
944This variable is mainly useful for modules that can do something useful
945when AnyEvent is used and thus want to know when it is initialised, but do
946not need to even load it by default. This array provides the means to hook
947into AnyEvent passively, without loading it.
371 948
372=back 949=back
373 950
374=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE 951=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
375 952
379Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will 956Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
380decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so 957decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
381by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module 958by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
382to load the event module first. 959to load the event module first.
383 960
384Never call C<< ->wait >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that 961Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
385the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been called on it already. This is 962the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
386because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using 963because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
387events is to stay interactive. 964events is to stay interactive.
388 965
389It is fine, however, to call C<< ->wait >> when the user of your module 966It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
390requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method 967requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
391called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->wait >> 968called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
392freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always). 969freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
393 970
394=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM 971=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
395 972
396There will always be a single main program - the only place that should 973There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
398 975
399If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not 976If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not
400do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent 977do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
401decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it. 978decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
402 979
403If the main program relies on a specific event model. For example, in 980If the main program relies on a specific event model - for example, in
404Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module. You should load the 981Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module - you should load the
405event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally 982event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
406speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that 983speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
407modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will 984modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
408decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it 985decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
409might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself. 986might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
410 987
411You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by 988You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
412loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar 989C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
413behaviour everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose is generally better. 990everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
991
992=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
993
994Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
995only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
996
997In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
998
999 AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
1000
1001This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
1002
1003Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
1004it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
1005variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
1006exit cleanly.
1007
1008
1009=head1 OTHER MODULES
1010
1011The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
1012AnyEvent as a client and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent
1013modules and other event loops in the same program. Some of the modules
1014come with AnyEvent, most are available via CPAN.
1015
1016=over 4
1017
1018=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
1019
1020Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
1021functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
1022
1023=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
1024
1025Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
1026addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
1027connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
1028
1029=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
1030
1031Provide read and write buffers, manages watchers for reads and writes,
1032supports raw and formatted I/O, I/O queued and fully transparent and
1033non-blocking SSL/TLS (via L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
1034
1035=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
1036
1037Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
1038
1039=item L<AnyEvent::HTTP>
1040
1041A simple-to-use HTTP library that is capable of making a lot of concurrent
1042HTTP requests.
1043
1044=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
1045
1046Provides a simple web application server framework.
1047
1048=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
1049
1050The fastest ping in the west.
1051
1052=item L<AnyEvent::DBI>
1053
1054Executes L<DBI> requests asynchronously in a proxy process.
1055
1056=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>
1057
1058Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
1059programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses L<IO::AIO> and AnyEvent
1060together.
1061
1062=item L<AnyEvent::BDB>
1063
1064Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. AnyEvent::BDB transparently fuses
1065L<BDB> and AnyEvent together.
1066
1067=item L<AnyEvent::GPSD>
1068
1069A non-blocking interface to gpsd, a daemon delivering GPS information.
1070
1071=item L<AnyEvent::IRC>
1072
1073AnyEvent based IRC client module family (replacing the older Net::IRC3).
1074
1075=item L<AnyEvent::XMPP>
1076
1077AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family (replacing the older
1078Net::XMPP2>.
1079
1080=item L<AnyEvent::IGS>
1081
1082A non-blocking interface to the Internet Go Server protocol (used by
1083L<App::IGS>).
1084
1085=item L<Net::FCP>
1086
1087AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
1088of AnyEvent.
1089
1090=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
1091
1092High level API for event-based execution flow control.
1093
1094=item L<Coro>
1095
1096Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
1097
1098=back
414 1099
415=cut 1100=cut
416 1101
417package AnyEvent; 1102package AnyEvent;
418 1103
1104# basically a tuned-down version of common::sense
1105sub common_sense {
419no warnings; 1106 # no warnings
420use strict; 1107 ${^WARNING_BITS} ^= ${^WARNING_BITS};
1108 # use strict vars subs
1109 $^H |= 0x00000600;
1110}
421 1111
1112BEGIN { AnyEvent::common_sense }
1113
422use Carp; 1114use Carp ();
423 1115
424our $VERSION = '3.12'; 1116our $VERSION = 4.881;
425our $MODEL; 1117our $MODEL;
426 1118
427our $AUTOLOAD; 1119our $AUTOLOAD;
428our @ISA; 1120our @ISA;
429 1121
430our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
431
432our @REGISTRY; 1122our @REGISTRY;
433 1123
1124our $WIN32;
1125
1126our $VERBOSE;
1127
1128BEGIN {
1129 eval "sub WIN32(){ " . (($^O =~ /mswin32/i)*1) ." }";
1130 eval "sub TAINT(){ " . (${^TAINT}*1) . " }";
1131
1132 delete @ENV{grep /^PERL_ANYEVENT_/, keys %ENV}
1133 if ${^TAINT};
1134
1135 $VERBOSE = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
1136
1137}
1138
1139our $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY = 10;
1140
1141our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2), higher numbers are preferred
1142
1143{
1144 my $idx;
1145 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
1146 for reverse split /\s*,\s*/,
1147 $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
1148}
1149
434my @models = ( 1150my @models = (
435 [Coro::EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV::],
436 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent::],
437 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::], 1151 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV:: , 1],
438 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 1152 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::, 1],
439 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::],
440 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::],
441 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::], 1153 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: , 1],
1154 # everything below here will not (normally) be autoprobed
1155 # as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
1156 # and is usually faster
1157 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib:: , 1], # becomes extremely slow with many watchers
442 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], 1158 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
1159 [Irssi:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi::], # Irssi has a bogus "Event" package
1160 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], # crashes with many handles
1161 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
1162 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
1163 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
1164 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
1165 # IO::Async is just too broken - we would need workarounds for its
1166 # byzantine signal and broken child handling, among others.
1167 # IO::Async is rather hard to detect, as it doesn't have any
1168 # obvious default class.
1169# [0, IO::Async:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1170# [0, IO::Async::Loop:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1171# [0, IO::Async::Notifier:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
443); 1172);
444 1173
445our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer condvar broadcast wait signal one_event DESTROY); 1174our %method = map +($_ => 1),
1175 qw(io timer time now now_update signal child idle condvar one_event DESTROY);
1176
1177our @post_detect;
1178
1179sub post_detect(&) {
1180 my ($cb) = @_;
1181
1182 if ($MODEL) {
1183 $cb->();
1184
1185 undef
1186 } else {
1187 push @post_detect, $cb;
1188
1189 defined wantarray
1190 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::postdetect"
1191 : ()
1192 }
1193}
1194
1195sub AnyEvent::Util::postdetect::DESTROY {
1196 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
1197}
446 1198
447sub detect() { 1199sub detect() {
448 unless ($MODEL) { 1200 unless ($MODEL) {
449 no strict 'refs'; 1201 local $SIG{__DIE__};
450 1202
451 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) { 1203 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
452 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1"; 1204 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
453 if (eval "require $model") { 1205 if (eval "require $model") {
454 $MODEL = $model; 1206 $MODEL = $model;
455 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1207 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}), using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
1208 } else {
1209 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}):\n$@" if $VERBOSE;
456 } 1210 }
457 } 1211 }
458 1212
459 # check for already loaded models 1213 # check for already loaded models
460 unless ($MODEL) { 1214 unless ($MODEL) {
461 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 1215 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
462 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 1216 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
463 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 1217 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
464 if (eval "require $model") { 1218 if (eval "require $model") {
465 $MODEL = $model; 1219 $MODEL = $model;
466 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1220 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
467 last; 1221 last;
468 } 1222 }
469 } 1223 }
470 } 1224 }
471 1225
472 unless ($MODEL) { 1226 unless ($MODEL) {
473 # try to load a model 1227 # try to autoload a model
474
475 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 1228 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
476 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 1229 my ($package, $model, $autoload) = @$_;
1230 if (
1231 $autoload
477 if (eval "require $package" 1232 and eval "require $package"
478 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0 1233 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
479 and eval "require $model") { 1234 and eval "require $model"
1235 ) {
480 $MODEL = $model; 1236 $MODEL = $model;
481 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1237 warn "AnyEvent: autoloaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
482 last; 1238 last;
483 } 1239 }
484 } 1240 }
485 1241
486 $MODEL 1242 $MODEL
487 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV (or Coro+EV), Event (or Coro+Event) or Glib."; 1243 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.\n";
488 } 1244 }
489 } 1245 }
490 1246
1247 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
1248
491 unshift @ISA, $MODEL; 1249 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
492 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base"; 1250
1251 require AnyEvent::Strict if $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT};
1252
1253 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
493 } 1254 }
494 1255
495 $MODEL 1256 $MODEL
496} 1257}
497 1258
498sub AUTOLOAD { 1259sub AUTOLOAD {
499 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://; 1260 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://;
500 1261
501 $method{$func} 1262 $method{$func}
502 or croak "$func: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects"; 1263 or Carp::croak "$func: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects";
503 1264
504 detect unless $MODEL; 1265 detect unless $MODEL;
505 1266
506 my $class = shift; 1267 my $class = shift;
507 $class->$func (@_); 1268 $class->$func (@_);
508} 1269}
509 1270
1271# utility function to dup a filehandle. this is used by many backends
1272# to support binding more than one watcher per filehandle (they usually
1273# allow only one watcher per fd, so we dup it to get a different one).
1274sub _dupfh($$;$$) {
1275 my ($poll, $fh, $r, $w) = @_;
1276
1277 # cygwin requires the fh mode to be matching, unix doesn't
1278 my ($rw, $mode) = $poll eq "r" ? ($r, "<&") : ($w, ">&");
1279
1280 open my $fh2, $mode, $fh
1281 or die "AnyEvent->io: cannot dup() filehandle in mode '$poll': $!,";
1282
1283 # we assume CLOEXEC is already set by perl in all important cases
1284
1285 ($fh2, $rw)
1286}
1287
510package AnyEvent::Base; 1288package AnyEvent::Base;
511 1289
1290# default implementations for many methods
1291
1292sub _time {
1293 # probe for availability of Time::HiRes
1294 if (eval "use Time::HiRes (); Time::HiRes::time (); 1") {
1295 warn "AnyEvent: using Time::HiRes for sub-second timing accuracy.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1296 *_time = \&Time::HiRes::time;
1297 # if (eval "use POSIX (); (POSIX::times())...
1298 } else {
1299 warn "AnyEvent: using built-in time(), WARNING, no sub-second resolution!\n" if $VERBOSE;
1300 *_time = sub { time }; # epic fail
1301 }
1302
1303 &_time
1304}
1305
1306sub time { _time }
1307sub now { _time }
1308sub now_update { }
1309
512# default implementation for ->condvar, ->wait, ->broadcast 1310# default implementation for ->condvar
513 1311
514sub condvar { 1312sub condvar {
515 bless \my $flag, "AnyEvent::Base::CondVar" 1313 bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, "AnyEvent::CondVar"
516}
517
518sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::broadcast {
519 ${$_[0]}++;
520}
521
522sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::wait {
523 AnyEvent->one_event while !${$_[0]};
524} 1314}
525 1315
526# default implementation for ->signal 1316# default implementation for ->signal
527 1317
528our %SIG_CB; 1318our $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1319
1320sub _have_async_interrupt() {
1321 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT = 1*(!$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT}
1322 && eval "use Async::Interrupt 1.0 (); 1")
1323 unless defined $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1324
1325 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1326}
1327
1328our ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W, %SIG_CB, %SIG_EV, $SIG_IO);
1329our (%SIG_ASY, %SIG_ASY_W);
1330our ($SIG_COUNT, $SIG_TW);
1331
1332sub _signal_exec {
1333 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1334 ? $SIGPIPE_R->drain
1335 : sysread $SIGPIPE_R, my $dummy, 9;
1336
1337 while (%SIG_EV) {
1338 for (keys %SIG_EV) {
1339 delete $SIG_EV{$_};
1340 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$_} || {} };
1341 }
1342 }
1343}
1344
1345# install a dummy wakeup watcher to reduce signal catching latency
1346sub _sig_add() {
1347 unless ($SIG_COUNT++) {
1348 # try to align timer on a full-second boundary, if possible
1349 my $NOW = AnyEvent->now;
1350
1351 $SIG_TW = AnyEvent->timer (
1352 after => $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY - ($NOW - int $NOW),
1353 interval => $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY,
1354 cb => sub { }, # just for the PERL_ASYNC_CHECK
1355 );
1356 }
1357}
1358
1359sub _sig_del {
1360 undef $SIG_TW
1361 unless --$SIG_COUNT;
1362}
1363
1364our $_sig_name_init; $_sig_name_init = sub {
1365 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading
1366 undef $_sig_name_init;
1367
1368 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1369 *sig2num = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2num;
1370 *sig2name = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2name;
1371 } else {
1372 require Config;
1373
1374 my %signame2num;
1375 @signame2num{ split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_name} }
1376 = split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_num};
1377
1378 my @signum2name;
1379 @signum2name[values %signame2num] = keys %signame2num;
1380
1381 *sig2num = sub($) {
1382 $_[0] > 0 ? shift : $signame2num{+shift}
1383 };
1384 *sig2name = sub ($) {
1385 $_[0] > 0 ? $signum2name[+shift] : shift
1386 };
1387 }
1388 };
1389 die if $@;
1390};
1391
1392sub sig2num ($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2num }
1393sub sig2name($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2name }
529 1394
530sub signal { 1395sub signal {
1396 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1397 # probe for availability of Async::Interrupt
1398 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1399 warn "AnyEvent: using Async::Interrupt for race-free signal handling.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1400
1401 $SIGPIPE_R = new Async::Interrupt::EventPipe;
1402 $SIG_IO = AnyEvent->io (fh => $SIGPIPE_R->fileno, poll => "r", cb => \&_signal_exec);
1403
1404 } else {
1405 warn "AnyEvent: using emulated perl signal handling with latency timer.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1406
1407 require Fcntl;
1408
1409 if (AnyEvent::WIN32) {
1410 require AnyEvent::Util;
1411
1412 ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_pipe ();
1413 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_R, 1) if $SIGPIPE_R;
1414 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_W, 1) if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1415 } else {
1416 pipe $SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W;
1417 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_R;
1418 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1419
1420 # not strictly required, as $^F is normally 2, but let's make sure...
1421 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1422 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1423 }
1424
1425 $SIGPIPE_R
1426 or Carp::croak "AnyEvent: unable to create a signal reporting pipe: $!\n";
1427
1428 $SIG_IO = AnyEvent->io (fh => $SIGPIPE_R, poll => "r", cb => \&_signal_exec);
1429 }
1430
1431 *signal = sub {
531 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1432 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
532 1433
533 my $signal = uc $arg{signal} 1434 my $signal = uc $arg{signal}
534 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing"; 1435 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing";
535 1436
1437 if ($HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT) {
1438 # async::interrupt
1439
1440 $signal = sig2num $signal;
536 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1441 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1442
1443 $SIG_ASY{$signal} ||= new Async::Interrupt
1444 cb => sub { undef $SIG_EV{$signal} },
1445 signal => $signal,
1446 pipe => [$SIGPIPE_R->filenos],
1447 pipe_autodrain => 0,
1448 ;
1449
1450 } else {
1451 # pure perl
1452
1453 # AE::Util has been loaded in signal
1454 $signal = sig2name $signal;
1455 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1456
537 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub { 1457 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub {
538 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} || {} }; 1458 local $!;
1459 syswrite $SIGPIPE_W, "\x00", 1 unless %SIG_EV;
1460 undef $SIG_EV{$signal};
1461 };
1462
1463 # can't do signal processing without introducing races in pure perl,
1464 # so limit the signal latency.
1465 _sig_add;
1466 }
1467
1468 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::signal"
1469 };
1470
1471 *AnyEvent::Base::signal::DESTROY = sub {
1472 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
1473
1474 _sig_del;
1475
1476 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
1477
1478 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1479 ? delete $SIG_ASY{$signal}
1480 : # delete doesn't work with older perls - they then
1481 # print weird messages, or just unconditionally exit
1482 # instead of getting the default action.
1483 undef $SIG{$signal}
1484 unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
1485 };
539 }; 1486 };
540 1487 die if $@;
541 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Signal" 1488 &signal
542}
543
544sub AnyEvent::Base::Signal::DESTROY {
545 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
546
547 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
548
549 $SIG{$signal} = 'DEFAULT' unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
550} 1489}
551 1490
552# default implementation for ->child 1491# default implementation for ->child
553 1492
554our %PID_CB; 1493our %PID_CB;
555our $CHLD_W; 1494our $CHLD_W;
556our $CHLD_DELAY_W; 1495our $CHLD_DELAY_W;
557our $PID_IDLE;
558our $WNOHANG; 1496our $WNOHANG;
559 1497
560sub _child_wait { 1498sub _emit_childstatus($$) {
561 while (0 < (my $pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG)) { 1499 my (undef, $rpid, $rstatus) = @_;
1500
1501 $_->($rpid, $rstatus)
562 $_->($pid, $?) for (values %{ $PID_CB{$pid} || {} }), 1502 for values %{ $PID_CB{$rpid} || {} },
563 (values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} }); 1503 values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} };
564 }
565
566 undef $PID_IDLE;
567} 1504}
568 1505
569sub _sigchld { 1506sub _sigchld {
570 # make sure we deliver these changes "synchronous" with the event loop. 1507 my $pid;
571 $CHLD_DELAY_W ||= AnyEvent->timer (after => 0, cb => sub { 1508
572 undef $CHLD_DELAY_W; 1509 AnyEvent->_emit_childstatus ($pid, $?)
573 &_child_wait; 1510 while ($pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG) > 0;
574 });
575} 1511}
576 1512
577sub child { 1513sub child {
578 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1514 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
579 1515
580 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0) 1516 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0)
581 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing"; 1517 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing";
582 1518
583 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1519 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
584 1520
585 unless ($WNOHANG) { 1521 # WNOHANG is almost cetrainly 1 everywhere
586 $WNOHANG = eval { require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1; 1522 $WNOHANG ||= $^O =~ /^(?:openbsd|netbsd|linux|freebsd|cygwin|MSWin32)$/
587 } 1523 ? 1
1524 : eval { local $SIG{__DIE__}; require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;
588 1525
589 unless ($CHLD_W) { 1526 unless ($CHLD_W) {
590 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld); 1527 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld);
591 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round 1528 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
592 &_sigchld; 1529 &_sigchld;
593 } 1530 }
594 1531
595 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Child" 1532 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::child"
596} 1533}
597 1534
598sub AnyEvent::Base::Child::DESTROY { 1535sub AnyEvent::Base::child::DESTROY {
599 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]}; 1536 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
600 1537
601 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb}; 1538 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb};
602 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} }; 1539 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
603 1540
604 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB; 1541 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
605} 1542}
1543
1544# idle emulation is done by simply using a timer, regardless
1545# of whether the process is idle or not, and not letting
1546# the callback use more than 50% of the time.
1547sub idle {
1548 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1549
1550 my ($cb, $w, $rcb) = $arg{cb};
1551
1552 $rcb = sub {
1553 if ($cb) {
1554 $w = _time;
1555 &$cb;
1556 $w = _time - $w;
1557
1558 # never use more then 50% of the time for the idle watcher,
1559 # within some limits
1560 $w = 0.0001 if $w < 0.0001;
1561 $w = 5 if $w > 5;
1562
1563 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $w, cb => $rcb);
1564 } else {
1565 # clean up...
1566 undef $w;
1567 undef $rcb;
1568 }
1569 };
1570
1571 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.05, cb => $rcb);
1572
1573 bless \\$cb, "AnyEvent::Base::idle"
1574}
1575
1576sub AnyEvent::Base::idle::DESTROY {
1577 undef $${$_[0]};
1578}
1579
1580package AnyEvent::CondVar;
1581
1582our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
1583
1584package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
1585
1586#use overload
1587# '&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
1588# fallback => 1;
1589
1590# save 300+ kilobytes by dirtily hardcoding overloading
1591${"AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::OVERLOAD"}{dummy}++; # Register with magic by touching.
1592*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = sub { }; # "Make it findable via fetchmethod."
1593*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::(&{}'} = sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } }; # &{}
1594${'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = 1; # fallback
1595
1596our $WAITING;
1597
1598sub _send {
1599 # nop
1600}
1601
1602sub send {
1603 my $cv = shift;
1604 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
1605 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
1606 $cv->_send;
1607}
1608
1609sub croak {
1610 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
1611 $_[0]->send;
1612}
1613
1614sub ready {
1615 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
1616}
1617
1618sub _wait {
1619 $WAITING
1620 and !$_[0]{_ae_sent}
1621 and Carp::croak "AnyEvent::CondVar: recursive blocking wait detected";
1622
1623 local $WAITING = 1;
1624 AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
1625}
1626
1627sub recv {
1628 $_[0]->_wait;
1629
1630 Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
1631 wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
1632}
1633
1634sub cb {
1635 $_[0]{_ae_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1636 $_[0]{_ae_cb}
1637}
1638
1639sub begin {
1640 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1641 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1642}
1643
1644sub end {
1645 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1646 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
1647}
1648
1649# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
1650*broadcast = \&send;
1651*wait = \&_wait;
1652
1653#############################################################################
1654# "new" API, currently only emulation of it
1655#############################################################################
1656
1657package AE;
1658
1659sub io($$$) {
1660 AnyEvent->io (fh => $_[0], poll => $_[1] ? "w" : "r", cb => $_[2])
1661}
1662
1663sub timer($$$) {
1664 AnyEvent->timer (after => $_[0], interval => $_[1], cb => $_[2]);
1665}
1666
1667sub signal($$) {
1668 AnyEvent->signal (signal => $_[0], cb => $_[1]);
1669}
1670
1671sub child($$) {
1672 AnyEvent->child (pid => $_[0], cb => $_[1]);
1673}
1674
1675sub idle($) {
1676 AnyEvent->idle (cb => $_[0]);
1677}
1678
1679sub cv() {
1680 AnyEvent->condvar
1681}
1682
1683sub now() {
1684 AnyEvent->now
1685}
1686
1687sub now_update() {
1688 AnyEvent->now_update
1689}
1690
1691sub time() {
1692 AnyEvent->time
1693}
1694
1695=head1 ERROR AND EXCEPTION HANDLING
1696
1697In general, AnyEvent does not do any error handling - it relies on the
1698caller to do that if required. The L<AnyEvent::Strict> module (see also
1699the C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT> environment variable, below) provides strict
1700checking of all AnyEvent methods, however, which is highly useful during
1701development.
1702
1703As for exception handling (i.e. runtime errors and exceptions thrown while
1704executing a callback), this is not only highly event-loop specific, but
1705also not in any way wrapped by this module, as this is the job of the main
1706program.
1707
1708The pure perl event loop simply re-throws the exception (usually
1709within C<< condvar->recv >>), the L<Event> and L<EV> modules call C<<
1710$Event/EV::DIED->() >>, L<Glib> uses C<< install_exception_handler >> and
1711so on.
1712
1713=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1714
1715The following environment variables are used by this module or its
1716submodules.
1717
1718Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
1719C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
1720enabled.
1721
1722=over 4
1723
1724=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
1725
1726By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
1727conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
1728talkative.
1729
1730When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
1731conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
1732C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
1733
1734When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
1735model it chooses.
1736
1737When set to C<8> or higher, then AnyEvent will report extra information on
1738which optional modules it loads and how it implements certain features.
1739
1740=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT>
1741
1742AnyEvent does not do much argument checking by default, as thorough
1743argument checking is very costly. Setting this variable to a true value
1744will cause AnyEvent to load C<AnyEvent::Strict> and then to thoroughly
1745check the arguments passed to most method calls. If it finds any problems,
1746it will croak.
1747
1748In other words, enables "strict" mode.
1749
1750Unlike C<use strict> (or it's modern cousin, C<< use L<common::sense>
1751>>, it is definitely recommended to keep it off in production. Keeping
1752C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT=1> in your environment while developing programs
1753can be very useful, however.
1754
1755=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
1756
1757This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
1758auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
1759entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
1760and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
1761used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
1762auto detection and -probing.
1763
1764This functionality might change in future versions.
1765
1766For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
1767could start your program like this:
1768
1769 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
1770
1771=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
1772
1773Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
1774for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
1775of auto probing).
1776
1777Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
1778current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
1779used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
1780list.
1781
1782This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
1783against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
1784small, as the program has to handle conenction and other failures anyways.
1785
1786Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
1787but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
1788- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
1789addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
1790IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
1791
1792=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
1793
1794Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
1795for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
1796some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
1797default.
1798
1799Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
1800EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
1801
1802=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_FORKS>
1803
1804The maximum number of child processes that C<AnyEvent::Util::fork_call>
1805will create in parallel.
1806
1807=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_OUTSTANDING_DNS>
1808
1809The default value for the C<max_outstanding> parameter for the default DNS
1810resolver - this is the maximum number of parallel DNS requests that are
1811sent to the DNS server.
1812
1813=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_RESOLV_CONF>
1814
1815The file to use instead of F</etc/resolv.conf> (or OS-specific
1816configuration) in the default resolver. When set to the empty string, no
1817default config will be used.
1818
1819=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_FILE>, C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_PATH>.
1820
1821When neither C<ca_file> nor C<ca_path> was specified during
1822L<AnyEvent::TLS> context creation, and either of these environment
1823variables exist, they will be used to specify CA certificate locations
1824instead of a system-dependent default.
1825
1826=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_GUARD> and C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT>
1827
1828When these are set to C<1>, then the respective modules are not
1829loaded. Mostly good for testing AnyEvent itself.
1830
1831=back
606 1832
607=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 1833=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
608 1834
609This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in 1835This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
610a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to 1836a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
645I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to 1871I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to
646condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will 1872condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will
647C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must 1873C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must
648not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense. 1874not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense.
649 1875
650=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
651
652The following environment variables are used by this module:
653
654=over 4
655
656=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
657
658When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
659model it chooses.
660
661=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
662
663This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
664autodetection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
665entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
666and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
667used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
668autodetection and -probing.
669
670This functionality might change in future versions.
671
672For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
673could start your program like this:
674
675 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
676
677=back
678
679=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM 1876=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
680 1877
681The following program uses an IO watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer 1878The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
682to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the 1879to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
683program when the user enters quit: 1880program when the user enters quit:
684 1881
685 use AnyEvent; 1882 use AnyEvent;
686 1883
691 poll => 'r', 1888 poll => 'r',
692 cb => sub { 1889 cb => sub {
693 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 1890 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
694 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 1891 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
695 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 1892 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
696 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 1893 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
697 }, 1894 },
698 ); 1895 );
699 1896
700 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once 1897 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
701 1898
706 }); 1903 });
707 } 1904 }
708 1905
709 new_timer; # create first timer 1906 new_timer; # create first timer
710 1907
711 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 1908 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
712 1909
713=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 1910=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
714 1911
715Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 1912Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
716API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 1913API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
766 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 1963 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
767 or die "connection or write error"; 1964 or die "connection or write error";
768 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 1965 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
769 1966
770Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 1967Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
771result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished: 1968result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
772 1969
773 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 1970 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
774 1971
775 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 1972 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
776 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 1973 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
777 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 1974 $txn->{finished}->send;
778 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 1975 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
779 } 1976 }
780 1977
781The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 1978The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
782request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the 1979request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
783data: 1980data:
784 1981
785 $txn->{finished}->wait; 1982 $txn->{finished}->recv;
786 return $txn->{result}; 1983 return $txn->{result};
787 1984
788The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 1985The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
789that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 1986that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
790whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 1987whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
791and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 1988and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
792problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a 1989problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
793random callback. 1990random callback.
794 1991
825 2022
826 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 2023 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
827 2024
828 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 2025 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
829 ... 2026 ...
830 $quit->broadcast; 2027 $quit->send;
831 }); 2028 });
832 2029
833 $quit->wait; 2030 $quit->recv;
2031
2032
2033=head1 BENCHMARKS
2034
2035To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
2036over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
2037of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
2038
2039=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
2040
2041Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
2042through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
2043timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
2044which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
2045
2046Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
2047distribution.
2048
2049=head3 Explanation of the columns
2050
2051I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
2052different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
2053loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
2054and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
2055would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
2056of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
2057
2058I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
2059RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
2060and Perl-based overheads.
2061
2062I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
2063takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
2064all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
2065and memory usage is not included in the figures.
2066
2067I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
2068callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
2069invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
2070signal the end of this phase.
2071
2072I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
2073watcher.
2074
2075=head3 Results
2076
2077 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
2078 EV/EV 400000 224 0.47 0.35 0.27 EV native interface
2079 EV/Any 100000 224 2.88 0.34 0.27 EV + AnyEvent watchers
2080 CoroEV/Any 100000 224 2.85 0.35 0.28 coroutines + Coro::Signal
2081 Perl/Any 100000 452 4.13 0.73 0.95 pure perl implementation
2082 Event/Event 16000 517 32.20 31.80 0.81 Event native interface
2083 Event/Any 16000 590 35.85 31.55 1.06 Event + AnyEvent watchers
2084 IOAsync/Any 16000 989 38.10 32.77 11.13 via IO::Async::Loop::IO_Poll
2085 IOAsync/Any 16000 990 37.59 29.50 10.61 via IO::Async::Loop::Epoll
2086 Glib/Any 16000 1357 102.33 12.31 51.00 quadratic behaviour
2087 Tk/Any 2000 1860 27.20 66.31 14.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
2088 POE/Event 2000 6328 109.99 751.67 14.02 via POE::Loop::Event
2089 POE/Select 2000 6027 94.54 809.13 579.80 via POE::Loop::Select
2090
2091=head3 Discussion
2092
2093The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
2094well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
2095can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
2096file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
2097the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
2098boost.
2099
2100Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
2101overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
2102the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
2103higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
2104
2105To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
2106benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
2107EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
2108cycles with POE.
2109
2110C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
2111maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, it uses
2112far less memory than any other event loop and is still faster than Event
2113natively.
2114
2115The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
2116constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
2117interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
2118adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
2119performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
2120them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
2121
2122The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
2123cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
2124
2125C<IO::Async> performs admirably well, about on par with C<Event>, even
2126when using its pure perl backend.
2127
2128C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
2129faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
2130C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
2131watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
2132making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
2133(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
2134inefficiencies of C<poll> do not account for this).
2135
2136The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
2137more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
2138precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
2139file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
2140employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
2141hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
2142above).
2143
2144C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
2145select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
2146be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
2147memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
2148as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
2149requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
2150invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
2151implementation.
2152
2153The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
2154for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
2155small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
2156optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
2157using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
2158memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
2159design).
2160
2161=head3 Summary
2162
2163=over 4
2164
2165=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
2166(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
2167performance with or without AnyEvent.
2168
2169=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
2170the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
2171adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
2172
2173=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
2174reasonable memory usage.
2175
2176=back
2177
2178=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
2179
2180This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
2181creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
2182timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
2183watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
2184watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
2185
2186The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
2187are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
2188fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
2189timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
2190most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
2191
2192In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
2193(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
2194connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
2195
2196Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
2197distribution.
2198
2199=head3 Explanation of the columns
2200
2201I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
2202each server has a read and write socket end).
2203
2204I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
2205nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
2206
2207I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
2208single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
2209it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
2210a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
2211
2212=head3 Results
2213
2214 name sockets create request
2215 EV 20000 69.01 11.16
2216 Perl 20000 73.32 35.87
2217 IOAsync 20000 157.00 98.14 epoll
2218 IOAsync 20000 159.31 616.06 poll
2219 Event 20000 212.62 257.32
2220 Glib 20000 651.16 1896.30
2221 POE 20000 349.67 12317.24 uses POE::Loop::Event
2222
2223=head3 Discussion
2224
2225This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
2226particular event loop.
2227
2228EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
2229is relatively high, though.
2230
2231Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
2232loops Event and Glib.
2233
2234IO::Async performs very well when using its epoll backend, and still quite
2235good compared to Glib when using its pure perl backend.
2236
2237Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
2238understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
2239the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
2240uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
2241
2242Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
2243clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
2244
2245POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
2246as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
2247it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
2248
2249=head3 Summary
2250
2251=over 4
2252
2253=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
2254
2255=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
2256
2257=back
2258
2259=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
2260
2261While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
2262large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
2263I/O watchers.
2264
2265In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
2266case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
2267one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
2268well.
2269
2270The columns are identical to the previous table.
2271
2272=head3 Results
2273
2274 name sockets create request
2275 EV 16 20.00 6.54
2276 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
2277 Event 16 81.27 35.86
2278 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
2279 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
2280
2281=head3 Discussion
2282
2283The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
2284server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
2285in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
2286to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
2287speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
2288them).
2289
2290EV is again fastest.
2291
2292Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
2293loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
2294matter.
2295
2296POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
2297others.
2298
2299=head3 Summary
2300
2301=over 4
2302
2303=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
2304watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
2305
2306=back
2307
2308=head2 THE IO::Lambda BENCHMARK
2309
2310Recently I was told about the benchmark in the IO::Lambda manpage, which
2311could be misinterpreted to make AnyEvent look bad. In fact, the benchmark
2312simply compares IO::Lambda with POE, and IO::Lambda looks better (which
2313shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody). As such, the benchmark is
2314fine, and mostly shows that the AnyEvent backend from IO::Lambda isn't
2315very optimal. But how would AnyEvent compare when used without the extra
2316baggage? To explore this, I wrote the equivalent benchmark for AnyEvent.
2317
2318The benchmark itself creates an echo-server, and then, for 500 times,
2319connects to the echo server, sends a line, waits for the reply, and then
2320creates the next connection. This is a rather bad benchmark, as it doesn't
2321test the efficiency of the framework or much non-blocking I/O, but it is a
2322benchmark nevertheless.
2323
2324 name runtime
2325 Lambda/select 0.330 sec
2326 + optimized 0.122 sec
2327 Lambda/AnyEvent 0.327 sec
2328 + optimized 0.138 sec
2329 Raw sockets/select 0.077 sec
2330 POE/select, components 0.662 sec
2331 POE/select, raw sockets 0.226 sec
2332 POE/select, optimized 0.404 sec
2333
2334 AnyEvent/select/nb 0.085 sec
2335 AnyEvent/EV/nb 0.068 sec
2336 +state machine 0.134 sec
2337
2338The benchmark is also a bit unfair (my fault): the IO::Lambda/POE
2339benchmarks actually make blocking connects and use 100% blocking I/O,
2340defeating the purpose of an event-based solution. All of the newly
2341written AnyEvent benchmarks use 100% non-blocking connects (using
2342AnyEvent::Socket::tcp_connect and the asynchronous pure perl DNS
2343resolver), so AnyEvent is at a disadvantage here, as non-blocking connects
2344generally require a lot more bookkeeping and event handling than blocking
2345connects (which involve a single syscall only).
2346
2347The last AnyEvent benchmark additionally uses L<AnyEvent::Handle>, which
2348offers similar expressive power as POE and IO::Lambda, using conventional
2349Perl syntax. This means that both the echo server and the client are 100%
2350non-blocking, further placing it at a disadvantage.
2351
2352As you can see, the AnyEvent + EV combination even beats the
2353hand-optimised "raw sockets benchmark", while AnyEvent + its pure perl
2354backend easily beats IO::Lambda and POE.
2355
2356And even the 100% non-blocking version written using the high-level (and
2357slow :) L<AnyEvent::Handle> abstraction beats both POE and IO::Lambda by a
2358large margin, even though it does all of DNS, tcp-connect and socket I/O
2359in a non-blocking way.
2360
2361The two AnyEvent benchmarks programs can be found as F<eg/ae0.pl> and
2362F<eg/ae2.pl> in the AnyEvent distribution, the remaining benchmarks are
2363part of the IO::lambda distribution and were used without any changes.
2364
2365
2366=head1 SIGNALS
2367
2368AnyEvent currently installs handlers for these signals:
2369
2370=over 4
2371
2372=item SIGCHLD
2373
2374A handler for C<SIGCHLD> is installed by AnyEvent's child watcher
2375emulation for event loops that do not support them natively. Also, some
2376event loops install a similar handler.
2377
2378Additionally, when AnyEvent is loaded and SIGCHLD is set to IGNORE, then
2379AnyEvent will reset it to default, to avoid losing child exit statuses.
2380
2381=item SIGPIPE
2382
2383A no-op handler is installed for C<SIGPIPE> when C<$SIG{PIPE}> is C<undef>
2384when AnyEvent gets loaded.
2385
2386The rationale for this is that AnyEvent users usually do not really depend
2387on SIGPIPE delivery (which is purely an optimisation for shell use, or
2388badly-written programs), but C<SIGPIPE> can cause spurious and rare
2389program exits as a lot of people do not expect C<SIGPIPE> when writing to
2390some random socket.
2391
2392The rationale for installing a no-op handler as opposed to ignoring it is
2393that this way, the handler will be restored to defaults on exec.
2394
2395Feel free to install your own handler, or reset it to defaults.
2396
2397=back
2398
2399=cut
2400
2401undef $SIG{CHLD}
2402 if $SIG{CHLD} eq 'IGNORE';
2403
2404$SIG{PIPE} = sub { }
2405 unless defined $SIG{PIPE};
2406
2407=head1 RECOMMENDED/OPTIONAL MODULES
2408
2409One of AnyEvent's main goals is to be 100% Pure-Perl(tm): only perl (and
2410it's built-in modules) are required to use it.
2411
2412That does not mean that AnyEvent won't take advantage of some additional
2413modules if they are installed.
2414
2415This section epxlains which additional modules will be used, and how they
2416affect AnyEvent's operetion.
2417
2418=over 4
2419
2420=item L<Async::Interrupt>
2421
2422This slightly arcane module is used to implement fast signal handling: To
2423my knowledge, there is no way to do completely race-free and quick
2424signal handling in pure perl. To ensure that signals still get
2425delivered, AnyEvent will start an interval timer to wake up perl (and
2426catch the signals) with some delay (default is 10 seconds, look for
2427C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>).
2428
2429If this module is available, then it will be used to implement signal
2430catching, which means that signals will not be delayed, and the event loop
2431will not be interrupted regularly, which is more efficient (And good for
2432battery life on laptops).
2433
2434This affects not just the pure-perl event loop, but also other event loops
2435that have no signal handling on their own (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt).
2436
2437Some event loops (POE, Event, Event::Lib) offer signal watchers natively,
2438and either employ their own workarounds (POE) or use AnyEvent's workaround
2439(using C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>). Installing L<Async::Interrupt>
2440does nothing for those backends.
2441
2442=item L<EV>
2443
2444This module isn't really "optional", as it is simply one of the backend
2445event loops that AnyEvent can use. However, it is simply the best event
2446loop available in terms of features, speed and stability: It supports
2447the AnyEvent API optimally, implements all the watcher types in XS, does
2448automatic timer adjustments even when no monotonic clock is available,
2449can take avdantage of advanced kernel interfaces such as C<epoll> and
2450C<kqueue>, and is the fastest backend I<by far>. You can even embed
2451L<Glib>/L<Gtk2> in it (or vice versa, see L<EV::Glib> and L<Glib::EV>).
2452
2453=item L<Guard>
2454
2455The guard module, when used, will be used to implement
2456C<AnyEvent::Util::guard>. This speeds up guards considerably (and uses a
2457lot less memory), but otherwise doesn't affect guard operation much. It is
2458purely used for performance.
2459
2460=item L<JSON> and L<JSON::XS>
2461
2462This module is required when you want to read or write JSON data via
2463L<AnyEvent::Handle>. It is also written in pure-perl, but can take
2464advantage of the ultra-high-speed L<JSON::XS> module when it is installed.
2465
2466In fact, L<AnyEvent::Handle> will use L<JSON::XS> by default if it is
2467installed.
2468
2469=item L<Net::SSLeay>
2470
2471Implementing TLS/SSL in Perl is certainly interesting, but not very
2472worthwhile: If this module is installed, then L<AnyEvent::Handle> (with
2473the help of L<AnyEvent::TLS>), gains the ability to do TLS/SSL.
2474
2475=item L<Time::HiRes>
2476
2477This module is part of perl since release 5.008. It will be used when the
2478chosen event library does not come with a timing source on it's own. The
2479pure-perl event loop (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) will additionally use it to
2480try to use a monotonic clock for timing stability.
2481
2482=back
2483
834 2484
835=head1 FORK 2485=head1 FORK
836 2486
837Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are 2487Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
838because they are so inefficient. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware. 2488because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
2489calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
839 2490
840If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first 2491If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
841watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child. 2492watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child OR you must do
2493something completely out of the scope of AnyEvent.
2494
842 2495
843=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS 2496=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
844 2497
845AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via 2498AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
846$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to 2499$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to
850specified in the variable. 2503specified in the variable.
851 2504
852You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it 2505You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
853before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block: 2506before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
854 2507
855 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} } 2508 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
856 2509
857 use AnyEvent; 2510 use AnyEvent;
2511
2512Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
2513be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
2514probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), and
2515$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT}.
2516
2517Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
2518C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
2519enabled.
2520
2521
2522=head1 BUGS
2523
2524Perl 5.8 has numerous memleaks that sometimes hit this module and are hard
2525to work around. If you suffer from memleaks, first upgrade to Perl 5.10
2526and check wether the leaks still show up. (Perl 5.10.0 has other annoying
2527memleaks, such as leaking on C<map> and C<grep> but it is usually not as
2528pronounced).
2529
858 2530
859=head1 SEE ALSO 2531=head1 SEE ALSO
860 2532
861Event modules: L<Coro::EV>, L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, 2533Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
862L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>, L<Coro>, L<Tk>,
863L<Event::Lib>.
864 2534
865Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, 2535Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
2536L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
2537
2538Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
2539L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
2540L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
866L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, 2541L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync>, L<Anyevent::Impl::Irssi>.
867L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>.
868 2542
2543Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
2544servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>, L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
2545
2546Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
2547
2548Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>,
2549L<Coro::Event>,
2550
869Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>. 2551Nontrivial usage examples: L<AnyEvent::GPSD>, L<AnyEvent::XMPP>,
2552L<AnyEvent::HTTP>.
2553
870 2554
871=head1 AUTHOR 2555=head1 AUTHOR
872 2556
873 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 2557 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
874 http://home.schmorp.de/ 2558 http://home.schmorp.de/
875 2559
876=cut 2560=cut
877 2561
8781 25621
879 2563

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