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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
368A typical example would be a script in a web server (e.g. C<mod_perl>) -
369when mod_perl executes the script, then the event loop will have the wrong
370idea about the "current time" (being potentially far in the past, when the
371script ran the last time). In that case you should arrange a call to C<<
372AnyEvent->now_update >> each time the web server process wakes up again
373(e.g. at the start of your script, or in a handler).
374
375Note that updating the time I<might> cause some events to be handled.
376
377=back
378
224=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS 379=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
225 380
381 $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => <uppercase_signal_name>, cb => <callback>);
382
226You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal 383You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
227I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl callback to 384I<name> in uppercase and without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl
228be invoked whenever a signal occurs. 385callback to be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
229 386
387Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
388presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
389callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
390
230Multiple signals occurances can be clumped together into one callback 391Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
231invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. synchronous means 392invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
232that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process, 393that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
233but it is guarenteed not to interrupt any other callbacks. 394but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
234 395
235The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal 396The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
236between multiple watchers. 397between multiple watchers, and AnyEvent will ensure that signals will not
398interrupt your program at bad times.
237 399
238This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals 400This watcher might use C<%SIG> (depending on the event loop used),
239directly will likely not work correctly. 401so programs overwriting those signals directly will likely not work
402correctly.
240 403
241Example: exit on SIGINT 404Example: exit on SIGINT
242 405
243 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 }); 406 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
244 407
408=head3 Restart Behaviour
409
410While restart behaviour is up to the event loop implementation, most will
411not restart syscalls (that includes L<Async::Interrupt> and AnyEvent's
412pure perl implementation).
413
414=head3 Safe/Unsafe Signals
415
416Perl signals can be either "safe" (synchronous to opcode handling) or
417"unsafe" (asynchronous) - the former might get delayed indefinitely, the
418latter might corrupt your memory.
419
420AnyEvent signal handlers are, in addition, synchronous to the event loop,
421i.e. they will not interrupt your running perl program but will only be
422called as part of the normal event handling (just like timer, I/O etc.
423callbacks, too).
424
425=head3 Signal Races, Delays and Workarounds
426
427Many event loops (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt, IO::Async) do not support attaching
428callbacks to signals in a generic way, which is a pity, as you cannot
429do race-free signal handling in perl, requiring C libraries for
430this. AnyEvent will try to do it's best, which means in some cases,
431signals will be delayed. The maximum time a signal might be delayed is
432specified in C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY> (default: 10 seconds). This
433variable can be changed only before the first signal watcher is created,
434and should be left alone otherwise. This variable determines how often
435AnyEvent polls for signals (in case a wake-up was missed). Higher values
436will cause fewer spurious wake-ups, which is better for power and CPU
437saving.
438
439All these problems can be avoided by installing the optional
440L<Async::Interrupt> module, which works with most event loops. It will not
441work with inherently broken event loops such as L<Event> or L<Event::Lib>
442(and not with L<POE> currently, as POE does it's own workaround with
443one-second latency). For those, you just have to suffer the delays.
444
245=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS 445=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
246 446
447 $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => <process id>, cb => <callback>);
448
247You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status. 449You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status.
248 450
249The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it 451The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (one some backends,
250watches for any child process exit). The watcher will trigger as often 452using 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 453croak). The watcher will be triggered only when the child process has
252signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with the pid 454finished and an exit status is available, not on any trace events
253and exit status (as returned by waitpid). 455(stopped/continued).
254 456
255Example: wait for pid 1333 457The callback will be called with the pid and exit status (as returned by
458waitpid), so unlike other watcher types, you I<can> rely on child watcher
459callback arguments.
256 460
461This watcher type works by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>,
462and since it cannot be shared, nothing else should use SIGCHLD or reap
463random child processes (waiting for specific child processes, e.g. inside
464C<system>, is just fine).
465
466There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
467I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
468have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
469
470Not all event models handle this correctly (neither POE nor IO::Async do,
471see their AnyEvent::Impl manpages for details), but even for event models
472that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be loaded before
473the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place). AnyEvent's
474pure perl event loop handles all cases correctly regardless of when you
475start the watcher.
476
477This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first
478thing in an AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one
479watcher before you C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call
480C<AnyEvent::detect>).
481
482As most event loops do not support waiting for child events, they will be
483emulated by AnyEvent in most cases, in which the latency and race problems
484mentioned in the description of signal watchers apply.
485
486Example: fork a process and wait for it
487
488 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
489
490 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
491
257 my $w = AnyEvent->child ( 492 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
258 pid => 1333, 493 pid => $pid,
259 cb => sub { 494 cb => sub {
260 my ($pid, $status) = @_; 495 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
261 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status"; 496 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
497 $done->send;
262 }, 498 },
263 ); 499 );
500
501 # do something else, then wait for process exit
502 $done->recv;
503
504=head2 IDLE WATCHERS
505
506 $w = AnyEvent->idle (cb => <callback>);
507
508Sometimes there is a need to do something, but it is not so important
509to do it instantly, but only when there is nothing better to do. This
510"nothing better to do" is usually defined to be "no other events need
511attention by the event loop".
512
513Idle watchers ideally get invoked when the event loop has nothing
514better to do, just before it would block the process to wait for new
515events. Instead of blocking, the idle watcher is invoked.
516
517Most event loops unfortunately do not really support idle watchers (only
518EV, Event and Glib do it in a usable fashion) - for the rest, AnyEvent
519will simply call the callback "from time to time".
520
521Example: read lines from STDIN, but only process them when the
522program is otherwise idle:
523
524 my @lines; # read data
525 my $idle_w;
526 my $io_w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
527 push @lines, scalar <STDIN>;
528
529 # start an idle watcher, if not already done
530 $idle_w ||= AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub {
531 # handle only one line, when there are lines left
532 if (my $line = shift @lines) {
533 print "handled when idle: $line";
534 } else {
535 # otherwise disable the idle watcher again
536 undef $idle_w;
537 }
538 });
539 });
264 540
265=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES 541=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
266 542
543 $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
544
545 $cv->send (<list>);
546 my @res = $cv->recv;
547
548If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
549require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
550will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
551
552AnyEvent is slightly different: it expects somebody else to run the event
553loop and will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
554
555The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
556because they represent a condition that must become true.
557
558Now is probably a good time to look at the examples further below.
559
267Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >> 560Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
268method without any arguments. 561>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
562C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
563becomes true, with the condition variable as the first argument (but not
564the results).
269 565
270A condition variable waits for a condition - precisely that the C<< 566After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
271->broadcast >> method has been called. 567by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
568were a callback, read about the caveats in the description for the C<<
569->send >> method).
272 570
273They are very useful to signal that a condition has been fulfilled, for 571Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
572optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
573in time where multiple outstanding events have been processed. And yet
574another way to call them is transactions - each condition variable can be
575used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
576a result. And yet some people know them as "futures" - a promise to
577compute/deliver something that you can wait for.
578
579Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
274example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests, 580for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
275then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the 581then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
276availability of results. 582availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
583called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
277 584
278You can also use condition variables to block your main program until 585You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
279an event occurs - for example, you could C<< ->wait >> in your main 586you 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<< 587could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
281->broadcast >> the "quit" event. 588button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
282 589
283Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have 590Note 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 591two 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 592lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
286you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks, 593you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
287as this asks for trouble. 594as this asks for trouble.
288 595
289This object has two methods: 596Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
597used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
598easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
599AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
600it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
290 601
291=over 4 602There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
603eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
604for the send to occur.
292 605
293=item $cv->wait 606Example: wait for a timer.
294
295Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been
296called on c<$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:
325 607
326 # wait till the result is ready 608 # wait till the result is ready
327 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar; 609 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
328 610
329 # do something such as adding a timer 611 # do something such as adding a timer
330 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast 612 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->send
331 # when the "result" is ready. 613 # when the "result" is ready.
332 # in this case, we simply use a timer: 614 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
333 my $w = AnyEvent->timer ( 615 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
334 after => 1, 616 after => 1,
335 cb => sub { $result_ready->broadcast }, 617 cb => sub { $result_ready->send },
336 ); 618 );
337 619
338 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the watcher 620 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
339 # calls broadcast 621 # calls ->send
340 $result_ready->wait; 622 $result_ready->recv;
623
624Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that condition
625variables are also callable directly.
626
627 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
628 my $delay = AnyEvent->timer (after => 5, cb => $done);
629 $done->recv;
630
631Example: Imagine an API that returns a condvar and doesn't support
632callbacks. This is how you make a synchronous call, for example from
633the main program:
634
635 use AnyEvent::CouchDB;
636
637 ...
638
639 my @info = $couchdb->info->recv;
640
641And this is how you would just set a callback to be called whenever the
642results are available:
643
644 $couchdb->info->cb (sub {
645 my @info = $_[0]->recv;
646 });
647
648=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
649
650These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
651code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
652the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
653uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
654
655=over 4
656
657=item $cv->send (...)
658
659Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
660calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
661called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
662
663If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
664immediately from within send.
665
666Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
667future C<< ->recv >> calls.
668
669Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly (as if
670they were a code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling
671C<send>.
672
673=item $cv->croak ($error)
674
675Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
676C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
677
678This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
679user/consumer. Doing it this way instead of calling C<croak> directly
680delays the error detetcion, but has the overwhelmign advantage that it
681diagnoses the error at the place where the result is expected, and not
682deep in some event clalback without connection to the actual code causing
683the problem.
684
685=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
686
687=item $cv->end
688
689These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
690one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
691to use a condition variable for the whole process.
692
693Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
694C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
695>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed, passing the
696condvar as first argument. That callback is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send
697>>, but that is not required. If no group callback was set, C<send> will
698be called without any arguments.
699
700You can think of C<< $cv->send >> giving you an OR condition (one call
701sends), while C<< $cv->begin >> and C<< $cv->end >> giving you an AND
702condition (all C<begin> calls must be C<end>'ed before the condvar sends).
703
704Let's start with a simple example: you have two I/O watchers (for example,
705STDOUT and STDERR for a program), and you want to wait for both streams to
706close before activating a condvar:
707
708 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
709
710 $cv->begin; # first watcher
711 my $w1 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh1, cb => sub {
712 defined sysread $fh1, my $buf, 4096
713 or $cv->end;
714 });
715
716 $cv->begin; # second watcher
717 my $w2 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh2, cb => sub {
718 defined sysread $fh2, my $buf, 4096
719 or $cv->end;
720 });
721
722 $cv->recv;
723
724This works because for every event source (EOF on file handle), there is
725one call to C<begin>, so the condvar waits for all calls to C<end> before
726sending.
727
728The ping example mentioned above is slightly more complicated, as the
729there are results to be passwd back, and the number of tasks that are
730begung can potentially be zero:
731
732 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
733
734 my %result;
735 $cv->begin (sub { shift->send (\%result) });
736
737 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
738 $cv->begin;
739 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
740 $result{$host} = ...;
741 $cv->end;
742 };
743 }
744
745 $cv->end;
746
747This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
748C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
749order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
750each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
751it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
752results arrive is not relevant.
753
754There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
755loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
756to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
757C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
758doesn't execute once).
759
760This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple (but
761potentially none) subrequests: use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set
762the callback and ensure C<end> is called at least once, and then, for each
763subrequest you start, call C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish,
764call C<end>.
765
766=back
767
768=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
769
770These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
771code awaits the condition.
772
773=over 4
774
775=item $cv->recv
776
777Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
778>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
779normally.
780
781You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
782will return immediately.
783
784If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
785function will call C<croak>.
786
787In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
788in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
789
790Note that doing a blocking wait in a callback is not supported by any
791event loop, that is, recursive invocation of a blocking C<< ->recv
792>> is not allowed, and the C<recv> call will C<croak> if such a
793condition is detected. This condition can be slightly loosened by using
794L<Coro::AnyEvent>, which allows you to do a blocking C<< ->recv >> from
795any thread that doesn't run the event loop itself.
796
797Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
798(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
799using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>. Instead, let the
800caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
801condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
802callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
803while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
804
805You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
806only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
807time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
808waits otherwise.
809
810=item $bool = $cv->ready
811
812Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
813C<croak> have been called.
814
815=item $cb = $cv->cb ($cb->($cv))
816
817This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
818replaces it before doing so.
819
820The callback will be called when the condition becomes (or already was)
821"true", i.e. when C<send> or C<croak> are called (or were called), with
822the only argument being the condition variable itself. Calling C<recv>
823inside the callback or at any later time is guaranteed not to block.
824
825=back
826
827=head1 SUPPORTED EVENT LOOPS/BACKENDS
828
829The available backend classes are (every class has its own manpage):
830
831=over 4
832
833=item Backends that are autoprobed when no other event loop can be found.
834
835EV is the preferred backend when no other event loop seems to be in
836use. If EV is not installed, then AnyEvent will fall back to its own
837pure-perl implementation, which is available everywhere as it comes with
838AnyEvent itself.
839
840 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (interface to libev, best choice).
841 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
842
843=item Backends that are transparently being picked up when they are used.
844
845These will be used when they are currently loaded when the first watcher
846is created, in which case it is assumed that the application is using
847them. This means that AnyEvent will automatically pick the right backend
848when the main program loads an event module before anything starts to
849create watchers. Nothing special needs to be done by the main program.
850
851 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, very stable, few glitches.
852 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, slow but very stable.
853 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very broken.
854 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
855 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, very slow, some limitations.
856 AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi used when running within irssi.
857
858=item Backends with special needs.
859
860Qt requires the Qt::Application to be instantiated first, but will
861otherwise be picked up automatically. As long as the main program
862instantiates the application before any AnyEvent watchers are created,
863everything should just work.
864
865 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt.
866
867Support for IO::Async can only be partial, as it is too broken and
868architecturally limited to even support the AnyEvent API. It also
869is the only event loop that needs the loop to be set explicitly, so
870it can only be used by a main program knowing about AnyEvent. See
871L<AnyEvent::Impl::Async> for the gory details.
872
873 AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync based on IO::Async, cannot be autoprobed.
874
875=item Event loops that are indirectly supported via other backends.
876
877Some event loops can be supported via other modules:
878
879There is no direct support for WxWidgets (L<Wx>) or L<Prima>.
880
881B<WxWidgets> has no support for watching file handles. However, you can
882use WxWidgets through the POE adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply
883polls 20 times per second, which was considered to be too horrible to even
884consider for AnyEvent.
885
886B<Prima> is not supported as nobody seems to be using it, but it has a POE
887backend, so it can be supported through POE.
888
889AnyEvent knows about both L<Prima> and L<Wx>, however, and will try to
890load L<POE> when detecting them, in the hope that POE will pick them up,
891in which case everything will be automatic.
892
893=back
341 894
342=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS 895=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
343 896
897These are not normally required to use AnyEvent, but can be useful to
898write AnyEvent extension modules.
899
344=over 4 900=over 4
345 901
346=item $AnyEvent::MODEL 902=item $AnyEvent::MODEL
347 903
348Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created. Then it 904Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created, before the
905backend has been autodetected.
906
349contains the event model that is being used, which is the name of the 907Afterwards it contains the event model that is being used, which is the
350Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one of the 908name of the Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one
351C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case 909of the C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the
352AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>). 910case AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode> it
353 911will be C<urxvt::anyevent>).
354The known classes so far are:
355
356 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV based on Coro::EV, best choice.
357 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent based on Coro::Event, second best choice.
358 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, also best choice).
359 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, also second best choice :)
360 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.
361 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
362 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient but portable.
363 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
364 912
365=item AnyEvent::detect 913=item AnyEvent::detect
366 914
367Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model 915Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
368if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would 916if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
369have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at 917have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
370runtime. 918runtime, and not e.g. while initialising of your module.
919
920If you need to do some initialisation before AnyEvent watchers are
921created, use C<post_detect>.
922
923=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
924
925Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
926autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
927
928The block will be executed I<after> the actual backend has been detected
929(C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> is set), but I<before> any watchers have been
930created, so it is possible to e.g. patch C<@AnyEvent::ISA> or do
931other initialisations - see the sources of L<AnyEvent::Strict> or
932L<AnyEvent::AIO> to see how this is used.
933
934The most common usage is to create some global watchers, without forcing
935event module detection too early, for example, L<AnyEvent::AIO> creates
936and installs the global L<IO::AIO> watcher in a C<post_detect> block to
937avoid autodetecting the event module at load time.
938
939If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
940that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed (or
941C<undef> when the hook was immediately executed). See L<AnyEvent::AIO> for
942a case where this is useful.
943
944Example: Create a watcher for the IO::AIO module and store it in
945C<$WATCHER>. Only do so after the event loop is initialised, though.
946
947 our WATCHER;
948
949 my $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect {
950 $WATCHER = AnyEvent->io (fh => IO::AIO::poll_fileno, poll => 'r', cb => \&IO::AIO::poll_cb);
951 };
952
953 # the ||= is important in case post_detect immediately runs the block,
954 # as to not clobber the newly-created watcher. assigning both watcher and
955 # post_detect guard to the same variable has the advantage of users being
956 # able to just C<undef $WATCHER> if the watcher causes them grief.
957
958 $WATCHER ||= $guard;
959
960=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
961
962If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
963before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
964the event loop has been chosen.
965
966You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
967if it is defined then the event loop has already been detected, and the
968array will be ignored.
969
970Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> when your application allows
971it, as it takes care of these details.
972
973This variable is mainly useful for modules that can do something useful
974when AnyEvent is used and thus want to know when it is initialised, but do
975not need to even load it by default. This array provides the means to hook
976into AnyEvent passively, without loading it.
977
978Example: To load Coro::AnyEvent whenever Coro and AnyEvent are used
979together, you could put this into Coro (this is the actual code used by
980Coro to accomplish this):
981
982 if (defined $AnyEvent::MODEL) {
983 # AnyEvent already initialised, so load Coro::AnyEvent
984 require Coro::AnyEvent;
985 } else {
986 # AnyEvent not yet initialised, so make sure to load Coro::AnyEvent
987 # as soon as it is
988 push @AnyEvent::post_detect, sub { require Coro::AnyEvent };
989 }
371 990
372=back 991=back
373 992
374=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE 993=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
375 994
379Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will 998Be 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 999decide 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 1000by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
382to load the event module first. 1001to load the event module first.
383 1002
384Never call C<< ->wait >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that 1003Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
385the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been called on it already. This is 1004the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
386because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using 1005because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
387events is to stay interactive. 1006events is to stay interactive.
388 1007
389It is fine, however, to call C<< ->wait >> when the user of your module 1008It 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 1009requests 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 >> 1010called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
392freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always). 1011freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
393 1012
394=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM 1013=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
395 1014
396There will always be a single main program - the only place that should 1015There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
398 1017
399If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not 1018If 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 1019do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
401decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it. 1020decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
402 1021
403If the main program relies on a specific event model. For example, in 1022If 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 1023Gtk2 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 1024event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
406speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that 1025speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
407modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will 1026modules 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 1027decide 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. 1028might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
410 1029
411You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by 1030You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
412loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar 1031C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
413behaviour everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose is generally better. 1032everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
1033
1034=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
1035
1036Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
1037only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
1038
1039In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
1040
1041 AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
1042
1043This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
1044
1045Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
1046it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
1047variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
1048exit cleanly.
1049
1050
1051=head1 OTHER MODULES
1052
1053The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
1054AnyEvent as a client and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent
1055modules and other event loops in the same program. Some of the modules
1056come with AnyEvent, most are available via CPAN.
1057
1058=over 4
1059
1060=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
1061
1062Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
1063functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
1064
1065=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
1066
1067Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
1068addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
1069connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
1070
1071=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
1072
1073Provide read and write buffers, manages watchers for reads and writes,
1074supports raw and formatted I/O, I/O queued and fully transparent and
1075non-blocking SSL/TLS (via L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
1076
1077=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
1078
1079Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
1080
1081=item L<AnyEvent::HTTP>
1082
1083A simple-to-use HTTP library that is capable of making a lot of concurrent
1084HTTP requests.
1085
1086=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
1087
1088Provides a simple web application server framework.
1089
1090=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
1091
1092The fastest ping in the west.
1093
1094=item L<AnyEvent::DBI>
1095
1096Executes L<DBI> requests asynchronously in a proxy process.
1097
1098=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>
1099
1100Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
1101programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses L<IO::AIO> and AnyEvent
1102together.
1103
1104=item L<AnyEvent::BDB>
1105
1106Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. AnyEvent::BDB transparently fuses
1107L<BDB> and AnyEvent together.
1108
1109=item L<AnyEvent::GPSD>
1110
1111A non-blocking interface to gpsd, a daemon delivering GPS information.
1112
1113=item L<AnyEvent::IRC>
1114
1115AnyEvent based IRC client module family (replacing the older Net::IRC3).
1116
1117=item L<AnyEvent::XMPP>
1118
1119AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family (replacing the older
1120Net::XMPP2>.
1121
1122=item L<AnyEvent::IGS>
1123
1124A non-blocking interface to the Internet Go Server protocol (used by
1125L<App::IGS>).
1126
1127=item L<Net::FCP>
1128
1129AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
1130of AnyEvent.
1131
1132=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
1133
1134High level API for event-based execution flow control.
1135
1136=item L<Coro>
1137
1138Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
1139
1140=back
414 1141
415=cut 1142=cut
416 1143
417package AnyEvent; 1144package AnyEvent;
418 1145
419no warnings; 1146# basically a tuned-down version of common::sense
420use strict; 1147sub common_sense {
1148 # from common:.sense 1.0
1149 ${^WARNING_BITS} = "\xfc\x3f\x33\x00\x0f\xf3\xcf\xc0\xf3\xfc\x33\x03";
1150 # use strict vars subs
1151 $^H |= 0x00000600;
1152}
421 1153
1154BEGIN { AnyEvent::common_sense }
1155
422use Carp; 1156use Carp ();
423 1157
424our $VERSION = '3.12'; 1158our $VERSION = '5.22';
425our $MODEL; 1159our $MODEL;
426 1160
427our $AUTOLOAD; 1161our $AUTOLOAD;
428our @ISA; 1162our @ISA;
429 1163
430our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
431
432our @REGISTRY; 1164our @REGISTRY;
433 1165
1166our $VERBOSE;
1167
1168BEGIN {
1169 eval "sub WIN32(){ " . (($^O =~ /mswin32/i)*1) ." }";
1170 eval "sub TAINT(){ " . (${^TAINT}*1) . " }";
1171
1172 delete @ENV{grep /^PERL_ANYEVENT_/, keys %ENV}
1173 if ${^TAINT};
1174
1175 $VERBOSE = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
1176
1177}
1178
1179our $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY = 10;
1180
1181our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2), higher numbers are preferred
1182
1183{
1184 my $idx;
1185 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
1186 for reverse split /\s*,\s*/,
1187 $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
1188}
1189
434my @models = ( 1190my @models = (
435 [Coro::EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV::],
436 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent::],
437 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::], 1191 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV:: , 1],
1192 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: , 1],
1193 # everything below here will not (normally) be autoprobed
1194 # as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
1195 # and is usually faster
438 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 1196 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::, 1],
439 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], 1197 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib:: , 1], # becomes extremely slow with many watchers
1198 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
1199 [Irssi:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi::], # Irssi has a bogus "Event" package
1200 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], # crashes with many handles
1201 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
1202 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
440 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], 1203 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
441 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::], 1204 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
442 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], 1205 # IO::Async is just too broken - we would need workarounds for its
1206 # byzantine signal and broken child handling, among others.
1207 # IO::Async is rather hard to detect, as it doesn't have any
1208 # obvious default class.
1209 [IO::Async:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1210 [IO::Async::Loop:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1211 [IO::Async::Notifier:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1212 [AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
443); 1213);
444 1214
445our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer condvar broadcast wait signal one_event DESTROY); 1215our %method = map +($_ => 1),
1216 qw(io timer time now now_update signal child idle condvar one_event DESTROY);
1217
1218our @post_detect;
1219
1220sub post_detect(&) {
1221 my ($cb) = @_;
1222
1223 if ($MODEL) {
1224 $cb->();
1225
1226 undef
1227 } else {
1228 push @post_detect, $cb;
1229
1230 defined wantarray
1231 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::postdetect"
1232 : ()
1233 }
1234}
1235
1236sub AnyEvent::Util::postdetect::DESTROY {
1237 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
1238}
446 1239
447sub detect() { 1240sub detect() {
448 unless ($MODEL) { 1241 unless ($MODEL) {
449 no strict 'refs'; 1242 local $SIG{__DIE__};
450 1243
451 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) { 1244 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
452 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1"; 1245 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
453 if (eval "require $model") { 1246 if (eval "require $model") {
454 $MODEL = $model; 1247 $MODEL = $model;
455 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1248 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}), using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
1249 } else {
1250 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}):\n$@" if $VERBOSE;
456 } 1251 }
457 } 1252 }
458 1253
459 # check for already loaded models 1254 # check for already loaded models
460 unless ($MODEL) { 1255 unless ($MODEL) {
461 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 1256 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
462 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 1257 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
463 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 1258 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
464 if (eval "require $model") { 1259 if (eval "require $model") {
465 $MODEL = $model; 1260 $MODEL = $model;
466 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1261 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
467 last; 1262 last;
468 } 1263 }
469 } 1264 }
470 } 1265 }
471 1266
472 unless ($MODEL) { 1267 unless ($MODEL) {
473 # try to load a model 1268 # try to autoload a model
474
475 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 1269 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
476 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 1270 my ($package, $model, $autoload) = @$_;
1271 if (
1272 $autoload
477 if (eval "require $package" 1273 and eval "require $package"
478 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0 1274 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
479 and eval "require $model") { 1275 and eval "require $model"
1276 ) {
480 $MODEL = $model; 1277 $MODEL = $model;
481 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1278 warn "AnyEvent: autoloaded model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
482 last; 1279 last;
483 } 1280 }
484 } 1281 }
485 1282
486 $MODEL 1283 $MODEL
487 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV (or Coro+EV), Event (or Coro+Event) or Glib."; 1284 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.\n";
488 } 1285 }
489 } 1286 }
490 1287
1288 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
1289
491 unshift @ISA, $MODEL; 1290 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
492 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base"; 1291
1292 require AnyEvent::Strict if $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT};
1293
1294 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
493 } 1295 }
494 1296
495 $MODEL 1297 $MODEL
496} 1298}
497 1299
498sub AUTOLOAD { 1300sub AUTOLOAD {
499 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://; 1301 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://;
500 1302
501 $method{$func} 1303 $method{$func}
502 or croak "$func: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects"; 1304 or Carp::croak "$func: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects";
503 1305
504 detect unless $MODEL; 1306 detect unless $MODEL;
505 1307
506 my $class = shift; 1308 my $class = shift;
507 $class->$func (@_); 1309 $class->$func (@_);
508} 1310}
509 1311
1312# utility function to dup a filehandle. this is used by many backends
1313# to support binding more than one watcher per filehandle (they usually
1314# allow only one watcher per fd, so we dup it to get a different one).
1315sub _dupfh($$;$$) {
1316 my ($poll, $fh, $r, $w) = @_;
1317
1318 # cygwin requires the fh mode to be matching, unix doesn't
1319 my ($rw, $mode) = $poll eq "r" ? ($r, "<&") : ($w, ">&");
1320
1321 open my $fh2, $mode, $fh
1322 or die "AnyEvent->io: cannot dup() filehandle in mode '$poll': $!,";
1323
1324 # we assume CLOEXEC is already set by perl in all important cases
1325
1326 ($fh2, $rw)
1327}
1328
1329=head1 SIMPLIFIED AE API
1330
1331Starting with version 5.0, AnyEvent officially supports a second, much
1332simpler, API that is designed to reduce the calling, typing and memory
1333overhead.
1334
1335See the L<AE> manpage for details.
1336
1337=cut
1338
1339package AE;
1340
1341our $VERSION = $AnyEvent::VERSION;
1342
1343sub io($$$) {
1344 AnyEvent->io (fh => $_[0], poll => $_[1] ? "w" : "r", cb => $_[2])
1345}
1346
1347sub timer($$$) {
1348 AnyEvent->timer (after => $_[0], interval => $_[1], cb => $_[2])
1349}
1350
1351sub signal($$) {
1352 AnyEvent->signal (signal => $_[0], cb => $_[1])
1353}
1354
1355sub child($$) {
1356 AnyEvent->child (pid => $_[0], cb => $_[1])
1357}
1358
1359sub idle($) {
1360 AnyEvent->idle (cb => $_[0])
1361}
1362
1363sub cv(;&) {
1364 AnyEvent->condvar (@_ ? (cb => $_[0]) : ())
1365}
1366
1367sub now() {
1368 AnyEvent->now
1369}
1370
1371sub now_update() {
1372 AnyEvent->now_update
1373}
1374
1375sub time() {
1376 AnyEvent->time
1377}
1378
510package AnyEvent::Base; 1379package AnyEvent::Base;
511 1380
1381# default implementations for many methods
1382
1383sub _time() {
1384 # probe for availability of Time::HiRes
1385 if (eval "use Time::HiRes (); Time::HiRes::time (); 1") {
1386 warn "AnyEvent: using Time::HiRes for sub-second timing accuracy.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1387 *_time = \&Time::HiRes::time;
1388 # if (eval "use POSIX (); (POSIX::times())...
1389 } else {
1390 warn "AnyEvent: using built-in time(), WARNING, no sub-second resolution!\n" if $VERBOSE;
1391 *_time = sub { time }; # epic fail
1392 }
1393
1394 &_time
1395}
1396
1397sub time { _time }
1398sub now { _time }
1399sub now_update { }
1400
512# default implementation for ->condvar, ->wait, ->broadcast 1401# default implementation for ->condvar
513 1402
514sub condvar { 1403sub condvar {
515 bless \my $flag, "AnyEvent::Base::CondVar" 1404 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} 1405}
525 1406
526# default implementation for ->signal 1407# default implementation for ->signal
527 1408
528our %SIG_CB; 1409our $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1410
1411sub _have_async_interrupt() {
1412 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT = 1*(!$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT}
1413 && eval "use Async::Interrupt 1.02 (); 1")
1414 unless defined $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1415
1416 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1417}
1418
1419our ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W, %SIG_CB, %SIG_EV, $SIG_IO);
1420our (%SIG_ASY, %SIG_ASY_W);
1421our ($SIG_COUNT, $SIG_TW);
1422
1423sub _signal_exec {
1424 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1425 ? $SIGPIPE_R->drain
1426 : sysread $SIGPIPE_R, (my $dummy), 9;
1427
1428 while (%SIG_EV) {
1429 for (keys %SIG_EV) {
1430 delete $SIG_EV{$_};
1431 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$_} || {} };
1432 }
1433 }
1434}
1435
1436# install a dummy wakeup watcher to reduce signal catching latency
1437sub _sig_add() {
1438 unless ($SIG_COUNT++) {
1439 # try to align timer on a full-second boundary, if possible
1440 my $NOW = AE::now;
1441
1442 $SIG_TW = AE::timer
1443 $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY - ($NOW - int $NOW),
1444 $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY,
1445 sub { } # just for the PERL_ASYNC_CHECK
1446 ;
1447 }
1448}
1449
1450sub _sig_del {
1451 undef $SIG_TW
1452 unless --$SIG_COUNT;
1453}
1454
1455our $_sig_name_init; $_sig_name_init = sub {
1456 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading
1457 undef $_sig_name_init;
1458
1459 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1460 *sig2num = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2num;
1461 *sig2name = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2name;
1462 } else {
1463 require Config;
1464
1465 my %signame2num;
1466 @signame2num{ split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_name} }
1467 = split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_num};
1468
1469 my @signum2name;
1470 @signum2name[values %signame2num] = keys %signame2num;
1471
1472 *sig2num = sub($) {
1473 $_[0] > 0 ? shift : $signame2num{+shift}
1474 };
1475 *sig2name = sub ($) {
1476 $_[0] > 0 ? $signum2name[+shift] : shift
1477 };
1478 }
1479 };
1480 die if $@;
1481};
1482
1483sub sig2num ($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2num }
1484sub sig2name($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2name }
529 1485
530sub signal { 1486sub signal {
1487 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1488 # probe for availability of Async::Interrupt
1489 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1490 warn "AnyEvent: using Async::Interrupt for race-free signal handling.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1491
1492 $SIGPIPE_R = new Async::Interrupt::EventPipe;
1493 $SIG_IO = AE::io $SIGPIPE_R->fileno, 0, \&_signal_exec;
1494
1495 } else {
1496 warn "AnyEvent: using emulated perl signal handling with latency timer.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1497
1498 require Fcntl;
1499
1500 if (AnyEvent::WIN32) {
1501 require AnyEvent::Util;
1502
1503 ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_pipe ();
1504 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_R, 1) if $SIGPIPE_R;
1505 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_W, 1) if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1506 } else {
1507 pipe $SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W;
1508 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_R;
1509 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1510
1511 # not strictly required, as $^F is normally 2, but let's make sure...
1512 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1513 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1514 }
1515
1516 $SIGPIPE_R
1517 or Carp::croak "AnyEvent: unable to create a signal reporting pipe: $!\n";
1518
1519 $SIG_IO = AE::io $SIGPIPE_R, 0, \&_signal_exec;
1520 }
1521
1522 *signal = sub {
531 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1523 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
532 1524
533 my $signal = uc $arg{signal} 1525 my $signal = uc $arg{signal}
534 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing"; 1526 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing";
535 1527
1528 if ($HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT) {
1529 # async::interrupt
1530
1531 $signal = sig2num $signal;
536 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1532 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1533
1534 $SIG_ASY{$signal} ||= new Async::Interrupt
1535 cb => sub { undef $SIG_EV{$signal} },
1536 signal => $signal,
1537 pipe => [$SIGPIPE_R->filenos],
1538 pipe_autodrain => 0,
1539 ;
1540
1541 } else {
1542 # pure perl
1543
1544 # AE::Util has been loaded in signal
1545 $signal = sig2name $signal;
1546 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1547
537 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub { 1548 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub {
538 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} || {} }; 1549 local $!;
1550 syswrite $SIGPIPE_W, "\x00", 1 unless %SIG_EV;
1551 undef $SIG_EV{$signal};
1552 };
1553
1554 # can't do signal processing without introducing races in pure perl,
1555 # so limit the signal latency.
1556 _sig_add;
1557 }
1558
1559 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::signal"
1560 };
1561
1562 *AnyEvent::Base::signal::DESTROY = sub {
1563 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
1564
1565 _sig_del;
1566
1567 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
1568
1569 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1570 ? delete $SIG_ASY{$signal}
1571 : # delete doesn't work with older perls - they then
1572 # print weird messages, or just unconditionally exit
1573 # instead of getting the default action.
1574 undef $SIG{$signal}
1575 unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
1576 };
539 }; 1577 };
540 1578 die if $@;
541 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Signal" 1579 &signal
542}
543
544sub AnyEvent::Base::Signal::DESTROY {
545 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
546
547 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
548
549 $SIG{$signal} = 'DEFAULT' unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
550} 1580}
551 1581
552# default implementation for ->child 1582# default implementation for ->child
553 1583
554our %PID_CB; 1584our %PID_CB;
555our $CHLD_W; 1585our $CHLD_W;
556our $CHLD_DELAY_W; 1586our $CHLD_DELAY_W;
557our $PID_IDLE;
558our $WNOHANG; 1587our $WNOHANG;
559 1588
560sub _child_wait { 1589sub _emit_childstatus($$) {
561 while (0 < (my $pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG)) { 1590 my (undef, $rpid, $rstatus) = @_;
1591
1592 $_->($rpid, $rstatus)
562 $_->($pid, $?) for (values %{ $PID_CB{$pid} || {} }), 1593 for values %{ $PID_CB{$rpid} || {} },
563 (values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} }); 1594 values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} };
564 }
565
566 undef $PID_IDLE;
567} 1595}
568 1596
569sub _sigchld { 1597sub _sigchld {
570 # make sure we deliver these changes "synchronous" with the event loop. 1598 my $pid;
571 $CHLD_DELAY_W ||= AnyEvent->timer (after => 0, cb => sub { 1599
572 undef $CHLD_DELAY_W; 1600 AnyEvent->_emit_childstatus ($pid, $?)
573 &_child_wait; 1601 while ($pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG) > 0;
574 });
575} 1602}
576 1603
577sub child { 1604sub child {
578 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1605 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
579 1606
580 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0) 1607 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0)
581 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing"; 1608 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing";
582 1609
583 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1610 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
584 1611
585 unless ($WNOHANG) { 1612 # WNOHANG is almost cetrainly 1 everywhere
586 $WNOHANG = eval { require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1; 1613 $WNOHANG ||= $^O =~ /^(?:openbsd|netbsd|linux|freebsd|cygwin|MSWin32)$/
587 } 1614 ? 1
1615 : eval { local $SIG{__DIE__}; require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;
588 1616
589 unless ($CHLD_W) { 1617 unless ($CHLD_W) {
590 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld); 1618 $CHLD_W = AE::signal CHLD => \&_sigchld;
591 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round 1619 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
592 &_sigchld; 1620 &_sigchld;
593 } 1621 }
594 1622
595 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Child" 1623 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::child"
596} 1624}
597 1625
598sub AnyEvent::Base::Child::DESTROY { 1626sub AnyEvent::Base::child::DESTROY {
599 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]}; 1627 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
600 1628
601 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb}; 1629 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb};
602 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} }; 1630 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
603 1631
604 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB; 1632 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
605} 1633}
1634
1635# idle emulation is done by simply using a timer, regardless
1636# of whether the process is idle or not, and not letting
1637# the callback use more than 50% of the time.
1638sub idle {
1639 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1640
1641 my ($cb, $w, $rcb) = $arg{cb};
1642
1643 $rcb = sub {
1644 if ($cb) {
1645 $w = _time;
1646 &$cb;
1647 $w = _time - $w;
1648
1649 # never use more then 50% of the time for the idle watcher,
1650 # within some limits
1651 $w = 0.0001 if $w < 0.0001;
1652 $w = 5 if $w > 5;
1653
1654 $w = AE::timer $w, 0, $rcb;
1655 } else {
1656 # clean up...
1657 undef $w;
1658 undef $rcb;
1659 }
1660 };
1661
1662 $w = AE::timer 0.05, 0, $rcb;
1663
1664 bless \\$cb, "AnyEvent::Base::idle"
1665}
1666
1667sub AnyEvent::Base::idle::DESTROY {
1668 undef $${$_[0]};
1669}
1670
1671package AnyEvent::CondVar;
1672
1673our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
1674
1675package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
1676
1677#use overload
1678# '&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
1679# fallback => 1;
1680
1681# save 300+ kilobytes by dirtily hardcoding overloading
1682${"AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::OVERLOAD"}{dummy}++; # Register with magic by touching.
1683*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = sub { }; # "Make it findable via fetchmethod."
1684*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::(&{}'} = sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } }; # &{}
1685${'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = 1; # fallback
1686
1687our $WAITING;
1688
1689sub _send {
1690 # nop
1691}
1692
1693sub send {
1694 my $cv = shift;
1695 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
1696 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
1697 $cv->_send;
1698}
1699
1700sub croak {
1701 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
1702 $_[0]->send;
1703}
1704
1705sub ready {
1706 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
1707}
1708
1709sub _wait {
1710 $WAITING
1711 and !$_[0]{_ae_sent}
1712 and Carp::croak "AnyEvent::CondVar: recursive blocking wait detected";
1713
1714 local $WAITING = 1;
1715 AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
1716}
1717
1718sub recv {
1719 $_[0]->_wait;
1720
1721 Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
1722 wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
1723}
1724
1725sub cb {
1726 my $cv = shift;
1727
1728 @_
1729 and $cv->{_ae_cb} = shift
1730 and $cv->{_ae_sent}
1731 and (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv);
1732
1733 $cv->{_ae_cb}
1734}
1735
1736sub begin {
1737 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1738 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1739}
1740
1741sub end {
1742 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1743 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
1744}
1745
1746# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
1747*broadcast = \&send;
1748*wait = \&_wait;
1749
1750=head1 ERROR AND EXCEPTION HANDLING
1751
1752In general, AnyEvent does not do any error handling - it relies on the
1753caller to do that if required. The L<AnyEvent::Strict> module (see also
1754the C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT> environment variable, below) provides strict
1755checking of all AnyEvent methods, however, which is highly useful during
1756development.
1757
1758As for exception handling (i.e. runtime errors and exceptions thrown while
1759executing a callback), this is not only highly event-loop specific, but
1760also not in any way wrapped by this module, as this is the job of the main
1761program.
1762
1763The pure perl event loop simply re-throws the exception (usually
1764within C<< condvar->recv >>), the L<Event> and L<EV> modules call C<<
1765$Event/EV::DIED->() >>, L<Glib> uses C<< install_exception_handler >> and
1766so on.
1767
1768=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1769
1770The following environment variables are used by this module or its
1771submodules.
1772
1773Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
1774C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
1775enabled.
1776
1777=over 4
1778
1779=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
1780
1781By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
1782conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
1783talkative.
1784
1785When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
1786conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
1787C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
1788
1789When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
1790model it chooses.
1791
1792When set to C<8> or higher, then AnyEvent will report extra information on
1793which optional modules it loads and how it implements certain features.
1794
1795=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT>
1796
1797AnyEvent does not do much argument checking by default, as thorough
1798argument checking is very costly. Setting this variable to a true value
1799will cause AnyEvent to load C<AnyEvent::Strict> and then to thoroughly
1800check the arguments passed to most method calls. If it finds any problems,
1801it will croak.
1802
1803In other words, enables "strict" mode.
1804
1805Unlike C<use strict> (or it's modern cousin, C<< use L<common::sense>
1806>>, it is definitely recommended to keep it off in production. Keeping
1807C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT=1> in your environment while developing programs
1808can be very useful, however.
1809
1810=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
1811
1812This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
1813auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
1814entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
1815and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
1816used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
1817auto detection and -probing.
1818
1819This functionality might change in future versions.
1820
1821For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
1822could start your program like this:
1823
1824 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
1825
1826=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
1827
1828Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
1829for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
1830of auto probing).
1831
1832Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
1833current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
1834used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
1835list.
1836
1837This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
1838against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
1839small, as the program has to handle conenction and other failures anyways.
1840
1841Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
1842but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
1843- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
1844addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
1845IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
1846
1847=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
1848
1849Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
1850for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
1851some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
1852default.
1853
1854Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
1855EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
1856
1857=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_FORKS>
1858
1859The maximum number of child processes that C<AnyEvent::Util::fork_call>
1860will create in parallel.
1861
1862=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_OUTSTANDING_DNS>
1863
1864The default value for the C<max_outstanding> parameter for the default DNS
1865resolver - this is the maximum number of parallel DNS requests that are
1866sent to the DNS server.
1867
1868=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_RESOLV_CONF>
1869
1870The file to use instead of F</etc/resolv.conf> (or OS-specific
1871configuration) in the default resolver. When set to the empty string, no
1872default config will be used.
1873
1874=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_FILE>, C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_PATH>.
1875
1876When neither C<ca_file> nor C<ca_path> was specified during
1877L<AnyEvent::TLS> context creation, and either of these environment
1878variables exist, they will be used to specify CA certificate locations
1879instead of a system-dependent default.
1880
1881=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_GUARD> and C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT>
1882
1883When these are set to C<1>, then the respective modules are not
1884loaded. Mostly good for testing AnyEvent itself.
1885
1886=back
606 1887
607=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 1888=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
608 1889
609This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in 1890This 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 1891a 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 1926I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to
646condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will 1927condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will
647C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must 1928C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must
648not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense. 1929not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense.
649 1930
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 1931=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
680 1932
681The following program uses an IO watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer 1933The 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 1934to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
683program when the user enters quit: 1935program when the user enters quit:
684 1936
685 use AnyEvent; 1937 use AnyEvent;
686 1938
691 poll => 'r', 1943 poll => 'r',
692 cb => sub { 1944 cb => sub {
693 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 1945 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
694 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 1946 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
695 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 1947 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
696 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 1948 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
697 }, 1949 },
698 ); 1950 );
699 1951
700 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
701
702 sub new_timer {
703 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub { 1952 my $time_watcher = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, interval => 1, cb => sub {
704 warn "timeout\n"; # print 'timeout' about every second 1953 warn "timeout\n"; # print 'timeout' at most every second
705 &new_timer; # and restart the time
706 }); 1954 });
707 }
708 1955
709 new_timer; # create first timer
710
711 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 1956 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
712 1957
713=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 1958=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
714 1959
715Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 1960Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
716API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 1961API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
766 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 2011 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
767 or die "connection or write error"; 2012 or die "connection or write error";
768 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 2013 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
769 2014
770Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 2015Again, 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: 2016result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
772 2017
773 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 2018 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
774 2019
775 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 2020 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
776 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 2021 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
777 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 2022 $txn->{finished}->send;
778 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 2023 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
779 } 2024 }
780 2025
781The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 2026The 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 2027request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
783data: 2028data:
784 2029
785 $txn->{finished}->wait; 2030 $txn->{finished}->recv;
786 return $txn->{result}; 2031 return $txn->{result};
787 2032
788The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 2033The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
789that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 2034that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
790whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 2035whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
791and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 2036and 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 2037problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
793random callback. 2038random callback.
794 2039
825 2070
826 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 2071 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
827 2072
828 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 2073 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
829 ... 2074 ...
830 $quit->broadcast; 2075 $quit->send;
831 }); 2076 });
832 2077
833 $quit->wait; 2078 $quit->recv;
2079
2080
2081=head1 BENCHMARKS
2082
2083To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
2084over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
2085of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
2086
2087=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
2088
2089Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
2090through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
2091timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
2092which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
2093
2094Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
2095distribution. It uses the L<AE> interface, which makes a real difference
2096for the EV and Perl backends only.
2097
2098=head3 Explanation of the columns
2099
2100I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
2101different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
2102loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
2103and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
2104would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
2105of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
2106
2107I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
2108RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
2109and Perl-based overheads.
2110
2111I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
2112takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
2113all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
2114and memory usage is not included in the figures.
2115
2116I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
2117callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
2118invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
2119signal the end of this phase.
2120
2121I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
2122watcher.
2123
2124=head3 Results
2125
2126 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
2127 EV/EV 100000 223 0.47 0.43 0.27 EV native interface
2128 EV/Any 100000 223 0.48 0.42 0.26 EV + AnyEvent watchers
2129 Coro::EV/Any 100000 223 0.47 0.42 0.26 coroutines + Coro::Signal
2130 Perl/Any 100000 431 2.70 0.74 0.92 pure perl implementation
2131 Event/Event 16000 516 31.16 31.84 0.82 Event native interface
2132 Event/Any 16000 1203 42.61 34.79 1.80 Event + AnyEvent watchers
2133 IOAsync/Any 16000 1911 41.92 27.45 16.81 via IO::Async::Loop::IO_Poll
2134 IOAsync/Any 16000 1726 40.69 26.37 15.25 via IO::Async::Loop::Epoll
2135 Glib/Any 16000 1118 89.00 12.57 51.17 quadratic behaviour
2136 Tk/Any 2000 1346 20.96 10.75 8.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
2137 POE/Any 2000 6951 108.97 795.32 14.24 via POE::Loop::Event
2138 POE/Any 2000 6648 94.79 774.40 575.51 via POE::Loop::Select
2139
2140=head3 Discussion
2141
2142The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
2143well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
2144can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
2145file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
2146the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
2147boost.
2148
2149Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
2150overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
2151the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
2152higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
2153
2154To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
2155benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
2156EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
2157cycles with POE.
2158
2159C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
2160maximal/minimal, respectively. When using the L<AE> API there is zero
2161overhead (when going through the AnyEvent API create is about 5-6 times
2162slower, with other times being equal, so still uses far less memory than
2163any other event loop and is still faster than Event natively).
2164
2165The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
2166constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
2167interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
2168adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
2169performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
2170them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
2171
2172The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
2173cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
2174
2175C<IO::Async> performs admirably well, about on par with C<Event>, even
2176when using its pure perl backend.
2177
2178C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
2179faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
2180C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
2181watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
2182making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
2183(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
2184inefficiencies of C<poll> do not account for this).
2185
2186The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
2187more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
2188precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
2189file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
2190employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
2191hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
2192above).
2193
2194C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
2195select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
2196be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
2197memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
2198as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
2199requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
2200invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
2201implementation.
2202
2203The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
2204for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
2205small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
2206optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
2207using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
2208memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
2209design).
2210
2211=head3 Summary
2212
2213=over 4
2214
2215=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
2216(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
2217performance with or without AnyEvent.
2218
2219=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
2220the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
2221adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
2222
2223=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
2224reasonable memory usage.
2225
2226=back
2227
2228=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
2229
2230This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
2231creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
2232timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
2233watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
2234watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
2235
2236The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
2237are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
2238fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
2239timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
2240most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
2241
2242In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
2243(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
2244connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
2245
2246Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
2247distribution. It uses the L<AE> interface, which makes a real difference
2248for the EV and Perl backends only.
2249
2250=head3 Explanation of the columns
2251
2252I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
2253each server has a read and write socket end).
2254
2255I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
2256nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
2257
2258I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
2259single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
2260it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
2261a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
2262
2263=head3 Results
2264
2265 name sockets create request
2266 EV 20000 62.66 7.99
2267 Perl 20000 68.32 32.64
2268 IOAsync 20000 174.06 101.15 epoll
2269 IOAsync 20000 174.67 610.84 poll
2270 Event 20000 202.69 242.91
2271 Glib 20000 557.01 1689.52
2272 POE 20000 341.54 12086.32 uses POE::Loop::Event
2273
2274=head3 Discussion
2275
2276This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
2277particular event loop.
2278
2279EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
2280is relatively high, though.
2281
2282Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
2283loops Event and Glib.
2284
2285IO::Async performs very well when using its epoll backend, and still quite
2286good compared to Glib when using its pure perl backend.
2287
2288Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
2289understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
2290the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
2291uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
2292
2293Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
2294clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
2295
2296POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
2297as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
2298it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
2299
2300=head3 Summary
2301
2302=over 4
2303
2304=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
2305
2306=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
2307
2308=back
2309
2310=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
2311
2312While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
2313large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
2314I/O watchers.
2315
2316In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
2317case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
2318one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
2319well.
2320
2321The columns are identical to the previous table.
2322
2323=head3 Results
2324
2325 name sockets create request
2326 EV 16 20.00 6.54
2327 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
2328 Event 16 81.27 35.86
2329 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
2330 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
2331
2332=head3 Discussion
2333
2334The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
2335server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
2336in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
2337to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
2338speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
2339them).
2340
2341EV is again fastest.
2342
2343Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
2344loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
2345matter.
2346
2347POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
2348others.
2349
2350=head3 Summary
2351
2352=over 4
2353
2354=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
2355watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
2356
2357=back
2358
2359=head2 THE IO::Lambda BENCHMARK
2360
2361Recently I was told about the benchmark in the IO::Lambda manpage, which
2362could be misinterpreted to make AnyEvent look bad. In fact, the benchmark
2363simply compares IO::Lambda with POE, and IO::Lambda looks better (which
2364shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody). As such, the benchmark is
2365fine, and mostly shows that the AnyEvent backend from IO::Lambda isn't
2366very optimal. But how would AnyEvent compare when used without the extra
2367baggage? To explore this, I wrote the equivalent benchmark for AnyEvent.
2368
2369The benchmark itself creates an echo-server, and then, for 500 times,
2370connects to the echo server, sends a line, waits for the reply, and then
2371creates the next connection. This is a rather bad benchmark, as it doesn't
2372test the efficiency of the framework or much non-blocking I/O, but it is a
2373benchmark nevertheless.
2374
2375 name runtime
2376 Lambda/select 0.330 sec
2377 + optimized 0.122 sec
2378 Lambda/AnyEvent 0.327 sec
2379 + optimized 0.138 sec
2380 Raw sockets/select 0.077 sec
2381 POE/select, components 0.662 sec
2382 POE/select, raw sockets 0.226 sec
2383 POE/select, optimized 0.404 sec
2384
2385 AnyEvent/select/nb 0.085 sec
2386 AnyEvent/EV/nb 0.068 sec
2387 +state machine 0.134 sec
2388
2389The benchmark is also a bit unfair (my fault): the IO::Lambda/POE
2390benchmarks actually make blocking connects and use 100% blocking I/O,
2391defeating the purpose of an event-based solution. All of the newly
2392written AnyEvent benchmarks use 100% non-blocking connects (using
2393AnyEvent::Socket::tcp_connect and the asynchronous pure perl DNS
2394resolver), so AnyEvent is at a disadvantage here, as non-blocking connects
2395generally require a lot more bookkeeping and event handling than blocking
2396connects (which involve a single syscall only).
2397
2398The last AnyEvent benchmark additionally uses L<AnyEvent::Handle>, which
2399offers similar expressive power as POE and IO::Lambda, using conventional
2400Perl syntax. This means that both the echo server and the client are 100%
2401non-blocking, further placing it at a disadvantage.
2402
2403As you can see, the AnyEvent + EV combination even beats the
2404hand-optimised "raw sockets benchmark", while AnyEvent + its pure perl
2405backend easily beats IO::Lambda and POE.
2406
2407And even the 100% non-blocking version written using the high-level (and
2408slow :) L<AnyEvent::Handle> abstraction beats both POE and IO::Lambda
2409higher level ("unoptimised") abstractions by a large margin, even though
2410it does all of DNS, tcp-connect and socket I/O in a non-blocking way.
2411
2412The two AnyEvent benchmarks programs can be found as F<eg/ae0.pl> and
2413F<eg/ae2.pl> in the AnyEvent distribution, the remaining benchmarks are
2414part of the IO::Lambda distribution and were used without any changes.
2415
2416
2417=head1 SIGNALS
2418
2419AnyEvent currently installs handlers for these signals:
2420
2421=over 4
2422
2423=item SIGCHLD
2424
2425A handler for C<SIGCHLD> is installed by AnyEvent's child watcher
2426emulation for event loops that do not support them natively. Also, some
2427event loops install a similar handler.
2428
2429Additionally, when AnyEvent is loaded and SIGCHLD is set to IGNORE, then
2430AnyEvent will reset it to default, to avoid losing child exit statuses.
2431
2432=item SIGPIPE
2433
2434A no-op handler is installed for C<SIGPIPE> when C<$SIG{PIPE}> is C<undef>
2435when AnyEvent gets loaded.
2436
2437The rationale for this is that AnyEvent users usually do not really depend
2438on SIGPIPE delivery (which is purely an optimisation for shell use, or
2439badly-written programs), but C<SIGPIPE> can cause spurious and rare
2440program exits as a lot of people do not expect C<SIGPIPE> when writing to
2441some random socket.
2442
2443The rationale for installing a no-op handler as opposed to ignoring it is
2444that this way, the handler will be restored to defaults on exec.
2445
2446Feel free to install your own handler, or reset it to defaults.
2447
2448=back
2449
2450=cut
2451
2452undef $SIG{CHLD}
2453 if $SIG{CHLD} eq 'IGNORE';
2454
2455$SIG{PIPE} = sub { }
2456 unless defined $SIG{PIPE};
2457
2458=head1 RECOMMENDED/OPTIONAL MODULES
2459
2460One of AnyEvent's main goals is to be 100% Pure-Perl(tm): only perl (and
2461it's built-in modules) are required to use it.
2462
2463That does not mean that AnyEvent won't take advantage of some additional
2464modules if they are installed.
2465
2466This section explains which additional modules will be used, and how they
2467affect AnyEvent's operation.
2468
2469=over 4
2470
2471=item L<Async::Interrupt>
2472
2473This slightly arcane module is used to implement fast signal handling: To
2474my knowledge, there is no way to do completely race-free and quick
2475signal handling in pure perl. To ensure that signals still get
2476delivered, AnyEvent will start an interval timer to wake up perl (and
2477catch the signals) with some delay (default is 10 seconds, look for
2478C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>).
2479
2480If this module is available, then it will be used to implement signal
2481catching, which means that signals will not be delayed, and the event loop
2482will not be interrupted regularly, which is more efficient (and good for
2483battery life on laptops).
2484
2485This affects not just the pure-perl event loop, but also other event loops
2486that have no signal handling on their own (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt).
2487
2488Some event loops (POE, Event, Event::Lib) offer signal watchers natively,
2489and either employ their own workarounds (POE) or use AnyEvent's workaround
2490(using C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>). Installing L<Async::Interrupt>
2491does nothing for those backends.
2492
2493=item L<EV>
2494
2495This module isn't really "optional", as it is simply one of the backend
2496event loops that AnyEvent can use. However, it is simply the best event
2497loop available in terms of features, speed and stability: It supports
2498the AnyEvent API optimally, implements all the watcher types in XS, does
2499automatic timer adjustments even when no monotonic clock is available,
2500can take avdantage of advanced kernel interfaces such as C<epoll> and
2501C<kqueue>, and is the fastest backend I<by far>. You can even embed
2502L<Glib>/L<Gtk2> in it (or vice versa, see L<EV::Glib> and L<Glib::EV>).
2503
2504=item L<Guard>
2505
2506The guard module, when used, will be used to implement
2507C<AnyEvent::Util::guard>. This speeds up guards considerably (and uses a
2508lot less memory), but otherwise doesn't affect guard operation much. It is
2509purely used for performance.
2510
2511=item L<JSON> and L<JSON::XS>
2512
2513One of these modules is required when you want to read or write JSON data
2514via L<AnyEvent::Handle>. It is also written in pure-perl, but can take
2515advantage of the ultra-high-speed L<JSON::XS> module when it is installed.
2516
2517In fact, L<AnyEvent::Handle> will use L<JSON::XS> by default if it is
2518installed.
2519
2520=item L<Net::SSLeay>
2521
2522Implementing TLS/SSL in Perl is certainly interesting, but not very
2523worthwhile: If this module is installed, then L<AnyEvent::Handle> (with
2524the help of L<AnyEvent::TLS>), gains the ability to do TLS/SSL.
2525
2526=item L<Time::HiRes>
2527
2528This module is part of perl since release 5.008. It will be used when the
2529chosen event library does not come with a timing source on it's own. The
2530pure-perl event loop (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) will additionally use it to
2531try to use a monotonic clock for timing stability.
2532
2533=back
2534
834 2535
835=head1 FORK 2536=head1 FORK
836 2537
837Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are 2538Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
838because they are so inefficient. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware. 2539because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
2540calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
2541
2542This means that, in general, you cannot fork and do event processing
2543in the child if a watcher was created before the fork (which in turn
2544initialises the event library).
839 2545
840If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first 2546If 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. 2547watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child OR you must do
2548something completely out of the scope of AnyEvent.
2549
2550The problem of doing event processing in the parent I<and> the child
2551is much more complicated: even for backends that I<are> fork-aware or
2552fork-safe, their behaviour is not usually what you want: fork clones all
2553watchers, that means all timers, I/O watchers etc. are active in both
2554parent and child, which is almost never what you want.
2555
842 2556
843=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS 2557=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
844 2558
845AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via 2559AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
846$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to 2560$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}. While this cannot (to my knowledge) be used to
850specified in the variable. 2564specified in the variable.
851 2565
852You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it 2566You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
853before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block: 2567before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
854 2568
855 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} } 2569 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
856 2570
857 use AnyEvent; 2571 use AnyEvent;
2572
2573Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
2574be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
2575probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), and
2576$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT}.
2577
2578Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
2579C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
2580enabled.
2581
2582
2583=head1 BUGS
2584
2585Perl 5.8 has numerous memleaks that sometimes hit this module and are hard
2586to work around. If you suffer from memleaks, first upgrade to Perl 5.10
2587and check wether the leaks still show up. (Perl 5.10.0 has other annoying
2588memleaks, such as leaking on C<map> and C<grep> but it is usually not as
2589pronounced).
2590
858 2591
859=head1 SEE ALSO 2592=head1 SEE ALSO
860 2593
861Event modules: L<Coro::EV>, L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, 2594Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
862L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>, L<Coro>, L<Tk>,
863L<Event::Lib>.
864 2595
865Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, 2596Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
2597L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
2598
2599Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
2600L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
2601L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
866L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, 2602L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync>, L<Anyevent::Impl::Irssi>.
867L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>.
868 2603
2604Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
2605servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>, L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
2606
2607Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
2608
2609Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>,
2610L<Coro::Event>,
2611
869Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>. 2612Nontrivial usage examples: L<AnyEvent::GPSD>, L<AnyEvent::XMPP>,
2613L<AnyEvent::HTTP>.
2614
870 2615
871=head1 AUTHOR 2616=head1 AUTHOR
872 2617
873 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 2618 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
874 http://home.schmorp.de/ 2619 http://home.schmorp.de/
875 2620
876=cut 2621=cut
877 2622
8781 26231
879 2624

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