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

Comparing AnyEvent/lib/AnyEvent.pm (file contents):
Revision 1.67 by root, Fri Apr 25 06:58:38 2008 UTC vs.
Revision 1.418 by root, Tue Jan 21 16:48:34 2014 UTC

1=head1 NAME 1=head1 NAME
2 2
3AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops 3AnyEvent - the DBI of event loop programming
4 4
5EV, Event, Coro::EV, Coro::Event, Glib, Tk, Perl, Event::Lib, Qt, POE - various supported event loops 5EV, Event, Glib, Tk, Perl, Event::Lib, Irssi, rxvt-unicode, IO::Async, Qt,
6FLTK and 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 # if you prefer function calls, look at the AE manpage for
13 # an alternative API.
14
15 # file handle or descriptor readable
11 my $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh, poll => "r|w", cb => sub { 16 my $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh, poll => "r", cb => sub { ... });
17
18 # one-shot or repeating timers
19 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub { ... });
20 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, interval => $seconds, cb => ...);
21
22 print AnyEvent->now; # prints current event loop time
23 print AnyEvent->time; # think Time::HiRes::time or simply CORE::time.
24
25 # POSIX signal
26 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "TERM", cb => sub { ... });
27
28 # child process exit
29 my $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => $pid, cb => sub {
30 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
12 ... 31 ...
13 }); 32 });
14 33
15 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub { 34 # called when event loop idle (if applicable)
16 ... 35 my $w = AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub { ... });
17 });
18 36
19 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged 37 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged
38 $w->send; # wake up current and all future recv's
20 $w->wait; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->broadcast 39 $w->recv; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->send
21 $w->broadcast; # wake up current and all future wait's 40 # use a condvar in callback mode:
41 $w->cb (sub { $_[0]->recv });
42
43=head1 INTRODUCTION/TUTORIAL
44
45This manpage is mainly a reference manual. If you are interested
46in a tutorial or some gentle introduction, have a look at the
47L<AnyEvent::Intro> manpage.
48
49=head1 SUPPORT
50
51An FAQ document is available as L<AnyEvent::FAQ>.
52
53There also is a mailinglist for discussing all things AnyEvent, and an IRC
54channel, too.
55
56See the AnyEvent project page at the B<Schmorpforge Ta-Sa Software
57Repository>, at L<http://anyevent.schmorp.de>, for more info.
22 58
23=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT) 59=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT)
24 60
25Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen 61Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen
26nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent? 62nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?
27 63
28Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of 64Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of
29policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>. 65policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>.
30 66
31First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only 67First 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 68interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use, in a
33pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike, 69pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike,
34the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general, 70the 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 71only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent
36helps hiding the differences between those event loops. 72cannot change this, but it can hide the differences between those event
73loops.
37 74
38The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event 75The 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 76programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a
40religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your 77religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your
41module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event 78module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event
42model you use. 79model you use.
43 80
44For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is 81For 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 82actually 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 83like joining a cult: After you join, you are dependent on them and you
47cannot use anything else, as it is simply incompatible to everything that 84cannot use anything else, as they are simply incompatible to everything
48isn't itself. What's worse, all the potential users of your module are 85that isn't them. What's worse, all the potential users of your
49I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use. 86module are I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use.
50 87
51AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works 88AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works
52fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together 89fine. 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 90with the rest: POE + EV? No go. Tk + Event? No go. Again: if your module
54your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it, 91uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it, too. But if
55too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all 92your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all event models it
56event models it supports (including stuff like POE and IO::Async, as long 93supports (including stuff like IO::Async, as long as those use one of the
57as those use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new 94supported event loops. It is easy to add new event loops to AnyEvent, too,
58event loops to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof). 95so it is future-proof).
59 96
60In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event 97In 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 98model>, 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 99modules, 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 100follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and to the point, by only
64offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as 101offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as
65technically possible. 102technically possible.
66 103
104Of course, AnyEvent comes with a big (and fully optional!) toolbox
105of useful functionality, such as an asynchronous DNS resolver, 100%
106non-blocking connects (even with TLS/SSL, IPv6 and on broken platforms
107such as Windows) and lots of real-world knowledge and workarounds for
108platform bugs and differences.
109
67Of course, if you want lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat 110Now, 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 111useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event
69model, you should I<not> use this module. 112model, you should I<not> use this module.
70 113
71
72=head1 DESCRIPTION 114=head1 DESCRIPTION
73 115
74L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This 116L<AnyEvent> provides a uniform interface to various event loops. This
75allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module 117allows module authors to use event loop functionality without forcing
76users to use the same event loop (as only a single event loop can coexist 118module users to use a specific event loop implementation (since more
77peacefully at any one time). 119than one event loop cannot coexist peacefully).
78 120
79The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event> 121The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
80module. 122module.
81 123
82During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries 124During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries
83to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the 125to 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>, 126following modules is already loaded: L<EV>, L<AnyEvent::Loop>,
85L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, 127L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>. The first one
86L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries 128found is used. If none are detected, the module tries to load the first
87to load these modules (excluding Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl 129four modules in the order given; but note that if L<EV> is not
88adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can 130available, the pure-perl L<AnyEvent::Loop> should always work, so
89be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be 131the other two are not normally tried.
90found, AnyEvent will fall back to a pure-perl event loop, which is not
91very efficient, but should work everywhere.
92 132
93Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading 133Because AnyEvent first checks for modules that are already loaded, loading
94an event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make 134an event model explicitly before first using AnyEvent will likely make
95that model the default. For example: 135that model the default. For example:
96 136
98 use AnyEvent; 138 use AnyEvent;
99 139
100 # .. AnyEvent will likely default to Tk 140 # .. AnyEvent will likely default to Tk
101 141
102The I<likely> means that, if any module loads another event model and 142The I<likely> means that, if any module loads another event model and
103starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to 143starts using it, all bets are off - this case should be very rare though,
104use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly... 144as very few modules hardcode event loops without announcing this very
145loudly.
105 146
106The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called 147The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called C<AnyEvent::Loop>. Like
107C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it 148other event modules you can load it explicitly and enjoy the high
108explicitly. 149availability of that event loop :)
109 150
110=head1 WATCHERS 151=head1 WATCHERS
111 152
112AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that 153AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that
113stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as 154stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as
114the callback to call, the filehandle to watch, etc. 155the callback to call, the file handle to watch, etc.
115 156
116These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After 157These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
117creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the 158creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the
118callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model 159callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model
119is in control). 160is in control).
120 161
162Note that B<callbacks must not permanently change global variables>
163potentially in use by the event loop (such as C<$_> or C<$[>) and that B<<
164callbacks must not C<die> >>. The former is good programming practice in
165Perl and the latter stems from the fact that exception handling differs
166widely between event loops.
167
121To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the 168To disable a watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the
122variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references 169variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references
123to it). 170to it).
124 171
125All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class. 172All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class.
126 173
127Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for 174Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for
128example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways. 175example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways.
129 176
130An any way to achieve that is this pattern: 177One way to achieve that is this pattern:
131 178
132 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub { 179 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub {
133 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it 180 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it
134 undef $w; 181 undef $w;
135 }); 182 });
136 183
137Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl, 184Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,
138my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are 185my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are
139declared. 186declared.
140 187
141=head2 IO WATCHERS 188=head2 I/O WATCHERS
189
190 $w = AnyEvent->io (
191 fh => <filehandle_or_fileno>,
192 poll => <"r" or "w">,
193 cb => <callback>,
194 );
142 195
143You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method 196You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
144with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments: 197with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
145 198
146C<fh> the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) to watch for 199C<fh> is the Perl I<file handle> (or a naked file descriptor) to watch
200for events (AnyEvent might or might not keep a reference to this file
201handle). Note that only file handles pointing to things for which
202non-blocking operation makes sense are allowed. This includes sockets,
203most character devices, pipes, fifos and so on, but not for example files
204or block devices.
205
147events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, which 206C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, which creates a
148creates a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events, 207watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events, respectively.
208
149respectively. C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle 209C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle becomes ready.
150becomes ready.
151 210
152As long as the I/O watcher exists it will keep the file descriptor or a 211Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
153copy of it alive/open. 212presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
213callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
154 214
215The I/O watcher might use the underlying file descriptor or a copy of it.
155It is not allowed to close a file handle as long as any watcher is active 216You must not close a file handle as long as any watcher is active on the
156on the underlying file descriptor. 217underlying file descriptor.
157 218
158Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should 219Some event loops issue spurious readiness notifications, so you should
159always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file 220always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file
160handles. 221handles.
161 222
162Example:
163
164 # wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the watcher 223Example: wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the
224watcher.
225
165 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 226 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
166 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); 227 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>);
167 warn "read: $input\n"; 228 warn "read: $input\n";
168 undef $w; 229 undef $w;
169 }); 230 });
170 231
171=head2 TIME WATCHERS 232=head2 TIME WATCHERS
172 233
234 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => <seconds>, cb => <callback>);
235
236 $w = AnyEvent->timer (
237 after => <fractional_seconds>,
238 interval => <fractional_seconds>,
239 cb => <callback>,
240 );
241
173You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >> 242You can create a time watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->timer >>
174method with the following mandatory arguments: 243method with the following mandatory arguments:
175 244
176C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are 245C<after> specifies after how many seconds (fractional values are
177supported) should the timer activate. C<cb> the callback to invoke in that 246supported) the callback should be invoked. C<cb> is the callback to invoke
178case. 247in that case.
179 248
180The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating 249Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
181timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk 250presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
182and Glib). 251callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks.
183 252
184Example: 253The callback will normally be invoked only once. If you specify another
254parameter, C<interval>, as a strictly positive number (> 0), then the
255callback will be invoked regularly at that interval (in fractional
256seconds) after the first invocation. If C<interval> is specified with a
257false value, then it is treated as if it were not specified at all.
185 258
259The callback will be rescheduled before invoking the callback, but no
260attempt is made to avoid timer drift in most backends, so the interval is
261only approximate.
262
186 # fire an event after 7.7 seconds 263Example: fire an event after 7.7 seconds.
264
187 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub { 265 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub {
188 warn "timeout\n"; 266 warn "timeout\n";
189 }); 267 });
190 268
191 # to cancel the timer: 269 # to cancel the timer:
192 undef $w; 270 undef $w;
193 271
194Example 2:
195
196 # fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second 272Example 2: fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second.
197 my $w;
198 273
199 my $cb = sub {
200 # cancel the old timer while creating a new one
201 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => $cb); 274 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, interval => 1, cb => sub {
275 warn "timeout\n";
202 }; 276 });
203
204 # start the "loop" by creating the first watcher
205 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, cb => $cb);
206 277
207=head3 TIMING ISSUES 278=head3 TIMING ISSUES
208 279
209There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire 280There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire
210in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12 281in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12
212 283
213While most event loops expect timers to specified in a relative way, they 284While most event loops expect timers to specified in a relative way, they
214use absolute time internally. This makes a difference when your clock 285use absolute time internally. This makes a difference when your clock
215"jumps", for example, when ntp decides to set your clock backwards from 286"jumps", for example, when ntp decides to set your clock backwards from
216the wrong date of 2014-01-01 to 2008-01-01, a watcher that is supposed to 287the wrong date of 2014-01-01 to 2008-01-01, a watcher that is supposed to
217fire "after" a second might actually take six years to finally fire. 288fire "after a second" might actually take six years to finally fire.
218 289
219AnyEvent cannot compensate for this. The only event loop that is conscious 290AnyEvent cannot compensate for this. The only event loop that is conscious
220about these issues is L<EV>, which offers both relative (ev_timer, based 291of these issues is L<EV>, which offers both relative (ev_timer, based
221on true relative time) and absolute (ev_periodic, based on wallclock time) 292on true relative time) and absolute (ev_periodic, based on wallclock time)
222timers. 293timers.
223 294
224AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the 295AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the
225AnyEvent API. 296AnyEvent API.
226 297
298AnyEvent has two additional methods that return the "current time":
299
300=over 4
301
302=item AnyEvent->time
303
304This returns the "current wallclock time" as a fractional number of
305seconds since the Epoch (the same thing as C<time> or C<Time::HiRes::time>
306return, and the result is guaranteed to be compatible with those).
307
308It progresses independently of any event loop processing, i.e. each call
309will check the system clock, which usually gets updated frequently.
310
311=item AnyEvent->now
312
313This also returns the "current wallclock time", but unlike C<time>, above,
314this value might change only once per event loop iteration, depending on
315the event loop (most return the same time as C<time>, above). This is the
316time that AnyEvent's timers get scheduled against.
317
318I<In almost all cases (in all cases if you don't care), this is the
319function to call when you want to know the current time.>
320
321This function is also often faster then C<< AnyEvent->time >>, and
322thus the preferred method if you want some timestamp (for example,
323L<AnyEvent::Handle> uses this to update its activity timeouts).
324
325The rest of this section is only of relevance if you try to be very exact
326with your timing; you can skip it without a bad conscience.
327
328For a practical example of when these times differ, consider L<Event::Lib>
329and L<EV> and the following set-up:
330
331The event loop is running and has just invoked one of your callbacks at
332time=500 (assume no other callbacks delay processing). In your callback,
333you wait a second by executing C<sleep 1> (blocking the process for a
334second) and then (at time=501) you create a relative timer that fires
335after three seconds.
336
337With L<Event::Lib>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> will
338both return C<501>, because that is the current time, and the timer will
339be scheduled to fire at time=504 (C<501> + C<3>).
340
341With L<EV>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> returns C<501> (as that is the current
342time), but C<< AnyEvent->now >> returns C<500>, as that is the time the
343last event processing phase started. With L<EV>, your timer gets scheduled
344to run at time=503 (C<500> + C<3>).
345
346In one sense, L<Event::Lib> is more exact, as it uses the current time
347regardless of any delays introduced by event processing. However, most
348callbacks do not expect large delays in processing, so this causes a
349higher drift (and a lot more system calls to get the current time).
350
351In another sense, L<EV> is more exact, as your timer will be scheduled at
352the same time, regardless of how long event processing actually took.
353
354In either case, if you care (and in most cases, you don't), then you
355can get whatever behaviour you want with any event loop, by taking the
356difference between C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> into
357account.
358
359=item AnyEvent->now_update
360
361Some event loops (such as L<EV> or L<AnyEvent::Loop>) cache the current
362time for each loop iteration (see the discussion of L<< AnyEvent->now >>,
363above).
364
365When a callback runs for a long time (or when the process sleeps), then
366this "current" time will differ substantially from the real time, which
367might affect timers and time-outs.
368
369When this is the case, you can call this method, which will update the
370event loop's idea of "current time".
371
372A typical example would be a script in a web server (e.g. C<mod_perl>) -
373when mod_perl executes the script, then the event loop will have the wrong
374idea about the "current time" (being potentially far in the past, when the
375script ran the last time). In that case you should arrange a call to C<<
376AnyEvent->now_update >> each time the web server process wakes up again
377(e.g. at the start of your script, or in a handler).
378
379Note that updating the time I<might> cause some events to be handled.
380
381=back
382
227=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS 383=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
228 384
385 $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => <uppercase_signal_name>, cb => <callback>);
386
229You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal 387You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
230I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl callback to 388I<name> in uppercase and without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl
231be invoked whenever a signal occurs. 389callback to be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
232 390
391Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
392presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
393callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
394
233Multiple signal occurances can be clumped together into one callback 395Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
234invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. synchronous means 396invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
235that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process, 397that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
236but it is guarenteed not to interrupt any other callbacks. 398but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
237 399
238The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal 400The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
239between multiple watchers. 401between multiple watchers, and AnyEvent will ensure that signals will not
402interrupt your program at bad times.
240 403
241This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals 404This watcher might use C<%SIG> (depending on the event loop used),
242directly will likely not work correctly. 405so programs overwriting those signals directly will likely not work
406correctly.
243 407
244Example: exit on SIGINT 408Example: exit on SIGINT
245 409
246 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 }); 410 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
247 411
412=head3 Restart Behaviour
413
414While restart behaviour is up to the event loop implementation, most will
415not restart syscalls (that includes L<Async::Interrupt> and AnyEvent's
416pure perl implementation).
417
418=head3 Safe/Unsafe Signals
419
420Perl signals can be either "safe" (synchronous to opcode handling)
421or "unsafe" (asynchronous) - the former might delay signal delivery
422indefinitely, the latter might corrupt your memory.
423
424AnyEvent signal handlers are, in addition, synchronous to the event loop,
425i.e. they will not interrupt your running perl program but will only be
426called as part of the normal event handling (just like timer, I/O etc.
427callbacks, too).
428
429=head3 Signal Races, Delays and Workarounds
430
431Many event loops (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt, IO::Async) do not support
432attaching callbacks to signals in a generic way, which is a pity,
433as you cannot do race-free signal handling in perl, requiring
434C libraries for this. AnyEvent will try to do its best, which
435means in some cases, signals will be delayed. The maximum time
436a signal might be delayed is 10 seconds by default, but can
437be overriden via C<$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY}> or
438C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY> - see the L<ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES>
439section for details.
440
441All these problems can be avoided by installing the optional
442L<Async::Interrupt> module, which works with most event loops. It will not
443work with inherently broken event loops such as L<Event> or L<Event::Lib>
444(and not with L<POE> currently). For those, you just have to suffer the
445delays.
446
248=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS 447=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
249 448
449 $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => <process id>, cb => <callback>);
450
250You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status. 451You can also watch for a child process exit and catch its exit status.
251 452
252The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it 453The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (on some backends,
253watches for any child process exit). The watcher will trigger as often 454using C<0> watches for any child process exit, on others this will
254as status change for the child are received. This works by installing a 455croak). The watcher will be triggered only when the child process has
255signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with the pid 456finished and an exit status is available, not on any trace events
256and exit status (as returned by waitpid). 457(stopped/continued).
257 458
258Example: wait for pid 1333 459The callback will be called with the pid and exit status (as returned by
460waitpid), so unlike other watcher types, you I<can> rely on child watcher
461callback arguments.
259 462
463This watcher type works by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>,
464and since it cannot be shared, nothing else should use SIGCHLD or reap
465random child processes (waiting for specific child processes, e.g. inside
466C<system>, is just fine).
467
468There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
469I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
470have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
471
472Not all event models handle this correctly (neither POE nor IO::Async do,
473see their AnyEvent::Impl manpages for details), but even for event models
474that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be loaded before
475the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place). AnyEvent's
476pure perl event loop handles all cases correctly regardless of when you
477start the watcher.
478
479This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first
480thing in an AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one
481watcher before you C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call
482C<AnyEvent::detect>).
483
484As most event loops do not support waiting for child events, they will be
485emulated by AnyEvent in most cases, in which case the latency and race
486problems mentioned in the description of signal watchers apply.
487
488Example: fork a process and wait for it
489
490 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
491
492 # this forks and immediately calls exit in the child. this
493 # normally has all sorts of bad consequences for your parent,
494 # so take this as an example only. always fork and exec,
495 # or call POSIX::_exit, in real code.
496 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
497
260 my $w = AnyEvent->child ( 498 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
261 pid => 1333, 499 pid => $pid,
262 cb => sub { 500 cb => sub {
263 my ($pid, $status) = @_; 501 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
264 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status"; 502 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
503 $done->send;
265 }, 504 },
266 ); 505 );
506
507 # do something else, then wait for process exit
508 $done->recv;
509
510=head2 IDLE WATCHERS
511
512 $w = AnyEvent->idle (cb => <callback>);
513
514This will repeatedly invoke the callback after the process becomes idle,
515until either the watcher is destroyed or new events have been detected.
516
517Idle watchers are useful when there is a need to do something, but it
518is not so important (or wise) to do it instantly. The callback will be
519invoked only when there is "nothing better to do", which is usually
520defined as "all outstanding events have been handled and no new events
521have been detected". That means that idle watchers ideally get invoked
522when the event loop has just polled for new events but none have been
523detected. Instead of blocking to wait for more events, the idle watchers
524will be invoked.
525
526Unfortunately, most event loops do not really support idle watchers (only
527EV, Event and Glib do it in a usable fashion) - for the rest, AnyEvent
528will simply call the callback "from time to time".
529
530Example: read lines from STDIN, but only process them when the
531program is otherwise idle:
532
533 my @lines; # read data
534 my $idle_w;
535 my $io_w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
536 push @lines, scalar <STDIN>;
537
538 # start an idle watcher, if not already done
539 $idle_w ||= AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub {
540 # handle only one line, when there are lines left
541 if (my $line = shift @lines) {
542 print "handled when idle: $line";
543 } else {
544 # otherwise disable the idle watcher again
545 undef $idle_w;
546 }
547 });
548 });
267 549
268=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES 550=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
269 551
552 $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
553
554 $cv->send (<list>);
555 my @res = $cv->recv;
556
557If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
558require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
559will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
560
561AnyEvent is slightly different: it expects somebody else to run the event
562loop and will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
563
564The tool to do that is called a "condition variable", so called because
565they represent a condition that must become true.
566
567Now is probably a good time to look at the examples further below.
568
270Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >> 569Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
271method without any arguments. 570>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
571C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
572becomes true, with the condition variable as the first argument (but not
573the results).
272 574
273A condition variable waits for a condition - precisely that the C<< 575After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
274->broadcast >> method has been called. 576by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
577were a callback, read about the caveats in the description for the C<<
578->send >> method).
275 579
276They are very useful to signal that a condition has been fulfilled, for 580Since condition variables are the most complex part of the AnyEvent API, here are
581some different mental models of what they are - pick the ones you can connect to:
582
583=over 4
584
585=item * Condition variables are like callbacks - you can call them (and pass them instead
586of callbacks). Unlike callbacks however, you can also wait for them to be called.
587
588=item * Condition variables are signals - one side can emit or send them,
589the other side can wait for them, or install a handler that is called when
590the signal fires.
591
592=item * Condition variables are like "Merge Points" - points in your program
593where you merge multiple independent results/control flows into one.
594
595=item * Condition variables represent a transaction - functions that start
596some kind of transaction can return them, leaving the caller the choice
597between waiting in a blocking fashion, or setting a callback.
598
599=item * Condition variables represent future values, or promises to deliver
600some result, long before the result is available.
601
602=back
603
604Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
277example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests, 605for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
278then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the 606then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
279availability of results. 607availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
608called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
280 609
281You can also use condition variables to block your main program until 610You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
282an event occurs - for example, you could C<< ->wait >> in your main 611you can block your main program until an event occurs - for example, you
283program until the user clicks the Quit button in your app, which would C<< 612could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
284->broadcast >> the "quit" event. 613button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
285 614
286Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have 615Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
287two pirces of code that call C<< ->wait >> in a round-robbin fashion, you 616two pieces of code that call C<< ->recv >> in a round-robin fashion, you
288lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but 617lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
289you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks, 618you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
290as this asks for trouble. 619as this asks for trouble.
291 620
292This object has two methods: 621Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
622used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
623easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
624AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
625its C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
626
627There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
628eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
629for the send to occur.
630
631Example: wait for a timer.
632
633 # condition: "wait till the timer is fired"
634 my $timer_fired = AnyEvent->condvar;
635
636 # create the timer - we could wait for, say
637 # a handle becomign ready, or even an
638 # AnyEvent::HTTP request to finish, but
639 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
640 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
641 after => 1,
642 cb => sub { $timer_fired->send },
643 );
644
645 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
646 # calls ->send
647 $timer_fired->recv;
648
649Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that condition
650variables are also callable directly.
651
652 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
653 my $delay = AnyEvent->timer (after => 5, cb => $done);
654 $done->recv;
655
656Example: Imagine an API that returns a condvar and doesn't support
657callbacks. This is how you make a synchronous call, for example from
658the main program:
659
660 use AnyEvent::CouchDB;
661
662 ...
663
664 my @info = $couchdb->info->recv;
665
666And this is how you would just set a callback to be called whenever the
667results are available:
668
669 $couchdb->info->cb (sub {
670 my @info = $_[0]->recv;
671 });
672
673=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
674
675These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
676code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
677the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
678uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
293 679
294=over 4 680=over 4
295 681
682=item $cv->send (...)
683
684Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
685calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
686called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
687
688If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
689immediately from within send.
690
691Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
692future C<< ->recv >> calls.
693
694Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly (as if
695they were a code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling
696C<send>.
697
698=item $cv->croak ($error)
699
700Similar to send, but causes all calls to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
701C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
702
703This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
704user/consumer. Doing it this way instead of calling C<croak> directly
705delays the error detection, but has the overwhelming advantage that it
706diagnoses the error at the place where the result is expected, and not
707deep in some event callback with no connection to the actual code causing
708the problem.
709
710=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
711
296=item $cv->wait 712=item $cv->end
297 713
298Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been 714These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
299called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally. 715one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
716to use a condition variable for the whole process.
300 717
718Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
719C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
720>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed, passing the
721condvar as first argument. That callback is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send
722>>, but that is not required. If no group callback was set, C<send> will
723be called without any arguments.
724
725You can think of C<< $cv->send >> giving you an OR condition (one call
726sends), while C<< $cv->begin >> and C<< $cv->end >> giving you an AND
727condition (all C<begin> calls must be C<end>'ed before the condvar sends).
728
729Let's start with a simple example: you have two I/O watchers (for example,
730STDOUT and STDERR for a program), and you want to wait for both streams to
731close before activating a condvar:
732
733 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
734
735 $cv->begin; # first watcher
736 my $w1 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh1, cb => sub {
737 defined sysread $fh1, my $buf, 4096
738 or $cv->end;
739 });
740
741 $cv->begin; # second watcher
742 my $w2 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh2, cb => sub {
743 defined sysread $fh2, my $buf, 4096
744 or $cv->end;
745 });
746
747 $cv->recv;
748
749This works because for every event source (EOF on file handle), there is
750one call to C<begin>, so the condvar waits for all calls to C<end> before
751sending.
752
753The ping example mentioned above is slightly more complicated, as the
754there are results to be passed back, and the number of tasks that are
755begun can potentially be zero:
756
757 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
758
759 my %result;
760 $cv->begin (sub { shift->send (\%result) });
761
762 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
763 $cv->begin;
764 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
765 $result{$host} = ...;
766 $cv->end;
767 };
768 }
769
770 $cv->end;
771
772 ...
773
774 my $results = $cv->recv;
775
776This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
777C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
778order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
779each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
780it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
781results arrive is not relevant.
782
783There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
784loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
785to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
786C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
787doesn't execute once).
788
789This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple (but
790potentially zero) subrequests: use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set
791the callback and ensure C<end> is called at least once, and then, for each
792subrequest you start, call C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish,
793call C<end>.
794
795=back
796
797=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
798
799These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
800code awaits the condition.
801
802=over 4
803
804=item $cv->recv
805
806Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
807>> methods have been called on C<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
808normally.
809
301You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return 810You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
302immediately. 811will return immediately.
812
813If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
814function will call C<croak>.
815
816In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
817in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
818
819Note that doing a blocking wait in a callback is not supported by any
820event loop, that is, recursive invocation of a blocking C<< ->recv >> is
821not allowed and the C<recv> call will C<croak> if such a condition is
822detected. This requirement can be dropped by relying on L<Coro::AnyEvent>
823, which allows you to do a blocking C<< ->recv >> from any thread
824that doesn't run the event loop itself. L<Coro::AnyEvent> is loaded
825automatically when L<Coro> is used with L<AnyEvent>, so code does not need
826to do anything special to take advantage of that: any code that would
827normally block your program because it calls C<recv>, be executed in an
828C<async> thread instead without blocking other threads.
303 829
304Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case 830Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
305(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are 831(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
306using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the 832using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>. Instead, let the
307caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling 833caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
308condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting 834condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
309callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block, 835callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
310while still suppporting blocking waits if the caller so desires). 836while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
311 837
312Another reason I<never> to C<< ->wait >> in a module is that you cannot 838You can ensure that C<< ->recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
313sensibly have two C<< ->wait >>'s in parallel, as that would require 839only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
314multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent> 840time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
315can supply (the coroutine-aware backends L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV> and 841waits otherwise.
316L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent> explicitly support concurrent C<< ->wait >>'s
317from different coroutines, however).
318 842
319=item $cv->broadcast 843=item $bool = $cv->ready
320 844
321Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further 845Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
322calls to C<wait> will (eventually) return after this method has been 846C<croak> have been called.
323called. If nobody is waiting the broadcast will be remembered.. 847
848=item $cb = $cv->cb ($cb->($cv))
849
850This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
851replaces it before doing so.
852
853The callback will be called when the condition becomes "true", i.e. when
854C<send> or C<croak> are called, with the only argument being the
855condition variable itself. If the condition is already true, the
856callback is called immediately when it is set. Calling C<recv> inside
857the callback or at any later time is guaranteed not to block.
324 858
325=back 859=back
326 860
327Example: 861=head1 SUPPORTED EVENT LOOPS/BACKENDS
328 862
329 # wait till the result is ready 863The available backend classes are (every class has its own manpage):
330 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
331 864
332 # do something such as adding a timer 865=over 4
333 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast
334 # when the "result" is ready.
335 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
336 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
337 after => 1,
338 cb => sub { $result_ready->broadcast },
339 );
340 866
341 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the watcher 867=item Backends that are autoprobed when no other event loop can be found.
342 # calls broadcast 868
343 $result_ready->wait; 869EV is the preferred backend when no other event loop seems to be in
870use. If EV is not installed, then AnyEvent will fall back to its own
871pure-perl implementation, which is available everywhere as it comes with
872AnyEvent itself.
873
874 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (interface to libev, best choice).
875 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl AnyEvent::Loop, fast and portable.
876
877=item Backends that are transparently being picked up when they are used.
878
879These will be used if they are already loaded when the first watcher
880is created, in which case it is assumed that the application is using
881them. This means that AnyEvent will automatically pick the right backend
882when the main program loads an event module before anything starts to
883create watchers. Nothing special needs to be done by the main program.
884
885 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, very stable, few glitches.
886 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, slow but very stable.
887 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very broken.
888 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
889 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, very slow, some limitations.
890 AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi used when running within irssi.
891 AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync based on IO::Async.
892 AnyEvent::Impl::Cocoa based on Cocoa::EventLoop.
893 AnyEvent::Impl::FLTK based on FLTK (fltk 2 binding).
894
895=item Backends with special needs.
896
897Qt requires the Qt::Application to be instantiated first, but will
898otherwise be picked up automatically. As long as the main program
899instantiates the application before any AnyEvent watchers are created,
900everything should just work.
901
902 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt.
903
904=item Event loops that are indirectly supported via other backends.
905
906Some event loops can be supported via other modules:
907
908There is no direct support for WxWidgets (L<Wx>) or L<Prima>.
909
910B<WxWidgets> has no support for watching file handles. However, you can
911use WxWidgets through the POE adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply
912polls 20 times per second, which was considered to be too horrible to even
913consider for AnyEvent.
914
915B<Prima> is not supported as nobody seems to be using it, but it has a POE
916backend, so it can be supported through POE.
917
918AnyEvent knows about both L<Prima> and L<Wx>, however, and will try to
919load L<POE> when detecting them, in the hope that POE will pick them up,
920in which case everything will be automatic.
921
922=back
344 923
345=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS 924=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
346 925
926These are not normally required to use AnyEvent, but can be useful to
927write AnyEvent extension modules.
928
347=over 4 929=over 4
348 930
349=item $AnyEvent::MODEL 931=item $AnyEvent::MODEL
350 932
351Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created. Then it 933Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created, before the
934backend has been autodetected.
935
352contains the event model that is being used, which is the name of the 936Afterwards it contains the event model that is being used, which is the
353Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one of the 937name of the Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one
354C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case 938of the C<AnyEvent::Impl::xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the
355AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>). 939case AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode> it
356 940will be C<urxvt::anyevent>).
357The known classes so far are:
358
359 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV based on Coro::EV, best choice.
360 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent based on Coro::Event, second best choice.
361 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice).
362 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice.
363 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.
364 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
365 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient but portable.
366 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).
367 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
368 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, not generic enough for full support.
369
370There is no support for WxWidgets, as WxWidgets has no support for
371watching file handles. However, you can use WxWidgets through the
372POE Adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply polls 20 times per
373second, which was considered to be too horrible to even consider for
374AnyEvent. Likewise, other POE backends can be used by AnyEvent by using
375it's adaptor.
376
377AnyEvent knows about L<Prima> and L<Wx> and will try to use L<POE> when
378autodetecting them.
379 941
380=item AnyEvent::detect 942=item AnyEvent::detect
381 943
382Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model 944Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
383if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would 945if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
384have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at 946have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
385runtime. 947runtime, and not e.g. during initialisation of your module.
948
949The effect of calling this function is as if a watcher had been created
950(specifically, actions that happen "when the first watcher is created"
951happen when calling detetc as well).
952
953If you need to do some initialisation before AnyEvent watchers are
954created, use C<post_detect>.
955
956=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
957
958Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
959autodetected (or immediately if that has already happened).
960
961The block will be executed I<after> the actual backend has been detected
962(C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> is set), but I<before> any watchers have been
963created, so it is possible to e.g. patch C<@AnyEvent::ISA> or do
964other initialisations - see the sources of L<AnyEvent::Strict> or
965L<AnyEvent::AIO> to see how this is used.
966
967The most common usage is to create some global watchers, without forcing
968event module detection too early, for example, L<AnyEvent::AIO> creates
969and installs the global L<IO::AIO> watcher in a C<post_detect> block to
970avoid autodetecting the event module at load time.
971
972If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
973that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed (or
974C<undef> when the hook was immediately executed). See L<AnyEvent::AIO> for
975a case where this is useful.
976
977Example: Create a watcher for the IO::AIO module and store it in
978C<$WATCHER>, but do so only do so after the event loop is initialised.
979
980 our WATCHER;
981
982 my $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect {
983 $WATCHER = AnyEvent->io (fh => IO::AIO::poll_fileno, poll => 'r', cb => \&IO::AIO::poll_cb);
984 };
985
986 # the ||= is important in case post_detect immediately runs the block,
987 # as to not clobber the newly-created watcher. assigning both watcher and
988 # post_detect guard to the same variable has the advantage of users being
989 # able to just C<undef $WATCHER> if the watcher causes them grief.
990
991 $WATCHER ||= $guard;
992
993=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
994
995If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
996before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will be called directly
997after the event loop has been chosen.
998
999You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
1000if it is defined then the event loop has already been detected, and the
1001array will be ignored.
1002
1003Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> when your application allows
1004it, as it takes care of these details.
1005
1006This variable is mainly useful for modules that can do something useful
1007when AnyEvent is used and thus want to know when it is initialised, but do
1008not need to even load it by default. This array provides the means to hook
1009into AnyEvent passively, without loading it.
1010
1011Example: To load Coro::AnyEvent whenever Coro and AnyEvent are used
1012together, you could put this into Coro (this is the actual code used by
1013Coro to accomplish this):
1014
1015 if (defined $AnyEvent::MODEL) {
1016 # AnyEvent already initialised, so load Coro::AnyEvent
1017 require Coro::AnyEvent;
1018 } else {
1019 # AnyEvent not yet initialised, so make sure to load Coro::AnyEvent
1020 # as soon as it is
1021 push @AnyEvent::post_detect, sub { require Coro::AnyEvent };
1022 }
1023
1024=item AnyEvent::postpone { BLOCK }
1025
1026Arranges for the block to be executed as soon as possible, but not before
1027the call itself returns. In practise, the block will be executed just
1028before the event loop polls for new events, or shortly afterwards.
1029
1030This function never returns anything (to make the C<return postpone { ...
1031}> idiom more useful.
1032
1033To understand the usefulness of this function, consider a function that
1034asynchronously does something for you and returns some transaction
1035object or guard to let you cancel the operation. For example,
1036C<AnyEvent::Socket::tcp_connect>:
1037
1038 # start a connection attempt unless one is active
1039 $self->{connect_guard} ||= AnyEvent::Socket::tcp_connect "www.example.net", 80, sub {
1040 delete $self->{connect_guard};
1041 ...
1042 };
1043
1044Imagine that this function could instantly call the callback, for
1045example, because it detects an obvious error such as a negative port
1046number. Invoking the callback before the function returns causes problems
1047however: the callback will be called and will try to delete the guard
1048object. But since the function hasn't returned yet, there is nothing to
1049delete. When the function eventually returns it will assign the guard
1050object to C<< $self->{connect_guard} >>, where it will likely never be
1051deleted, so the program thinks it is still trying to connect.
1052
1053This is where C<AnyEvent::postpone> should be used. Instead of calling the
1054callback directly on error:
1055
1056 $cb->(undef), return # signal error to callback, BAD!
1057 if $some_error_condition;
1058
1059It should use C<postpone>:
1060
1061 AnyEvent::postpone { $cb->(undef) }, return # signal error to callback, later
1062 if $some_error_condition;
1063
1064=item AnyEvent::log $level, $msg[, @args]
1065
1066Log the given C<$msg> at the given C<$level>.
1067
1068If L<AnyEvent::Log> is not loaded then this function makes a simple test
1069to see whether the message will be logged. If the test succeeds it will
1070load AnyEvent::Log and call C<AnyEvent::Log::log> - consequently, look at
1071the L<AnyEvent::Log> documentation for details.
1072
1073If the test fails it will simply return. Right now this happens when a
1074numerical loglevel is used and it is larger than the level specified via
1075C<$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}>.
1076
1077If you want to sprinkle loads of logging calls around your code, consider
1078creating a logger callback with the C<AnyEvent::Log::logger> function,
1079which can reduce typing, codesize and can reduce the logging overhead
1080enourmously.
386 1081
387=back 1082=back
388 1083
389=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE 1084=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
390 1085
394Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will 1089Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
395decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so 1090decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
396by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module 1091by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
397to load the event module first. 1092to load the event module first.
398 1093
399Never call C<< ->wait >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that 1094Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
400the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been called on it already. This is 1095the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
401because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using 1096because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
402events is to stay interactive. 1097events is to stay interactive.
403 1098
404It is fine, however, to call C<< ->wait >> when the user of your module 1099It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
405requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method 1100requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
406called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->wait >> 1101called C<results> that returns the results, it may call C<< ->recv >>
407freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always). 1102freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. Always).
408 1103
409=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM 1104=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
410 1105
411There will always be a single main program - the only place that should 1106There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
412dictate which event model to use. 1107dictate which event model to use.
413 1108
414If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not 1109If the program is not event-based, it need not do anything special, even
415do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent 1110when it depends on a module that uses an AnyEvent. If the program itself
416decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it. 1111uses AnyEvent, but does not care which event loop is used, all it needs
1112to do is C<use AnyEvent>. In either case, AnyEvent will choose the best
1113available loop implementation.
417 1114
418If the main program relies on a specific event model. For example, in 1115If the main program relies on a specific event model - for example, in
419Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module. You should load the 1116Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module - you should load the
420event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally 1117event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
421speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that 1118speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
422modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will 1119modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
423decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it 1120decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
424might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself. 1121might choose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
425 1122
426You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by 1123You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
427loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar 1124C<AnyEvent::Loop> module, which gives you similar behaviour
428behaviour everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose is generally better. 1125everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
1126
1127=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
1128
1129Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
1130only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
1131
1132In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
1133
1134 AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
1135
1136This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
1137
1138Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
1139it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
1140variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
1141exit cleanly.
1142
1143
1144=head1 OTHER MODULES
1145
1146The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
1147AnyEvent as a client and can therefore be mixed easily with other
1148AnyEvent modules and other event loops in the same program. Some of the
1149modules come as part of AnyEvent, the others are available via CPAN (see
1150L<http://search.cpan.org/search?m=module&q=anyevent%3A%3A*> for
1151a longer non-exhaustive list), and the list is heavily biased towards
1152modules of the AnyEvent author himself :)
1153
1154=over 4
1155
1156=item L<AnyEvent::Util> (part of the AnyEvent distribution)
1157
1158Contains various utility functions that replace often-used blocking
1159functions such as C<inet_aton> with event/callback-based versions.
1160
1161=item L<AnyEvent::Socket> (part of the AnyEvent distribution)
1162
1163Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
1164addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
1165connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
1166
1167=item L<AnyEvent::Handle> (part of the AnyEvent distribution)
1168
1169Provide read and write buffers, manages watchers for reads and writes,
1170supports raw and formatted I/O, I/O queued and fully transparent and
1171non-blocking SSL/TLS (via L<AnyEvent::TLS>).
1172
1173=item L<AnyEvent::DNS> (part of the AnyEvent distribution)
1174
1175Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
1176
1177=item L<AnyEvent::HTTP>, L<AnyEvent::IRC>, L<AnyEvent::XMPP>, L<AnyEvent::GPSD>, L<AnyEvent::IGS>, L<AnyEvent::FCP>
1178
1179Implement event-based interfaces to the protocols of the same name (for
1180the curious, IGS is the International Go Server and FCP is the Freenet
1181Client Protocol).
1182
1183=item L<AnyEvent::AIO> (part of the AnyEvent distribution)
1184
1185Truly asynchronous (as opposed to non-blocking) I/O, should be in the
1186toolbox of every event programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses
1187L<IO::AIO> and AnyEvent together, giving AnyEvent access to event-based
1188file I/O, and much more.
1189
1190=item L<AnyEvent::Fork>, L<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC>, L<AnyEvent::Fork::Pool>, L<AnyEvent::Fork::Remote>
1191
1192These let you safely fork new subprocesses, either locally or
1193remotely (e.g.v ia ssh), using some RPC protocol or not, without
1194the limitations normally imposed by fork (AnyEvent works fine for
1195example). Dynamically-resized worker pools are obviously included as well.
1196
1197And they are quite tiny and fast as well - "abusing" L<AnyEvent::Fork>
1198just to exec external programs can easily beat using C<fork> and C<exec>
1199(or even C<system>) in most programs.
1200
1201=item L<AnyEvent::Filesys::Notify>
1202
1203AnyEvent is good for non-blocking stuff, but it can't detect file or
1204path changes (e.g. "watch this directory for new files", "watch this
1205file for changes"). The L<AnyEvent::Filesys::Notify> module promises to
1206do just that in a portbale fashion, supporting inotify on GNU/Linux and
1207some weird, without doubt broken, stuff on OS X to monitor files. It can
1208fall back to blocking scans at regular intervals transparently on other
1209platforms, so it's about as portable as it gets.
1210
1211(I haven't used it myself, but it seems the biggest problem with it is
1212it quite bad performance).
1213
1214=item L<AnyEvent::DBI>
1215
1216Executes L<DBI> requests asynchronously in a proxy process for you,
1217notifying you in an event-based way when the operation is finished.
1218
1219=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
1220
1221The fastest ping in the west.
1222
1223=item L<Coro>
1224
1225Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>, which allows you
1226to simply invert the flow control - don't call us, we will call you:
1227
1228 async {
1229 Coro::AnyEvent::sleep 5; # creates a 5s timer and waits for it
1230 print "5 seconds later!\n";
1231
1232 Coro::AnyEvent::readable *STDIN; # uses an I/O watcher
1233 my $line = <STDIN>; # works for ttys
1234
1235 AnyEvent::HTTP::http_get "url", Coro::rouse_cb;
1236 my ($body, $hdr) = Coro::rouse_wait;
1237 };
1238
1239=back
429 1240
430=cut 1241=cut
431 1242
432package AnyEvent; 1243package AnyEvent;
433 1244
434no warnings; 1245BEGIN {
435use strict; 1246 require "AnyEvent/constants.pl";
1247 &AnyEvent::common_sense;
1248}
436 1249
437use Carp; 1250use Carp ();
438 1251
439our $VERSION = '3.3'; 1252our $VERSION = '7.07';
440our $MODEL; 1253our $MODEL;
441
442our $AUTOLOAD;
443our @ISA; 1254our @ISA;
444
445our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
446
447our @REGISTRY; 1255our @REGISTRY;
1256our $VERBOSE;
1257our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2), higher numbers are preferred
1258our $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY} || 10; # executes after the BEGIN block below (tainting!)
448 1259
1260BEGIN {
1261 eval "sub TAINT (){" . (${^TAINT}*1) . "}";
1262
1263 delete @ENV{grep /^PERL_ANYEVENT_/, keys %ENV}
1264 if ${^TAINT};
1265
1266 $ENV{"PERL_ANYEVENT_$_"} = $ENV{"AE_$_"}
1267 for grep s/^AE_// && !exists $ENV{"PERL_ANYEVENT_$_"}, keys %ENV;
1268
1269 @ENV{grep /^PERL_ANYEVENT_/, keys %ENV} = ()
1270 if ${^TAINT};
1271
1272 # $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_xxx} now valid
1273
1274 $VERBOSE = length $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE} ? $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1 : 4;
1275
1276 my $idx;
1277 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
1278 for reverse split /\s*,\s*/,
1279 $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
1280}
1281
1282our @post_detect;
1283
1284sub post_detect(&) {
1285 my ($cb) = @_;
1286
1287 push @post_detect, $cb;
1288
1289 defined wantarray
1290 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::postdetect"
1291 : ()
1292}
1293
1294sub AnyEvent::Util::postdetect::DESTROY {
1295 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
1296}
1297
1298our $POSTPONE_W;
1299our @POSTPONE;
1300
1301sub _postpone_exec {
1302 undef $POSTPONE_W;
1303
1304 &{ shift @POSTPONE }
1305 while @POSTPONE;
1306}
1307
1308sub postpone(&) {
1309 push @POSTPONE, shift;
1310
1311 $POSTPONE_W ||= AE::timer (0, 0, \&_postpone_exec);
1312
1313 ()
1314}
1315
1316sub log($$;@) {
1317 # only load the big bloated module when we actually are about to log something
1318 if ($_[0] <= ($VERBOSE || 1)) { # also catches non-numeric levels(!) and fatal
1319 local ($!, $@);
1320 require AnyEvent::Log; # among other things, sets $VERBOSE to 9
1321 # AnyEvent::Log overwrites this function
1322 goto &log;
1323 }
1324
1325 0 # not logged
1326}
1327
1328sub _logger($;$) {
1329 my ($level, $renabled) = @_;
1330
1331 $$renabled = $level <= $VERBOSE;
1332
1333 my $logger = [(caller)[0], $level, $renabled];
1334
1335 $AnyEvent::Log::LOGGER{$logger+0} = $logger;
1336
1337# return unless defined wantarray;
1338#
1339# require AnyEvent::Util;
1340# my $guard = AnyEvent::Util::guard (sub {
1341# # "clean up"
1342# delete $LOGGER{$logger+0};
1343# });
1344#
1345# sub {
1346# return 0 unless $$renabled;
1347#
1348# $guard if 0; # keep guard alive, but don't cause runtime overhead
1349# require AnyEvent::Log unless $AnyEvent::Log::VERSION;
1350# package AnyEvent::Log;
1351# _log ($logger->[0], $level, @_) # logger->[0] has been converted at load time
1352# }
1353}
1354
1355if (length $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_LOG}) {
1356 require AnyEvent::Log; # AnyEvent::Log does the thing for us
1357}
1358
449my @models = ( 1359our @models = (
450 [Coro::EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV::],
451 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent::],
452 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::], 1360 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::],
1361 [AnyEvent::Loop:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::],
1362 # everything below here will not (normally) be autoprobed
1363 # as the pure perl backend should work everywhere
1364 # and is usually faster
1365 [Irssi:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Irssi::], # Irssi has a bogus "Event" package, so msut be near the top
453 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 1366 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], # slow, stable
454 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], 1367 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], # becomes extremely slow with many watchers
1368 # everything below here should not be autoloaded
1369 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
455 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], 1370 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], # crashes with many handles
1371 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
1372 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
456 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], 1373 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
457 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], 1374 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
458 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::], 1375 [IO::Async::Loop:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # a bitch to autodetect
459 # everything below here will not be autoprobed as the pureperl backend should work everywhere 1376 [Cocoa::EventLoop:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Cocoa::],
460 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy 1377 [FLTK:: => AnyEvent::Impl::FLTK::],
461 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
462 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
463); 1378);
464 1379
465our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer signal child condvar broadcast wait one_event DESTROY); 1380our @isa_hook;
1381
1382sub _isa_set {
1383 my @pkg = ("AnyEvent", (map $_->[0], grep defined, @isa_hook), $MODEL);
1384
1385 @{"$pkg[$_-1]::ISA"} = $pkg[$_]
1386 for 1 .. $#pkg;
1387
1388 grep $_ && $_->[1], @isa_hook
1389 and AE::_reset ();
1390}
1391
1392# used for hooking AnyEvent::Strict and AnyEvent::Debug::Wrap into the class hierarchy
1393sub _isa_hook($$;$) {
1394 my ($i, $pkg, $reset_ae) = @_;
1395
1396 $isa_hook[$i] = $pkg ? [$pkg, $reset_ae] : undef;
1397
1398 _isa_set;
1399}
1400
1401# all autoloaded methods reserve the complete glob, not just the method slot.
1402# due to bugs in perls method cache implementation.
1403our @methods = qw(io timer time now now_update signal child idle condvar);
466 1404
467sub detect() { 1405sub detect() {
1406 return $MODEL if $MODEL; # some programs keep references to detect
1407
1408 # IO::Async::Loop::AnyEvent is extremely evil, refuse to work with it
1409 # the author knows about the problems and what it does to AnyEvent as a whole
1410 # (and the ability of others to use AnyEvent), but simply wants to abuse AnyEvent
1411 # anyway.
1412 AnyEvent::log fatal => "IO::Async::Loop::AnyEvent detected - that module is broken by\n"
1413 . "design, abuses internals and breaks AnyEvent - will not continue."
1414 if exists $INC{"IO/Async/Loop/AnyEvent.pm"};
1415
1416 local $!; # for good measure
1417 local $SIG{__DIE__}; # we use eval
1418
1419 # free some memory
1420 *detect = sub () { $MODEL };
1421 # undef &func doesn't correctly update the method cache. grmbl.
1422 # so we delete the whole glob. grmbl.
1423 # otoh, perl doesn't let me undef an active usb, but it lets me free
1424 # a glob with an active sub. hrm. i hope it works, but perl is
1425 # usually buggy in this department. sigh.
1426 delete @{"AnyEvent::"}{@methods};
1427 undef @methods;
1428
1429 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z0-9:]+)$/) {
1430 my $model = $1;
1431 $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$model" unless $model =~ s/::$//;
1432 if (eval "require $model") {
1433 AnyEvent::log 7 => "Loaded model '$model' (forced by \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}), using it.";
1434 $MODEL = $model;
1435 } else {
1436 AnyEvent::log 4 => "Unable to load model '$model' (from \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}):\n$@";
1437 }
1438 }
1439
1440 # check for already loaded models
468 unless ($MODEL) { 1441 unless ($MODEL) {
469 no strict 'refs'; 1442 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
470 1443 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
471 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) { 1444 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
472 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
473 if (eval "require $model") { 1445 if (eval "require $model") {
1446 AnyEvent::log 7 => "Autodetected model '$model', using it.";
474 $MODEL = $model; 1447 $MODEL = $model;
475 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1448 last;
476 } else { 1449 } else {
477 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL):\n$@" if $verbose; 1450 AnyEvent::log 8 => "Detected event loop $package, but cannot load '$model', skipping: $@";
1451 }
478 } 1452 }
479 } 1453 }
480 1454
481 # check for already loaded models
482 unless ($MODEL) { 1455 unless ($MODEL) {
1456 # try to autoload a model
483 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 1457 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
484 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 1458 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
1459 if (
1460 eval "require $package"
485 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 1461 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
486 if (eval "require $model") { 1462 and eval "require $model"
1463 ) {
1464 AnyEvent::log 7 => "Autoloaded model '$model', using it.";
487 $MODEL = $model; 1465 $MODEL = $model;
488 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1;
489 last; 1466 last;
490 }
491 } 1467 }
492 } 1468 }
493 1469
494 unless ($MODEL) { 1470 $MODEL
495 # try to load a model 1471 or AnyEvent::log fatal => "Backend autodetection failed - did you properly install AnyEvent?";
1472 }
1473 }
496 1474
497 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 1475 # free memory only needed for probing
498 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 1476 undef @models;
499 if (eval "require $package" 1477 undef @REGISTRY;
500 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0 1478
501 and eval "require $model") { 1479 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
502 $MODEL = $model; 1480
503 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1481 # now nuke some methods that are overridden by the backend.
1482 # SUPER usage is not allowed in these.
1483 for (qw(time signal child idle)) {
1484 undef &{"AnyEvent::Base::$_"}
1485 if defined &{"$MODEL\::$_"};
1486 }
1487
1488 _isa_set;
1489
1490 # we're officially open!
1491
1492 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT}) {
1493 require AnyEvent::Strict;
1494 }
1495
1496 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_DEBUG_WRAP}) {
1497 require AnyEvent::Debug;
1498 AnyEvent::Debug::wrap ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_DEBUG_WRAP});
1499 }
1500
1501 if (length $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_DEBUG_SHELL}) {
1502 require AnyEvent::Socket;
1503 require AnyEvent::Debug;
1504
1505 my $shell = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_DEBUG_SHELL};
1506 $shell =~ s/\$\$/$$/g;
1507
1508 my ($host, $service) = AnyEvent::Socket::parse_hostport ($shell);
1509 $AnyEvent::Debug::SHELL = AnyEvent::Debug::shell ($host, $service);
1510 }
1511
1512 # now the anyevent environment is set up as the user told us to, so
1513 # call the actual user code - post detects
1514
1515 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
1516 undef @post_detect;
1517
1518 *post_detect = sub(&) {
1519 shift->();
1520
1521 undef
1522 };
1523
1524 $MODEL
1525}
1526
1527for my $name (@methods) {
1528 *$name = sub {
1529 detect;
1530 # we use goto because
1531 # a) it makes the thunk more transparent
1532 # b) it allows us to delete the thunk later
1533 goto &{ UNIVERSAL::can AnyEvent => "SUPER::$name" }
1534 };
1535}
1536
1537# utility function to dup a filehandle. this is used by many backends
1538# to support binding more than one watcher per filehandle (they usually
1539# allow only one watcher per fd, so we dup it to get a different one).
1540sub _dupfh($$;$$) {
1541 my ($poll, $fh, $r, $w) = @_;
1542
1543 # cygwin requires the fh mode to be matching, unix doesn't
1544 my ($rw, $mode) = $poll eq "r" ? ($r, "<&") : ($w, ">&");
1545
1546 open my $fh2, $mode, $fh
1547 or die "AnyEvent->io: cannot dup() filehandle in mode '$poll': $!,";
1548
1549 # we assume CLOEXEC is already set by perl in all important cases
1550
1551 ($fh2, $rw)
1552}
1553
1554=head1 SIMPLIFIED AE API
1555
1556Starting with version 5.0, AnyEvent officially supports a second, much
1557simpler, API that is designed to reduce the calling, typing and memory
1558overhead by using function call syntax and a fixed number of parameters.
1559
1560See the L<AE> manpage for details.
1561
1562=cut
1563
1564package AE;
1565
1566our $VERSION = $AnyEvent::VERSION;
1567
1568sub _reset() {
1569 eval q{
1570 # fall back to the main API by default - backends and AnyEvent::Base
1571 # implementations can overwrite these.
1572
1573 sub io($$$) {
1574 AnyEvent->io (fh => $_[0], poll => $_[1] ? "w" : "r", cb => $_[2])
1575 }
1576
1577 sub timer($$$) {
1578 AnyEvent->timer (after => $_[0], interval => $_[1], cb => $_[2])
1579 }
1580
1581 sub signal($$) {
1582 AnyEvent->signal (signal => $_[0], cb => $_[1])
1583 }
1584
1585 sub child($$) {
1586 AnyEvent->child (pid => $_[0], cb => $_[1])
1587 }
1588
1589 sub idle($) {
1590 AnyEvent->idle (cb => $_[0]);
1591 }
1592
1593 sub cv(;&) {
1594 AnyEvent->condvar (@_ ? (cb => $_[0]) : ())
1595 }
1596
1597 sub now() {
1598 AnyEvent->now
1599 }
1600
1601 sub now_update() {
1602 AnyEvent->now_update
1603 }
1604
1605 sub time() {
1606 AnyEvent->time
1607 }
1608
1609 *postpone = \&AnyEvent::postpone;
1610 *log = \&AnyEvent::log;
1611 };
1612 die if $@;
1613}
1614
1615BEGIN { _reset }
1616
1617package AnyEvent::Base;
1618
1619# default implementations for many methods
1620
1621sub time {
1622 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1623 # probe for availability of Time::HiRes
1624 if (eval "use Time::HiRes (); Time::HiRes::time (); 1") {
1625 *time = sub { Time::HiRes::time () };
1626 *AE::time = \& Time::HiRes::time ;
1627 *now = \&time;
1628 AnyEvent::log 8 => "using Time::HiRes for sub-second timing accuracy.";
1629 # if (eval "use POSIX (); (POSIX::times())...
1630 } else {
1631 *time = sub { CORE::time };
1632 *AE::time = sub (){ CORE::time };
1633 *now = \&time;
1634 AnyEvent::log 3 => "Using built-in time(), no sub-second resolution!";
1635 }
1636 };
1637 die if $@;
1638
1639 &time
1640}
1641
1642*now = \&time;
1643sub now_update { }
1644
1645sub _poll {
1646 Carp::croak "$AnyEvent::MODEL does not support blocking waits. Caught";
1647}
1648
1649# default implementation for ->condvar
1650# in fact, the default should not be overwritten
1651
1652sub condvar {
1653 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1654 *condvar = sub {
1655 bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, "AnyEvent::CondVar"
1656 };
1657
1658 *AE::cv = sub (;&) {
1659 bless { @_ ? (_ae_cb => shift) : () }, "AnyEvent::CondVar"
1660 };
1661 };
1662 die if $@;
1663
1664 &condvar
1665}
1666
1667# default implementation for ->signal
1668
1669our $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1670
1671sub _have_async_interrupt() {
1672 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT = 1*(!$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT}
1673 && eval "use Async::Interrupt 1.02 (); 1")
1674 unless defined $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1675
1676 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1677}
1678
1679our ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W, %SIG_CB, %SIG_EV, $SIG_IO);
1680our (%SIG_ASY, %SIG_ASY_W);
1681our ($SIG_COUNT, $SIG_TW);
1682
1683# install a dummy wakeup watcher to reduce signal catching latency
1684# used by Impls
1685sub _sig_add() {
1686 unless ($SIG_COUNT++) {
1687 # try to align timer on a full-second boundary, if possible
1688 my $NOW = AE::now;
1689
1690 $SIG_TW = AE::timer
1691 $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY - ($NOW - int $NOW),
1692 $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY,
1693 sub { } # just for the PERL_ASYNC_CHECK
1694 ;
1695 }
1696}
1697
1698sub _sig_del {
1699 undef $SIG_TW
1700 unless --$SIG_COUNT;
1701}
1702
1703our $_sig_name_init; $_sig_name_init = sub {
1704 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1705 undef $_sig_name_init;
1706
1707 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1708 *sig2num = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2num;
1709 *sig2name = \&Async::Interrupt::sig2name;
1710 } else {
1711 require Config;
1712
1713 my %signame2num;
1714 @signame2num{ split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_name} }
1715 = split ' ', $Config::Config{sig_num};
1716
1717 my @signum2name;
1718 @signum2name[values %signame2num] = keys %signame2num;
1719
1720 *sig2num = sub($) {
1721 $_[0] > 0 ? shift : $signame2num{+shift}
1722 };
1723 *sig2name = sub ($) {
1724 $_[0] > 0 ? $signum2name[+shift] : shift
1725 };
1726 }
1727 };
1728 die if $@;
1729};
1730
1731sub sig2num ($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2num }
1732sub sig2name($) { &$_sig_name_init; &sig2name }
1733
1734sub signal {
1735 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1736 # probe for availability of Async::Interrupt
1737 if (_have_async_interrupt) {
1738 AnyEvent::log 8 => "Using Async::Interrupt for race-free signal handling.";
1739
1740 $SIGPIPE_R = new Async::Interrupt::EventPipe;
1741 $SIG_IO = AE::io $SIGPIPE_R->fileno, 0, \&_signal_exec;
1742
1743 } else {
1744 AnyEvent::log 8 => "Using emulated perl signal handling with latency timer.";
1745
1746 if (AnyEvent::WIN32) {
1747 require AnyEvent::Util;
1748
1749 ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_pipe ();
1750 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_R, 1) if $SIGPIPE_R;
1751 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_W, 1) if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1752 } else {
1753 pipe $SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W;
1754 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, AnyEvent::F_SETFL, AnyEvent::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_R;
1755 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, AnyEvent::F_SETFL, AnyEvent::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1756
1757 # not strictly required, as $^F is normally 2, but let's make sure...
1758 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, AnyEvent::F_SETFD, AnyEvent::FD_CLOEXEC;
1759 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, AnyEvent::F_SETFD, AnyEvent::FD_CLOEXEC;
1760 }
1761
1762 $SIGPIPE_R
1763 or Carp::croak "AnyEvent: unable to create a signal reporting pipe: $!\n";
1764
1765 $SIG_IO = AE::io $SIGPIPE_R, 0, \&_signal_exec;
1766 }
1767
1768 *signal = $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1769 ? sub {
1770 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1771
1772 # async::interrupt
1773 my $signal = sig2num $arg{signal};
1774 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1775
1776 $SIG_ASY{$signal} ||= new Async::Interrupt
1777 cb => sub { undef $SIG_EV{$signal} },
1778 signal => $signal,
1779 pipe => [$SIGPIPE_R->filenos],
1780 pipe_autodrain => 0,
1781 ;
1782
1783 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::signal"
1784 }
1785 : sub {
1786 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1787
1788 # pure perl
1789 my $signal = sig2name $arg{signal};
1790 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1791
1792 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub {
504 last; 1793 local $!;
1794 syswrite $SIGPIPE_W, "\x00", 1 unless %SIG_EV;
1795 undef $SIG_EV{$signal};
505 } 1796 };
1797
1798 # can't do signal processing without introducing races in pure perl,
1799 # so limit the signal latency.
1800 _sig_add;
1801
1802 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::signal"
1803 }
1804 ;
1805
1806 *AnyEvent::Base::signal::DESTROY = sub {
1807 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
1808
1809 _sig_del;
1810
1811 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
1812
1813 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1814 ? delete $SIG_ASY{$signal}
1815 : # delete doesn't work with older perls - they then
1816 # print weird messages, or just unconditionally exit
1817 # instead of getting the default action.
1818 undef $SIG{$signal}
1819 unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
1820 };
1821
1822 *_signal_exec = sub {
1823 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1824 ? $SIGPIPE_R->drain
1825 : sysread $SIGPIPE_R, (my $dummy), 9;
1826
1827 while (%SIG_EV) {
1828 for (keys %SIG_EV) {
1829 delete $SIG_EV{$_};
1830 &$_ for values %{ $SIG_CB{$_} || {} };
506 } 1831 }
507
508 $MODEL
509 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV (or Coro+EV), Event (or Coro+Event) or Glib.";
510 } 1832 }
511 } 1833 };
512
513 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
514 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
515 }
516
517 $MODEL
518}
519
520sub AUTOLOAD {
521 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://;
522
523 $method{$func}
524 or croak "$func: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects";
525
526 detect unless $MODEL;
527
528 my $class = shift;
529 $class->$func (@_);
530}
531
532package AnyEvent::Base;
533
534# default implementation for ->condvar, ->wait, ->broadcast
535
536sub condvar {
537 bless \my $flag, "AnyEvent::Base::CondVar"
538}
539
540sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::broadcast {
541 ${$_[0]}++;
542}
543
544sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::wait {
545 AnyEvent->one_event while !${$_[0]};
546}
547
548# default implementation for ->signal
549
550our %SIG_CB;
551
552sub signal {
553 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
554
555 my $signal = uc $arg{signal}
556 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing";
557
558 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
559 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub {
560 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} || {} };
561 }; 1834 };
1835 die if $@;
562 1836
563 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Signal" 1837 &signal
564}
565
566sub AnyEvent::Base::Signal::DESTROY {
567 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
568
569 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
570
571 $SIG{$signal} = 'DEFAULT' unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
572} 1838}
573 1839
574# default implementation for ->child 1840# default implementation for ->child
575 1841
576our %PID_CB; 1842our %PID_CB;
577our $CHLD_W; 1843our $CHLD_W;
578our $CHLD_DELAY_W; 1844our $CHLD_DELAY_W;
579our $PID_IDLE;
580our $WNOHANG;
581 1845
582sub _child_wait { 1846# used by many Impl's
583 while (0 < (my $pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG)) { 1847sub _emit_childstatus($$) {
1848 my (undef, $rpid, $rstatus) = @_;
1849
1850 $_->($rpid, $rstatus)
584 $_->($pid, $?) for (values %{ $PID_CB{$pid} || {} }), 1851 for values %{ $PID_CB{$rpid} || {} },
585 (values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} }); 1852 values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} };
1853}
1854
1855sub child {
1856 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1857 *_sigchld = sub {
1858 my $pid;
1859
1860 AnyEvent->_emit_childstatus ($pid, $?)
1861 while ($pid = waitpid -1, WNOHANG) > 0;
1862 };
1863
1864 *child = sub {
1865 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1866
1867 my $pid = $arg{pid};
1868 my $cb = $arg{cb};
1869
1870 $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb+0} = $cb;
1871
1872 unless ($CHLD_W) {
1873 $CHLD_W = AE::signal CHLD => \&_sigchld;
1874 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
1875 &_sigchld;
1876 }
1877
1878 bless [$pid, $cb+0], "AnyEvent::Base::child"
1879 };
1880
1881 *AnyEvent::Base::child::DESTROY = sub {
1882 my ($pid, $icb) = @{$_[0]};
1883
1884 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$icb};
1885 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
1886
1887 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
1888 };
1889 };
1890 die if $@;
1891
1892 &child
1893}
1894
1895# idle emulation is done by simply using a timer, regardless
1896# of whether the process is idle or not, and not letting
1897# the callback use more than 50% of the time.
1898sub idle {
1899 eval q{ # poor man's autoloading {}
1900 *idle = sub {
1901 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1902
1903 my ($cb, $w, $rcb) = $arg{cb};
1904
1905 $rcb = sub {
1906 if ($cb) {
1907 $w = AE::time;
1908 &$cb;
1909 $w = AE::time - $w;
1910
1911 # never use more then 50% of the time for the idle watcher,
1912 # within some limits
1913 $w = 0.0001 if $w < 0.0001;
1914 $w = 5 if $w > 5;
1915
1916 $w = AE::timer $w, 0, $rcb;
1917 } else {
1918 # clean up...
1919 undef $w;
1920 undef $rcb;
1921 }
1922 };
1923
1924 $w = AE::timer 0.05, 0, $rcb;
1925
1926 bless \\$cb, "AnyEvent::Base::idle"
1927 };
1928
1929 *AnyEvent::Base::idle::DESTROY = sub {
1930 undef $${$_[0]};
1931 };
1932 };
1933 die if $@;
1934
1935 &idle
1936}
1937
1938package AnyEvent::CondVar;
1939
1940our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
1941
1942# only to be used for subclassing
1943sub new {
1944 my $class = shift;
1945 bless AnyEvent->condvar (@_), $class
1946}
1947
1948package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
1949
1950#use overload
1951# '&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
1952# fallback => 1;
1953
1954# save 300+ kilobytes by dirtily hardcoding overloading
1955${"AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::OVERLOAD"}{dummy}++; # Register with magic by touching.
1956*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = sub { }; # "Make it findable via fetchmethod."
1957*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::(&{}'} = sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } }; # &{}
1958${'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = 1; # fallback
1959
1960our $WAITING;
1961
1962sub _send {
1963 # nop
1964}
1965
1966sub _wait {
1967 AnyEvent->_poll until $_[0]{_ae_sent};
1968}
1969
1970sub send {
1971 my $cv = shift;
1972 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
1973 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
1974 $cv->_send;
1975}
1976
1977sub croak {
1978 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
1979 $_[0]->send;
1980}
1981
1982sub ready {
1983 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
1984}
1985
1986sub recv {
1987 unless ($_[0]{_ae_sent}) {
1988 $WAITING
1989 and Carp::croak "AnyEvent::CondVar: recursive blocking wait attempted";
1990
1991 local $WAITING = 1;
1992 $_[0]->_wait;
586 } 1993 }
587 1994
588 undef $PID_IDLE; 1995 $_[0]{_ae_croak}
589} 1996 and Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak};
590 1997
591sub _sigchld { 1998 wantarray
592 # make sure we deliver these changes "synchronous" with the event loop. 1999 ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} }
593 $CHLD_DELAY_W ||= AnyEvent->timer (after => 0, cb => sub { 2000 : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
594 undef $CHLD_DELAY_W;
595 &_child_wait;
596 });
597} 2001}
598 2002
599sub child { 2003sub cb {
600 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 2004 my $cv = shift;
601 2005
602 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0) 2006 @_
603 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing"; 2007 and $cv->{_ae_cb} = shift
2008 and $cv->{_ae_sent}
2009 and (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv);
604 2010
605 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 2011 $cv->{_ae_cb}
606
607 unless ($WNOHANG) {
608 $WNOHANG = eval { require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;
609 }
610
611 unless ($CHLD_W) {
612 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld);
613 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
614 &_sigchld;
615 }
616
617 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Child"
618} 2012}
619 2013
620sub AnyEvent::Base::Child::DESTROY { 2014sub begin {
621 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]}; 2015 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
622 2016 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
623 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb};
624 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
625
626 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
627} 2017}
2018
2019sub end {
2020 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
2021 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
2022}
2023
2024# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
2025*broadcast = \&send;
2026*wait = \&recv;
2027
2028=head1 ERROR AND EXCEPTION HANDLING
2029
2030In general, AnyEvent does not do any error handling - it relies on the
2031caller to do that if required. The L<AnyEvent::Strict> module (see also
2032the C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT> environment variable, below) provides strict
2033checking of all AnyEvent methods, however, which is highly useful during
2034development.
2035
2036As for exception handling (i.e. runtime errors and exceptions thrown while
2037executing a callback), this is not only highly event-loop specific, but
2038also not in any way wrapped by this module, as this is the job of the main
2039program.
2040
2041The pure perl event loop simply re-throws the exception (usually
2042within C<< condvar->recv >>), the L<Event> and L<EV> modules call C<<
2043$Event/EV::DIED->() >>, L<Glib> uses C<< install_exception_handler >> and
2044so on.
2045
2046=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
2047
2048AnyEvent supports a number of environment variables that tune the
2049runtime behaviour. They are usually evaluated when AnyEvent is
2050loaded, initialised, or a submodule that uses them is loaded. Many of
2051them also cause AnyEvent to load additional modules - for example,
2052C<PERL_ANYEVENT_DEBUG_WRAP> causes the L<AnyEvent::Debug> module to be
2053loaded.
2054
2055All the environment variables documented here start with
2056C<PERL_ANYEVENT_>, which is what AnyEvent considers its own
2057namespace. Other modules are encouraged (but by no means required) to use
2058C<PERL_ANYEVENT_SUBMODULE> if they have registered the AnyEvent::Submodule
2059namespace on CPAN, for any submodule. For example, L<AnyEvent::HTTP> could
2060be expected to use C<PERL_ANYEVENT_HTTP_PROXY> (it should not access env
2061variables starting with C<AE_>, see below).
2062
2063All variables can also be set via the C<AE_> prefix, that is, instead
2064of setting C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE> you can also set C<AE_VERBOSE>. In
2065case there is a clash btween anyevent and another program that uses
2066C<AE_something> you can set the corresponding C<PERL_ANYEVENT_something>
2067variable to the empty string, as those variables take precedence.
2068
2069When AnyEvent is first loaded, it copies all C<AE_xxx> env variables
2070to their C<PERL_ANYEVENT_xxx> counterpart unless that variable already
2071exists. If taint mode is on, then AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment
2072variables starting with C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> (or replace them
2073with C<undef> or the empty string, if the corresaponding C<AE_> variable
2074is set).
2075
2076The exact algorithm is currently:
2077
2078 1. if taint mode enabled, delete all PERL_ANYEVENT_xyz variables from %ENV
2079 2. copy over AE_xyz to PERL_ANYEVENT_xyz unless the latter alraedy exists
2080 3. if taint mode enabled, set all PERL_ANYEVENT_xyz variables to undef.
2081
2082This ensures that child processes will not see the C<AE_> variables.
2083
2084The following environment variables are currently known to AnyEvent:
2085
2086=over 4
2087
2088=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
2089
2090By default, AnyEvent will log messages with loglevel C<4> (C<error>) or
2091higher (see L<AnyEvent::Log>). You can set this environment variable to a
2092numerical loglevel to make AnyEvent more (or less) talkative.
2093
2094If you want to do more than just set the global logging level
2095you should have a look at C<PERL_ANYEVENT_LOG>, which allows much more
2096complex specifications.
2097
2098When set to C<0> (C<off>), then no messages whatsoever will be logged with
2099everything else at defaults.
2100
2101When set to C<5> or higher (C<warn>), AnyEvent warns about unexpected
2102conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
2103C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>, or a guard callback throwing an exception - this
2104is the minimum recommended level for use during development.
2105
2106When set to C<7> or higher (info), AnyEvent reports which event model it
2107chooses.
2108
2109When set to C<8> or higher (debug), then AnyEvent will report extra
2110information on which optional modules it loads and how it implements
2111certain features.
2112
2113=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_LOG>
2114
2115Accepts rather complex logging specifications. For example, you could log
2116all C<debug> messages of some module to stderr, warnings and above to
2117stderr, and errors and above to syslog, with:
2118
2119 PERL_ANYEVENT_LOG=Some::Module=debug,+log:filter=warn,+%syslog:%syslog=error,syslog
2120
2121For the rather extensive details, see L<AnyEvent::Log>.
2122
2123This variable is evaluated when AnyEvent (or L<AnyEvent::Log>) is loaded,
2124so will take effect even before AnyEvent has initialised itself.
2125
2126Note that specifying this environment variable causes the L<AnyEvent::Log>
2127module to be loaded, while C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE> does not, so only
2128using the latter saves a few hundred kB of memory unless a module
2129explicitly needs the extra features of AnyEvent::Log.
2130
2131=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT>
2132
2133AnyEvent does not do much argument checking by default, as thorough
2134argument checking is very costly. Setting this variable to a true value
2135will cause AnyEvent to load C<AnyEvent::Strict> and then to thoroughly
2136check the arguments passed to most method calls. If it finds any problems,
2137it will croak.
2138
2139In other words, enables "strict" mode.
2140
2141Unlike C<use strict> (or its modern cousin, C<< use L<common::sense>
2142>>, it is definitely recommended to keep it off in production. Keeping
2143C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT=1> in your environment while developing programs
2144can be very useful, however.
2145
2146=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_DEBUG_SHELL>
2147
2148If this env variable is nonempty, then its contents will be interpreted by
2149C<AnyEvent::Socket::parse_hostport> and C<AnyEvent::Debug::shell> (after
2150replacing every occurance of C<$$> by the process pid). The shell object
2151is saved in C<$AnyEvent::Debug::SHELL>.
2152
2153This happens when the first watcher is created.
2154
2155For example, to bind a debug shell on a unix domain socket in
2156F<< /tmp/debug<pid>.sock >>, you could use this:
2157
2158 PERL_ANYEVENT_DEBUG_SHELL=/tmp/debug\$\$.sock perlprog
2159 # connect with e.g.: socat readline /tmp/debug123.sock
2160
2161Or to bind to tcp port 4545 on localhost:
2162
2163 PERL_ANYEVENT_DEBUG_SHELL=127.0.0.1:4545 perlprog
2164 # connect with e.g.: telnet localhost 4545
2165
2166Note that creating sockets in F</tmp> or on localhost is very unsafe on
2167multiuser systems.
2168
2169=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_DEBUG_WRAP>
2170
2171Can be set to C<0>, C<1> or C<2> and enables wrapping of all watchers for
2172debugging purposes. See C<AnyEvent::Debug::wrap> for details.
2173
2174=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
2175
2176This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
2177auto detection and -probing kicks in.
2178
2179It normally is a string consisting entirely of ASCII letters (e.g. C<EV>
2180or C<IOAsync>). The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended and the
2181resulting module name is loaded and - if the load was successful - used as
2182event model backend. If it fails to load then AnyEvent will proceed with
2183auto detection and -probing.
2184
2185If the string ends with C<::> instead (e.g. C<AnyEvent::Impl::EV::>) then
2186nothing gets prepended and the module name is used as-is (hint: C<::> at
2187the end of a string designates a module name and quotes it appropriately).
2188
2189For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Loop::Perl>) you
2190could start your program like this:
2191
2192 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
2193
2194=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_IO_MODEL>
2195
2196The current file I/O model - see L<AnyEvent::IO> for more info.
2197
2198At the moment, only C<Perl> (small, pure-perl, synchronous) and
2199C<IOAIO> (truly asynchronous) are supported. The default is C<IOAIO> if
2200L<AnyEvent::AIO> can be loaded, otherwise it is C<Perl>.
2201
2202=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
2203
2204Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
2205for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
2206of auto probing).
2207
2208Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
2209current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
2210used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
2211list.
2212
2213This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
2214against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
2215small, as the program has to handle connection and other failures anyways.
2216
2217Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
2218but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
2219- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
2220addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
2221IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
2222
2223=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_HOSTS>
2224
2225This variable, if specified, overrides the F</etc/hosts> file used by
2226L<AnyEvent::Socket>C<::resolve_sockaddr>, i.e. hosts aliases will be read
2227from that file instead.
2228
2229=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
2230
2231Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension for
2232DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, especially
2233when DNSSEC is involved, but some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS
2234packets, which is why it is off by default.
2235
2236Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
2237EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
2238
2239=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_FORKS>
2240
2241The maximum number of child processes that C<AnyEvent::Util::fork_call>
2242will create in parallel.
2243
2244=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_OUTSTANDING_DNS>
2245
2246The default value for the C<max_outstanding> parameter for the default DNS
2247resolver - this is the maximum number of parallel DNS requests that are
2248sent to the DNS server.
2249
2250=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>
2251
2252Perl has inherently racy signal handling (you can basically choose between
2253losing signals and memory corruption) - pure perl event loops (including
2254C<AnyEvent::Loop>, when C<Async::Interrupt> isn't available) therefore
2255have to poll regularly to avoid losing signals.
2256
2257Some event loops are racy, but don't poll regularly, and some event loops
2258are written in C but are still racy. For those event loops, AnyEvent
2259installs a timer that regularly wakes up the event loop.
2260
2261By default, the interval for this timer is C<10> seconds, but you can
2262override this delay with this environment variable (or by setting
2263the C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY> variable before creating signal
2264watchers).
2265
2266Lower values increase CPU (and energy) usage, higher values can introduce
2267long delays when reaping children or waiting for signals.
2268
2269The L<AnyEvent::Async> module, if available, will be used to avoid this
2270polling (with most event loops).
2271
2272=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_RESOLV_CONF>
2273
2274The absolute path to a F<resolv.conf>-style file to use instead of
2275F</etc/resolv.conf> (or the OS-specific configuration) in the default
2276resolver, or the empty string to select the default configuration.
2277
2278=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_FILE>, C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_PATH>.
2279
2280When neither C<ca_file> nor C<ca_path> was specified during
2281L<AnyEvent::TLS> context creation, and either of these environment
2282variables are nonempty, they will be used to specify CA certificate
2283locations instead of a system-dependent default.
2284
2285=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_GUARD> and C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT>
2286
2287When these are set to C<1>, then the respective modules are not
2288loaded. Mostly good for testing AnyEvent itself.
2289
2290=back
628 2291
629=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 2292=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
630 2293
631This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in 2294This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
632a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to 2295a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
667I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to 2330I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to
668condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will 2331condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will
669C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must 2332C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must
670not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense. 2333not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense.
671 2334
672=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
673
674The following environment variables are used by this module:
675
676=over 4
677
678=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
679
680By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
681conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
682talkative.
683
684When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
685conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
686C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
687
688When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
689model it chooses.
690
691=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
692
693This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
694autodetection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
695entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
696and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
697used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
698autodetection and -probing.
699
700This functionality might change in future versions.
701
702For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
703could start your program like this:
704
705 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
706
707=back
708
709=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM 2335=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
710 2336
711The following program uses an IO watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer 2337The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
712to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the 2338to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
713program when the user enters quit: 2339program when the user enters quit:
714 2340
715 use AnyEvent; 2341 use AnyEvent;
716 2342
721 poll => 'r', 2347 poll => 'r',
722 cb => sub { 2348 cb => sub {
723 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 2349 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
724 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 2350 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
725 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 2351 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
726 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 2352 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
727 }, 2353 },
728 ); 2354 );
729 2355
730 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
731
732 sub new_timer {
733 $timer = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => sub { 2356 my $time_watcher = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, interval => 1, cb => sub {
734 warn "timeout\n"; # print 'timeout' about every second 2357 warn "timeout\n"; # print 'timeout' at most every second
735 &new_timer; # and restart the time
736 }); 2358 });
737 }
738 2359
739 new_timer; # create first timer
740
741 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 2360 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
742 2361
743=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 2362=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
744 2363
745Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 2364Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
746API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 2365API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
796 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 2415 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
797 or die "connection or write error"; 2416 or die "connection or write error";
798 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 2417 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
799 2418
800Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 2419Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
801result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished: 2420result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
802 2421
803 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 2422 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
804 2423
805 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 2424 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
806 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 2425 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
807 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 2426 $txn->{finished}->send;
808 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 2427 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
809 } 2428 }
810 2429
811The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 2430The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
812request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the 2431request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
813data: 2432data:
814 2433
815 $txn->{finished}->wait; 2434 $txn->{finished}->recv;
816 return $txn->{result}; 2435 return $txn->{result};
817 2436
818The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 2437The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
819that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 2438that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
820whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 2439whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
821and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 2440and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
822problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a 2441problems get reported to the code that tries to use the result, not in a
823random callback. 2442random callback.
824 2443
825All of this enables the following usage styles: 2444All of this enables the following usage styles:
826 2445
8271. Blocking: 24461. Blocking:
855 2474
856 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 2475 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
857 2476
858 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 2477 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
859 ... 2478 ...
860 $quit->broadcast; 2479 $quit->send;
861 }); 2480 });
862 2481
863 $quit->wait; 2482 $quit->recv;
864 2483
865 2484
866=head1 BENCHMARK 2485=head1 BENCHMARKS
867 2486
868To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds 2487To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
869over the backends directly, here is a benchmark of various supported event 2488over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
870models natively and with anyevent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers 2489of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
2490
2491=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
2492
2493Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
2494through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
871(with a zero timeout) and io watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become 2495timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
872writable, which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them 2496which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
873again.
874 2497
875Explanation of the fields: 2498Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
2499distribution. It uses the L<AE> interface, which makes a real difference
2500for the EV and Perl backends only.
876 2501
2502=head3 Explanation of the columns
2503
877I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Sicne 2504I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
878different event models have vastly different performance each backend was 2505different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
879handed a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable and 2506loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
880similar to all backends (and keep them from crashing). 2507and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
2508would probably take thousands of years if asked to process the same number
2509of watchers as EV in this benchmark.
881 2510
882I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by resident set size) used by 2511I<bytes> is the number of bytes (as measured by the resident set size,
883each watcher. 2512RSS) consumed by each watcher. This method of measuring captures both C
2513and Perl-based overheads.
884 2514
885I<create> is the time, in microseconds, to create a single watcher. 2515I<create> is the time, in microseconds (millionths of seconds), that it
2516takes to create a single watcher. The callback is a closure shared between
2517all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
2518and memory usage is not included in the figures.
886 2519
887I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple callback 2520I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
888that simply counts down. 2521callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
2522invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
2523signal the end of this phase.
889 2524
890I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, to destroy a single watcher. 2525I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
2526watcher.
891 2527
2528=head3 Results
2529
892 name watcher bytes create invoke destroy comment 2530 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
893 EV/EV 400000 244 0.56 0.46 0.31 EV native interface 2531 EV/EV 100000 223 0.47 0.43 0.27 EV native interface
894 EV/Any 100000 610 3.52 0.91 0.75 2532 EV/Any 100000 223 0.48 0.42 0.26 EV + AnyEvent watchers
895 CoroEV/Any 100000 610 3.49 0.92 0.75 coroutines + Coro::Signal 2533 Coro::EV/Any 100000 223 0.47 0.42 0.26 coroutines + Coro::Signal
896 Perl/Any 10000 654 4.64 1.22 0.77 pure perl implementation 2534 Perl/Any 100000 431 2.70 0.74 0.92 pure perl implementation
897 Event/Event 10000 523 28.05 21.38 5.22 Event native interface 2535 Event/Event 16000 516 31.16 31.84 0.82 Event native interface
898 Event/Any 10000 943 34.43 20.48 1.39 2536 Event/Any 16000 1203 42.61 34.79 1.80 Event + AnyEvent watchers
2537 IOAsync/Any 16000 1911 41.92 27.45 16.81 via IO::Async::Loop::IO_Poll
2538 IOAsync/Any 16000 1726 40.69 26.37 15.25 via IO::Async::Loop::Epoll
899 Glib/Any 16000 1357 96.99 12.55 55.51 quadratic behaviour 2539 Glib/Any 16000 1118 89.00 12.57 51.17 quadratic behaviour
900 Tk/Any 2000 1855 27.01 66.61 14.03 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers 2540 Tk/Any 2000 1346 20.96 10.75 8.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
901 POE/Select 2000 6343 94.69 807.65 562.69 POE::Loop::Select 2541 POE/Any 2000 6951 108.97 795.32 14.24 via POE::Loop::Event
902 POE/Event 2000 6644 108.15 768.19 14.33 POE::Loop::Event 2542 POE/Any 2000 6648 94.79 774.40 575.51 via POE::Loop::Select
903 2543
904Discussion: The benchmark does I<not> bench scalability of the 2544=head3 Discussion
2545
2546The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
905backend. For example a select-based backend (such as the pureperl one) can 2547well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
906never compete with a backend using epoll. In this benchmark, only a single 2548can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
907filehandle is used. 2549file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
2550the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
2551boost.
908 2552
2553Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
2554overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
2555the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
2556higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
2557
2558To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
2559benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
2560EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
2561cycles with POE.
2562
909EV is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both 2563C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
910maximal/minimal. Even when going through AnyEvent, there is only one event 2564maximal/minimal, respectively. When using the L<AE> API there is zero
911loop that uses less memory (the Event module natively), and no faster 2565overhead (when going through the AnyEvent API create is about 5-6 times
912event model. 2566slower, with other times being equal, so still uses far less memory than
2567any other event loop and is still faster than Event natively).
913 2568
914The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the 2569The pure perl implementation is hit in a few sweet spots (both the
915zero timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl 2570constant timeout and the use of a single fd hit optimisations in the perl
916interpreter and the backend itself), but it shows that it adds very little 2571interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
917overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend it's performance becomes 2572adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
918really bad with lots of file descriptors. 2573performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
2574them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
919 2575
920The Event module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation cost, 2576The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
921but overall scores on the third place. 2577cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
922 2578
923Glib has a little higher memory cost, a bit fster callback invocation and 2579C<IO::Async> performs admirably well, about on par with C<Event>, even
924has a similar speed as Event. 2580when using its pure perl backend.
925 2581
2582C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
2583faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
2584C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
2585watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
2586making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
2587(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
2588inefficiencies of C<poll> do not account for this).
2589
926The Tk backend works relatively well, the fact that it crashes with 2590The C<Tk> adaptor works relatively well. The fact that it crashes with
927more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes 2591more than 2000 watchers is a big setback, however, as correctness takes
928precedence over speed. 2592precedence over speed. Nevertheless, its performance is surprising, as the
2593file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
2594employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
2595hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
2596above).
929 2597
930POE, regardless of backend (wether it's pure perl select backend or the 2598C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
931Event backend) shows abysmal performance and memory usage: Watchers use 2599select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
932almost 30 times as much memory as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory 2600be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
933as both Event or EV via AnyEvent. 2601memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
2602as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
2603requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
2604invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
2605implementation.
934 2606
2607The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
2608for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
2609small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
2610optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
2611using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
2612memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
2613design).
2614
2615=head3 Summary
2616
2617=over 4
2618
935Summary: using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event 2619=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
936loop. The overhead AnyEvent adds can be very small, and you should avoid 2620(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
937POE like the plague if you want performance or reasonable memory usage. 2621performance with or without AnyEvent.
2622
2623=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
2624the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
2625does AnyEvent add significant overhead.
2626
2627=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
2628reasonable memory usage.
2629
2630=back
2631
2632=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
2633
2634This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
2635creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
2636timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
2637watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
2638watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
2639
2640The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
2641are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
2642fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
2643timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
2644most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
2645
2646In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
2647(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
2648connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
2649
2650Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
2651distribution. It uses the L<AE> interface, which makes a real difference
2652for the EV and Perl backends only.
2653
2654=head3 Explanation of the columns
2655
2656I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
2657each server has a read and write socket end).
2658
2659I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
2660nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
2661
2662I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
2663single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
2664it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
2665a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
2666
2667=head3 Results
2668
2669 name sockets create request
2670 EV 20000 62.66 7.99
2671 Perl 20000 68.32 32.64
2672 IOAsync 20000 174.06 101.15 epoll
2673 IOAsync 20000 174.67 610.84 poll
2674 Event 20000 202.69 242.91
2675 Glib 20000 557.01 1689.52
2676 POE 20000 341.54 12086.32 uses POE::Loop::Event
2677
2678=head3 Discussion
2679
2680This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
2681particular event loop.
2682
2683EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
2684is relatively high, though.
2685
2686Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
2687loops Event and Glib.
2688
2689IO::Async performs very well when using its epoll backend, and still quite
2690good compared to Glib when using its pure perl backend.
2691
2692Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
2693understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
2694the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
2695uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
2696
2697Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
2698clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
2699
2700POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
2701as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
2702it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
2703
2704=head3 Summary
2705
2706=over 4
2707
2708=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
2709
2710=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
2711
2712=back
2713
2714=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
2715
2716While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
2717large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
2718I/O watchers.
2719
2720In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
2721case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
2722one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
2723well.
2724
2725The columns are identical to the previous table.
2726
2727=head3 Results
2728
2729 name sockets create request
2730 EV 16 20.00 6.54
2731 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
2732 Event 16 81.27 35.86
2733 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
2734 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
2735
2736=head3 Discussion
2737
2738The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
2739server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
2740in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
2741to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
2742speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
2743them).
2744
2745EV is again fastest.
2746
2747Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
2748loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
2749matter.
2750
2751POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
2752others.
2753
2754=head3 Summary
2755
2756=over 4
2757
2758=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
2759watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
2760
2761=back
2762
2763=head2 THE IO::Lambda BENCHMARK
2764
2765Recently I was told about the benchmark in the IO::Lambda manpage, which
2766could be misinterpreted to make AnyEvent look bad. In fact, the benchmark
2767simply compares IO::Lambda with POE, and IO::Lambda looks better (which
2768shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody). As such, the benchmark is
2769fine, and mostly shows that the AnyEvent backend from IO::Lambda isn't
2770very optimal. But how would AnyEvent compare when used without the extra
2771baggage? To explore this, I wrote the equivalent benchmark for AnyEvent.
2772
2773The benchmark itself creates an echo-server, and then, for 500 times,
2774connects to the echo server, sends a line, waits for the reply, and then
2775creates the next connection. This is a rather bad benchmark, as it doesn't
2776test the efficiency of the framework or much non-blocking I/O, but it is a
2777benchmark nevertheless.
2778
2779 name runtime
2780 Lambda/select 0.330 sec
2781 + optimized 0.122 sec
2782 Lambda/AnyEvent 0.327 sec
2783 + optimized 0.138 sec
2784 Raw sockets/select 0.077 sec
2785 POE/select, components 0.662 sec
2786 POE/select, raw sockets 0.226 sec
2787 POE/select, optimized 0.404 sec
2788
2789 AnyEvent/select/nb 0.085 sec
2790 AnyEvent/EV/nb 0.068 sec
2791 +state machine 0.134 sec
2792
2793The benchmark is also a bit unfair (my fault): the IO::Lambda/POE
2794benchmarks actually make blocking connects and use 100% blocking I/O,
2795defeating the purpose of an event-based solution. All of the newly
2796written AnyEvent benchmarks use 100% non-blocking connects (using
2797AnyEvent::Socket::tcp_connect and the asynchronous pure perl DNS
2798resolver), so AnyEvent is at a disadvantage here, as non-blocking connects
2799generally require a lot more bookkeeping and event handling than blocking
2800connects (which involve a single syscall only).
2801
2802The last AnyEvent benchmark additionally uses L<AnyEvent::Handle>, which
2803offers similar expressive power as POE and IO::Lambda, using conventional
2804Perl syntax. This means that both the echo server and the client are 100%
2805non-blocking, further placing it at a disadvantage.
2806
2807As you can see, the AnyEvent + EV combination even beats the
2808hand-optimised "raw sockets benchmark", while AnyEvent + its pure perl
2809backend easily beats IO::Lambda and POE.
2810
2811And even the 100% non-blocking version written using the high-level (and
2812slow :) L<AnyEvent::Handle> abstraction beats both POE and IO::Lambda
2813higher level ("unoptimised") abstractions by a large margin, even though
2814it does all of DNS, tcp-connect and socket I/O in a non-blocking way.
2815
2816The two AnyEvent benchmarks programs can be found as F<eg/ae0.pl> and
2817F<eg/ae2.pl> in the AnyEvent distribution, the remaining benchmarks are
2818part of the IO::Lambda distribution and were used without any changes.
2819
2820
2821=head1 SIGNALS
2822
2823AnyEvent currently installs handlers for these signals:
2824
2825=over 4
2826
2827=item SIGCHLD
2828
2829A handler for C<SIGCHLD> is installed by AnyEvent's child watcher
2830emulation for event loops that do not support them natively. Also, some
2831event loops install a similar handler.
2832
2833Additionally, when AnyEvent is loaded and SIGCHLD is set to IGNORE, then
2834AnyEvent will reset it to default, to avoid losing child exit statuses.
2835
2836=item SIGPIPE
2837
2838A no-op handler is installed for C<SIGPIPE> when C<$SIG{PIPE}> is C<undef>
2839when AnyEvent gets loaded.
2840
2841The rationale for this is that AnyEvent users usually do not really depend
2842on SIGPIPE delivery (which is purely an optimisation for shell use, or
2843badly-written programs), but C<SIGPIPE> can cause spurious and rare
2844program exits as a lot of people do not expect C<SIGPIPE> when writing to
2845some random socket.
2846
2847The rationale for installing a no-op handler as opposed to ignoring it is
2848that this way, the handler will be restored to defaults on exec.
2849
2850Feel free to install your own handler, or reset it to defaults.
2851
2852=back
2853
2854=cut
2855
2856undef $SIG{CHLD}
2857 if $SIG{CHLD} eq 'IGNORE';
2858
2859$SIG{PIPE} = sub { }
2860 unless defined $SIG{PIPE};
2861
2862=head1 RECOMMENDED/OPTIONAL MODULES
2863
2864One of AnyEvent's main goals is to be 100% Pure-Perl(tm): only perl (and
2865its built-in modules) are required to use it.
2866
2867That does not mean that AnyEvent won't take advantage of some additional
2868modules if they are installed.
2869
2870This section explains which additional modules will be used, and how they
2871affect AnyEvent's operation.
2872
2873=over 4
2874
2875=item L<Async::Interrupt>
2876
2877This slightly arcane module is used to implement fast signal handling: To
2878my knowledge, there is no way to do completely race-free and quick
2879signal handling in pure perl. To ensure that signals still get
2880delivered, AnyEvent will start an interval timer to wake up perl (and
2881catch the signals) with some delay (default is 10 seconds, look for
2882C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>).
2883
2884If this module is available, then it will be used to implement signal
2885catching, which means that signals will not be delayed, and the event loop
2886will not be interrupted regularly, which is more efficient (and good for
2887battery life on laptops).
2888
2889This affects not just the pure-perl event loop, but also other event loops
2890that have no signal handling on their own (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt).
2891
2892Some event loops (POE, Event, Event::Lib) offer signal watchers natively,
2893and either employ their own workarounds (POE) or use AnyEvent's workaround
2894(using C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>). Installing L<Async::Interrupt>
2895does nothing for those backends.
2896
2897=item L<EV>
2898
2899This module isn't really "optional", as it is simply one of the backend
2900event loops that AnyEvent can use. However, it is simply the best event
2901loop available in terms of features, speed and stability: It supports
2902the AnyEvent API optimally, implements all the watcher types in XS, does
2903automatic timer adjustments even when no monotonic clock is available,
2904can take avdantage of advanced kernel interfaces such as C<epoll> and
2905C<kqueue>, and is the fastest backend I<by far>. You can even embed
2906L<Glib>/L<Gtk2> in it (or vice versa, see L<EV::Glib> and L<Glib::EV>).
2907
2908If you only use backends that rely on another event loop (e.g. C<Tk>),
2909then this module will do nothing for you.
2910
2911=item L<Guard>
2912
2913The guard module, when used, will be used to implement
2914C<AnyEvent::Util::guard>. This speeds up guards considerably (and uses a
2915lot less memory), but otherwise doesn't affect guard operation much. It is
2916purely used for performance.
2917
2918=item L<JSON> and L<JSON::XS>
2919
2920One of these modules is required when you want to read or write JSON data
2921via L<AnyEvent::Handle>. L<JSON> is also written in pure-perl, but can take
2922advantage of the ultra-high-speed L<JSON::XS> module when it is installed.
2923
2924=item L<Net::SSLeay>
2925
2926Implementing TLS/SSL in Perl is certainly interesting, but not very
2927worthwhile: If this module is installed, then L<AnyEvent::Handle> (with
2928the help of L<AnyEvent::TLS>), gains the ability to do TLS/SSL.
2929
2930=item L<Time::HiRes>
2931
2932This module is part of perl since release 5.008. It will be used when the
2933chosen event library does not come with a timing source of its own. The
2934pure-perl event loop (L<AnyEvent::Loop>) will additionally load it to
2935try to use a monotonic clock for timing stability.
2936
2937=item L<AnyEvent::AIO> (and L<IO::AIO>)
2938
2939The default implementation of L<AnyEvent::IO> is to do I/O synchronously,
2940stopping programs while they access the disk, which is fine for a lot of
2941programs.
2942
2943Installing AnyEvent::AIO (and its IO::AIO dependency) makes it switch to
2944a true asynchronous implementation, so event processing can continue even
2945while waiting for disk I/O.
2946
2947=back
938 2948
939 2949
940=head1 FORK 2950=head1 FORK
941 2951
942Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are 2952Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
943because they are so inefficient. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware. 2953because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll> calls
2954- higher performance APIs such as BSD's kqueue or the dreaded Linux epoll
2955are usually badly thought-out hacks that are incompatible with fork in
2956one way or another. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware and ensures that you
2957continue event-processing in both parent and child (or both, if you know
2958what you are doing).
2959
2960This means that, in general, you cannot fork and do event processing in
2961the child if the event library was initialised before the fork (which
2962usually happens when the first AnyEvent watcher is created, or the library
2963is loaded).
944 2964
945If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first 2965If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
946watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child. 2966watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child OR you must do
2967something completely out of the scope of AnyEvent (see below).
2968
2969The problem of doing event processing in the parent I<and> the child
2970is much more complicated: even for backends that I<are> fork-aware or
2971fork-safe, their behaviour is not usually what you want: fork clones all
2972watchers, that means all timers, I/O watchers etc. are active in both
2973parent and child, which is almost never what you want. Using C<exec>
2974to start worker children from some kind of manage prrocess is usually
2975preferred, because it is much easier and cleaner, at the expense of having
2976to have another binary.
2977
2978In addition to logical problems with fork, there are also implementation
2979problems. For example, on POSIX systems, you cannot fork at all in Perl
2980code if a thread (I am talking of pthreads here) was ever created in the
2981process, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. In general, using fork
2982from Perl is difficult, and attempting to use fork without an exec to
2983implement some kind of parallel processing is almost certainly doomed.
2984
2985To safely fork and exec, you should use a module such as
2986L<Proc::FastSpawn> that let's you safely fork and exec new processes.
2987
2988If you want to do multiprocessing using processes, you can
2989look at the L<AnyEvent::Fork> module (and some related modules
2990such as L<AnyEvent::Fork::RPC>, L<AnyEvent::Fork::Pool> and
2991L<AnyEvent::Fork::Remote>). This module allows you to safely create
2992subprocesses without any limitations - you can use X11 toolkits or
2993AnyEvent in the children created by L<AnyEvent::Fork> safely and without
2994any special precautions.
947 2995
948 2996
949=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS 2997=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
950 2998
951AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via 2999AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
956specified in the variable. 3004specified in the variable.
957 3005
958You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it 3006You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
959before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block: 3007before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
960 3008
961 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} } 3009 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
962 3010
963 use AnyEvent; 3011 use AnyEvent;
3012
3013Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
3014be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
3015probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), and
3016$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT}.
3017
3018Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
3019C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
3020enabled.
3021
3022
3023=head1 BUGS
3024
3025Perl 5.8 has numerous memleaks that sometimes hit this module and are hard
3026to work around. If you suffer from memleaks, first upgrade to Perl 5.10
3027and check wether the leaks still show up. (Perl 5.10.0 has other annoying
3028memleaks, such as leaking on C<map> and C<grep> but it is usually not as
3029pronounced).
964 3030
965 3031
966=head1 SEE ALSO 3032=head1 SEE ALSO
967 3033
968Event modules: L<Coro::EV>, L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, 3034Tutorial/Introduction: L<AnyEvent::Intro>.
969L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>, L<Coro>, L<Tk>,
970L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
971 3035
972Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, 3036FAQ: L<AnyEvent::FAQ>.
3037
3038Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util> (misc. grab-bag), L<AnyEvent::Log>
3039(simply logging).
3040
3041Development/Debugging: L<AnyEvent::Strict> (stricter checking),
3042L<AnyEvent::Debug> (interactive shell, watcher tracing).
3043
3044Supported event modules: L<AnyEvent::Loop>, L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>,
3045L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>,
3046L<Qt>, L<POE>, L<FLTK>.
3047
3048Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
3049L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
3050L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
973L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, 3051L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync>, L<Anyevent::Impl::Irssi>,
974L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, 3052L<AnyEvent::Impl::FLTK>.
975L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>.
976 3053
3054Non-blocking handles, pipes, stream sockets, TCP clients and
3055servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>, L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
3056
3057Asynchronous File I/O: L<AnyEvent::IO>.
3058
3059Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
3060
3061Thread support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>.
3062
977Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>. 3063Nontrivial usage examples: L<AnyEvent::GPSD>, L<AnyEvent::IRC>,
3064L<AnyEvent::HTTP>.
978 3065
979 3066
980=head1 AUTHOR 3067=head1 AUTHOR
981 3068
982 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 3069 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
983 http://home.schmorp.de/ 3070 http://anyevent.schmorp.de
984 3071
985=cut 3072=cut
986 3073
9871 30741
988 3075

Diff Legend

Removed lines
+ Added lines
< Changed lines
> Changed lines