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1=head1 NAME 1=head1 NAME
2 2
3AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops 3AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops
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, Qt and POE are various supported
6event loops.
6 7
7=head1 SYNOPSIS 8=head1 SYNOPSIS
8 9
9 use AnyEvent; 10 use AnyEvent;
10 11
12 # file descriptor readable
11 my $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh, poll => "r|w", cb => sub { 13 my $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh, poll => "r", cb => sub { ... });
14
15 # one-shot or repeating timers
16 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub { ... });
17 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, interval => $seconds, cb => ...
18
19 print AnyEvent->now; # prints current event loop time
20 print AnyEvent->time; # think Time::HiRes::time or simply CORE::time.
21
22 # POSIX signal
23 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "TERM", cb => sub { ... });
24
25 # child process exit
26 my $w = AnyEvent->child (pid => $pid, cb => sub {
27 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
12 ... 28 ...
13 }); 29 });
14 30
15 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $seconds, cb => sub { 31 # called when event loop idle (if applicable)
16 ... 32 my $w = AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub { ... });
17 });
18 33
19 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged 34 my $w = AnyEvent->condvar; # stores whether a condition was flagged
35 $w->send; # wake up current and all future recv's
20 $w->wait; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->broadcast 36 $w->recv; # enters "main loop" till $condvar gets ->send
21 $w->broadcast; # wake up current and all future wait's 37 # use a condvar in callback mode:
38 $w->cb (sub { $_[0]->recv });
39
40=head1 INTRODUCTION/TUTORIAL
41
42This manpage is mainly a reference manual. If you are interested
43in a tutorial or some gentle introduction, have a look at the
44L<AnyEvent::Intro> manpage.
22 45
23=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT) 46=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT)
24 47
25Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen 48Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen
26nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent? 49nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?
27 50
28Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of 51Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of
29policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>. 52policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>.
30 53
31First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only 54First 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 55interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use, in a
33pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike, 56pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike,
34the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general, 57the 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 58only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent
36helps hiding the differences between those event loops. 59cannot change this, but it can hide the differences between those event
60loops.
37 61
38The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event 62The 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 63programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a
40religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your 64religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your
41module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event 65module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event
42model you use. 66model you use.
43 67
44For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is 68For 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 69actually 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 70like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you
47cannot use anything else, as it is simply incompatible to everything that 71cannot use anything else, as they are simply incompatible to everything
48isn't itself. What's worse, all the potential users of your module are 72that isn't them. What's worse, all the potential users of your
49I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use. 73module are I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use.
50 74
51AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works 75AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works
52fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together 76fine. 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 77with the rest: POE + IO::Async? No go. Tk + Event? No go. Again: if
54your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it, 78your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it,
55too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all 79too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all
56event models it supports (including stuff like POE and IO::Async, as long 80event models it supports (including stuff like IO::Async, as long as those
57as those use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new 81use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new event loops
58event loops to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof). 82to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof).
59 83
60In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event 84In 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 85model>, 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 86modules, 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 87follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only
64offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as 88offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as
65technically possible. 89technically possible.
66 90
91Of course, AnyEvent comes with a big (and fully optional!) toolbox
92of useful functionality, such as an asynchronous DNS resolver, 100%
93non-blocking connects (even with TLS/SSL, IPv6 and on broken platforms
94such as Windows) and lots of real-world knowledge and workarounds for
95platform bugs and differences.
96
67Of course, if you want lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat 97Now, 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 98useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event
69model, you should I<not> use this module. 99model, you should I<not> use this module.
70
71 100
72=head1 DESCRIPTION 101=head1 DESCRIPTION
73 102
74L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This 103L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This
75allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module 104allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module
79The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event> 108The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
80module. 109module.
81 110
82During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries 111During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries
83to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the 112to 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>, 113following modules is already loaded: L<EV>,
85L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, 114L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>,
86L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries 115L<POE>. The first one found is used. If none are found, the module tries
87to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl 116to load these modules (excluding Tk, Event::Lib, Qt and POE as the pure perl
88adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can 117adaptor should always succeed) in the order given. The first one that can
89be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be 118be successfully loaded will be used. If, after this, still none could be
103starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to 132starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to
104use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly... 133use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly...
105 134
106The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called 135The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called
107C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it 136C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it
108explicitly. 137explicitly and enjoy the high availability of that event loop :)
109 138
110=head1 WATCHERS 139=head1 WATCHERS
111 140
112AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that 141AnyEvent 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 142stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as
114the callback to call, the filehandle to watch, etc. 143the callback to call, the file handle to watch, etc.
115 144
116These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After 145These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
117creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the 146creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the
118callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model 147callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model
119is in control). 148is in control).
120 149
150Note that B<callbacks must not permanently change global variables>
151potentially in use by the event loop (such as C<$_> or C<$[>) and that B<<
152callbacks must not C<die> >>. The former is good programming practise in
153Perl and the latter stems from the fact that exception handling differs
154widely between event loops.
155
121To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the 156To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the
122variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references 157variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references
123to it). 158to it).
124 159
125All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class. 160All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class.
127Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for 162Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for
128example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways. 163example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways.
129 164
130An any way to achieve that is this pattern: 165An any way to achieve that is this pattern:
131 166
132 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub { 167 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub {
133 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it 168 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it
134 undef $w; 169 undef $w;
135 }); 170 });
136 171
137Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl, 172Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,
138my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are 173my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are
139declared. 174declared.
140 175
141=head2 I/O WATCHERS 176=head2 I/O WATCHERS
142 177
143You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method 178You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
144with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments: 179with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
145 180
146C<fh> the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) to watch 181C<fh> is the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) to watch
182for events (AnyEvent might or might not keep a reference to this file
183handle). Note that only file handles pointing to things for which
184non-blocking operation makes sense are allowed. This includes sockets,
185most character devices, pipes, fifos and so on, but not for example files
186or block devices.
187
147for events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, 188C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, which creates a
148which creates a watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events, 189watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events, respectively.
190
149respectively. C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle 191C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle becomes ready.
150becomes ready.
151 192
152Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and 193Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
153presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent 194presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
154callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks. 195callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
155 196
159 200
160Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should 201Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should
161always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file 202always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file
162handles. 203handles.
163 204
164Example:
165
166 # wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the watcher 205Example: wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the
206watcher.
207
167 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 208 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
168 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); 209 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>);
169 warn "read: $input\n"; 210 warn "read: $input\n";
170 undef $w; 211 undef $w;
171 }); 212 });
181 222
182Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and 223Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
183presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent 224presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
184callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks. 225callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks.
185 226
186The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating 227The callback will normally be invoked once only. If you specify another
187timer you have to create a new watcher (this is a limitation by both Tk 228parameter, C<interval>, as a strictly positive number (> 0), then the
188and Glib). 229callback will be invoked regularly at that interval (in fractional
230seconds) after the first invocation. If C<interval> is specified with a
231false value, then it is treated as if it were missing.
189 232
190Example: 233The callback will be rescheduled before invoking the callback, but no
234attempt is done to avoid timer drift in most backends, so the interval is
235only approximate.
191 236
192 # fire an event after 7.7 seconds 237Example: fire an event after 7.7 seconds.
238
193 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub { 239 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub {
194 warn "timeout\n"; 240 warn "timeout\n";
195 }); 241 });
196 242
197 # to cancel the timer: 243 # to cancel the timer:
198 undef $w; 244 undef $w;
199 245
200Example 2:
201
202 # fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second 246Example 2: fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second.
203 my $w;
204 247
205 my $cb = sub {
206 # cancel the old timer while creating a new one
207 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => $cb); 248 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, interval => 1, cb => sub {
249 warn "timeout\n";
208 }; 250 };
209
210 # start the "loop" by creating the first watcher
211 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, cb => $cb);
212 251
213=head3 TIMING ISSUES 252=head3 TIMING ISSUES
214 253
215There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire 254There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire
216in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12 255in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12
228timers. 267timers.
229 268
230AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the 269AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the
231AnyEvent API. 270AnyEvent API.
232 271
272AnyEvent has two additional methods that return the "current time":
273
274=over 4
275
276=item AnyEvent->time
277
278This returns the "current wallclock time" as a fractional number of
279seconds since the Epoch (the same thing as C<time> or C<Time::HiRes::time>
280return, and the result is guaranteed to be compatible with those).
281
282It progresses independently of any event loop processing, i.e. each call
283will check the system clock, which usually gets updated frequently.
284
285=item AnyEvent->now
286
287This also returns the "current wallclock time", but unlike C<time>, above,
288this value might change only once per event loop iteration, depending on
289the event loop (most return the same time as C<time>, above). This is the
290time that AnyEvent's timers get scheduled against.
291
292I<In almost all cases (in all cases if you don't care), this is the
293function to call when you want to know the current time.>
294
295This function is also often faster then C<< AnyEvent->time >>, and
296thus the preferred method if you want some timestamp (for example,
297L<AnyEvent::Handle> uses this to update it's activity timeouts).
298
299The rest of this section is only of relevance if you try to be very exact
300with your timing, you can skip it without bad conscience.
301
302For a practical example of when these times differ, consider L<Event::Lib>
303and L<EV> and the following set-up:
304
305The event loop is running and has just invoked one of your callback at
306time=500 (assume no other callbacks delay processing). In your callback,
307you wait a second by executing C<sleep 1> (blocking the process for a
308second) and then (at time=501) you create a relative timer that fires
309after three seconds.
310
311With L<Event::Lib>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> will
312both return C<501>, because that is the current time, and the timer will
313be scheduled to fire at time=504 (C<501> + C<3>).
314
315With L<EV>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> returns C<501> (as that is the current
316time), but C<< AnyEvent->now >> returns C<500>, as that is the time the
317last event processing phase started. With L<EV>, your timer gets scheduled
318to run at time=503 (C<500> + C<3>).
319
320In one sense, L<Event::Lib> is more exact, as it uses the current time
321regardless of any delays introduced by event processing. However, most
322callbacks do not expect large delays in processing, so this causes a
323higher drift (and a lot more system calls to get the current time).
324
325In another sense, L<EV> is more exact, as your timer will be scheduled at
326the same time, regardless of how long event processing actually took.
327
328In either case, if you care (and in most cases, you don't), then you
329can get whatever behaviour you want with any event loop, by taking the
330difference between C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> into
331account.
332
333=item AnyEvent->now_update
334
335Some event loops (such as L<EV> or L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) cache
336the current time for each loop iteration (see the discussion of L<<
337AnyEvent->now >>, above).
338
339When a callback runs for a long time (or when the process sleeps), then
340this "current" time will differ substantially from the real time, which
341might affect timers and time-outs.
342
343When this is the case, you can call this method, which will update the
344event loop's idea of "current time".
345
346Note that updating the time I<might> cause some events to be handled.
347
348=back
349
233=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS 350=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
234 351
235You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal 352You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal
236I<name> without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl callback to 353I<name> in uppercase and without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl
237be invoked whenever a signal occurs. 354callback to be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
238 355
239Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and 356Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
240presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent 357presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
241callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks. 358callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
242 359
243Multiple signal occurances can be clumped together into one callback 360Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
244invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. synchronous means 361invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
245that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process, 362that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
246but it is guarenteed not to interrupt any other callbacks. 363but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
247 364
248The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal 365The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
249between multiple watchers. 366between multiple watchers.
250 367
251This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals 368This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals
258=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS 375=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
259 376
260You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status. 377You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status.
261 378
262The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it 379The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it
263watches for any child process exit). The watcher will trigger as often 380watches for any child process exit). The watcher will triggered only when
264as status change for the child are received. This works by installing a 381the child process has finished and an exit status is available, not on
265signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>. The callback will be called with the pid 382any trace events (stopped/continued).
266and exit status (as returned by waitpid), so unlike other watcher types, 383
267you I<can> rely on child watcher callback arguments. 384The callback will be called with the pid and exit status (as returned by
385waitpid), so unlike other watcher types, you I<can> rely on child watcher
386callback arguments.
387
388This watcher type works by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>,
389and since it cannot be shared, nothing else should use SIGCHLD or reap
390random child processes (waiting for specific child processes, e.g. inside
391C<system>, is just fine).
268 392
269There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them 393There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them
270I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could 394I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
271have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore). 395have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
272 396
278AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one watcher before you 402AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one watcher before you
279C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call C<AnyEvent::detect>). 403C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call C<AnyEvent::detect>).
280 404
281Example: fork a process and wait for it 405Example: fork a process and wait for it
282 406
283 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar; 407 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
284 408
285 AnyEvent::detect; # force event module to be initialised
286
287 my $pid = fork or exit 5; 409 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
288 410
289 my $w = AnyEvent->child ( 411 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
290 pid => $pid, 412 pid => $pid,
291 cb => sub { 413 cb => sub {
292 my ($pid, $status) = @_; 414 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
293 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status"; 415 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
294 $done->broadcast; 416 $done->send;
295 }, 417 },
296 ); 418 );
297 419
298 # do something else, then wait for process exit 420 # do something else, then wait for process exit
299 $done->wait; 421 $done->recv;
422
423=head2 IDLE WATCHERS
424
425Sometimes there is a need to do something, but it is not so important
426to do it instantly, but only when there is nothing better to do. This
427"nothing better to do" is usually defined to be "no other events need
428attention by the event loop".
429
430Idle watchers ideally get invoked when the event loop has nothing
431better to do, just before it would block the process to wait for new
432events. Instead of blocking, the idle watcher is invoked.
433
434Most event loops unfortunately do not really support idle watchers (only
435EV, Event and Glib do it in a usable fashion) - for the rest, AnyEvent
436will simply call the callback "from time to time".
437
438Example: read lines from STDIN, but only process them when the
439program is otherwise idle:
440
441 my @lines; # read data
442 my $idle_w;
443 my $io_w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
444 push @lines, scalar <STDIN>;
445
446 # start an idle watcher, if not already done
447 $idle_w ||= AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub {
448 # handle only one line, when there are lines left
449 if (my $line = shift @lines) {
450 print "handled when idle: $line";
451 } else {
452 # otherwise disable the idle watcher again
453 undef $idle_w;
454 }
455 });
456 });
300 457
301=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES 458=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
302 459
460If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
461require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
462will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
463
464AnyEvent is different, it expects somebody else to run the event loop and
465will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
466
467The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
468because they represent a condition that must become true.
469
303Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >> 470Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
304method without any arguments. 471>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
305 472
306A condition variable waits for a condition - precisely that the C<< 473C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
307->broadcast >> method has been called. 474becomes true, with the condition variable as the first argument (but not
475the results).
308 476
309They are very useful to signal that a condition has been fulfilled, for 477After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
478by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
479were a callback, read about the caveats in the description for the C<<
480->send >> method).
481
482Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
483optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
484in time where multiple outstanding events have been processed. And yet
485another way to call them is transactions - each condition variable can be
486used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
487a result.
488
489Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
310example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests, 490for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
311then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the 491then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
312availability of results. 492availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
493called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
313 494
314You can also use condition variables to block your main program until 495You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
315an event occurs - for example, you could C<< ->wait >> in your main 496you can block your main program until an event occurs - for example, you
316program until the user clicks the Quit button in your app, which would C<< 497could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
317->broadcast >> the "quit" event. 498button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
318 499
319Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have 500Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have
320two pirces of code that call C<< ->wait >> in a round-robbin fashion, you 501two pieces of code that call C<< ->recv >> in a round-robin fashion, you
321lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but 502lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
322you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks, 503you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
323as this asks for trouble. 504as this asks for trouble.
324 505
325This object has two methods: 506Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
507used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
508easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
509AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
510it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
511
512There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
513eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
514for the send to occur.
515
516Example: wait for a timer.
517
518 # wait till the result is ready
519 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
520
521 # do something such as adding a timer
522 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->send
523 # when the "result" is ready.
524 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
525 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
526 after => 1,
527 cb => sub { $result_ready->send },
528 );
529
530 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
531 # calls send
532 $result_ready->recv;
533
534Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that
535condition variables are also code references.
536
537 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
538 my $delay = AnyEvent->timer (after => 5, cb => $done);
539 $done->recv;
540
541Example: Imagine an API that returns a condvar and doesn't support
542callbacks. This is how you make a synchronous call, for example from
543the main program:
544
545 use AnyEvent::CouchDB;
546
547 ...
548
549 my @info = $couchdb->info->recv;
550
551And this is how you would just ste a callback to be called whenever the
552results are available:
553
554 $couchdb->info->cb (sub {
555 my @info = $_[0]->recv;
556 });
557
558=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
559
560These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
561code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
562the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
563uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
326 564
327=over 4 565=over 4
328 566
567=item $cv->send (...)
568
569Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
570calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
571called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
572
573If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
574immediately from within send.
575
576Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
577future C<< ->recv >> calls.
578
579Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly
580(as a code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling
581C<send>. Note, however, that many C-based event loops do not handle
582overloading, so as tempting as it may be, passing a condition variable
583instead of a callback does not work. Both the pure perl and EV loops
584support overloading, however, as well as all functions that use perl to
585invoke a callback (as in L<AnyEvent::Socket> and L<AnyEvent::DNS> for
586example).
587
588=item $cv->croak ($error)
589
590Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
591C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
592
593This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
594user/consumer.
595
596=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
597
329=item $cv->wait 598=item $cv->end
330 599
331Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been 600These two methods are EXPERIMENTAL and MIGHT CHANGE.
601
602These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
603one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
604to use a condition variable for the whole process.
605
606Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
607C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
608>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed. That callback
609is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send >>, but that is not required. If no
610callback was set, C<send> will be called without any arguments.
611
612Let's clarify this with the ping example:
613
614 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
615
616 my %result;
617 $cv->begin (sub { $cv->send (\%result) });
618
619 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
620 $cv->begin;
621 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
622 $result{$host} = ...;
623 $cv->end;
624 };
625 }
626
627 $cv->end;
628
629This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
630C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
631order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
632each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
633it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
634results arrive is not relevant.
635
636There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
637loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
638to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
639C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
640doesn't execute once).
641
642This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple subrequests:
643use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set the callback and ensure C<end>
644is called at least once, and then, for each subrequest you start, call
645C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish, call C<end>.
646
647=back
648
649=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
650
651These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
652code awaits the condition.
653
654=over 4
655
656=item $cv->recv
657
658Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
332called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally. 659>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
660normally.
333 661
334You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return 662You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
335immediately. 663will return immediately.
664
665If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
666function will call C<croak>.
667
668In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
669in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
336 670
337Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case 671Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
338(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are 672(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
339using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the 673using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>, but let the
340caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling 674caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
341condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting 675condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
342callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block, 676callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
343while still suppporting blocking waits if the caller so desires). 677while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
344 678
345Another reason I<never> to C<< ->wait >> in a module is that you cannot 679Another reason I<never> to C<< ->recv >> in a module is that you cannot
346sensibly have two C<< ->wait >>'s in parallel, as that would require 680sensibly have two C<< ->recv >>'s in parallel, as that would require
347multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent> 681multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent>
348can supply (the coroutine-aware backends L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV> and 682can supply.
349L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent> explicitly support concurrent C<< ->wait >>'s
350from different coroutines, however).
351 683
352=item $cv->broadcast 684The L<Coro> module, however, I<can> and I<does> supply coroutines and, in
685fact, L<Coro::AnyEvent> replaces AnyEvent's condvars by coroutine-safe
686versions and also integrates coroutines into AnyEvent, making blocking
687C<< ->recv >> calls perfectly safe as long as they are done from another
688coroutine (one that doesn't run the event loop).
353 689
354Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further 690You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
355calls to C<wait> will (eventually) return after this method has been 691only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
356called. If nobody is waiting the broadcast will be remembered.. 692time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
693waits otherwise.
694
695=item $bool = $cv->ready
696
697Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
698C<croak> have been called.
699
700=item $cb = $cv->cb ($cb->($cv))
701
702This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
703replaces it before doing so.
704
705The callback will be called when the condition becomes "true", i.e. when
706C<send> or C<croak> are called, with the only argument being the condition
707variable itself. Calling C<recv> inside the callback or at any later time
708is guaranteed not to block.
357 709
358=back 710=back
359
360Example:
361
362 # wait till the result is ready
363 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
364
365 # do something such as adding a timer
366 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast
367 # when the "result" is ready.
368 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
369 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
370 after => 1,
371 cb => sub { $result_ready->broadcast },
372 );
373
374 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the watcher
375 # calls broadcast
376 $result_ready->wait;
377 711
378=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS 712=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
379 713
380=over 4 714=over 4
381 715
387C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case 721C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case
388AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>). 722AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>).
389 723
390The known classes so far are: 724The known classes so far are:
391 725
392 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV based on Coro::EV, best choice.
393 AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent based on Coro::Event, second best choice.
394 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice). 726 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (an interface to libev, best choice).
395 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice. 727 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice.
728 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
396 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice. 729 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, third-best choice.
397 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, inefficient but portable.
398 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice. 730 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very bad choice.
399 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs). 731 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).
400 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse. 732 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
401 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, not generic enough for full support. 733 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, not generic enough for full support.
402 734
415Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model 747Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
416if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would 748if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
417have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at 749have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
418runtime. 750runtime.
419 751
752=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
753
754Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
755autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
756
757If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
758that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed. See
759L<Coro::BDB> for a case where this is useful.
760
761=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
762
763If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
764before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
765the event loop has been chosen.
766
767You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
768if it contains a true value then the event loop has already been detected,
769and the array will be ignored.
770
771Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> instead.
772
420=back 773=back
421 774
422=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE 775=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
423 776
424As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods 777As a module author, you should C<use AnyEvent> and call AnyEvent methods
427Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will 780Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will
428decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so 781decide which event module to use as soon as the first method is called, so
429by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module 782by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
430to load the event module first. 783to load the event module first.
431 784
432Never call C<< ->wait >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that 785Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
433the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been called on it already. This is 786the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
434because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using 787because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
435events is to stay interactive. 788events is to stay interactive.
436 789
437It is fine, however, to call C<< ->wait >> when the user of your module 790It is fine, however, to call C<< ->recv >> when the user of your module
438requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method 791requests it (i.e. if you create a http request object ad have a method
439called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->wait >> 792called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
440freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always). 793freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
441 794
442=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM 795=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
443 796
444There will always be a single main program - the only place that should 797There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
446 799
447If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not 800If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not
448do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent 801do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
449decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it. 802decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
450 803
451If the main program relies on a specific event model. For example, in 804If the main program relies on a specific event model - for example, in
452Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module. You should load the 805Gtk2 programs you have to rely on the Glib module - you should load the
453event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally 806event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
454speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that 807speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
455modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will 808modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will
456decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it 809decide on the event model to use as soon as it creates watchers, and it
457might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself. 810might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
458 811
459You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by 812You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
460loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar 813C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
461behaviour everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose is generally better. 814everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
815
816=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
817
818Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
819only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
820
821In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
822
823 AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
824
825This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
826
827Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
828it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
829variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
830exit cleanly.
831
832
833=head1 OTHER MODULES
834
835The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
836AnyEvent and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent modules
837in the same program. Some of the modules come with AnyEvent, some are
838available via CPAN.
839
840=over 4
841
842=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
843
844Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
845functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
846
847=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
848
849Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
850addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
851connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
852
853=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
854
855Provide read and write buffers, manages watchers for reads and writes,
856supports raw and formatted I/O, I/O queued and fully transparent and
857non-blocking SSL/TLS.
858
859=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
860
861Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
862
863=item L<AnyEvent::HTTP>
864
865A simple-to-use HTTP library that is capable of making a lot of concurrent
866HTTP requests.
867
868=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
869
870Provides a simple web application server framework.
871
872=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
873
874The fastest ping in the west.
875
876=item L<AnyEvent::DBI>
877
878Executes L<DBI> requests asynchronously in a proxy process.
879
880=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>
881
882Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
883programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses L<IO::AIO> and AnyEvent
884together.
885
886=item L<AnyEvent::BDB>
887
888Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. AnyEvent::BDB transparently fuses
889L<BDB> and AnyEvent together.
890
891=item L<AnyEvent::GPSD>
892
893A non-blocking interface to gpsd, a daemon delivering GPS information.
894
895=item L<AnyEvent::IGS>
896
897A non-blocking interface to the Internet Go Server protocol (used by
898L<App::IGS>).
899
900=item L<AnyEvent::IRC>
901
902AnyEvent based IRC client module family (replacing the older Net::IRC3).
903
904=item L<Net::XMPP2>
905
906AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family.
907
908=item L<Net::FCP>
909
910AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
911of AnyEvent.
912
913=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
914
915High level API for event-based execution flow control.
916
917=item L<Coro>
918
919Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
920
921=item L<IO::Lambda>
922
923The lambda approach to I/O - don't ask, look there. Can use AnyEvent.
924
925=back
462 926
463=cut 927=cut
464 928
465package AnyEvent; 929package AnyEvent;
466 930
467no warnings; 931no warnings;
468use strict; 932use strict qw(vars subs);
469 933
470use Carp; 934use Carp;
471 935
472our $VERSION = '3.3'; 936our $VERSION = 4.41;
473our $MODEL; 937our $MODEL;
474 938
475our $AUTOLOAD; 939our $AUTOLOAD;
476our @ISA; 940our @ISA;
477 941
942our @REGISTRY;
943
944our $WIN32;
945
946BEGIN {
947 my $win32 = ! ! ($^O =~ /mswin32/i);
948 eval "sub WIN32(){ $win32 }";
949}
950
478our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1; 951our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
479 952
480our @REGISTRY; 953our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2), higher numbers are preferred
954
955{
956 my $idx;
957 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
958 for reverse split /\s*,\s*/,
959 $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
960}
481 961
482my @models = ( 962my @models = (
483 [Coro::EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV::],
484 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent::],
485 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::], 963 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::],
486 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 964 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::],
487 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::],
488 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::],
489 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
490 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
491 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::], 965 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::],
492 # everything below here will not be autoprobed as the pureperl backend should work everywhere 966 # everything below here will not be autoprobed
967 # as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
968 # and is usually faster
969 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], # crashes with many handles
970 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], # becomes extremely slow with many watchers
493 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy 971 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
494 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program 972 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
495 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza 973 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
974 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
975 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
496); 976);
497 977
498our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer signal child condvar broadcast wait one_event DESTROY); 978our %method = map +($_ => 1),
979 qw(io timer time now now_update signal child idle condvar one_event DESTROY);
980
981our @post_detect;
982
983sub post_detect(&) {
984 my ($cb) = @_;
985
986 if ($MODEL) {
987 $cb->();
988
989 1
990 } else {
991 push @post_detect, $cb;
992
993 defined wantarray
994 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::postdetect"
995 : ()
996 }
997}
998
999sub AnyEvent::Util::postdetect::DESTROY {
1000 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
1001}
499 1002
500sub detect() { 1003sub detect() {
501 unless ($MODEL) { 1004 unless ($MODEL) {
502 no strict 'refs'; 1005 no strict 'refs';
1006 local $SIG{__DIE__};
503 1007
504 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) { 1008 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
505 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1"; 1009 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
506 if (eval "require $model") { 1010 if (eval "require $model") {
507 $MODEL = $model; 1011 $MODEL = $model;
537 last; 1041 last;
538 } 1042 }
539 } 1043 }
540 1044
541 $MODEL 1045 $MODEL
542 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV (or Coro+EV), Event (or Coro+Event) or Glib."; 1046 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.\n";
543 } 1047 }
544 } 1048 }
545 1049
1050 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
1051
546 unshift @ISA, $MODEL; 1052 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
547 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base"; 1053
1054 require AnyEvent::Strict if $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT};
1055
1056 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
548 } 1057 }
549 1058
550 $MODEL 1059 $MODEL
551} 1060}
552 1061
560 1069
561 my $class = shift; 1070 my $class = shift;
562 $class->$func (@_); 1071 $class->$func (@_);
563} 1072}
564 1073
1074# utility function to dup a filehandle. this is used by many backends
1075# to support binding more than one watcher per filehandle (they usually
1076# allow only one watcher per fd, so we dup it to get a different one).
1077sub _dupfh($$$$) {
1078 my ($poll, $fh, $r, $w) = @_;
1079
1080 # cygwin requires the fh mode to be matching, unix doesn't
1081 my ($rw, $mode) = $poll eq "r" ? ($r, "<")
1082 : $poll eq "w" ? ($w, ">")
1083 : Carp::croak "AnyEvent->io requires poll set to either 'r' or 'w'";
1084
1085 open my $fh2, "$mode&" . fileno $fh
1086 or die "cannot dup() filehandle: $!,";
1087
1088 # we assume CLOEXEC is already set by perl in all important cases
1089
1090 ($fh2, $rw)
1091}
1092
565package AnyEvent::Base; 1093package AnyEvent::Base;
566 1094
1095# default implementations for many methods
1096
1097BEGIN {
1098 if (eval "use Time::HiRes (); Time::HiRes::time (); 1") {
1099 *_time = \&Time::HiRes::time;
1100 # if (eval "use POSIX (); (POSIX::times())...
1101 } else {
1102 *_time = sub { time }; # epic fail
1103 }
1104}
1105
1106sub time { _time }
1107sub now { _time }
1108sub now_update { }
1109
567# default implementation for ->condvar, ->wait, ->broadcast 1110# default implementation for ->condvar
568 1111
569sub condvar { 1112sub condvar {
570 bless \my $flag, "AnyEvent::Base::CondVar" 1113 bless { @_ == 3 ? (_ae_cb => $_[2]) : () }, "AnyEvent::CondVar"
571}
572
573sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::broadcast {
574 ${$_[0]}++;
575}
576
577sub AnyEvent::Base::CondVar::wait {
578 AnyEvent->one_event while !${$_[0]};
579} 1114}
580 1115
581# default implementation for ->signal 1116# default implementation for ->signal
582 1117
583our %SIG_CB; 1118our ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W, %SIG_CB, %SIG_EV, $SIG_IO);
1119
1120sub _signal_exec {
1121 sysread $SIGPIPE_R, my $dummy, 4;
1122
1123 while (%SIG_EV) {
1124 for (keys %SIG_EV) {
1125 delete $SIG_EV{$_};
1126 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$_} || {} };
1127 }
1128 }
1129}
584 1130
585sub signal { 1131sub signal {
586 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1132 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
587 1133
1134 unless ($SIGPIPE_R) {
1135 require Fcntl;
1136
1137 if (AnyEvent::WIN32) {
1138 require AnyEvent::Util;
1139
1140 ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_pipe ();
1141 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_R) if $SIGPIPE_R;
1142 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_W) if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1143 } else {
1144 pipe $SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W;
1145 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_R;
1146 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1147
1148 # not strictly required, as $^F is normally 2, but let's make sure...
1149 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1150 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1151 }
1152
1153 $SIGPIPE_R
1154 or Carp::croak "AnyEvent: unable to create a signal reporting pipe: $!\n";
1155
1156 $SIG_IO = AnyEvent->io (fh => $SIGPIPE_R, poll => "r", cb => \&_signal_exec);
1157 }
1158
588 my $signal = uc $arg{signal} 1159 my $signal = uc $arg{signal}
589 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing"; 1160 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing";
590 1161
591 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1162 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
592 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub { 1163 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub {
593 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} || {} }; 1164 local $!;
1165 syswrite $SIGPIPE_W, "\x00", 1 unless %SIG_EV;
1166 undef $SIG_EV{$signal};
594 }; 1167 };
595 1168
596 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Signal" 1169 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::signal"
597} 1170}
598 1171
599sub AnyEvent::Base::Signal::DESTROY { 1172sub AnyEvent::Base::signal::DESTROY {
600 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]}; 1173 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
601 1174
602 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb}; 1175 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
603 1176
1177 # delete doesn't work with older perls - they then
1178 # print weird messages, or just unconditionally exit
1179 # instead of getting the default action.
604 $SIG{$signal} = 'DEFAULT' unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} }; 1180 undef $SIG{$signal} unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
605} 1181}
606 1182
607# default implementation for ->child 1183# default implementation for ->child
608 1184
609our %PID_CB; 1185our %PID_CB;
610our $CHLD_W; 1186our $CHLD_W;
611our $CHLD_DELAY_W; 1187our $CHLD_DELAY_W;
612our $PID_IDLE;
613our $WNOHANG; 1188our $WNOHANG;
614 1189
615sub _child_wait { 1190sub _sigchld {
616 while (0 < (my $pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG)) { 1191 while (0 < (my $pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG)) {
617 $_->($pid, $?) for (values %{ $PID_CB{$pid} || {} }), 1192 $_->($pid, $?) for (values %{ $PID_CB{$pid} || {} }),
618 (values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} }); 1193 (values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} });
619 } 1194 }
620
621 undef $PID_IDLE;
622}
623
624sub _sigchld {
625 # make sure we deliver these changes "synchronous" with the event loop.
626 $CHLD_DELAY_W ||= AnyEvent->timer (after => 0, cb => sub {
627 undef $CHLD_DELAY_W;
628 &_child_wait;
629 });
630} 1195}
631 1196
632sub child { 1197sub child {
633 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1198 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
634 1199
635 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0) 1200 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0)
636 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing"; 1201 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing";
637 1202
638 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1203 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
639 1204
640 unless ($WNOHANG) {
641 $WNOHANG = eval { require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1; 1205 $WNOHANG ||= eval { local $SIG{__DIE__}; require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;
642 }
643 1206
644 unless ($CHLD_W) { 1207 unless ($CHLD_W) {
645 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld); 1208 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld);
646 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round 1209 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
647 &_sigchld; 1210 &_sigchld;
648 } 1211 }
649 1212
650 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Child" 1213 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::child"
651} 1214}
652 1215
653sub AnyEvent::Base::Child::DESTROY { 1216sub AnyEvent::Base::child::DESTROY {
654 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]}; 1217 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
655 1218
656 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb}; 1219 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb};
657 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} }; 1220 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
658 1221
659 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB; 1222 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
660} 1223}
1224
1225# idle emulation is done by simply using a timer, regardless
1226# of whether the process is idle or not, and not letting
1227# the callback use more than 50% of the time.
1228sub idle {
1229 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1230
1231 my ($cb, $w, $rcb) = $arg{cb};
1232
1233 $rcb = sub {
1234 if ($cb) {
1235 $w = _time;
1236 &$cb;
1237 $w = _time - $w;
1238
1239 # never use more then 50% of the time for the idle watcher,
1240 # within some limits
1241 $w = 0.0001 if $w < 0.0001;
1242 $w = 5 if $w > 5;
1243
1244 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $w, cb => $rcb);
1245 } else {
1246 # clean up...
1247 undef $w;
1248 undef $rcb;
1249 }
1250 };
1251
1252 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.05, cb => $rcb);
1253
1254 bless \\$cb, "AnyEvent::Base::idle"
1255}
1256
1257sub AnyEvent::Base::idle::DESTROY {
1258 undef $${$_[0]};
1259}
1260
1261package AnyEvent::CondVar;
1262
1263our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
1264
1265package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
1266
1267use overload
1268 '&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
1269 fallback => 1;
1270
1271sub _send {
1272 # nop
1273}
1274
1275sub send {
1276 my $cv = shift;
1277 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
1278 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
1279 $cv->_send;
1280}
1281
1282sub croak {
1283 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
1284 $_[0]->send;
1285}
1286
1287sub ready {
1288 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
1289}
1290
1291sub _wait {
1292 AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
1293}
1294
1295sub recv {
1296 $_[0]->_wait;
1297
1298 Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
1299 wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
1300}
1301
1302sub cb {
1303 $_[0]{_ae_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1304 $_[0]{_ae_cb}
1305}
1306
1307sub begin {
1308 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1309 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1310}
1311
1312sub end {
1313 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1314 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
1315}
1316
1317# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
1318*broadcast = \&send;
1319*wait = \&_wait;
1320
1321=head1 ERROR AND EXCEPTION HANDLING
1322
1323In general, AnyEvent does not do any error handling - it relies on the
1324caller to do that if required. The L<AnyEvent::Strict> module (see also
1325the C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT> environment variable, below) provides strict
1326checking of all AnyEvent methods, however, which is highly useful during
1327development.
1328
1329As for exception handling (i.e. runtime errors and exceptions thrown while
1330executing a callback), this is not only highly event-loop specific, but
1331also not in any way wrapped by this module, as this is the job of the main
1332program.
1333
1334The pure perl event loop simply re-throws the exception (usually
1335within C<< condvar->recv >>), the L<Event> and L<EV> modules call C<<
1336$Event/EV::DIED->() >>, L<Glib> uses C<< install_exception_handler >> and
1337so on.
1338
1339=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1340
1341The following environment variables are used by this module or its
1342submodules:
1343
1344=over 4
1345
1346=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
1347
1348By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
1349conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
1350talkative.
1351
1352When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
1353conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
1354C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
1355
1356When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
1357model it chooses.
1358
1359=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT>
1360
1361AnyEvent does not do much argument checking by default, as thorough
1362argument checking is very costly. Setting this variable to a true value
1363will cause AnyEvent to load C<AnyEvent::Strict> and then to thoroughly
1364check the arguments passed to most method calls. If it finds any problems
1365it will croak.
1366
1367In other words, enables "strict" mode.
1368
1369Unlike C<use strict>, it is definitely recommended ot keep it off in
1370production. Keeping C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT=1> in your environment while
1371developing programs can be very useful, however.
1372
1373=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
1374
1375This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
1376auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
1377entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
1378and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
1379used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
1380auto detection and -probing.
1381
1382This functionality might change in future versions.
1383
1384For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
1385could start your program like this:
1386
1387 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
1388
1389=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
1390
1391Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
1392for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
1393of auto probing).
1394
1395Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
1396current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
1397used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
1398list.
1399
1400This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
1401against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
1402small, as the program has to handle conenction and other failures anyways.
1403
1404Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
1405but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
1406- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
1407addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
1408IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
1409
1410=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
1411
1412Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
1413for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
1414some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
1415default.
1416
1417Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
1418EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
1419
1420=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_FORKS>
1421
1422The maximum number of child processes that C<AnyEvent::Util::fork_call>
1423will create in parallel.
1424
1425=back
661 1426
662=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 1427=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
663 1428
664This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in 1429This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in
665a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to 1430a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
699 1464
700I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to 1465I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to
701condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will 1466condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will
702C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must 1467C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must
703not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense. 1468not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense.
704
705=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
706
707The following environment variables are used by this module:
708
709=over 4
710
711=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
712
713By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
714conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
715talkative.
716
717When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
718conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
719C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
720
721When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
722model it chooses.
723
724=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
725
726This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
727autodetection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
728entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
729and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
730used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
731autodetection and -probing.
732
733This functionality might change in future versions.
734
735For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
736could start your program like this:
737
738 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
739
740=back
741 1469
742=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM 1470=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
743 1471
744The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer 1472The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer
745to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the 1473to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
754 poll => 'r', 1482 poll => 'r',
755 cb => sub { 1483 cb => sub {
756 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 1484 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
757 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 1485 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
758 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 1486 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
759 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 1487 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
760 }, 1488 },
761 ); 1489 );
762 1490
763 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once 1491 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
764 1492
769 }); 1497 });
770 } 1498 }
771 1499
772 new_timer; # create first timer 1500 new_timer; # create first timer
773 1501
774 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 1502 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
775 1503
776=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 1504=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
777 1505
778Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 1506Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
779API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 1507API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
829 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 1557 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
830 or die "connection or write error"; 1558 or die "connection or write error";
831 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 1559 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
832 1560
833Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 1561Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the
834result and signals any possible waiters that the request ahs finished: 1562result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
835 1563
836 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 1564 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
837 1565
838 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 1566 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
839 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 1567 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
840 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 1568 $txn->{finished}->send;
841 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 1569 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
842 } 1570 }
843 1571
844The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 1572The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the
845request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the 1573request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
846data: 1574data:
847 1575
848 $txn->{finished}->wait; 1576 $txn->{finished}->recv;
849 return $txn->{result}; 1577 return $txn->{result};
850 1578
851The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 1579The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
852that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 1580that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
853whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 1581whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
854and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 1582and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other
855problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a 1583problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
856random callback. 1584random callback.
857 1585
888 1616
889 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 1617 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
890 1618
891 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 1619 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
892 ... 1620 ...
893 $quit->broadcast; 1621 $quit->send;
894 }); 1622 });
895 1623
896 $quit->wait; 1624 $quit->recv;
897 1625
898 1626
899=head1 BENCHMARK 1627=head1 BENCHMARKS
900 1628
901To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds 1629To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds
902over the event loops themselves (and to give you an impression of the 1630over the event loops themselves and to give you an impression of the speed
903speed of various event loops), here is a benchmark of various supported 1631of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
904event models natively and with anyevent. The benchmark creates a lot of 1632
905timers (with a zero timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to 1633=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
1634
1635Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
1636through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
1637timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
906become writable, which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys 1638which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
907them again.
908 1639
909Rewriting the benchmark to use many different sockets instead of using 1640Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench> in the AnyEvent
910the same filehandle for all I/O watchers results in a much longer runtime 1641distribution.
911(socket creation is expensive), but qualitatively the same figures, so it
912was not used.
913 1642
914=head2 Explanation of the columns 1643=head3 Explanation of the columns
915 1644
916I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since 1645I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
917different event models feature vastly different performances, each event 1646different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
918loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable 1647loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
919and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib 1648and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
929all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation 1658all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
930and memory usage is not included in the figures. 1659and memory usage is not included in the figures.
931 1660
932I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple 1661I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
933callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was 1662callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
934invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->broadcast >> a condvar once to 1663invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
935signal the end of this phase. 1664signal the end of this phase.
936 1665
937I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single 1666I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
938watcher. 1667watcher.
939 1668
940=head2 Results 1669=head3 Results
941 1670
942 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment 1671 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
943 EV/EV 400000 244 0.56 0.46 0.31 EV native interface 1672 EV/EV 400000 224 0.47 0.35 0.27 EV native interface
944 EV/Any 100000 244 2.50 0.46 0.29 EV + AnyEvent watchers 1673 EV/Any 100000 224 2.88 0.34 0.27 EV + AnyEvent watchers
945 CoroEV/Any 100000 244 2.49 0.44 0.29 coroutines + Coro::Signal 1674 CoroEV/Any 100000 224 2.85 0.35 0.28 coroutines + Coro::Signal
946 Perl/Any 100000 513 4.92 0.87 1.12 pure perl implementation 1675 Perl/Any 100000 452 4.13 0.73 0.95 pure perl implementation
947 Event/Event 16000 516 31.88 31.30 0.85 Event native interface 1676 Event/Event 16000 517 32.20 31.80 0.81 Event native interface
948 Event/Any 16000 936 39.17 33.63 1.43 Event + AnyEvent watchers 1677 Event/Any 16000 590 35.85 31.55 1.06 Event + AnyEvent watchers
949 Glib/Any 16000 1357 98.22 12.41 54.00 quadratic behaviour 1678 Glib/Any 16000 1357 102.33 12.31 51.00 quadratic behaviour
950 Tk/Any 2000 1860 26.97 67.98 14.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers 1679 Tk/Any 2000 1860 27.20 66.31 14.00 SEGV with >> 2000 watchers
951 POE/Event 2000 6644 108.64 736.02 14.73 via POE::Loop::Event 1680 POE/Event 2000 6328 109.99 751.67 14.02 via POE::Loop::Event
952 POE/Select 2000 6343 94.13 809.12 565.96 via POE::Loop::Select 1681 POE/Select 2000 6027 94.54 809.13 579.80 via POE::Loop::Select
953 1682
954=head2 Discussion 1683=head3 Discussion
955 1684
956The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very 1685The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very
957well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one) 1686well. For example, a select-based event loop (such as the pure perl one)
958can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of 1687can never compete with an event loop that uses epoll when the number of
959file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at 1688file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
960the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed 1689the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
961boost. 1690boost.
962 1691
1692Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
1693overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
1694the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
1695higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
1696
1697To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
1698benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
1699EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
1700cycles with POE.
1701
963C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both 1702C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
964maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, it uses 1703maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, it uses
965far less memory than any other event loop and is still faster than Event 1704far less memory than any other event loop and is still faster than Event
966natively. 1705natively.
967 1706
970interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it 1709interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
971adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its 1710adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
972performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of 1711performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
973them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark. 1712them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
974 1713
975The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation cost, 1714The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
976but overall scores on the third place. 1715cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
977 1716
978C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit bit higher, but it features a 1717C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit higher, but it features a
979faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as 1718faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
980C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of 1719C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
981watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four, 1720watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
982making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers 1721making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
983(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so 1722(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so
989file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup() 1728file descriptor is dup()ed for each watcher. This shows that the dup()
990employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a 1729employed by some adaptors is not a big performance issue (it does incur a
991hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures 1730hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
992above). 1731above).
993 1732
994C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure 1733C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
995perl select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend 1734select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
996couldn't be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance 1735be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
997and memory usage: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory as 1736memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
998EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory 1737as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
999requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher 1738requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
1000invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl 1739invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
1740implementation.
1741
1001implementation. The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not 1742The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
1002really account for this, as session creation overhead is small compared 1743for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
1003to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty optimally within 1744small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
1004L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>. POE simply seems to be abysmally slow. 1745optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
1746using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
1747memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
1748design).
1005 1749
1006=head2 Summary 1750=head3 Summary
1007 1751
1008=over 4 1752=over 4
1009 1753
1010=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop 1754=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
1011(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable 1755(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
1013 1757
1014=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of 1758=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of
1015the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV 1759the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
1016adds AnyEvent significant overhead. 1760adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
1017 1761
1018=item * You should simply avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or 1762=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
1019reasonable memory usage. 1763reasonable memory usage.
1020 1764
1021=back 1765=back
1022 1766
1767=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
1768
1769This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
1770creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
1771timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
1772watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
1773watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
1774
1775The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
1776are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
1777fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
1778timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
1779most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
1780
1781In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
1782(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
1783connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
1784
1785Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
1786distribution.
1787
1788=head3 Explanation of the columns
1789
1790I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
1791each server has a read and write socket end).
1792
1793I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
1794nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
1795
1796I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
1797single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
1798it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
1799a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
1800
1801=head3 Results
1802
1803 name sockets create request
1804 EV 20000 69.01 11.16
1805 Perl 20000 73.32 35.87
1806 Event 20000 212.62 257.32
1807 Glib 20000 651.16 1896.30
1808 POE 20000 349.67 12317.24 uses POE::Loop::Event
1809
1810=head3 Discussion
1811
1812This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
1813particular event loop.
1814
1815EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
1816is relatively high, though.
1817
1818Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
1819loops Event and Glib.
1820
1821Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
1822understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
1823the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
1824uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
1825
1826Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
1827clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
1828
1829POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
1830as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
1831it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
1832
1833=head3 Summary
1834
1835=over 4
1836
1837=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
1838
1839=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
1840
1841=back
1842
1843=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
1844
1845While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
1846large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
1847I/O watchers.
1848
1849In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
1850case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
1851one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
1852well.
1853
1854The columns are identical to the previous table.
1855
1856=head3 Results
1857
1858 name sockets create request
1859 EV 16 20.00 6.54
1860 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
1861 Event 16 81.27 35.86
1862 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
1863 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
1864
1865=head3 Discussion
1866
1867The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
1868server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
1869in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
1870to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
1871speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
1872them).
1873
1874EV is again fastest.
1875
1876Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
1877loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
1878matter.
1879
1880POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
1881others.
1882
1883=head3 Summary
1884
1885=over 4
1886
1887=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
1888watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
1889
1890=back
1891
1892
1893=head1 SIGNALS
1894
1895AnyEvent currently installs handlers for these signals:
1896
1897=over 4
1898
1899=item SIGCHLD
1900
1901A handler for C<SIGCHLD> is installed by AnyEvent's child watcher
1902emulation for event loops that do not support them natively. Also, some
1903event loops install a similar handler.
1904
1905=item SIGPIPE
1906
1907A no-op handler is installed for C<SIGPIPE> when C<$SIG{PIPE}> is C<undef>
1908when AnyEvent gets loaded.
1909
1910The rationale for this is that AnyEvent users usually do not really depend
1911on SIGPIPE delivery (which is purely an optimisation for shell use, or
1912badly-written programs), but C<SIGPIPE> can cause spurious and rare
1913program exits as a lot of people do not expect C<SIGPIPE> when writing to
1914some random socket.
1915
1916The rationale for installing a no-op handler as opposed to ignoring it is
1917that this way, the handler will be restored to defaults on exec.
1918
1919Feel free to install your own handler, or reset it to defaults.
1920
1921=back
1922
1923=cut
1924
1925$SIG{PIPE} = sub { }
1926 unless defined $SIG{PIPE};
1927
1023 1928
1024=head1 FORK 1929=head1 FORK
1025 1930
1026Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are 1931Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
1027because they are so inefficient. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware. 1932because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
1933calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
1028 1934
1029If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first 1935If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first
1030watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child. 1936watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child.
1031 1937
1032 1938
1040specified in the variable. 1946specified in the variable.
1041 1947
1042You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it 1948You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
1043before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block: 1949before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
1044 1950
1045 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} } 1951 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
1046 1952
1047 use AnyEvent; 1953 use AnyEvent;
1954
1955Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
1956be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
1957probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), and
1958$ENV{PERL_ANYEGENT_STRICT}.
1959
1960
1961=head1 BUGS
1962
1963Perl 5.8 has numerous memleaks that sometimes hit this module and are hard
1964to work around. If you suffer from memleaks, first upgrade to Perl 5.10
1965and check wether the leaks still show up. (Perl 5.10.0 has other annoying
1966memleaks, such as leaking on C<map> and C<grep> but it is usually not as
1967pronounced).
1048 1968
1049 1969
1050=head1 SEE ALSO 1970=head1 SEE ALSO
1051 1971
1052Event modules: L<Coro::EV>, L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, 1972Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
1053L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>, L<Coro>, L<Tk>, 1973
1974Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
1054L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>. 1975L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
1055 1976
1056Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, 1977Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
1057L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, 1978L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
1058L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, 1979L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
1059L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>. 1980L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>.
1060 1981
1982Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
1983servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>.
1984
1985Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
1986
1987Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>,
1988
1061Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>. 1989Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>, L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
1062 1990
1063 1991
1064=head1 AUTHOR 1992=head1 AUTHOR
1065 1993
1066 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 1994 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
1067 http://home.schmorp.de/ 1995 http://home.schmorp.de/
1068 1996
1069=cut 1997=cut
1070 1998
10711 19991
1072 2000

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