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1=head1 NAME 1=head1 NAME
2 2
3AnyEvent - provide framework for multiple event loops 3AnyEvent - events independent of event loop implementation
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.
45
46=head1 SUPPORT
47
48There is a mailinglist for discussing all things AnyEvent, and an IRC
49channel, too.
50
51See the AnyEvent project page at the B<Schmorpforge Ta-Sa Software
52Respository>, at L<http://anyevent.schmorp.de>, for more info.
22 53
23=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT) 54=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS MODULE (OR NOT)
24 55
25Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen 56Glib, POE, IO::Async, Event... CPAN offers event models by the dozen
26nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent? 57nowadays. So what is different about AnyEvent?
27 58
28Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of 59Executive Summary: AnyEvent is I<compatible>, AnyEvent is I<free of
29policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>. 60policy> and AnyEvent is I<small and efficient>.
30 61
31First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only 62First and foremost, I<AnyEvent is not an event model> itself, it only
32interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use in a 63interfaces to whatever event model the main program happens to use, in a
33pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike, 64pragmatic way. For event models and certain classes of immortals alike,
34the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general, 65the statement "there can only be one" is a bitter reality: In general,
35only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent 66only one event loop can be active at the same time in a process. AnyEvent
36helps hiding the differences between those event loops. 67cannot change this, but it can hide the differences between those event
68loops.
37 69
38The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event 70The goal of AnyEvent is to offer module authors the ability to do event
39programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a 71programming (waiting for I/O or timer events) without subscribing to a
40religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your 72religion, a way of living, and most importantly: without forcing your
41module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event 73module users into the same thing by forcing them to use the same event
42model you use. 74model you use.
43 75
44For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is 76For modules like POE or IO::Async (which is a total misnomer as it is
45actually doing all I/O I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is 77actually doing all I/O I<synchronously>...), using them in your module is
46like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you 78like joining a cult: After you joined, you are dependent on them and you
47cannot use anything else, as it is simply incompatible to everything that 79cannot use anything else, as they are simply incompatible to everything
48isn't itself. What's worse, all the potential users of your module are 80that isn't them. What's worse, all the potential users of your
49I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use. 81module are I<also> forced to use the same event loop you use.
50 82
51AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works 83AnyEvent is different: AnyEvent + POE works fine. AnyEvent + Glib works
52fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together 84fine. AnyEvent + Tk works fine etc. etc. but none of these work together
53with the rest: POE + IO::Async? no go. Tk + Event? no go. Again: if 85with the rest: POE + IO::Async? No go. Tk + Event? No go. Again: if
54your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it, 86your module uses one of those, every user of your module has to use it,
55too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all 87too. But if your module uses AnyEvent, it works transparently with all
56event models it supports (including stuff like POE and IO::Async, as long 88event models it supports (including stuff like IO::Async, as long as those
57as those use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new 89use one of the supported event loops. It is trivial to add new event loops
58event loops to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof). 90to AnyEvent, too, so it is future-proof).
59 91
60In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event 92In addition to being free of having to use I<the one and only true event
61model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar 93model>, AnyEvent also is free of bloat and policy: with POE or similar
62modules, you get an enourmous amount of code and strict rules you have to 94modules, you get an enormous amount of code and strict rules you have to
63follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only 95follow. AnyEvent, on the other hand, is lean and up to the point, by only
64offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as 96offering the functionality that is necessary, in as thin as a wrapper as
65technically possible. 97technically possible.
66 98
99Of course, AnyEvent comes with a big (and fully optional!) toolbox
100of useful functionality, such as an asynchronous DNS resolver, 100%
101non-blocking connects (even with TLS/SSL, IPv6 and on broken platforms
102such as Windows) and lots of real-world knowledge and workarounds for
103platform bugs and differences.
104
67Of course, if you want lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat 105Now, if you I<do want> lots of policy (this can arguably be somewhat
68useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event 106useful) and you want to force your users to use the one and only event
69model, you should I<not> use this module. 107model, you should I<not> use this module.
70
71 108
72=head1 DESCRIPTION 109=head1 DESCRIPTION
73 110
74L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This 111L<AnyEvent> provides an identical interface to multiple event loops. This
75allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module 112allows module authors to utilise an event loop without forcing module
79The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event> 116The interface itself is vaguely similar, but not identical to the L<Event>
80module. 117module.
81 118
82During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries 119During the first call of any watcher-creation method, the module tries
83to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the 120to detect the currently loaded event loop by probing whether one of the
84following modules is already loaded: L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>, L<EV>, 121following modules is already loaded: L<EV>,
85L<Event>, L<Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, 122L<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 123L<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 124to 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 125adaptor 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 126be 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 140starts using it, all bets are off. Maybe you should tell their authors to
104use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly... 141use AnyEvent so their modules work together with others seamlessly...
105 142
106The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called 143The pure-perl implementation of AnyEvent is called
107C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it 144C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>. Like other event modules you can load it
108explicitly. 145explicitly and enjoy the high availability of that event loop :)
109 146
110=head1 WATCHERS 147=head1 WATCHERS
111 148
112AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that 149AnyEvent has the central concept of a I<watcher>, which is an object that
113stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as 150stores relevant data for each kind of event you are waiting for, such as
114the callback to call, the filehandle to watch, etc. 151the callback to call, the file handle to watch, etc.
115 152
116These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After 153These watchers are normal Perl objects with normal Perl lifetime. After
117creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the 154creating a watcher it will immediately "watch" for events and invoke the
118callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model 155callback when the event occurs (of course, only when the event model
119is in control). 156is in control).
120 157
158Note that B<callbacks must not permanently change global variables>
159potentially in use by the event loop (such as C<$_> or C<$[>) and that B<<
160callbacks must not C<die> >>. The former is good programming practise in
161Perl and the latter stems from the fact that exception handling differs
162widely between event loops.
163
121To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the 164To disable the watcher you have to destroy it (e.g. by setting the
122variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references 165variable you store it in to C<undef> or otherwise deleting all references
123to it). 166to it).
124 167
125All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class. 168All watchers are created by calling a method on the C<AnyEvent> class.
127Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for 170Many watchers either are used with "recursion" (repeating timers for
128example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways. 171example), or need to refer to their watcher object in other ways.
129 172
130An any way to achieve that is this pattern: 173An any way to achieve that is this pattern:
131 174
132 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub { 175 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->type (arg => value ..., cb => sub {
133 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it 176 # you can use $w here, for example to undef it
134 undef $w; 177 undef $w;
135 }); 178 });
136 179
137Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl, 180Note that C<my $w; $w => combination. This is necessary because in Perl,
138my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are 181my variables are only visible after the statement in which they are
139declared. 182declared.
140 183
141=head2 I/O WATCHERS 184=head2 I/O WATCHERS
142 185
143You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method 186You can create an I/O watcher by calling the C<< AnyEvent->io >> method
144with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments: 187with the following mandatory key-value pairs as arguments:
145 188
146C<fh> the Perl I<file handle> (I<not> file descriptor) to watch 189C<fh> is the Perl I<file handle> (or a naked file descriptor) to watch
190for events (AnyEvent might or might not keep a reference to this file
191handle). Note that only file handles pointing to things for which
192non-blocking operation makes sense are allowed. This includes sockets,
193most character devices, pipes, fifos and so on, but not for example files
194or block devices.
195
147for events. C<poll> must be a string that is either C<r> or C<w>, 196C<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, 197watcher waiting for "r"eadable or "w"ritable events, respectively.
198
149respectively. C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle 199C<cb> is the callback to invoke each time the file handle becomes ready.
150becomes ready.
151 200
152Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and 201Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
153presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent 202presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
154callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks. 203callbacks cannot use arguments passed to I/O watcher callbacks.
155 204
159 208
160Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should 209Some event loops issue spurious readyness notifications, so you should
161always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file 210always use non-blocking calls when reading/writing from/to your file
162handles. 211handles.
163 212
164Example:
165
166 # wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the watcher 213Example: wait for readability of STDIN, then read a line and disable the
214watcher.
215
167 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub { 216 my $w; $w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
168 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); 217 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>);
169 warn "read: $input\n"; 218 warn "read: $input\n";
170 undef $w; 219 undef $w;
171 }); 220 });
181 230
182Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and 231Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
183presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent 232presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
184callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks. 233callbacks cannot use arguments passed to time watcher callbacks.
185 234
186The timer callback will be invoked at most once: if you want a repeating 235The 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 236parameter, C<interval>, as a strictly positive number (> 0), then the
188and Glib). 237callback will be invoked regularly at that interval (in fractional
238seconds) after the first invocation. If C<interval> is specified with a
239false value, then it is treated as if it were missing.
189 240
190Example: 241The callback will be rescheduled before invoking the callback, but no
242attempt is done to avoid timer drift in most backends, so the interval is
243only approximate.
191 244
192 # fire an event after 7.7 seconds 245Example: fire an event after 7.7 seconds.
246
193 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub { 247 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 7.7, cb => sub {
194 warn "timeout\n"; 248 warn "timeout\n";
195 }); 249 });
196 250
197 # to cancel the timer: 251 # to cancel the timer:
198 undef $w; 252 undef $w;
199 253
200Example 2:
201
202 # fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second 254Example 2: fire an event after 0.5 seconds, then roughly every second.
203 my $w;
204 255
205 my $cb = sub {
206 # cancel the old timer while creating a new one
207 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 1, cb => $cb); 256 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, interval => 1, cb => sub {
257 warn "timeout\n";
208 }; 258 };
209
210 # start the "loop" by creating the first watcher
211 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.5, cb => $cb);
212 259
213=head3 TIMING ISSUES 260=head3 TIMING ISSUES
214 261
215There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire 262There are two ways to handle timers: based on real time (relative, "fire
216in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12 263in 10 seconds") and based on wallclock time (absolute, "fire at 12
228timers. 275timers.
229 276
230AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the 277AnyEvent always prefers relative timers, if available, matching the
231AnyEvent API. 278AnyEvent API.
232 279
280AnyEvent has two additional methods that return the "current time":
281
282=over 4
283
284=item AnyEvent->time
285
286This returns the "current wallclock time" as a fractional number of
287seconds since the Epoch (the same thing as C<time> or C<Time::HiRes::time>
288return, and the result is guaranteed to be compatible with those).
289
290It progresses independently of any event loop processing, i.e. each call
291will check the system clock, which usually gets updated frequently.
292
293=item AnyEvent->now
294
295This also returns the "current wallclock time", but unlike C<time>, above,
296this value might change only once per event loop iteration, depending on
297the event loop (most return the same time as C<time>, above). This is the
298time that AnyEvent's timers get scheduled against.
299
300I<In almost all cases (in all cases if you don't care), this is the
301function to call when you want to know the current time.>
302
303This function is also often faster then C<< AnyEvent->time >>, and
304thus the preferred method if you want some timestamp (for example,
305L<AnyEvent::Handle> uses this to update it's activity timeouts).
306
307The rest of this section is only of relevance if you try to be very exact
308with your timing, you can skip it without bad conscience.
309
310For a practical example of when these times differ, consider L<Event::Lib>
311and L<EV> and the following set-up:
312
313The event loop is running and has just invoked one of your callback at
314time=500 (assume no other callbacks delay processing). In your callback,
315you wait a second by executing C<sleep 1> (blocking the process for a
316second) and then (at time=501) you create a relative timer that fires
317after three seconds.
318
319With L<Event::Lib>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> will
320both return C<501>, because that is the current time, and the timer will
321be scheduled to fire at time=504 (C<501> + C<3>).
322
323With L<EV>, C<< AnyEvent->time >> returns C<501> (as that is the current
324time), but C<< AnyEvent->now >> returns C<500>, as that is the time the
325last event processing phase started. With L<EV>, your timer gets scheduled
326to run at time=503 (C<500> + C<3>).
327
328In one sense, L<Event::Lib> is more exact, as it uses the current time
329regardless of any delays introduced by event processing. However, most
330callbacks do not expect large delays in processing, so this causes a
331higher drift (and a lot more system calls to get the current time).
332
333In another sense, L<EV> is more exact, as your timer will be scheduled at
334the same time, regardless of how long event processing actually took.
335
336In either case, if you care (and in most cases, you don't), then you
337can get whatever behaviour you want with any event loop, by taking the
338difference between C<< AnyEvent->time >> and C<< AnyEvent->now >> into
339account.
340
341=item AnyEvent->now_update
342
343Some event loops (such as L<EV> or L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) cache
344the current time for each loop iteration (see the discussion of L<<
345AnyEvent->now >>, above).
346
347When a callback runs for a long time (or when the process sleeps), then
348this "current" time will differ substantially from the real time, which
349might affect timers and time-outs.
350
351When this is the case, you can call this method, which will update the
352event loop's idea of "current time".
353
354Note that updating the time I<might> cause some events to be handled.
355
356=back
357
233=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS 358=head2 SIGNAL WATCHERS
234 359
235You can watch for signals using a signal watcher, C<signal> is the signal 360You 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 361I<name> in uppercase and without any C<SIG> prefix, C<cb> is the Perl
237be invoked whenever a signal occurs. 362callback to be invoked whenever a signal occurs.
238 363
239Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and 364Although the callback might get passed parameters, their value and
240presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent 365presence is undefined and you cannot rely on them. Portable AnyEvent
241callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks. 366callbacks cannot use arguments passed to signal watcher callbacks.
242 367
243Multiple signal occurances can be clumped together into one callback 368Multiple signal occurrences can be clumped together into one callback
244invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. synchronous means 369invocation, and callback invocation will be synchronous. Synchronous means
245that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process, 370that it might take a while until the signal gets handled by the process,
246but it is guarenteed not to interrupt any other callbacks. 371but it is guaranteed not to interrupt any other callbacks.
247 372
248The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal 373The main advantage of using these watchers is that you can share a signal
249between multiple watchers. 374between multiple watchers, and AnyEvent will ensure that signals will not
375interrupt your program at bad times.
250 376
251This watcher might use C<%SIG>, so programs overwriting those signals 377This watcher might use C<%SIG> (depending on the event loop used),
252directly will likely not work correctly. 378so programs overwriting those signals directly will likely not work
379correctly.
253 380
254Example: exit on SIGINT 381Example: exit on SIGINT
255 382
256 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 }); 383 my $w = AnyEvent->signal (signal => "INT", cb => sub { exit 1 });
257 384
385=head3 Signal Races, Delays and Workarounds
386
387Many event loops (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt, IO::Async) do not support attaching
388callbacks to signals in a generic way, which is a pity, as you cannot do
389race-free signal handling in perl. AnyEvent will try to do it's best, but
390in some cases, signals will be delayed. The maximum time a signal might
391be delayed is specified in C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY> (default: 10
392seconds). This variable can be changed only before the first signal
393watcher is created, and should be left alone otherwise. Higher values
394will cause fewer spurious wake-ups, which is better for power and CPU
395saving. All these problems can be avoided by installing the optional
396L<Async::Interrupt> module. This will not work with inherently broken
397event loops such as L<Event> or L<Event::Lib> (and not with L<POE>
398currently, as POE does it's own workaround with one-second latency). With
399those, you just have to suffer the delays.
400
258=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS 401=head2 CHILD PROCESS WATCHERS
259 402
260You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status. 403You can also watch on a child process exit and catch its exit status.
261 404
262The child process is specified by the C<pid> argument (if set to C<0>, it 405The 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 406watches for any child process exit). The watcher will triggered only when
264as status change for the child are received. This works by installing a 407the 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 408any trace events (stopped/continued).
266and exit status (as returned by waitpid), so unlike other watcher types, 409
267you I<can> rely on child watcher callback arguments. 410The callback will be called with the pid and exit status (as returned by
411waitpid), so unlike other watcher types, you I<can> rely on child watcher
412callback arguments.
413
414This watcher type works by installing a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>,
415and since it cannot be shared, nothing else should use SIGCHLD or reap
416random child processes (waiting for specific child processes, e.g. inside
417C<system>, is just fine).
268 418
269There is a slight catch to child watchers, however: you usually start them 419There 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 420I<after> the child process was created, and this means the process could
271have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore). 421have exited already (and no SIGCHLD will be sent anymore).
272 422
273Not all event models handle this correctly (POE doesn't), but even for 423Not all event models handle this correctly (neither POE nor IO::Async do,
424see their AnyEvent::Impl manpages for details), but even for event models
274event models that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be 425that I<do> handle this correctly, they usually need to be loaded before
275loaded before the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place). 426the process exits (i.e. before you fork in the first place). AnyEvent's
427pure perl event loop handles all cases correctly regardless of when you
428start the watcher.
276 429
277This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first thing in an 430This means you cannot create a child watcher as the very first
278AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one watcher before you 431thing in an AnyEvent program, you I<have> to create at least one
279C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call C<AnyEvent::detect>). 432watcher before you C<fork> the child (alternatively, you can call
433C<AnyEvent::detect>).
434
435As most event loops do not support waiting for child events, they will be
436emulated by AnyEvent in most cases, in which the latency and race problems
437mentioned in the description of signal watchers apply.
280 438
281Example: fork a process and wait for it 439Example: fork a process and wait for it
282 440
283 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar; 441 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
284 442
285 AnyEvent::detect; # force event module to be initialised
286
287 my $pid = fork or exit 5; 443 my $pid = fork or exit 5;
288 444
289 my $w = AnyEvent->child ( 445 my $w = AnyEvent->child (
290 pid => $pid, 446 pid => $pid,
291 cb => sub { 447 cb => sub {
292 my ($pid, $status) = @_; 448 my ($pid, $status) = @_;
293 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status"; 449 warn "pid $pid exited with status $status";
294 $done->broadcast; 450 $done->send;
295 }, 451 },
296 ); 452 );
297 453
298 # do something else, then wait for process exit 454 # do something else, then wait for process exit
299 $done->wait; 455 $done->recv;
456
457=head2 IDLE WATCHERS
458
459Sometimes there is a need to do something, but it is not so important
460to do it instantly, but only when there is nothing better to do. This
461"nothing better to do" is usually defined to be "no other events need
462attention by the event loop".
463
464Idle watchers ideally get invoked when the event loop has nothing
465better to do, just before it would block the process to wait for new
466events. Instead of blocking, the idle watcher is invoked.
467
468Most event loops unfortunately do not really support idle watchers (only
469EV, Event and Glib do it in a usable fashion) - for the rest, AnyEvent
470will simply call the callback "from time to time".
471
472Example: read lines from STDIN, but only process them when the
473program is otherwise idle:
474
475 my @lines; # read data
476 my $idle_w;
477 my $io_w = AnyEvent->io (fh => \*STDIN, poll => 'r', cb => sub {
478 push @lines, scalar <STDIN>;
479
480 # start an idle watcher, if not already done
481 $idle_w ||= AnyEvent->idle (cb => sub {
482 # handle only one line, when there are lines left
483 if (my $line = shift @lines) {
484 print "handled when idle: $line";
485 } else {
486 # otherwise disable the idle watcher again
487 undef $idle_w;
488 }
489 });
490 });
300 491
301=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES 492=head2 CONDITION VARIABLES
302 493
494If you are familiar with some event loops you will know that all of them
495require you to run some blocking "loop", "run" or similar function that
496will actively watch for new events and call your callbacks.
497
498AnyEvent is slightly different: it expects somebody else to run the event
499loop and will only block when necessary (usually when told by the user).
500
501The instrument to do that is called a "condition variable", so called
502because they represent a condition that must become true.
503
504Now is probably a good time to look at the examples further below.
505
303Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar >> 506Condition variables can be created by calling the C<< AnyEvent->condvar
304method without any arguments. 507>> method, usually without arguments. The only argument pair allowed is
508C<cb>, which specifies a callback to be called when the condition variable
509becomes true, with the condition variable as the first argument (but not
510the results).
305 511
306A condition variable waits for a condition - precisely that the C<< 512After creation, the condition variable is "false" until it becomes "true"
307->broadcast >> method has been called. 513by calling the C<send> method (or calling the condition variable as if it
514were a callback, read about the caveats in the description for the C<<
515->send >> method).
308 516
309They are very useful to signal that a condition has been fulfilled, for 517Condition variables are similar to callbacks, except that you can
518optionally wait for them. They can also be called merge points - points
519in time where multiple outstanding events have been processed. And yet
520another way to call them is transactions - each condition variable can be
521used to represent a transaction, which finishes at some point and delivers
522a result.
523
524Condition variables are very useful to signal that something has finished,
310example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests, 525for example, if you write a module that does asynchronous http requests,
311then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the 526then a condition variable would be the ideal candidate to signal the
312availability of results. 527availability of results. The user can either act when the callback is
528called or can synchronously C<< ->recv >> for the results.
313 529
314You can also use condition variables to block your main program until 530You can also use them to simulate traditional event loops - for example,
315an event occurs - for example, you could C<< ->wait >> in your main 531you 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<< 532could C<< ->recv >> in your main program until the user clicks the Quit
317->broadcast >> the "quit" event. 533button of your app, which would C<< ->send >> the "quit" event.
318 534
319Note that condition variables recurse into the event loop - if you have 535Note 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 536two 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 537lose. Therefore, condition variables are good to export to your caller, but
322you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks, 538you should avoid making a blocking wait yourself, at least in callbacks,
323as this asks for trouble. 539as this asks for trouble.
324 540
325This object has two methods: 541Condition variables are represented by hash refs in perl, and the keys
542used by AnyEvent itself are all named C<_ae_XXX> to make subclassing
543easy (it is often useful to build your own transaction class on top of
544AnyEvent). To subclass, use C<AnyEvent::CondVar> as base class and call
545it's C<new> method in your own C<new> method.
326 546
327=over 4 547There are two "sides" to a condition variable - the "producer side" which
548eventually calls C<< -> send >>, and the "consumer side", which waits
549for the send to occur.
328 550
329=item $cv->wait 551Example: wait for a timer.
330
331Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been
332called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers normally.
333
334You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls will return
335immediately.
336
337Not 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
339using 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
341condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
342callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
343while still suppporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
344
345Another reason I<never> to C<< ->wait >> in a module is that you cannot
346sensibly have two C<< ->wait >>'s in parallel, as that would require
347multiple interpreters or coroutines/threads, none of which C<AnyEvent>
348can supply (the coroutine-aware backends L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV> and
349L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent> explicitly support concurrent C<< ->wait >>'s
350from different coroutines, however).
351
352=item $cv->broadcast
353
354Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->wait >> and all further
355calls to C<wait> will (eventually) return after this method has been
356called. If nobody is waiting the broadcast will be remembered..
357
358=back
359
360Example:
361 552
362 # wait till the result is ready 553 # wait till the result is ready
363 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar; 554 my $result_ready = AnyEvent->condvar;
364 555
365 # do something such as adding a timer 556 # do something such as adding a timer
366 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->broadcast 557 # or socket watcher the calls $result_ready->send
367 # when the "result" is ready. 558 # when the "result" is ready.
368 # in this case, we simply use a timer: 559 # in this case, we simply use a timer:
369 my $w = AnyEvent->timer ( 560 my $w = AnyEvent->timer (
370 after => 1, 561 after => 1,
371 cb => sub { $result_ready->broadcast }, 562 cb => sub { $result_ready->send },
372 ); 563 );
373 564
374 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the watcher 565 # this "blocks" (while handling events) till the callback
375 # calls broadcast 566 # calls -<send
376 $result_ready->wait; 567 $result_ready->recv;
568
569Example: wait for a timer, but take advantage of the fact that condition
570variables are also callable directly.
571
572 my $done = AnyEvent->condvar;
573 my $delay = AnyEvent->timer (after => 5, cb => $done);
574 $done->recv;
575
576Example: Imagine an API that returns a condvar and doesn't support
577callbacks. This is how you make a synchronous call, for example from
578the main program:
579
580 use AnyEvent::CouchDB;
581
582 ...
583
584 my @info = $couchdb->info->recv;
585
586And this is how you would just set a callback to be called whenever the
587results are available:
588
589 $couchdb->info->cb (sub {
590 my @info = $_[0]->recv;
591 });
592
593=head3 METHODS FOR PRODUCERS
594
595These methods should only be used by the producing side, i.e. the
596code/module that eventually sends the signal. Note that it is also
597the producer side which creates the condvar in most cases, but it isn't
598uncommon for the consumer to create it as well.
599
600=over 4
601
602=item $cv->send (...)
603
604Flag the condition as ready - a running C<< ->recv >> and all further
605calls to C<recv> will (eventually) return after this method has been
606called. If nobody is waiting the send will be remembered.
607
608If a callback has been set on the condition variable, it is called
609immediately from within send.
610
611Any arguments passed to the C<send> call will be returned by all
612future C<< ->recv >> calls.
613
614Condition variables are overloaded so one can call them directly (as if
615they were a code reference). Calling them directly is the same as calling
616C<send>.
617
618=item $cv->croak ($error)
619
620Similar to send, but causes all call's to C<< ->recv >> to invoke
621C<Carp::croak> with the given error message/object/scalar.
622
623This can be used to signal any errors to the condition variable
624user/consumer. Doing it this way instead of calling C<croak> directly
625delays the error detetcion, but has the overwhelmign advantage that it
626diagnoses the error at the place where the result is expected, and not
627deep in some event clalback without connection to the actual code causing
628the problem.
629
630=item $cv->begin ([group callback])
631
632=item $cv->end
633
634These two methods can be used to combine many transactions/events into
635one. For example, a function that pings many hosts in parallel might want
636to use a condition variable for the whole process.
637
638Every call to C<< ->begin >> will increment a counter, and every call to
639C<< ->end >> will decrement it. If the counter reaches C<0> in C<< ->end
640>>, the (last) callback passed to C<begin> will be executed. That callback
641is I<supposed> to call C<< ->send >>, but that is not required. If no
642callback was set, C<send> will be called without any arguments.
643
644You can think of C<< $cv->send >> giving you an OR condition (one call
645sends), while C<< $cv->begin >> and C<< $cv->end >> giving you an AND
646condition (all C<begin> calls must be C<end>'ed before the condvar sends).
647
648Let's start with a simple example: you have two I/O watchers (for example,
649STDOUT and STDERR for a program), and you want to wait for both streams to
650close before activating a condvar:
651
652 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
653
654 $cv->begin; # first watcher
655 my $w1 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh1, cb => sub {
656 defined sysread $fh1, my $buf, 4096
657 or $cv->end;
658 });
659
660 $cv->begin; # second watcher
661 my $w2 = AnyEvent->io (fh => $fh2, cb => sub {
662 defined sysread $fh2, my $buf, 4096
663 or $cv->end;
664 });
665
666 $cv->recv;
667
668This works because for every event source (EOF on file handle), there is
669one call to C<begin>, so the condvar waits for all calls to C<end> before
670sending.
671
672The ping example mentioned above is slightly more complicated, as the
673there are results to be passwd back, and the number of tasks that are
674begung can potentially be zero:
675
676 my $cv = AnyEvent->condvar;
677
678 my %result;
679 $cv->begin (sub { $cv->send (\%result) });
680
681 for my $host (@list_of_hosts) {
682 $cv->begin;
683 ping_host_then_call_callback $host, sub {
684 $result{$host} = ...;
685 $cv->end;
686 };
687 }
688
689 $cv->end;
690
691This code fragment supposedly pings a number of hosts and calls
692C<send> after results for all then have have been gathered - in any
693order. To achieve this, the code issues a call to C<begin> when it starts
694each ping request and calls C<end> when it has received some result for
695it. Since C<begin> and C<end> only maintain a counter, the order in which
696results arrive is not relevant.
697
698There is an additional bracketing call to C<begin> and C<end> outside the
699loop, which serves two important purposes: first, it sets the callback
700to be called once the counter reaches C<0>, and second, it ensures that
701C<send> is called even when C<no> hosts are being pinged (the loop
702doesn't execute once).
703
704This is the general pattern when you "fan out" into multiple (but
705potentially none) subrequests: use an outer C<begin>/C<end> pair to set
706the callback and ensure C<end> is called at least once, and then, for each
707subrequest you start, call C<begin> and for each subrequest you finish,
708call C<end>.
709
710=back
711
712=head3 METHODS FOR CONSUMERS
713
714These methods should only be used by the consuming side, i.e. the
715code awaits the condition.
716
717=over 4
718
719=item $cv->recv
720
721Wait (blocking if necessary) until the C<< ->send >> or C<< ->croak
722>> methods have been called on c<$cv>, while servicing other watchers
723normally.
724
725You can only wait once on a condition - additional calls are valid but
726will return immediately.
727
728If an error condition has been set by calling C<< ->croak >>, then this
729function will call C<croak>.
730
731In list context, all parameters passed to C<send> will be returned,
732in scalar context only the first one will be returned.
733
734Note that doing a blocking wait in a callback is not supported by any
735event loop, that is, recursive invocation of a blocking C<< ->recv
736>> is not allowed, and the C<recv> call will C<croak> if such a
737condition is detected. This condition can be slightly loosened by using
738L<Coro::AnyEvent>, which allows you to do a blocking C<< ->recv >> from
739any thread that doesn't run the event loop itself.
740
741Not all event models support a blocking wait - some die in that case
742(programs might want to do that to stay interactive), so I<if you are
743using this from a module, never require a blocking wait>. Instead, let the
744caller decide whether the call will block or not (for example, by coupling
745condition variables with some kind of request results and supporting
746callbacks so the caller knows that getting the result will not block,
747while still supporting blocking waits if the caller so desires).
748
749You can ensure that C<< -recv >> never blocks by setting a callback and
750only calling C<< ->recv >> from within that callback (or at a later
751time). This will work even when the event loop does not support blocking
752waits otherwise.
753
754=item $bool = $cv->ready
755
756Returns true when the condition is "true", i.e. whether C<send> or
757C<croak> have been called.
758
759=item $cb = $cv->cb ($cb->($cv))
760
761This is a mutator function that returns the callback set and optionally
762replaces it before doing so.
763
764The callback will be called when the condition becomes "true", i.e. when
765C<send> or C<croak> are called, with the only argument being the condition
766variable itself. Calling C<recv> inside the callback or at any later time
767is guaranteed not to block.
768
769=back
770
771=head1 SUPPORTED EVENT LOOPS/BACKENDS
772
773The available backend classes are (every class has its own manpage):
774
775=over 4
776
777=item Backends that are autoprobed when no other event loop can be found.
778
779EV is the preferred backend when no other event loop seems to be in
780use. If EV is not installed, then AnyEvent will try Event, and, failing
781that, will fall back to its own pure-perl implementation, which is
782available everywhere as it comes with AnyEvent itself.
783
784 AnyEvent::Impl::EV based on EV (interface to libev, best choice).
785 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, very stable, few glitches.
786 AnyEvent::Impl::Perl pure-perl implementation, fast and portable.
787
788=item Backends that are transparently being picked up when they are used.
789
790These will be used when they are currently loaded when the first watcher
791is created, in which case it is assumed that the application is using
792them. This means that AnyEvent will automatically pick the right backend
793when the main program loads an event module before anything starts to
794create watchers. Nothing special needs to be done by the main program.
795
796 AnyEvent::Impl::Glib based on Glib, slow but very stable.
797 AnyEvent::Impl::Tk based on Tk, very broken.
798 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
799 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, very slow, some limitations.
800
801=item Backends with special needs.
802
803Qt requires the Qt::Application to be instantiated first, but will
804otherwise be picked up automatically. As long as the main program
805instantiates the application before any AnyEvent watchers are created,
806everything should just work.
807
808 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt.
809
810Support for IO::Async can only be partial, as it is too broken and
811architecturally limited to even support the AnyEvent API. It also
812is the only event loop that needs the loop to be set explicitly, so
813it can only be used by a main program knowing about AnyEvent. See
814L<AnyEvent::Impl::Async> for the gory details.
815
816 AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync based on IO::Async, cannot be autoprobed.
817
818=item Event loops that are indirectly supported via other backends.
819
820Some event loops can be supported via other modules:
821
822There is no direct support for WxWidgets (L<Wx>) or L<Prima>.
823
824B<WxWidgets> has no support for watching file handles. However, you can
825use WxWidgets through the POE adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply
826polls 20 times per second, which was considered to be too horrible to even
827consider for AnyEvent.
828
829B<Prima> is not supported as nobody seems to be using it, but it has a POE
830backend, so it can be supported through POE.
831
832AnyEvent knows about both L<Prima> and L<Wx>, however, and will try to
833load L<POE> when detecting them, in the hope that POE will pick them up,
834in which case everything will be automatic.
835
836=back
377 837
378=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS 838=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS
379 839
840These are not normally required to use AnyEvent, but can be useful to
841write AnyEvent extension modules.
842
380=over 4 843=over 4
381 844
382=item $AnyEvent::MODEL 845=item $AnyEvent::MODEL
383 846
384Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created. Then it 847Contains C<undef> until the first watcher is being created, before the
848backend has been autodetected.
849
385contains the event model that is being used, which is the name of the 850Afterwards it contains the event model that is being used, which is the
386Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one of the 851name of the Perl class implementing the model. This class is usually one
387C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the case 852of the C<AnyEvent::Impl:xxx> modules, but can be any other class in the
388AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode>). 853case AnyEvent has been extended at runtime (e.g. in I<rxvt-unicode> it
389 854will be C<urxvt::anyevent>).
390The known classes so far are:
391
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).
395 AnyEvent::Impl::Event based on Event, second best choice.
396 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.
399 AnyEvent::Impl::Qt based on Qt, cannot be autoprobed (see its docs).
400 AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib based on Event::Lib, leaks memory and worse.
401 AnyEvent::Impl::POE based on POE, not generic enough for full support.
402
403There is no support for WxWidgets, as WxWidgets has no support for
404watching file handles. However, you can use WxWidgets through the
405POE Adaptor, as POE has a Wx backend that simply polls 20 times per
406second, which was considered to be too horrible to even consider for
407AnyEvent. Likewise, other POE backends can be used by AnyEvent by using
408it's adaptor.
409
410AnyEvent knows about L<Prima> and L<Wx> and will try to use L<POE> when
411autodetecting them.
412 855
413=item AnyEvent::detect 856=item AnyEvent::detect
414 857
415Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model 858Returns C<$AnyEvent::MODEL>, forcing autodetection of the event model
416if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would 859if necessary. You should only call this function right before you would
417have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at 860have created an AnyEvent watcher anyway, that is, as late as possible at
418runtime. 861runtime, and not e.g. while initialising of your module.
862
863If you need to do some initialisation before AnyEvent watchers are
864created, use C<post_detect>.
865
866=item $guard = AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }
867
868Arranges for the code block to be executed as soon as the event model is
869autodetected (or immediately if this has already happened).
870
871The block will be executed I<after> the actual backend has been detected
872(C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> is set), but I<before> any watchers have been
873created, so it is possible to e.g. patch C<@AnyEvent::ISA> or do
874other initialisations - see the sources of L<AnyEvent::Strict> or
875L<AnyEvent::AIO> to see how this is used.
876
877The most common usage is to create some global watchers, without forcing
878event module detection too early, for example, L<AnyEvent::AIO> creates
879and installs the global L<IO::AIO> watcher in a C<post_detect> block to
880avoid autodetecting the event module at load time.
881
882If called in scalar or list context, then it creates and returns an object
883that automatically removes the callback again when it is destroyed. See
884L<Coro::BDB> for a case where this is useful.
885
886=item @AnyEvent::post_detect
887
888If there are any code references in this array (you can C<push> to it
889before or after loading AnyEvent), then they will called directly after
890the event loop has been chosen.
891
892You should check C<$AnyEvent::MODEL> before adding to this array, though:
893if it is defined then the event loop has already been detected, and the
894array will be ignored.
895
896Best use C<AnyEvent::post_detect { BLOCK }> when your application allows
897it,as it takes care of these details.
898
899This variable is mainly useful for modules that can do something useful
900when AnyEvent is used and thus want to know when it is initialised, but do
901not need to even load it by default. This array provides the means to hook
902into AnyEvent passively, without loading it.
419 903
420=back 904=back
421 905
422=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE 906=head1 WHAT TO DO IN A MODULE
423 907
427Be careful when you create watchers in the module body - AnyEvent will 911Be 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 912decide 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 913by calling AnyEvent in your module body you force the user of your module
430to load the event module first. 914to load the event module first.
431 915
432Never call C<< ->wait >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that 916Never call C<< ->recv >> on a condition variable unless you I<know> that
433the C<< ->broadcast >> method has been called on it already. This is 917the C<< ->send >> method has been called on it already. This is
434because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using 918because it will stall the whole program, and the whole point of using
435events is to stay interactive. 919events is to stay interactive.
436 920
437It is fine, however, to call C<< ->wait >> when the user of your module 921It 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 922requests 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 >> 923called C<results> that returns the results, it should call C<< ->recv >>
440freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always). 924freely, as the user of your module knows what she is doing. always).
441 925
442=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM 926=head1 WHAT TO DO IN THE MAIN PROGRAM
443 927
444There will always be a single main program - the only place that should 928There will always be a single main program - the only place that should
446 930
447If it doesn't care, it can just "use AnyEvent" and use it itself, or not 931If 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 932do anything special (it does not need to be event-based) and let AnyEvent
449decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it. 933decide which implementation to chose if some module relies on it.
450 934
451If the main program relies on a specific event model. For example, in 935If 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 936Gtk2 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 937event module before loading AnyEvent or any module that uses it: generally
454speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that 938speaking, you should load it as early as possible. The reason is that
455modules might create watchers when they are loaded, and AnyEvent will 939modules 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 940decide 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. 941might chose the wrong one unless you load the correct one yourself.
458 942
459You can chose to use a rather inefficient pure-perl implementation by 943You can chose to use a pure-perl implementation by loading the
460loading the C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar 944C<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> module, which gives you similar behaviour
461behaviour everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose is generally better. 945everywhere, but letting AnyEvent chose the model is generally better.
946
947=head2 MAINLOOP EMULATION
948
949Sometimes (often for short test scripts, or even standalone programs who
950only want to use AnyEvent), you do not want to run a specific event loop.
951
952In that case, you can use a condition variable like this:
953
954 AnyEvent->condvar->recv;
955
956This has the effect of entering the event loop and looping forever.
957
958Note that usually your program has some exit condition, in which case
959it is better to use the "traditional" approach of storing a condition
960variable somewhere, waiting for it, and sending it when the program should
961exit cleanly.
962
963
964=head1 OTHER MODULES
965
966The following is a non-exhaustive list of additional modules that use
967AnyEvent as a client and can therefore be mixed easily with other AnyEvent
968modules and other event loops in the same program. Some of the modules
969come with AnyEvent, most are available via CPAN.
970
971=over 4
972
973=item L<AnyEvent::Util>
974
975Contains various utility functions that replace often-used but blocking
976functions such as C<inet_aton> by event-/callback-based versions.
977
978=item L<AnyEvent::Socket>
979
980Provides various utility functions for (internet protocol) sockets,
981addresses and name resolution. Also functions to create non-blocking tcp
982connections or tcp servers, with IPv6 and SRV record support and more.
983
984=item L<AnyEvent::Handle>
985
986Provide read and write buffers, manages watchers for reads and writes,
987supports raw and formatted I/O, I/O queued and fully transparent and
988non-blocking SSL/TLS (via L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
989
990=item L<AnyEvent::DNS>
991
992Provides rich asynchronous DNS resolver capabilities.
993
994=item L<AnyEvent::HTTP>
995
996A simple-to-use HTTP library that is capable of making a lot of concurrent
997HTTP requests.
998
999=item L<AnyEvent::HTTPD>
1000
1001Provides a simple web application server framework.
1002
1003=item L<AnyEvent::FastPing>
1004
1005The fastest ping in the west.
1006
1007=item L<AnyEvent::DBI>
1008
1009Executes L<DBI> requests asynchronously in a proxy process.
1010
1011=item L<AnyEvent::AIO>
1012
1013Truly asynchronous I/O, should be in the toolbox of every event
1014programmer. AnyEvent::AIO transparently fuses L<IO::AIO> and AnyEvent
1015together.
1016
1017=item L<AnyEvent::BDB>
1018
1019Truly asynchronous Berkeley DB access. AnyEvent::BDB transparently fuses
1020L<BDB> and AnyEvent together.
1021
1022=item L<AnyEvent::GPSD>
1023
1024A non-blocking interface to gpsd, a daemon delivering GPS information.
1025
1026=item L<AnyEvent::IRC>
1027
1028AnyEvent based IRC client module family (replacing the older Net::IRC3).
1029
1030=item L<AnyEvent::XMPP>
1031
1032AnyEvent based XMPP (Jabber protocol) module family (replacing the older
1033Net::XMPP2>.
1034
1035=item L<AnyEvent::IGS>
1036
1037A non-blocking interface to the Internet Go Server protocol (used by
1038L<App::IGS>).
1039
1040=item L<Net::FCP>
1041
1042AnyEvent-based implementation of the Freenet Client Protocol, birthplace
1043of AnyEvent.
1044
1045=item L<Event::ExecFlow>
1046
1047High level API for event-based execution flow control.
1048
1049=item L<Coro>
1050
1051Has special support for AnyEvent via L<Coro::AnyEvent>.
1052
1053=back
462 1054
463=cut 1055=cut
464 1056
465package AnyEvent; 1057package AnyEvent;
466 1058
1059# basically a tuned-down version of common::sense
1060sub common_sense {
467no warnings; 1061 # no warnings
468use strict; 1062 ${^WARNING_BITS} ^= ${^WARNING_BITS};
1063 # use strict vars subs
1064 $^H |= 0x00000600;
1065}
469 1066
1067BEGIN { AnyEvent::common_sense }
1068
470use Carp; 1069use Carp ();
471 1070
472our $VERSION = '3.3'; 1071our $VERSION = 4.85;
473our $MODEL; 1072our $MODEL;
474 1073
475our $AUTOLOAD; 1074our $AUTOLOAD;
476our @ISA; 1075our @ISA;
477 1076
478our $verbose = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
479
480our @REGISTRY; 1077our @REGISTRY;
481 1078
1079our $WIN32;
1080
1081our $VERBOSE;
1082
1083BEGIN {
1084 eval "sub WIN32(){ " . (($^O =~ /mswin32/i)*1) ." }";
1085 eval "sub TAINT(){ " . (${^TAINT}*1) . " }";
1086
1087 delete @ENV{grep /^PERL_ANYEVENT_/, keys %ENV}
1088 if ${^TAINT};
1089
1090 $VERBOSE = $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}*1;
1091
1092}
1093
1094our $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY = 10;
1095
1096our %PROTOCOL; # (ipv4|ipv6) => (1|2), higher numbers are preferred
1097
1098{
1099 my $idx;
1100 $PROTOCOL{$_} = ++$idx
1101 for reverse split /\s*,\s*/,
1102 $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS} || "ipv4,ipv6";
1103}
1104
482my @models = ( 1105my @models = (
483 [Coro::EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV::],
484 [Coro::Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent::],
485 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::], 1106 [EV:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EV::],
486 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::], 1107 [Event:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Event::],
487 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], 1108 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::],
1109 # everything below here will not be autoprobed
1110 # as the pureperl backend should work everywhere
1111 # and is usually faster
1112 [Glib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Glib::], # becomes extremely slow with many watchers
1113 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy
488 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], 1114 [Tk:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Tk::], # crashes with many handles
1115 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program
1116 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza
489 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], 1117 [Wx:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
490 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], 1118 [Prima:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::],
491 [AnyEvent::Impl::Perl:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Perl::], 1119 # IO::Async is just too broken - we would need workarounds for its
492 # everything below here will not be autoprobed as the pureperl backend should work everywhere 1120 # byzantine signal and broken child handling, among others.
493 [Event::Lib:: => AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib::], # too buggy 1121 # IO::Async is rather hard to detect, as it doesn't have any
1122 # obvious default class.
494 [Qt:: => AnyEvent::Impl::Qt::], # requires special main program 1123# [IO::Async:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
495 [POE::Kernel:: => AnyEvent::Impl::POE::], # lasciate ogni speranza 1124# [IO::Async::Loop:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
1125# [IO::Async::Notifier:: => AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync::], # requires special main program
496); 1126);
497 1127
498our %method = map +($_ => 1), qw(io timer signal child condvar broadcast wait one_event DESTROY); 1128our %method = map +($_ => 1),
1129 qw(io timer time now now_update signal child idle condvar one_event DESTROY);
1130
1131our @post_detect;
1132
1133sub post_detect(&) {
1134 my ($cb) = @_;
1135
1136 if ($MODEL) {
1137 $cb->();
1138
1139 1
1140 } else {
1141 push @post_detect, $cb;
1142
1143 defined wantarray
1144 ? bless \$cb, "AnyEvent::Util::postdetect"
1145 : ()
1146 }
1147}
1148
1149sub AnyEvent::Util::postdetect::DESTROY {
1150 @post_detect = grep $_ != ${$_[0]}, @post_detect;
1151}
499 1152
500sub detect() { 1153sub detect() {
501 unless ($MODEL) { 1154 unless ($MODEL) {
502 no strict 'refs'; 1155 local $SIG{__DIE__};
503 1156
504 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) { 1157 if ($ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} =~ /^([a-zA-Z]+)$/) {
505 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1"; 1158 my $model = "AnyEvent::Impl::$1";
506 if (eval "require $model") { 1159 if (eval "require $model") {
507 $MODEL = $model; 1160 $MODEL = $model;
508 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1161 warn "AnyEvent: loaded model '$model' (forced by \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}), using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
509 } else { 1162 } else {
510 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL):\n$@" if $verbose; 1163 warn "AnyEvent: unable to load model '$model' (from \$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL}):\n$@" if $VERBOSE;
511 } 1164 }
512 } 1165 }
513 1166
514 # check for already loaded models 1167 # check for already loaded models
515 unless ($MODEL) { 1168 unless ($MODEL) {
516 for (@REGISTRY, @models) { 1169 for (@REGISTRY, @models) {
517 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 1170 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
518 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) { 1171 if (${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0) {
519 if (eval "require $model") { 1172 if (eval "require $model") {
520 $MODEL = $model; 1173 $MODEL = $model;
521 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1174 warn "AnyEvent: autodetected model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
522 last; 1175 last;
523 } 1176 }
524 } 1177 }
525 } 1178 }
526 1179
531 my ($package, $model) = @$_; 1184 my ($package, $model) = @$_;
532 if (eval "require $package" 1185 if (eval "require $package"
533 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0 1186 and ${"$package\::VERSION"} > 0
534 and eval "require $model") { 1187 and eval "require $model") {
535 $MODEL = $model; 1188 $MODEL = $model;
536 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed model '$model', using it.\n" if $verbose > 1; 1189 warn "AnyEvent: autoprobed model '$model', using it.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 2;
537 last; 1190 last;
538 } 1191 }
539 } 1192 }
540 1193
541 $MODEL 1194 $MODEL
542 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV (or Coro+EV), Event (or Coro+Event) or Glib."; 1195 or die "No event module selected for AnyEvent and autodetect failed. Install any one of these modules: EV, Event or Glib.\n";
543 } 1196 }
544 } 1197 }
545 1198
1199 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base";
1200
546 unshift @ISA, $MODEL; 1201 unshift @ISA, $MODEL;
547 push @{"$MODEL\::ISA"}, "AnyEvent::Base"; 1202
1203 require AnyEvent::Strict if $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT};
1204
1205 (shift @post_detect)->() while @post_detect;
548 } 1206 }
549 1207
550 $MODEL 1208 $MODEL
551} 1209}
552 1210
553sub AUTOLOAD { 1211sub AUTOLOAD {
554 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://; 1212 (my $func = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*://;
555 1213
556 $method{$func} 1214 $method{$func}
557 or croak "$func: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects"; 1215 or Carp::croak "$func: not a valid method for AnyEvent objects";
558 1216
559 detect unless $MODEL; 1217 detect unless $MODEL;
560 1218
561 my $class = shift; 1219 my $class = shift;
562 $class->$func (@_); 1220 $class->$func (@_);
563} 1221}
564 1222
1223# utility function to dup a filehandle. this is used by many backends
1224# to support binding more than one watcher per filehandle (they usually
1225# allow only one watcher per fd, so we dup it to get a different one).
1226sub _dupfh($$;$$) {
1227 my ($poll, $fh, $r, $w) = @_;
1228
1229 # cygwin requires the fh mode to be matching, unix doesn't
1230 my ($rw, $mode) = $poll eq "r" ? ($r, "<&") : ($w, ">&");
1231
1232 open my $fh2, $mode, $fh
1233 or die "AnyEvent->io: cannot dup() filehandle in mode '$poll': $!,";
1234
1235 # we assume CLOEXEC is already set by perl in all important cases
1236
1237 ($fh2, $rw)
1238}
1239
565package AnyEvent::Base; 1240package AnyEvent::Base;
566 1241
1242# default implementations for many methods
1243
1244sub _time {
1245 # probe for availability of Time::HiRes
1246 if (eval "use Time::HiRes (); Time::HiRes::time (); 1") {
1247 warn "AnyEvent: using Time::HiRes for sub-second timing accuracy.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1248 *_time = \&Time::HiRes::time;
1249 # if (eval "use POSIX (); (POSIX::times())...
1250 } else {
1251 warn "AnyEvent: using built-in time(), WARNING, no sub-second resolution!\n" if $VERBOSE;
1252 *_time = sub { time }; # epic fail
1253 }
1254
1255 &_time
1256}
1257
1258sub time { _time }
1259sub now { _time }
1260sub now_update { }
1261
567# default implementation for ->condvar, ->wait, ->broadcast 1262# default implementation for ->condvar
568 1263
569sub condvar { 1264sub condvar {
570 bless \my $flag, "AnyEvent::Base::CondVar" 1265 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} 1266}
580 1267
581# default implementation for ->signal 1268# default implementation for ->signal
582 1269
583our %SIG_CB; 1270our $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT;
1271our ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W, %SIG_CB, %SIG_EV, $SIG_IO);
1272our (%SIG_ASY, %SIG_ASY_W);
1273our ($SIG_COUNT, $SIG_TW);
584 1274
1275sub _signal_exec {
1276 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1277 ? $SIGPIPE_R->drain
1278 : sysread $SIGPIPE_R, my $dummy, 9;
1279
1280 while (%SIG_EV) {
1281 for (keys %SIG_EV) {
1282 delete $SIG_EV{$_};
1283 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$_} || {} };
1284 }
1285 }
1286}
1287
1288# install a dumym wakeupw atcher to reduce signal catching latency
1289sub _sig_add() {
1290 unless ($SIG_COUNT++) {
1291 # try to align timer on a full-second boundary, if possible
1292 my $NOW = AnyEvent->now;
1293
1294 $SIG_TW = AnyEvent->timer (
1295 after => $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY - ($NOW - int $NOW),
1296 interval => $MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY,
1297 cb => sub { }, # just for the PERL_ASYNC_CHECK
1298 );
1299 }
1300}
1301
1302sub _sig_del {
1303 undef $SIG_TW
1304 unless --$SIG_COUNT;
1305}
1306
585sub signal { 1307sub _signal {
586 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1308 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
587 1309
588 my $signal = uc $arg{signal} 1310 my $signal = uc $arg{signal}
589 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing"; 1311 or Carp::croak "required option 'signal' is missing";
590 1312
591 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1313 $SIG_CB{$signal}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
1314
1315 if ($HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT) {
1316 # async::interrupt
1317
1318 $SIG_ASY{$signal} ||= do {
1319 my $asy = new Async::Interrupt
1320 cb => sub { undef $SIG_EV{$signal} },
1321 signal => $signal,
1322 pipe => [$SIGPIPE_R->filenos],
1323 ;
1324 $asy->pipe_autodrain (0);
1325
1326 $asy
1327 };
1328
1329 } else {
1330 # pure perl
1331
592 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub { 1332 $SIG{$signal} ||= sub {
593 $_->() for values %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} || {} }; 1333 local $!;
1334 syswrite $SIGPIPE_W, "\x00", 1 unless %SIG_EV;
1335 undef $SIG_EV{$signal};
1336 };
1337
1338 # can't do signal processing without introducing races in pure perl,
1339 # so limit the signal latency.
1340 _sig_add;
594 }; 1341 }
595 1342
596 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Signal" 1343 bless [$signal, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::signal"
597} 1344}
598 1345
1346sub signal {
1347 # probe for availability of Async::Interrupt
1348 if (!$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT} && eval "use Async::Interrupt 0.6 (); 1") {
1349 warn "AnyEvent: using Async::Interrupt for race-free signal handling.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1350
1351 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT = 1;
1352 $SIGPIPE_R = new Async::Interrupt::EventPipe;
1353 $SIG_IO = AnyEvent->io (fh => $SIGPIPE_R->fileno, poll => "r", cb => \&_signal_exec);
1354
1355 } else {
1356 warn "AnyEvent: using emulated perl signal handling with latency timer.\n" if $VERBOSE >= 8;
1357
1358 require Fcntl;
1359
1360 if (AnyEvent::WIN32) {
1361 require AnyEvent::Util;
1362
1363 ($SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W) = AnyEvent::Util::portable_pipe ();
1364 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_R) if $SIGPIPE_R;
1365 AnyEvent::Util::fh_nonblocking ($SIGPIPE_W) if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1366 } else {
1367 pipe $SIGPIPE_R, $SIGPIPE_W;
1368 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_R;
1369 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFL, &Fcntl::O_NONBLOCK if $SIGPIPE_W; # just in case
1370
1371 # not strictly required, as $^F is normally 2, but let's make sure...
1372 fcntl $SIGPIPE_R, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1373 fcntl $SIGPIPE_W, &Fcntl::F_SETFD, &Fcntl::FD_CLOEXEC;
1374 }
1375
1376 $SIGPIPE_R
1377 or Carp::croak "AnyEvent: unable to create a signal reporting pipe: $!\n";
1378
1379 $SIG_IO = AnyEvent->io (fh => $SIGPIPE_R, poll => "r", cb => \&_signal_exec);
1380 }
1381
1382 *signal = \&_signal;
1383 &signal
1384}
1385
599sub AnyEvent::Base::Signal::DESTROY { 1386sub AnyEvent::Base::signal::DESTROY {
600 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]}; 1387 my ($signal, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
601 1388
1389 _sig_del;
1390
602 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb}; 1391 delete $SIG_CB{$signal}{$cb};
603 1392
604 $SIG{$signal} = 'DEFAULT' unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} }; 1393 $HAVE_ASYNC_INTERRUPT
1394 ? delete $SIG_ASY{$signal}
1395 : # delete doesn't work with older perls - they then
1396 # print weird messages, or just unconditionally exit
1397 # instead of getting the default action.
1398 undef $SIG{$signal}
1399 unless keys %{ $SIG_CB{$signal} };
605} 1400}
606 1401
607# default implementation for ->child 1402# default implementation for ->child
608 1403
609our %PID_CB; 1404our %PID_CB;
610our $CHLD_W; 1405our $CHLD_W;
611our $CHLD_DELAY_W; 1406our $CHLD_DELAY_W;
612our $PID_IDLE;
613our $WNOHANG; 1407our $WNOHANG;
614 1408
615sub _child_wait { 1409sub _sigchld {
616 while (0 < (my $pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG)) { 1410 while (0 < (my $pid = waitpid -1, $WNOHANG)) {
1411 $_->($pid, $?)
617 $_->($pid, $?) for (values %{ $PID_CB{$pid} || {} }), 1412 for values %{ $PID_CB{$pid} || {} },
618 (values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} }); 1413 values %{ $PID_CB{0} || {} };
619 } 1414 }
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} 1415}
631 1416
632sub child { 1417sub child {
633 my (undef, %arg) = @_; 1418 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
634 1419
635 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0) 1420 defined (my $pid = $arg{pid} + 0)
636 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing"; 1421 or Carp::croak "required option 'pid' is missing";
637 1422
638 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb}; 1423 $PID_CB{$pid}{$arg{cb}} = $arg{cb};
639 1424
640 unless ($WNOHANG) { 1425 # WNOHANG is almost cetrainly 1 everywhere
641 $WNOHANG = eval { require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1; 1426 $WNOHANG ||= $^O =~ /^(?:openbsd|netbsd|linux|freebsd|cygwin|MSWin32)$/
642 } 1427 ? 1
1428 : eval { local $SIG{__DIE__}; require POSIX; &POSIX::WNOHANG } || 1;
643 1429
644 unless ($CHLD_W) { 1430 unless ($CHLD_W) {
645 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld); 1431 $CHLD_W = AnyEvent->signal (signal => 'CHLD', cb => \&_sigchld);
646 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round 1432 # child could be a zombie already, so make at least one round
647 &_sigchld; 1433 &_sigchld;
648 } 1434 }
649 1435
650 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::Child" 1436 bless [$pid, $arg{cb}], "AnyEvent::Base::child"
651} 1437}
652 1438
653sub AnyEvent::Base::Child::DESTROY { 1439sub AnyEvent::Base::child::DESTROY {
654 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]}; 1440 my ($pid, $cb) = @{$_[0]};
655 1441
656 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb}; 1442 delete $PID_CB{$pid}{$cb};
657 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} }; 1443 delete $PID_CB{$pid} unless keys %{ $PID_CB{$pid} };
658 1444
659 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB; 1445 undef $CHLD_W unless keys %PID_CB;
660} 1446}
1447
1448# idle emulation is done by simply using a timer, regardless
1449# of whether the process is idle or not, and not letting
1450# the callback use more than 50% of the time.
1451sub idle {
1452 my (undef, %arg) = @_;
1453
1454 my ($cb, $w, $rcb) = $arg{cb};
1455
1456 $rcb = sub {
1457 if ($cb) {
1458 $w = _time;
1459 &$cb;
1460 $w = _time - $w;
1461
1462 # never use more then 50% of the time for the idle watcher,
1463 # within some limits
1464 $w = 0.0001 if $w < 0.0001;
1465 $w = 5 if $w > 5;
1466
1467 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => $w, cb => $rcb);
1468 } else {
1469 # clean up...
1470 undef $w;
1471 undef $rcb;
1472 }
1473 };
1474
1475 $w = AnyEvent->timer (after => 0.05, cb => $rcb);
1476
1477 bless \\$cb, "AnyEvent::Base::idle"
1478}
1479
1480sub AnyEvent::Base::idle::DESTROY {
1481 undef $${$_[0]};
1482}
1483
1484package AnyEvent::CondVar;
1485
1486our @ISA = AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::;
1487
1488package AnyEvent::CondVar::Base;
1489
1490#use overload
1491# '&{}' => sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } },
1492# fallback => 1;
1493
1494# save 300+ kilobytes by dirtily hardcoding overloading
1495${"AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::OVERLOAD"}{dummy}++; # Register with magic by touching.
1496*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = sub { }; # "Make it findable via fetchmethod."
1497*{'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::(&{}'} = sub { my $self = shift; sub { $self->send (@_) } }; # &{}
1498${'AnyEvent::CondVar::Base::()'} = 1; # fallback
1499
1500our $WAITING;
1501
1502sub _send {
1503 # nop
1504}
1505
1506sub send {
1507 my $cv = shift;
1508 $cv->{_ae_sent} = [@_];
1509 (delete $cv->{_ae_cb})->($cv) if $cv->{_ae_cb};
1510 $cv->_send;
1511}
1512
1513sub croak {
1514 $_[0]{_ae_croak} = $_[1];
1515 $_[0]->send;
1516}
1517
1518sub ready {
1519 $_[0]{_ae_sent}
1520}
1521
1522sub _wait {
1523 $WAITING
1524 and !$_[0]{_ae_sent}
1525 and Carp::croak "AnyEvent::CondVar: recursive blocking wait detected";
1526
1527 local $WAITING = 1;
1528 AnyEvent->one_event while !$_[0]{_ae_sent};
1529}
1530
1531sub recv {
1532 $_[0]->_wait;
1533
1534 Carp::croak $_[0]{_ae_croak} if $_[0]{_ae_croak};
1535 wantarray ? @{ $_[0]{_ae_sent} } : $_[0]{_ae_sent}[0]
1536}
1537
1538sub cb {
1539 $_[0]{_ae_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1540 $_[0]{_ae_cb}
1541}
1542
1543sub begin {
1544 ++$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1545 $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
1546}
1547
1548sub end {
1549 return if --$_[0]{_ae_counter};
1550 &{ $_[0]{_ae_end_cb} || sub { $_[0]->send } };
1551}
1552
1553# undocumented/compatibility with pre-3.4
1554*broadcast = \&send;
1555*wait = \&_wait;
1556
1557=head1 ERROR AND EXCEPTION HANDLING
1558
1559In general, AnyEvent does not do any error handling - it relies on the
1560caller to do that if required. The L<AnyEvent::Strict> module (see also
1561the C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT> environment variable, below) provides strict
1562checking of all AnyEvent methods, however, which is highly useful during
1563development.
1564
1565As for exception handling (i.e. runtime errors and exceptions thrown while
1566executing a callback), this is not only highly event-loop specific, but
1567also not in any way wrapped by this module, as this is the job of the main
1568program.
1569
1570The pure perl event loop simply re-throws the exception (usually
1571within C<< condvar->recv >>), the L<Event> and L<EV> modules call C<<
1572$Event/EV::DIED->() >>, L<Glib> uses C<< install_exception_handler >> and
1573so on.
1574
1575=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1576
1577The following environment variables are used by this module or its
1578submodules.
1579
1580Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
1581C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
1582enabled.
1583
1584=over 4
1585
1586=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE>
1587
1588By default, AnyEvent will be completely silent except in fatal
1589conditions. You can set this environment variable to make AnyEvent more
1590talkative.
1591
1592When set to C<1> or higher, causes AnyEvent to warn about unexpected
1593conditions, such as not being able to load the event model specified by
1594C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>.
1595
1596When set to C<2> or higher, cause AnyEvent to report to STDERR which event
1597model it chooses.
1598
1599When set to C<8> or higher, then AnyEvent will report extra information on
1600which optional modules it loads and how it implements certain features.
1601
1602=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT>
1603
1604AnyEvent does not do much argument checking by default, as thorough
1605argument checking is very costly. Setting this variable to a true value
1606will cause AnyEvent to load C<AnyEvent::Strict> and then to thoroughly
1607check the arguments passed to most method calls. If it finds any problems,
1608it will croak.
1609
1610In other words, enables "strict" mode.
1611
1612Unlike C<use strict> (or it's modern cousin, C<< use L<common::sense>
1613>>, it is definitely recommended to keep it off in production. Keeping
1614C<PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT=1> in your environment while developing programs
1615can be very useful, however.
1616
1617=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL>
1618
1619This can be used to specify the event model to be used by AnyEvent, before
1620auto detection and -probing kicks in. It must be a string consisting
1621entirely of ASCII letters. The string C<AnyEvent::Impl::> gets prepended
1622and the resulting module name is loaded and if the load was successful,
1623used as event model. If it fails to load AnyEvent will proceed with
1624auto detection and -probing.
1625
1626This functionality might change in future versions.
1627
1628For example, to force the pure perl model (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) you
1629could start your program like this:
1630
1631 PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL=Perl perl ...
1632
1633=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS>
1634
1635Used by both L<AnyEvent::DNS> and L<AnyEvent::Socket> to determine preferences
1636for IPv4 or IPv6. The default is unspecified (and might change, or be the result
1637of auto probing).
1638
1639Must be set to a comma-separated list of protocols or address families,
1640current supported: C<ipv4> and C<ipv6>. Only protocols mentioned will be
1641used, and preference will be given to protocols mentioned earlier in the
1642list.
1643
1644This variable can effectively be used for denial-of-service attacks
1645against local programs (e.g. when setuid), although the impact is likely
1646small, as the program has to handle conenction and other failures anyways.
1647
1648Examples: C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4,ipv6> - prefer IPv4 over IPv6,
1649but support both and try to use both. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv4>
1650- only support IPv4, never try to resolve or contact IPv6
1651addresses. C<PERL_ANYEVENT_PROTOCOLS=ipv6,ipv4> support either IPv4 or
1652IPv6, but prefer IPv6 over IPv4.
1653
1654=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_EDNS0>
1655
1656Used by L<AnyEvent::DNS> to decide whether to use the EDNS0 extension
1657for DNS. This extension is generally useful to reduce DNS traffic, but
1658some (broken) firewalls drop such DNS packets, which is why it is off by
1659default.
1660
1661Setting this variable to C<1> will cause L<AnyEvent::DNS> to announce
1662EDNS0 in its DNS requests.
1663
1664=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_FORKS>
1665
1666The maximum number of child processes that C<AnyEvent::Util::fork_call>
1667will create in parallel.
1668
1669=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_MAX_OUTSTANDING_DNS>
1670
1671The default value for the C<max_outstanding> parameter for the default DNS
1672resolver - this is the maximum number of parallel DNS requests that are
1673sent to the DNS server.
1674
1675=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_RESOLV_CONF>
1676
1677The file to use instead of F</etc/resolv.conf> (or OS-specific
1678configuration) in the default resolver. When set to the empty string, no
1679default config will be used.
1680
1681=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_FILE>, C<PERL_ANYEVENT_CA_PATH>.
1682
1683When neither C<ca_file> nor C<ca_path> was specified during
1684L<AnyEvent::TLS> context creation, and either of these environment
1685variables exist, they will be used to specify CA certificate locations
1686instead of a system-dependent default.
1687
1688=item C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_GUARD> and C<PERL_ANYEVENT_AVOID_ASYNC_INTERRUPT>
1689
1690When these are set to C<1>, then the respective modules are not
1691loaded. Mostly good for testing AnyEvent itself.
1692
1693=back
661 1694
662=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE 1695=head1 SUPPLYING YOUR OWN EVENT MODEL INTERFACE
663 1696
664This is an advanced topic that you do not normally need to use AnyEvent in 1697This 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 1698a module. This section is only of use to event loop authors who want to
699 1732
700I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to 1733I<rxvt-unicode> also cheats a bit by not providing blocking access to
701condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will 1734condition variables: code blocking while waiting for a condition will
702C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must 1735C<die>. This still works with most modules/usages, and blocking calls must
703not be done in an interactive application, so it makes sense. 1736not 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 1737
742=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM 1738=head1 EXAMPLE PROGRAM
743 1739
744The following program uses an I/O watcher to read data from STDIN, a timer 1740The 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 1741to display a message once per second, and a condition variable to quit the
754 poll => 'r', 1750 poll => 'r',
755 cb => sub { 1751 cb => sub {
756 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r> 1752 warn "io event <$_[0]>\n"; # will always output <r>
757 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line 1753 chomp (my $input = <STDIN>); # read a line
758 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read 1754 warn "read: $input\n"; # output what has been read
759 $cv->broadcast if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i 1755 $cv->send if $input =~ /^q/i; # quit program if /^q/i
760 }, 1756 },
761 ); 1757 );
762 1758
763 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once 1759 my $time_watcher; # can only be used once
764 1760
769 }); 1765 });
770 } 1766 }
771 1767
772 new_timer; # create first timer 1768 new_timer; # create first timer
773 1769
774 $cv->wait; # wait until user enters /^q/i 1770 $cv->recv; # wait until user enters /^q/i
775 1771
776=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE 1772=head1 REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
777 1773
778Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following 1774Consider the L<Net::FCP> module. It features (among others) the following
779API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http: 1775API calls, which are to freenet what HTTP GET requests are to http:
829 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request} 1825 syswrite $txn->{fh}, $txn->{request}
830 or die "connection or write error"; 1826 or die "connection or write error";
831 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r }); 1827 $txn->{w} = AnyEvent->io (fh => $txn->{fh}, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $txn->fh_ready_r });
832 1828
833Again, C<fh_ready_r> waits till all data has arrived, and then stores the 1829Again, 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: 1830result and signals any possible waiters that the request has finished:
835 1831
836 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf}; 1832 sysread $txn->{fh}, $txn->{buf}, length $txn->{$buf};
837 1833
838 if (end-of-file or data complete) { 1834 if (end-of-file or data complete) {
839 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf}; 1835 $txn->{result} = $txn->{buf};
840 $txn->{finished}->broadcast; 1836 $txn->{finished}->send;
841 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback 1837 $txb->{cb}->($txn) of $txn->{cb}; # also call callback
842 } 1838 }
843 1839
844The C<result> method, finally, just waits for the finished signal (if the 1840The 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 1841request was already finished, it doesn't wait, of course, and returns the
846data: 1842data:
847 1843
848 $txn->{finished}->wait; 1844 $txn->{finished}->recv;
849 return $txn->{result}; 1845 return $txn->{result};
850 1846
851The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions) 1847The actual code goes further and collects all errors (C<die>s, exceptions)
852that occured during request processing. The C<result> method detects 1848that occurred during request processing. The C<result> method detects
853whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object) 1849whether an exception as thrown (it is stored inside the $txn object)
854and just throws the exception, which means connection errors and other 1850and 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 1851problems get reported tot he code that tries to use the result, not in a
856random callback. 1852random callback.
857 1853
888 1884
889 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar; 1885 my $quit = AnyEvent->condvar;
890 1886
891 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub { 1887 $fcp->txn_client_get ($url)->cb (sub {
892 ... 1888 ...
893 $quit->broadcast; 1889 $quit->send;
894 }); 1890 });
895 1891
896 $quit->wait; 1892 $quit->recv;
897 1893
898 1894
899=head1 BENCHMARK 1895=head1 BENCHMARKS
900 1896
901To give you an idea of the performance and overheads that AnyEvent adds 1897To 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 1898over 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 1899of various event loops I prepared some benchmarks.
904event models natively and with anyevent. The benchmark creates a lot of 1900
905timers (with a zero timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to 1901=head2 BENCHMARKING ANYEVENT OVERHEAD
1902
1903Here is a benchmark of various supported event models used natively and
1904through AnyEvent. The benchmark creates a lot of timers (with a zero
1905timeout) and I/O watchers (watching STDOUT, a pty, to become writable,
906become writable, which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys 1906which it is), lets them fire exactly once and destroys them again.
907them again.
908 1907
909Rewriting the benchmark to use many different sockets instead of using 1908Source 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 1909distribution.
911(socket creation is expensive), but qualitatively the same figures, so it
912was not used.
913 1910
914=head2 Explanation of the columns 1911=head3 Explanation of the columns
915 1912
916I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since 1913I<watcher> is the number of event watchers created/destroyed. Since
917different event models feature vastly different performances, each event 1914different event models feature vastly different performances, each event
918loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable 1915loop was given a number of watchers so that overall runtime is acceptable
919and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib 1916and similar between tested event loop (and keep them from crashing): Glib
929all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation 1926all watchers, to avoid adding memory overhead. That means closure creation
930and memory usage is not included in the figures. 1927and memory usage is not included in the figures.
931 1928
932I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple 1929I<invoke> is the time, in microseconds, used to invoke a simple
933callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was 1930callback. The callback simply counts down a Perl variable and after it was
934invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->broadcast >> a condvar once to 1931invoked "watcher" times, it would C<< ->send >> a condvar once to
935signal the end of this phase. 1932signal the end of this phase.
936 1933
937I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single 1934I<destroy> is the time, in microseconds, that it takes to destroy a single
938watcher. 1935watcher.
939 1936
940=head2 Results 1937=head3 Results
941 1938
942 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment 1939 name watchers bytes create invoke destroy comment
943 EV/EV 400000 244 0.56 0.46 0.31 EV native interface 1940 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 1941 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 1942 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 1943 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 1944 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 1945 Event/Any 16000 590 35.85 31.55 1.06 Event + AnyEvent watchers
1946 IOAsync/Any 16000 989 38.10 32.77 11.13 via IO::Async::Loop::IO_Poll
1947 IOAsync/Any 16000 990 37.59 29.50 10.61 via IO::Async::Loop::Epoll
949 Glib/Any 16000 1357 98.22 12.41 54.00 quadratic behaviour 1948 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 1949 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 1950 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 1951 POE/Select 2000 6027 94.54 809.13 579.80 via POE::Loop::Select
953 1952
954=head2 Discussion 1953=head3 Discussion
955 1954
956The benchmark does I<not> measure scalability of the event loop very 1955The 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) 1956well. 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 1957can 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 1958file descriptors grows high. In this benchmark, all events become ready at
960the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed 1959the same time, so select/poll-based implementations get an unnatural speed
961boost. 1960boost.
962 1961
1962Also, note that the number of watchers usually has a nonlinear effect on
1963overall speed, that is, creating twice as many watchers doesn't take twice
1964the time - usually it takes longer. This puts event loops tested with a
1965higher number of watchers at a disadvantage.
1966
1967To put the range of results into perspective, consider that on the
1968benchmark machine, handling an event takes roughly 1600 CPU cycles with
1969EV, 3100 CPU cycles with AnyEvent's pure perl loop and almost 3000000 CPU
1970cycles with POE.
1971
963C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both 1972C<EV> is the sole leader regarding speed and memory use, which are both
964maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, it uses 1973maximal/minimal, respectively. Even when going through AnyEvent, it uses
965far less memory than any other event loop and is still faster than Event 1974far less memory than any other event loop and is still faster than Event
966natively. 1975natively.
967 1976
970interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it 1979interpreter and the backend itself). Nevertheless this shows that it
971adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its 1980adds very little overhead in itself. Like any select-based backend its
972performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of 1981performance becomes really bad with lots of file descriptors (and few of
973them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark. 1982them active), of course, but this was not subject of this benchmark.
974 1983
975The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation cost, 1984The C<Event> module has a relatively high setup and callback invocation
976but overall scores on the third place. 1985cost, but overall scores in on the third place.
977 1986
1987C<IO::Async> performs admirably well, about on par with C<Event>, even
1988when using its pure perl backend.
1989
978C<Glib>'s memory usage is quite a bit bit higher, but it features a 1990C<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 1991faster callback invocation and overall ends up in the same class as
980C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of 1992C<Event>. However, Glib scales extremely badly, doubling the number of
981watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four, 1993watchers increases the processing time by more than a factor of four,
982making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers 1994making it completely unusable when using larger numbers of watchers
983(note that only a single file descriptor was used in the benchmark, so 1995(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() 2001file 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 2002employed 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 2003hidden memory cost inside the kernel which is not reflected in the figures
992above). 2004above).
993 2005
994C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure 2006C<POE>, regardless of underlying event loop (whether using its pure perl
995perl select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend 2007select-based backend or the Event module, the POE-EV backend couldn't
996couldn't be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance 2008be tested because it wasn't working) shows abysmal performance and
997and memory usage: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory as 2009memory usage with AnyEvent: Watchers use almost 30 times as much memory
998EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory 2010as EV watchers, and 10 times as much memory as Event (the high memory
999requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher 2011requirements are caused by requiring a session for each watcher). Watcher
1000invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl 2012invocation speed is almost 900 times slower than with AnyEvent's pure perl
2013implementation.
2014
1001implementation. The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not 2015The design of the POE adaptor class in AnyEvent can not really account
1002really account for this, as session creation overhead is small compared 2016for the performance issues, though, as session creation overhead is
1003to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty optimally within 2017small compared to execution of the state machine, which is coded pretty
1004L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>. POE simply seems to be abysmally slow. 2018optimally within L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE> (and while everybody agrees that
2019using multiple sessions is not a good approach, especially regarding
2020memory usage, even the author of POE could not come up with a faster
2021design).
1005 2022
1006=head2 Summary 2023=head3 Summary
1007 2024
1008=over 4 2025=over 4
1009 2026
1010=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop 2027=item * Using EV through AnyEvent is faster than any other event loop
1011(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable 2028(even when used without AnyEvent), but most event loops have acceptable
1013 2030
1014=item * The overhead AnyEvent adds is usually much smaller than the overhead of 2031=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 2032the actual event loop, only with extremely fast event loops such as EV
1016adds AnyEvent significant overhead. 2033adds AnyEvent significant overhead.
1017 2034
1018=item * You should simply avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or 2035=item * You should avoid POE like the plague if you want performance or
1019reasonable memory usage. 2036reasonable memory usage.
1020 2037
1021=back 2038=back
1022 2039
2040=head2 BENCHMARKING THE LARGE SERVER CASE
2041
2042This benchmark actually benchmarks the event loop itself. It works by
2043creating a number of "servers": each server consists of a socket pair, a
2044timeout watcher that gets reset on activity (but never fires), and an I/O
2045watcher waiting for input on one side of the socket. Each time the socket
2046watcher reads a byte it will write that byte to a random other "server".
2047
2048The effect is that there will be a lot of I/O watchers, only part of which
2049are active at any one point (so there is a constant number of active
2050fds for each loop iteration, but which fds these are is random). The
2051timeout is reset each time something is read because that reflects how
2052most timeouts work (and puts extra pressure on the event loops).
2053
2054In this benchmark, we use 10000 socket pairs (20000 sockets), of which 100
2055(1%) are active. This mirrors the activity of large servers with many
2056connections, most of which are idle at any one point in time.
2057
2058Source code for this benchmark is found as F<eg/bench2> in the AnyEvent
2059distribution.
2060
2061=head3 Explanation of the columns
2062
2063I<sockets> is the number of sockets, and twice the number of "servers" (as
2064each server has a read and write socket end).
2065
2066I<create> is the time it takes to create a socket pair (which is
2067nontrivial) and two watchers: an I/O watcher and a timeout watcher.
2068
2069I<request>, the most important value, is the time it takes to handle a
2070single "request", that is, reading the token from the pipe and forwarding
2071it to another server. This includes deleting the old timeout and creating
2072a new one that moves the timeout into the future.
2073
2074=head3 Results
2075
2076 name sockets create request
2077 EV 20000 69.01 11.16
2078 Perl 20000 73.32 35.87
2079 IOAsync 20000 157.00 98.14 epoll
2080 IOAsync 20000 159.31 616.06 poll
2081 Event 20000 212.62 257.32
2082 Glib 20000 651.16 1896.30
2083 POE 20000 349.67 12317.24 uses POE::Loop::Event
2084
2085=head3 Discussion
2086
2087This benchmark I<does> measure scalability and overall performance of the
2088particular event loop.
2089
2090EV is again fastest. Since it is using epoll on my system, the setup time
2091is relatively high, though.
2092
2093Perl surprisingly comes second. It is much faster than the C-based event
2094loops Event and Glib.
2095
2096IO::Async performs very well when using its epoll backend, and still quite
2097good compared to Glib when using its pure perl backend.
2098
2099Event suffers from high setup time as well (look at its code and you will
2100understand why). Callback invocation also has a high overhead compared to
2101the C<< $_->() for .. >>-style loop that the Perl event loop uses. Event
2102uses select or poll in basically all documented configurations.
2103
2104Glib is hit hard by its quadratic behaviour w.r.t. many watchers. It
2105clearly fails to perform with many filehandles or in busy servers.
2106
2107POE is still completely out of the picture, taking over 1000 times as long
2108as EV, and over 100 times as long as the Perl implementation, even though
2109it uses a C-based event loop in this case.
2110
2111=head3 Summary
2112
2113=over 4
2114
2115=item * The pure perl implementation performs extremely well.
2116
2117=item * Avoid Glib or POE in large projects where performance matters.
2118
2119=back
2120
2121=head2 BENCHMARKING SMALL SERVERS
2122
2123While event loops should scale (and select-based ones do not...) even to
2124large servers, most programs we (or I :) actually write have only a few
2125I/O watchers.
2126
2127In this benchmark, I use the same benchmark program as in the large server
2128case, but it uses only eight "servers", of which three are active at any
2129one time. This should reflect performance for a small server relatively
2130well.
2131
2132The columns are identical to the previous table.
2133
2134=head3 Results
2135
2136 name sockets create request
2137 EV 16 20.00 6.54
2138 Perl 16 25.75 12.62
2139 Event 16 81.27 35.86
2140 Glib 16 32.63 15.48
2141 POE 16 261.87 276.28 uses POE::Loop::Event
2142
2143=head3 Discussion
2144
2145The benchmark tries to test the performance of a typical small
2146server. While knowing how various event loops perform is interesting, keep
2147in mind that their overhead in this case is usually not as important, due
2148to the small absolute number of watchers (that is, you need efficiency and
2149speed most when you have lots of watchers, not when you only have a few of
2150them).
2151
2152EV is again fastest.
2153
2154Perl again comes second. It is noticeably faster than the C-based event
2155loops Event and Glib, although the difference is too small to really
2156matter.
2157
2158POE also performs much better in this case, but is is still far behind the
2159others.
2160
2161=head3 Summary
2162
2163=over 4
2164
2165=item * C-based event loops perform very well with small number of
2166watchers, as the management overhead dominates.
2167
2168=back
2169
2170=head2 THE IO::Lambda BENCHMARK
2171
2172Recently I was told about the benchmark in the IO::Lambda manpage, which
2173could be misinterpreted to make AnyEvent look bad. In fact, the benchmark
2174simply compares IO::Lambda with POE, and IO::Lambda looks better (which
2175shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody). As such, the benchmark is
2176fine, and mostly shows that the AnyEvent backend from IO::Lambda isn't
2177very optimal. But how would AnyEvent compare when used without the extra
2178baggage? To explore this, I wrote the equivalent benchmark for AnyEvent.
2179
2180The benchmark itself creates an echo-server, and then, for 500 times,
2181connects to the echo server, sends a line, waits for the reply, and then
2182creates the next connection. This is a rather bad benchmark, as it doesn't
2183test the efficiency of the framework or much non-blocking I/O, but it is a
2184benchmark nevertheless.
2185
2186 name runtime
2187 Lambda/select 0.330 sec
2188 + optimized 0.122 sec
2189 Lambda/AnyEvent 0.327 sec
2190 + optimized 0.138 sec
2191 Raw sockets/select 0.077 sec
2192 POE/select, components 0.662 sec
2193 POE/select, raw sockets 0.226 sec
2194 POE/select, optimized 0.404 sec
2195
2196 AnyEvent/select/nb 0.085 sec
2197 AnyEvent/EV/nb 0.068 sec
2198 +state machine 0.134 sec
2199
2200The benchmark is also a bit unfair (my fault): the IO::Lambda/POE
2201benchmarks actually make blocking connects and use 100% blocking I/O,
2202defeating the purpose of an event-based solution. All of the newly
2203written AnyEvent benchmarks use 100% non-blocking connects (using
2204AnyEvent::Socket::tcp_connect and the asynchronous pure perl DNS
2205resolver), so AnyEvent is at a disadvantage here, as non-blocking connects
2206generally require a lot more bookkeeping and event handling than blocking
2207connects (which involve a single syscall only).
2208
2209The last AnyEvent benchmark additionally uses L<AnyEvent::Handle>, which
2210offers similar expressive power as POE and IO::Lambda, using conventional
2211Perl syntax. This means that both the echo server and the client are 100%
2212non-blocking, further placing it at a disadvantage.
2213
2214As you can see, the AnyEvent + EV combination even beats the
2215hand-optimised "raw sockets benchmark", while AnyEvent + its pure perl
2216backend easily beats IO::Lambda and POE.
2217
2218And even the 100% non-blocking version written using the high-level (and
2219slow :) L<AnyEvent::Handle> abstraction beats both POE and IO::Lambda by a
2220large margin, even though it does all of DNS, tcp-connect and socket I/O
2221in a non-blocking way.
2222
2223The two AnyEvent benchmarks programs can be found as F<eg/ae0.pl> and
2224F<eg/ae2.pl> in the AnyEvent distribution, the remaining benchmarks are
2225part of the IO::lambda distribution and were used without any changes.
2226
2227
2228=head1 SIGNALS
2229
2230AnyEvent currently installs handlers for these signals:
2231
2232=over 4
2233
2234=item SIGCHLD
2235
2236A handler for C<SIGCHLD> is installed by AnyEvent's child watcher
2237emulation for event loops that do not support them natively. Also, some
2238event loops install a similar handler.
2239
2240Additionally, when AnyEvent is loaded and SIGCHLD is set to IGNORE, then
2241AnyEvent will reset it to default, to avoid losing child exit statuses.
2242
2243=item SIGPIPE
2244
2245A no-op handler is installed for C<SIGPIPE> when C<$SIG{PIPE}> is C<undef>
2246when AnyEvent gets loaded.
2247
2248The rationale for this is that AnyEvent users usually do not really depend
2249on SIGPIPE delivery (which is purely an optimisation for shell use, or
2250badly-written programs), but C<SIGPIPE> can cause spurious and rare
2251program exits as a lot of people do not expect C<SIGPIPE> when writing to
2252some random socket.
2253
2254The rationale for installing a no-op handler as opposed to ignoring it is
2255that this way, the handler will be restored to defaults on exec.
2256
2257Feel free to install your own handler, or reset it to defaults.
2258
2259=back
2260
2261=cut
2262
2263undef $SIG{CHLD}
2264 if $SIG{CHLD} eq 'IGNORE';
2265
2266$SIG{PIPE} = sub { }
2267 unless defined $SIG{PIPE};
2268
2269=head1 RECOMMENDED/OPTIONAL MODULES
2270
2271One of AnyEvent's main goals is to be 100% Pure-Perl(tm): only perl (and
2272it's built-in modules) are required to use it.
2273
2274That does not mean that AnyEvent won't take advantage of some additional
2275modules if they are installed.
2276
2277This section epxlains which additional modules will be used, and how they
2278affect AnyEvent's operetion.
2279
2280=over 4
2281
2282=item L<Async::Interrupt>
2283
2284This slightly arcane module is used to implement fast signal handling: To
2285my knowledge, there is no way to do completely race-free and quick
2286signal handling in pure perl. To ensure that signals still get
2287delivered, AnyEvent will start an interval timer to wake up perl (and
2288catch the signals) with some delay (default is 10 seconds, look for
2289C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>).
2290
2291If this module is available, then it will be used to implement signal
2292catching, which means that signals will not be delayed, and the event loop
2293will not be interrupted regularly, which is more efficient (And good for
2294battery life on laptops).
2295
2296This affects not just the pure-perl event loop, but also other event loops
2297that have no signal handling on their own (e.g. Glib, Tk, Qt).
2298
2299Some event loops (POE, Event, Event::Lib) offer signal watchers natively,
2300and either employ their own workarounds (POE) or use AnyEvent's workaround
2301(using C<$AnyEvent::MAX_SIGNAL_LATENCY>). Installing L<Async::Interrupt>
2302does nothing for those backends.
2303
2304=item L<EV>
2305
2306This module isn't really "optional", as it is simply one of the backend
2307event loops that AnyEvent can use. However, it is simply the best event
2308loop available in terms of features, speed and stability: It supports
2309the AnyEvent API optimally, implements all the watcher types in XS, does
2310automatic timer adjustments even when no monotonic clock is available,
2311can take avdantage of advanced kernel interfaces such as C<epoll> and
2312C<kqueue>, and is the fastest backend I<by far>. You can even embed
2313L<Glib>/L<Gtk2> in it (or vice versa, see L<EV::Glib> and L<Glib::EV>).
2314
2315=item L<Guard>
2316
2317The guard module, when used, will be used to implement
2318C<AnyEvent::Util::guard>. This speeds up guards considerably (and uses a
2319lot less memory), but otherwise doesn't affect guard operation much. It is
2320purely used for performance.
2321
2322=item L<JSON> and L<JSON::XS>
2323
2324This module is required when you want to read or write JSON data via
2325L<AnyEvent::Handle>. It is also written in pure-perl, but can take
2326advantage of the ultra-high-speed L<JSON::XS> module when it is installed.
2327
2328In fact, L<AnyEvent::Handle> will use L<JSON::XS> by default if it is
2329installed.
2330
2331=item L<Net::SSLeay>
2332
2333Implementing TLS/SSL in Perl is certainly interesting, but not very
2334worthwhile: If this module is installed, then L<AnyEvent::Handle> (with
2335the help of L<AnyEvent::TLS>), gains the ability to do TLS/SSL.
2336
2337=item L<Time::HiRes>
2338
2339This module is part of perl since release 5.008. It will be used when the
2340chosen event library does not come with a timing source on it's own. The
2341pure-perl event loop (L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>) will additionally use it to
2342try to use a monotonic clock for timing stability.
2343
2344=back
2345
1023 2346
1024=head1 FORK 2347=head1 FORK
1025 2348
1026Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are 2349Most event libraries are not fork-safe. The ones who are usually are
1027because they are so inefficient. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware. 2350because they rely on inefficient but fork-safe C<select> or C<poll>
2351calls. Only L<EV> is fully fork-aware.
1028 2352
1029If you have to fork, you must either do so I<before> creating your first 2353If 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. 2354watcher OR you must not use AnyEvent at all in the child OR you must do
2355something completely out of the scope of AnyEvent.
1031 2356
1032 2357
1033=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS 2358=head1 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
1034 2359
1035AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via 2360AnyEvent can be forced to load any event model via
1040specified in the variable. 2365specified in the variable.
1041 2366
1042You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it 2367You can make AnyEvent completely ignore this variable by deleting it
1043before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block: 2368before the first watcher gets created, e.g. with a C<BEGIN> block:
1044 2369
1045 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} } 2370 BEGIN { delete $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL} }
1046 2371
1047 use AnyEvent; 2372 use AnyEvent;
2373
2374Similar considerations apply to $ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_VERBOSE}, as that can
2375be used to probe what backend is used and gain other information (which is
2376probably even less useful to an attacker than PERL_ANYEVENT_MODEL), and
2377$ENV{PERL_ANYEVENT_STRICT}.
2378
2379Note that AnyEvent will remove I<all> environment variables starting with
2380C<PERL_ANYEVENT_> from C<%ENV> when it is loaded while taint mode is
2381enabled.
2382
2383
2384=head1 BUGS
2385
2386Perl 5.8 has numerous memleaks that sometimes hit this module and are hard
2387to work around. If you suffer from memleaks, first upgrade to Perl 5.10
2388and check wether the leaks still show up. (Perl 5.10.0 has other annoying
2389memleaks, such as leaking on C<map> and C<grep> but it is usually not as
2390pronounced).
1048 2391
1049 2392
1050=head1 SEE ALSO 2393=head1 SEE ALSO
1051 2394
1052Event modules: L<Coro::EV>, L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, 2395Utility functions: L<AnyEvent::Util>.
1053L<Coro::Event>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>, L<Glib>, L<Coro>, L<Tk>, 2396
2397Event modules: L<EV>, L<EV::Glib>, L<Glib::EV>, L<Event>, L<Glib::Event>,
1054L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>. 2398L<Glib>, L<Tk>, L<Event::Lib>, L<Qt>, L<POE>.
1055 2399
1056Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, 2400Implementations: L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>,
1057L<AnyEvent::Impl::CoroEvent>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Event>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, 2401L<AnyEvent::Impl::Glib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>,
1058L<AnyEvent::Impl::Tk>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, 2402L<AnyEvent::Impl::EventLib>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>,
1059L<AnyEvent::Impl::Qt>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>. 2403L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>, L<AnyEvent::Impl::IOAsync>.
1060 2404
2405Non-blocking file handles, sockets, TCP clients and
2406servers: L<AnyEvent::Handle>, L<AnyEvent::Socket>, L<AnyEvent::TLS>.
2407
2408Asynchronous DNS: L<AnyEvent::DNS>.
2409
2410Coroutine support: L<Coro>, L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>,
2411L<Coro::Event>,
2412
1061Nontrivial usage examples: L<Net::FCP>, L<Net::XMPP2>. 2413Nontrivial usage examples: L<AnyEvent::GPSD>, L<AnyEvent::XMPP>,
2414L<AnyEvent::HTTP>.
1062 2415
1063 2416
1064=head1 AUTHOR 2417=head1 AUTHOR
1065 2418
1066 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 2419 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
1067 http://home.schmorp.de/ 2420 http://home.schmorp.de/
1068 2421
1069=cut 2422=cut
1070 2423
10711 24241
1072 2425

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