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Revision 1.121 by root, Fri Apr 13 12:56:55 2007 UTC

8 8
9 async { 9 async {
10 # some asynchronous thread of execution 10 # some asynchronous thread of execution
11 }; 11 };
12 12
13 # alternatively create an async process like this: 13 # alternatively create an async coroutine like this:
14 14
15 sub some_func : Coro { 15 sub some_func : Coro {
16 # some more async code 16 # some more async code
17 } 17 }
18 18
19 cede; 19 cede;
20 20
21=head1 DESCRIPTION 21=head1 DESCRIPTION
22 22
23This module collection manages coroutines. Coroutines are similar to 23This module collection manages coroutines. Coroutines are similar
24Threads but don't run in parallel. 24to threads but don't run in parallel at the same time even on SMP
25machines. The specific flavor of coroutine use din this module also
26guarentees you that it will not switch between coroutines unless
27necessary, at easily-identified points in your program, so locking and
28parallel access are rarely an issue, making coroutine programming much
29safer than threads programming.
25 30
26This module is still experimental, see the BUGS section below. 31(Perl, however, does not natively support real threads but instead does a
32very slow and memory-intensive emulation of processes using threads. This
33is a performance win on Windows machines, and a loss everywhere else).
27 34
28In this module, coroutines are defined as "callchain + lexical variables 35In this module, coroutines are defined as "callchain + lexical variables +
29+ @_ + $_ + $@ + $^W), that is, a coroutine has it's own callchain, it's 36@_ + $_ + $@ + $/ + C stack), that is, a coroutine has its own callchain,
30own set of lexicals and it's own set of perl's most important global 37its own set of lexicals and its own set of perls most important global
31variables. 38variables.
32 39
33WARNING: When using this module, make sure that, at program end, no
34coroutines are still running OR just call exit before falling off the
35end. The reason for this is that some coroutine of yours might have called
36into a C function, and falling off the end of main:: results in returning
37to that C function instead if to the main C interpreter.
38
39WARNING: Unless you really know what you are doing, do NOT do context
40switches inside callbacks from the XS level. The reason for this is
41similar to the reason above: A callback calls a perl function, this
42perl function does a context switch, some other callback is called, the
43original function returns from it - to what? To the wrong XS function,
44with totally different return values. Unfortunately, this includes
45callbacks done by perl itself (tie'd variables!).
46
47The only workaround for this is to do coroutines on C level.
48
49=cut 40=cut
50 41
51package Coro; 42package Coro;
52 43
44use strict;
45no warnings "uninitialized";
46
53use Coro::State; 47use Coro::State;
54 48
55use base Exporter; 49use base qw(Coro::State Exporter);
56 50
57$VERSION = 0.10; 51our $idle; # idle handler
52our $main; # main coroutine
53our $current; # current coroutine
58 54
55our $VERSION = '3.56';
56
59@EXPORT = qw(async cede schedule terminate current); 57our @EXPORT = qw(async async_pool cede schedule terminate current unblock_sub);
60@EXPORT_OK = qw($current); 58our %EXPORT_TAGS = (
59 prio => [qw(PRIO_MAX PRIO_HIGH PRIO_NORMAL PRIO_LOW PRIO_IDLE PRIO_MIN)],
60);
61our @EXPORT_OK = (@{$EXPORT_TAGS{prio}}, qw(nready));
61 62
62{ 63{
63 my @async; 64 my @async;
65 my $init;
64 66
65 # this way of handling attributes simply is NOT scalable ;() 67 # this way of handling attributes simply is NOT scalable ;()
66 sub import { 68 sub import {
69 no strict 'refs';
70
67 Coro->export_to_level(1, @_); 71 Coro->export_to_level (1, @_);
72
68 my $old = *{(caller)[0]."::MODIFY_CODE_ATTRIBUTES"}{CODE}; 73 my $old = *{(caller)[0]."::MODIFY_CODE_ATTRIBUTES"}{CODE};
69 *{(caller)[0]."::MODIFY_CODE_ATTRIBUTES"} = sub { 74 *{(caller)[0]."::MODIFY_CODE_ATTRIBUTES"} = sub {
70 my ($package, $ref) = (shift, shift); 75 my ($package, $ref) = (shift, shift);
71 my @attrs; 76 my @attrs;
72 for (@_) { 77 for (@_) {
73 if ($_ eq "Coro") { 78 if ($_ eq "Coro") {
74 push @async, $ref; 79 push @async, $ref;
80 unless ($init++) {
81 eval q{
82 sub INIT {
83 &async(pop @async) while @async;
84 }
85 };
86 }
75 } else { 87 } else {
76 push @attrs, $_; 88 push @attrs, $_;
77 } 89 }
78 } 90 }
79 return $old ? $old->($package, $ref, @attrs) : @attrs; 91 return $old ? $old->($package, $ref, @attrs) : @attrs;
80 }; 92 };
81 } 93 }
82 94
83 sub INIT {
84 &async(pop @async) while @async;
85 }
86} 95}
96
97=over 4
87 98
88=item $main 99=item $main
89 100
90This coroutine represents the main program. 101This coroutine represents the main program.
91 102
92=cut 103=cut
93 104
94our $main = new Coro; 105$main = new Coro;
95 106
96=item $current (or as function: current) 107=item $current (or as function: current)
97 108
98The current coroutine (the last coroutine switched to). The initial value is C<$main> (of course). 109The current coroutine (the last coroutine switched to). The initial value
110is C<$main> (of course).
111
112This variable is B<strictly> I<read-only>. It is provided for performance
113reasons. If performance is not essentiel you are encouraged to use the
114C<Coro::current> function instead.
99 115
100=cut 116=cut
101 117
102# maybe some other module used Coro::Specific before... 118# maybe some other module used Coro::Specific before...
103if ($current) {
104 $main->{specific} = $current->{specific}; 119$main->{specific} = $current->{specific}
105} 120 if $current;
106 121
107our $current = $main; 122_set_current $main;
108 123
109sub current() { $current } 124sub current() { $current }
110 125
111=item $idle 126=item $idle
112 127
113The coroutine to switch to when no other coroutine is running. The default 128A callback that is called whenever the scheduler finds no ready coroutines
114implementation prints "FATAL: deadlock detected" and exits. 129to run. The default implementation prints "FATAL: deadlock detected" and
130exits, because the program has no other way to continue.
115 131
116=cut 132This hook is overwritten by modules such as C<Coro::Timer> and
133C<Coro::Event> to wait on an external event that hopefully wake up a
134coroutine so the scheduler can run it.
117 135
118# should be done using priorities :( 136Please note that if your callback recursively invokes perl (e.g. for event
119our $idle = new Coro sub { 137handlers), then it must be prepared to be called recursively.
120 print STDERR "FATAL: deadlock detected\n"; 138
121 exit(51); 139=cut
140
141$idle = sub {
142 require Carp;
143 Carp::croak ("FATAL: deadlock detected");
122}; 144};
123 145
124# we really need priorities... 146sub _cancel {
125my @ready; # the ready queue. hehe, rather broken ;) 147 my ($self) = @_;
148
149 # free coroutine data and mark as destructed
150 $self->_destroy
151 or return;
152
153 # call all destruction callbacks
154 $_->(@{$self->{status}})
155 for @{(delete $self->{destroy_cb}) || []};
156}
157
158# this coroutine is necessary because a coroutine
159# cannot destroy itself.
160my @destroy;
161my $manager;
162
163$manager = new Coro sub {
164 while () {
165 (shift @destroy)->_cancel
166 while @destroy;
167
168 &schedule;
169 }
170};
171
172$manager->prio (PRIO_MAX);
126 173
127# static methods. not really. 174# static methods. not really.
128 175
176=back
177
129=head2 STATIC METHODS 178=head2 STATIC METHODS
130 179
131Static methods are actually functions that operate on the current process only. 180Static methods are actually functions that operate on the current coroutine only.
132 181
133=over 4 182=over 4
134 183
135=item async { ... } [@args...] 184=item async { ... } [@args...]
136 185
137Create a new asynchronous process and return it's process object 186Create a new asynchronous coroutine and return it's coroutine object
138(usually unused). When the sub returns the new process is automatically 187(usually unused). When the sub returns the new coroutine is automatically
139terminated. 188terminated.
189
190Calling C<exit> in a coroutine will try to do the same as calling exit
191outside the coroutine, but this is experimental. It is best not to rely on
192exit doing any cleanups or even not crashing.
193
194When the coroutine dies, the program will exit, just as in the main
195program.
140 196
141 # create a new coroutine that just prints its arguments 197 # create a new coroutine that just prints its arguments
142 async { 198 async {
143 print "@_\n"; 199 print "@_\n";
144 } 1,2,3,4; 200 } 1,2,3,4;
145 201
146The coderef you submit MUST NOT be a closure that refers to variables
147in an outer scope. This does NOT work. Pass arguments into it instead.
148
149=cut 202=cut
150 203
151sub async(&@) { 204sub async(&@) {
152 my $pid = new Coro @_; 205 my $coro = new Coro @_;
153 $pid->ready; 206 $coro->ready;
154 $pid; 207 $coro
208}
209
210=item async_pool { ... } [@args...]
211
212Similar to C<async>, but uses a coroutine pool, so you should not call
213terminate or join (although you are allowed to), and you get a coroutine
214that might have executed other code already (which can be good or bad :).
215
216Also, the block is executed in an C<eval> context and a warning will be
217issued in case of an exception instead of terminating the program, as
218C<async> does. As the coroutine is being reused, stuff like C<on_destroy>
219will not work in the expected way, unless you call terminate or cancel,
220which somehow defeats the purpose of pooling.
221
222The priority will be reset to C<0> after each job, otherwise the coroutine
223will be re-used "as-is".
224
225The pool size is limited to 8 idle coroutines (this can be adjusted by
226changing $Coro::POOL_SIZE), and there can be as many non-idle coros as
227required.
228
229If you are concerned about pooled coroutines growing a lot because a
230single C<async_pool> used a lot of stackspace you can e.g. C<async_pool {
231terminate }> once per second or so to slowly replenish the pool.
232
233=cut
234
235our $POOL_SIZE = 8;
236our @pool;
237
238sub pool_handler {
239 while () {
240 eval {
241 my ($cb, @arg) = @{ delete $current->{_invoke} or return };
242 $cb->(@arg);
243 };
244 warn $@ if $@;
245
246 last if @pool >= $POOL_SIZE;
247 push @pool, $current;
248
249 $current->save (Coro::State::SAVE_DEF);
250 $current->prio (0);
251 schedule;
252 }
253}
254
255sub async_pool(&@) {
256 # this is also inlined into the unlock_scheduler
257 my $coro = (pop @pool or new Coro \&pool_handler);
258
259 $coro->{_invoke} = [@_];
260 $coro->ready;
261
262 $coro
155} 263}
156 264
157=item schedule 265=item schedule
158 266
159Calls the scheduler. Please note that the current process will not be put 267Calls the scheduler. Please note that the current coroutine will not be put
160into the ready queue, so calling this function usually means you will 268into the ready queue, so calling this function usually means you will
161never be called again. 269never be called again unless something else (e.g. an event handler) calls
270ready.
162 271
163=cut 272The canonical way to wait on external events is this:
164 273
165my $prev; 274 {
275 # remember current coroutine
276 my $current = $Coro::current;
166 277
167sub schedule { 278 # register a hypothetical event handler
168 # should be done using priorities :( 279 on_event_invoke sub {
169 ($prev, $current) = ($current, shift @ready || $idle); 280 # wake up sleeping coroutine
170 Coro::State::transfer($prev, $current); 281 $current->ready;
171} 282 undef $current;
283 };
284
285 # call schedule until event occured.
286 # in case we are woken up for other reasons
287 # (current still defined), loop.
288 Coro::schedule while $current;
289 }
172 290
173=item cede 291=item cede
174 292
175"Cede" to other processes. This function puts the current process into the 293"Cede" to other coroutines. This function puts the current coroutine into the
176ready queue and calls C<schedule>, which has the effect of giving up the 294ready queue and calls C<schedule>, which has the effect of giving up the
177current "timeslice" to other coroutines of the same or higher priority. 295current "timeslice" to other coroutines of the same or higher priority.
178 296
179=cut 297Returns true if at least one coroutine switch has happened.
180 298
181sub cede { 299=item Coro::cede_notself
182 $current->ready;
183 &schedule;
184}
185 300
301Works like cede, but is not exported by default and will cede to any
302coroutine, regardless of priority, once.
303
304Returns true if at least one coroutine switch has happened.
305
186=item terminate 306=item terminate [arg...]
187 307
188Terminates the current process. 308Terminates the current coroutine with the given status values (see L<cancel>).
189
190Future versions of this function will allow result arguments.
191 309
192=cut 310=cut
193 311
194sub terminate { 312sub terminate {
195 my $self = $current; 313 $current->cancel (@_);
196 $self->{_results} = [@_];
197 $current = shift @ready || $idle;
198 Coro::State::transfer(delete $self->{_coro_state}, $current);
199 # cannot return
200 die;
201} 314}
202 315
203=back 316=back
204 317
205# dynamic methods 318# dynamic methods
206 319
207=head2 PROCESS METHODS 320=head2 COROUTINE METHODS
208 321
209These are the methods you can call on process objects. 322These are the methods you can call on coroutine objects.
210 323
211=over 4 324=over 4
212 325
213=item new Coro \&sub [, @args...] 326=item new Coro \&sub [, @args...]
214 327
215Create a new process and return it. When the sub returns the process 328Create a new coroutine and return it. When the sub returns the coroutine
216automatically terminates. To start the process you must first put it into 329automatically terminates as if C<terminate> with the returned values were
330called. To make the coroutine run you must first put it into the ready queue
217the ready queue by calling the ready method. 331by calling the ready method.
218 332
219The coderef you submit MUST NOT be a closure that refers to variables 333See C<async> for additional discussion.
220in an outer scope. This does NOT work. Pass arguments into it instead.
221 334
222=cut 335=cut
223 336
224sub _newcoro { 337sub _run_coro {
225 terminate &{+shift}; 338 terminate &{+shift};
226} 339}
227 340
228sub new { 341sub new {
229 my $class = shift; 342 my $class = shift;
230 bless {
231 _coro_state => (new Coro::State $_[0] && \&_newcoro, @_),
232 }, $class;
233}
234 343
235=item $process->ready 344 $class->SUPER::new (\&_run_coro, @_)
345}
236 346
237Put the current process into the ready queue. 347=item $success = $coroutine->ready
238 348
239=cut 349Put the given coroutine into the ready queue (according to it's priority)
350and return true. If the coroutine is already in the ready queue, do nothing
351and return false.
240 352
241sub ready { 353=item $is_ready = $coroutine->is_ready
242 push @ready, $_[0]; 354
355Return wether the coroutine is currently the ready queue or not,
356
357=item $coroutine->cancel (arg...)
358
359Terminates the given coroutine and makes it return the given arguments as
360status (default: the empty list). Never returns if the coroutine is the
361current coroutine.
362
363=cut
364
365sub cancel {
366 my $self = shift;
367 $self->{status} = [@_];
368
369 if ($current == $self) {
370 push @destroy, $self;
371 $manager->ready;
372 &schedule while 1;
373 } else {
374 $self->_cancel;
375 }
376}
377
378=item $coroutine->join
379
380Wait until the coroutine terminates and return any values given to the
381C<terminate> or C<cancel> functions. C<join> can be called multiple times
382from multiple coroutine.
383
384=cut
385
386sub join {
387 my $self = shift;
388
389 unless ($self->{status}) {
390 my $current = $current;
391
392 push @{$self->{destroy_cb}}, sub {
393 $current->ready;
394 undef $current;
395 };
396
397 &schedule while $current;
398 }
399
400 wantarray ? @{$self->{status}} : $self->{status}[0];
401}
402
403=item $coroutine->on_destroy (\&cb)
404
405Registers a callback that is called when this coroutine gets destroyed,
406but before it is joined. The callback gets passed the terminate arguments,
407if any.
408
409=cut
410
411sub on_destroy {
412 my ($self, $cb) = @_;
413
414 push @{ $self->{destroy_cb} }, $cb;
415}
416
417=item $oldprio = $coroutine->prio ($newprio)
418
419Sets (or gets, if the argument is missing) the priority of the
420coroutine. Higher priority coroutines get run before lower priority
421coroutines. Priorities are small signed integers (currently -4 .. +3),
422that you can refer to using PRIO_xxx constants (use the import tag :prio
423to get then):
424
425 PRIO_MAX > PRIO_HIGH > PRIO_NORMAL > PRIO_LOW > PRIO_IDLE > PRIO_MIN
426 3 > 1 > 0 > -1 > -3 > -4
427
428 # set priority to HIGH
429 current->prio(PRIO_HIGH);
430
431The idle coroutine ($Coro::idle) always has a lower priority than any
432existing coroutine.
433
434Changing the priority of the current coroutine will take effect immediately,
435but changing the priority of coroutines in the ready queue (but not
436running) will only take effect after the next schedule (of that
437coroutine). This is a bug that will be fixed in some future version.
438
439=item $newprio = $coroutine->nice ($change)
440
441Similar to C<prio>, but subtract the given value from the priority (i.e.
442higher values mean lower priority, just as in unix).
443
444=item $olddesc = $coroutine->desc ($newdesc)
445
446Sets (or gets in case the argument is missing) the description for this
447coroutine. This is just a free-form string you can associate with a coroutine.
448
449=cut
450
451sub desc {
452 my $old = $_[0]{desc};
453 $_[0]{desc} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
454 $old;
243} 455}
244 456
245=back 457=back
246 458
459=head2 GLOBAL FUNCTIONS
460
461=over 4
462
463=item Coro::nready
464
465Returns the number of coroutines that are currently in the ready state,
466i.e. that can be swicthed to. The value C<0> means that the only runnable
467coroutine is the currently running one, so C<cede> would have no effect,
468and C<schedule> would cause a deadlock unless there is an idle handler
469that wakes up some coroutines.
470
471=item my $guard = Coro::guard { ... }
472
473This creates and returns a guard object. Nothing happens until the object
474gets destroyed, in which case the codeblock given as argument will be
475executed. This is useful to free locks or other resources in case of a
476runtime error or when the coroutine gets canceled, as in both cases the
477guard block will be executed. The guard object supports only one method,
478C<< ->cancel >>, which will keep the codeblock from being executed.
479
480Example: set some flag and clear it again when the coroutine gets canceled
481or the function returns:
482
483 sub do_something {
484 my $guard = Coro::guard { $busy = 0 };
485 $busy = 1;
486
487 # do something that requires $busy to be true
488 }
489
490=cut
491
492sub guard(&) {
493 bless \(my $cb = $_[0]), "Coro::guard"
494}
495
496sub Coro::guard::cancel {
497 ${$_[0]} = sub { };
498}
499
500sub Coro::guard::DESTROY {
501 ${$_[0]}->();
502}
503
504
505=item unblock_sub { ... }
506
507This utility function takes a BLOCK or code reference and "unblocks" it,
508returning the new coderef. This means that the new coderef will return
509immediately without blocking, returning nothing, while the original code
510ref will be called (with parameters) from within its own coroutine.
511
512The reason this fucntion exists is that many event libraries (such as the
513venerable L<Event|Event> module) are not coroutine-safe (a weaker form
514of thread-safety). This means you must not block within event callbacks,
515otherwise you might suffer from crashes or worse.
516
517This function allows your callbacks to block by executing them in another
518coroutine where it is safe to block. One example where blocking is handy
519is when you use the L<Coro::AIO|Coro::AIO> functions to save results to
520disk.
521
522In short: simply use C<unblock_sub { ... }> instead of C<sub { ... }> when
523creating event callbacks that want to block.
524
525=cut
526
527our @unblock_queue;
528
529# we create a special coro because we want to cede,
530# to reduce pressure on the coro pool (because most callbacks
531# return immediately and can be reused) and because we cannot cede
532# inside an event callback.
533our $unblock_scheduler = async {
534 while () {
535 while (my $cb = pop @unblock_queue) {
536 # this is an inlined copy of async_pool
537 my $coro = (pop @pool or new Coro \&pool_handler);
538
539 $coro->{_invoke} = $cb;
540 $coro->ready;
541 cede; # for short-lived callbacks, this reduces pressure on the coro pool
542 }
543 schedule; # sleep well
544 }
545};
546
547sub unblock_sub(&) {
548 my $cb = shift;
549
550 sub {
551 unshift @unblock_queue, [$cb, @_];
552 $unblock_scheduler->ready;
553 }
554}
555
556=back
557
247=cut 558=cut
248 559
2491; 5601;
250 561
251=head1 BUGS/LIMITATIONS 562=head1 BUGS/LIMITATIONS
252 563
253 - could be faster, especially when the core would introduce special 564 - you must make very sure that no coro is still active on global
254 support for coroutines (like it does for threads). 565 destruction. very bad things might happen otherwise (usually segfaults).
255 - there is still a memleak on coroutine termination that I could not 566
256 identify. Could be as small as a single SV.
257 - this module is not well-tested.
258 - if variables or arguments "disappear" (become undef) or become
259 corrupted please contact the author so he cen iron out the
260 remaining bugs.
261 - this module is not thread-safe. You must only ever use this module from 567 - this module is not thread-safe. You should only ever use this module
262 the same thread (this requirement might be loosened in the future to 568 from the same thread (this requirement might be losened in the future
263 allow per-thread schedulers, but Coro::State does not yet allow this). 569 to allow per-thread schedulers, but Coro::State does not yet allow
570 this).
264 571
265=head1 SEE ALSO 572=head1 SEE ALSO
266 573
267L<Coro::Channel>, L<Coro::Cont>, L<Coro::Specific>, L<Coro::Semaphore>, 574Support/Utility: L<Coro::Cont>, L<Coro::Specific>, L<Coro::State>, L<Coro::Util>.
268L<Coro::Signal>, L<Coro::State>, L<Coro::Event>. 575
576Locking/IPC: L<Coro::Signal>, L<Coro::Channel>, L<Coro::Semaphore>, L<Coro::SemaphoreSet>, L<Coro::RWLock>.
577
578Event/IO: L<Coro::Timer>, L<Coro::Event>, L<Coro::Handle>, L<Coro::Socket>, L<Coro::Select>.
579
580Embedding: L<Coro:MakeMaker>
269 581
270=head1 AUTHOR 582=head1 AUTHOR
271 583
272 Marc Lehmann <pcg@goof.com> 584 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
273 http://www.goof.com/pcg/marc/ 585 http://home.schmorp.de/
274 586
275=cut 587=cut
276 588

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