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1=head1 NAME 1=head1 NAME
2 2
3Coro - create and manage simple coroutines 3Coro - the only real threads in perl
4 4
5=head1 SYNOPSIS 5=head1 SYNOPSIS
6 6
7 use Coro; 7 use Coro;
8 8
9 $new = new Coro sub { 9 async {
10 print "in coroutine, switching back\n"; 10 # some asynchronous thread of execution
11 $new->transfer($main); 11 print "2\n";
12 print "in coroutine again, switching back\n"; 12 cede; # yield back to main
13 $new->transfer($main); 13 print "4\n";
14 }; 14 };
15 15 print "1\n";
16 $main = new Coro; 16 cede; # yield to coro
17 17 print "3\n";
18 print "in main, switching to coroutine\n"; 18 cede; # and again
19 $main->transfer($new); 19
20 print "back in main, switch to coroutine again\n"; 20 # use locking
21 $main->transfer($new); 21 my $lock = new Coro::Semaphore;
22 print "back in main\n"; 22 my $locked;
23
24 $lock->down;
25 $locked = 1;
26 $lock->up;
23 27
24=head1 DESCRIPTION 28=head1 DESCRIPTION
25 29
26This module implements coroutines. Coroutines, similar to continuations, 30For a tutorial-style introduction, please read the L<Coro::Intro>
27allow you to run more than one "thread of execution" in parallel. Unlike 31manpage. This manpage mainly contains reference information.
28threads this, only voluntary switching is used so locking problems are
29greatly reduced.
30 32
31Although this is the "main" module of the Coro family it provides only 33This module collection manages continuations in general, most often in
32low-level functionality. See L<Coro::Process> and related modules for a 34the form of cooperative threads (also called coros, or simply "coro"
33more useful process abstraction including scheduling. 35in the documentation). They are similar to kernel threads but don't (in
36general) run in parallel at the same time even on SMP machines. The
37specific flavor of thread offered by this module also guarantees you that
38it will not switch between threads unless necessary, at easily-identified
39points in your program, so locking and parallel access are rarely an
40issue, making thread programming much safer and easier than using other
41thread models.
42
43Unlike the so-called "Perl threads" (which are not actually real threads
44but only the windows process emulation (see section of same name for
45more details) ported to UNIX, and as such act as processes), Coro
46provides a full shared address space, which makes communication between
47threads very easy. And coro threads are fast, too: disabling the Windows
48process emulation code in your perl and using Coro can easily result in
49a two to four times speed increase for your programs. A parallel matrix
50multiplication benchmark (very communication-intensive) runs over 300
51times faster on a single core than perls pseudo-threads on a quad core
52using all four cores.
53
54Coro achieves that by supporting multiple running interpreters that share
55data, which is especially useful to code pseudo-parallel processes and
56for event-based programming, such as multiple HTTP-GET requests running
57concurrently. See L<Coro::AnyEvent> to learn more on how to integrate Coro
58into an event-based environment.
59
60In this module, a thread is defined as "callchain + lexical variables +
61some package variables + C stack), that is, a thread has its own callchain,
62its own set of lexicals and its own set of perls most important global
63variables (see L<Coro::State> for more configuration and background info).
64
65See also the C<SEE ALSO> section at the end of this document - the Coro
66module family is quite large.
67
68=head1 CORO THREAD LIFE CYCLE
69
70During the long and exciting (or not) life of a coro thread, it goes
71through a number of states:
34 72
35=over 4 73=over 4
36 74
75=item 1. Creation
76
77The first thing in the life of a coro thread is it's creation -
78obviously. The typical way to create a thread is to call the C<async
79BLOCK> function:
80
81 async {
82 # thread code goes here
83 };
84
85You can also pass arguments, which are put in C<@_>:
86
87 async {
88 print $_[1]; # prints 2
89 } 1, 2, 3;
90
91This creates a new coro thread and puts it into the ready queue, meaning
92it will run as soon as the CPU is free for it.
93
94C<async> will return a Coro object - you can store this for future
95reference or ignore it - a thread that is running, ready to run or waiting
96for some event is alive on it's own.
97
98Another way to create a thread is to call the C<new> constructor with a
99code-reference:
100
101 new Coro sub {
102 # thread code goes here
103 }, @optional_arguments;
104
105This is quite similar to calling C<async>, but the important difference is
106that the new thread is not put into the ready queue, so the thread will
107not run until somebody puts it there. C<async> is, therefore, identical to
108this sequence:
109
110 my $coro = new Coro sub {
111 # thread code goes here
112 };
113 $coro->ready;
114 return $coro;
115
116=item 2. Startup
117
118When a new coro thread is created, only a copy of the code reference
119and the arguments are stored, no extra memory for stacks and so on is
120allocated, keeping the coro thread in a low-memory state.
121
122Only when it actually starts executing will all the resources be finally
123allocated.
124
125The optional arguments specified at coro creation are available in C<@_>,
126similar to function calls.
127
128=item 3. Running / Blocking
129
130A lot can happen after the coro thread has started running. Quite usually,
131it will not run to the end in one go (because you could use a function
132instead), but it will give up the CPU regularly because it waits for
133external events.
134
135As long as a coro thread runs, its Coro object is available in the global
136variable C<$Coro::current>.
137
138The low-level way to give up the CPU is to call the scheduler, which
139selects a new coro thread to run:
140
141 Coro::schedule;
142
143Since running threads are not in the ready queue, calling the scheduler
144without doing anything else will block the coro thread forever - you need
145to arrange either for the coro to put woken up (readied) by some other
146event or some other thread, or you can put it into the ready queue before
147scheduling:
148
149 # this is exactly what Coro::cede does
150 $Coro::current->ready;
151 Coro::schedule;
152
153All the higher-level synchronisation methods (Coro::Semaphore,
154Coro::rouse_*...) are actually implemented via C<< ->ready >> and C<<
155Coro::schedule >>.
156
157While the coro thread is running it also might get assigned a C-level
158thread, or the C-level thread might be unassigned from it, as the Coro
159runtime wishes. A C-level thread needs to be assigned when your perl
160thread calls into some C-level function and that function in turn calls
161perl and perl then wants to switch coroutines. This happens most often
162when you run an event loop and block in the callback, or when perl
163itself calls some function such as C<AUTOLOAD> or methods via the C<tie>
164mechanism.
165
166=item 4. Termination
167
168Many threads actually terminate after some time. There are a number of
169ways to terminate a coro thread, the simplest is returning from the
170top-level code reference:
171
172 async {
173 # after returning from here, the coro thread is terminated
174 };
175
176 async {
177 return if 0.5 < rand; # terminate a little earlier, maybe
178 print "got a chance to print this\n";
179 # or here
180 };
181
182Any values returned from the coroutine can be recovered using C<< ->join
183>>:
184
185 my $coro = async {
186 "hello, world\n" # return a string
187 };
188
189 my $hello_world = $coro->join;
190
191 print $hello_world;
192
193Another way to terminate is to call C<< Coro::terminate >>, which at any
194subroutine call nesting level:
195
196 async {
197 Coro::terminate "return value 1", "return value 2";
198 };
199
200Yet another way is to C<< ->cancel >> (or C<< ->safe_cancel >>) the coro
201thread from another thread:
202
203 my $coro = async {
204 exit 1;
205 };
206
207 $coro->cancel; # also accepts values for ->join to retrieve
208
209Cancellation I<can> be dangerous - it's a bit like calling C<exit> without
210actually exiting, and might leave C libraries and XS modules in a weird
211state. Unlike other thread implementations, however, Coro is exceptionally
212safe with regards to cancellation, as perl will always be in a consistent
213state, and for those cases where you want to do truly marvellous things
214with your coro while it is being cancelled - that is, make sure all
215cleanup code is executed from the thread being cancelled - there is even a
216C<< ->safe_cancel >> method.
217
218So, cancelling a thread that runs in an XS event loop might not be the
219best idea, but any other combination that deals with perl only (cancelling
220when a thread is in a C<tie> method or an C<AUTOLOAD> for example) is
221safe.
222
223Last not least, a coro thread object that isn't referenced is C<<
224->cancel >>'ed automatically - just like other objects in Perl. This
225is not such a common case, however - a running thread is referencedy by
226C<$Coro::current>, a thread ready to run is referenced by the ready queue,
227a thread waiting on a lock or semaphore is referenced by being in some
228wait list and so on. But a thread that isn't in any of those queues gets
229cancelled:
230
231 async {
232 schedule; # cede to other coros, don't go into the ready queue
233 };
234
235 cede;
236 # now the async above is destroyed, as it is not referenced by anything.
237
238A slightly embellished example might make it clearer:
239
240 async {
241 my $guard = Guard::guard { print "destroyed\n" };
242 schedule while 1;
243 };
244
245 cede;
246
247Superficially one might not expect any output - since the C<async>
248implements an endless loop, the C<$guard> will not be cleaned up. However,
249since the thread object returned by C<async> is not stored anywhere, the
250thread is initially referenced because it is in the ready queue, when it
251runs it is referenced by C<$Coro::current>, but when it calls C<schedule>,
252it gets C<cancel>ed causing the guard object to be destroyed (see the next
253section), and printing it's message.
254
255If this seems a bit drastic, remember that this only happens when nothing
256references the thread anymore, which means there is no way to further
257execute it, ever. The only options at this point are leaking the thread,
258or cleaning it up, which brings us to...
259
260=item 5. Cleanup
261
262Threads will allocate various resources. Most but not all will be returned
263when a thread terminates, during clean-up.
264
265Cleanup is quite similar to throwing an uncaught exception: perl will
266work it's way up through all subroutine calls and blocks. On it's way, it
267will release all C<my> variables, undo all C<local>'s and free any other
268resources truly local to the thread.
269
270So, a common way to free resources is to keep them referenced only by my
271variables:
272
273 async {
274 my $big_cache = new Cache ...;
275 };
276
277If there are no other references, then the C<$big_cache> object will be
278freed when the thread terminates, regardless of how it does so.
279
280What it does C<NOT> do is unlock any Coro::Semaphores or similar
281resources, but that's where the C<guard> methods come in handy:
282
283 my $sem = new Coro::Semaphore;
284
285 async {
286 my $lock_guard = $sem->guard;
287 # if we return, or die or get cancelled, here,
288 # then the semaphore will be "up"ed.
289 };
290
291The C<Guard::guard> function comes in handy for any custom cleanup you
292might want to do (but you cannot switch to other coroutines from those
293code blocks):
294
295 async {
296 my $window = new Gtk2::Window "toplevel";
297 # The window will not be cleaned up automatically, even when $window
298 # gets freed, so use a guard to ensure it's destruction
299 # in case of an error:
300 my $window_guard = Guard::guard { $window->destroy };
301
302 # we are safe here
303 };
304
305Last not least, C<local> can often be handy, too, e.g. when temporarily
306replacing the coro thread description:
307
308 sub myfunction {
309 local $Coro::current->{desc} = "inside myfunction(@_)";
310
311 # if we return or die here, the description will be restored
312 }
313
314=item 6. Viva La Zombie Muerte
315
316Even after a thread has terminated and cleaned up its resources, the Coro
317object still is there and stores the return values of the thread.
318
319When there are no other references, it will simply be cleaned up and
320freed.
321
322If there areany references, the Coro object will stay around, and you
323can call C<< ->join >> as many times as you wish to retrieve the result
324values:
325
326 async {
327 print "hi\n";
328 1
329 };
330
331 # run the async above, and free everything before returning
332 # from Coro::cede:
333 Coro::cede;
334
335 {
336 my $coro = async {
337 print "hi\n";
338 1
339 };
340
341 # run the async above, and clean up, but do not free the coro
342 # object:
343 Coro::cede;
344
345 # optionally retrieve the result values
346 my @results = $coro->join;
347
348 # now $coro goes out of scope, and presumably gets freed
349 };
350
351=back
352
37=cut 353=cut
38 354
39package Coro; 355package Coro;
40 356
41BEGIN { 357use common::sense;
42 $VERSION = 0.03;
43 358
44 require XSLoader; 359use Carp ();
45 XSLoader::load Coro, $VERSION; 360
361use Guard ();
362
363use Coro::State;
364
365use base qw(Coro::State Exporter);
366
367our $idle; # idle handler
368our $main; # main coro
369our $current; # current coro
370
371our $VERSION = 6.48;
372
373our @EXPORT = qw(async async_pool cede schedule terminate current unblock_sub rouse_cb rouse_wait);
374our %EXPORT_TAGS = (
375 prio => [qw(PRIO_MAX PRIO_HIGH PRIO_NORMAL PRIO_LOW PRIO_IDLE PRIO_MIN)],
376);
377our @EXPORT_OK = (@{$EXPORT_TAGS{prio}}, qw(nready));
378
379=head1 GLOBAL VARIABLES
380
381=over 4
382
383=item $Coro::main
384
385This variable stores the Coro object that represents the main
386program. While you can C<ready> it and do most other things you can do to
387coro, it is mainly useful to compare again C<$Coro::current>, to see
388whether you are running in the main program or not.
389
390=cut
391
392# $main is now being initialised by Coro::State
393
394=item $Coro::current
395
396The Coro object representing the current coro (the last
397coro that the Coro scheduler switched to). The initial value is
398C<$Coro::main> (of course).
399
400This variable is B<strictly> I<read-only>. You can take copies of the
401value stored in it and use it as any other Coro object, but you must
402not otherwise modify the variable itself.
403
404=cut
405
406sub current() { $current } # [DEPRECATED]
407
408=item $Coro::idle
409
410This variable is mainly useful to integrate Coro into event loops. It is
411usually better to rely on L<Coro::AnyEvent> or L<Coro::EV>, as this is
412pretty low-level functionality.
413
414This variable stores a Coro object that is put into the ready queue when
415there are no other ready threads (without invoking any ready hooks).
416
417The default implementation dies with "FATAL: deadlock detected.", followed
418by a thread listing, because the program has no other way to continue.
419
420This hook is overwritten by modules such as C<Coro::EV> and
421C<Coro::AnyEvent> to wait on an external event that hopefully wakes up a
422coro so the scheduler can run it.
423
424See L<Coro::EV> or L<Coro::AnyEvent> for examples of using this technique.
425
426=cut
427
428# ||= because other modules could have provided their own by now
429$idle ||= new Coro sub {
430 require Coro::Debug;
431 die "FATAL: deadlock detected.\n"
432 . Coro::Debug::ps_listing ();
433};
434
435# this coro is necessary because a coro
436# cannot destroy itself.
437our @destroy;
438our $manager;
439
440$manager = new Coro sub {
441 while () {
442 _destroy shift @destroy
443 while @destroy;
444
445 &schedule;
446 }
447};
448$manager->{desc} = "[coro manager]";
449$manager->prio (PRIO_MAX);
450
451=back
452
453=head1 SIMPLE CORO CREATION
454
455=over 4
456
457=item async { ... } [@args...]
458
459Create a new coro and return its Coro object (usually
460unused). The coro will be put into the ready queue, so
461it will start running automatically on the next scheduler run.
462
463The first argument is a codeblock/closure that should be executed in the
464coro. When it returns argument returns the coro is automatically
465terminated.
466
467The remaining arguments are passed as arguments to the closure.
468
469See the C<Coro::State::new> constructor for info about the coro
470environment in which coro are executed.
471
472Calling C<exit> in a coro will do the same as calling exit outside
473the coro. Likewise, when the coro dies, the program will exit,
474just as it would in the main program.
475
476If you do not want that, you can provide a default C<die> handler, or
477simply avoid dieing (by use of C<eval>).
478
479Example: Create a new coro that just prints its arguments.
480
481 async {
482 print "@_\n";
483 } 1,2,3,4;
484
485=item async_pool { ... } [@args...]
486
487Similar to C<async>, but uses a coro pool, so you should not call
488terminate or join on it (although you are allowed to), and you get a
489coro that might have executed other code already (which can be good
490or bad :).
491
492On the plus side, this function is about twice as fast as creating (and
493destroying) a completely new coro, so if you need a lot of generic
494coros in quick successsion, use C<async_pool>, not C<async>.
495
496The code block is executed in an C<eval> context and a warning will be
497issued in case of an exception instead of terminating the program, as
498C<async> does. As the coro is being reused, stuff like C<on_destroy>
499will not work in the expected way, unless you call terminate or cancel,
500which somehow defeats the purpose of pooling (but is fine in the
501exceptional case).
502
503The priority will be reset to C<0> after each run, tracing will be
504disabled, the description will be reset and the default output filehandle
505gets restored, so you can change all these. Otherwise the coro will
506be re-used "as-is": most notably if you change other per-coro global
507stuff such as C<$/> you I<must needs> revert that change, which is most
508simply done by using local as in: C<< local $/ >>.
509
510The idle pool size is limited to C<8> idle coros (this can be
511adjusted by changing $Coro::POOL_SIZE), but there can be as many non-idle
512coros as required.
513
514If you are concerned about pooled coros growing a lot because a
515single C<async_pool> used a lot of stackspace you can e.g. C<async_pool
516{ terminate }> once per second or so to slowly replenish the pool. In
517addition to that, when the stacks used by a handler grows larger than 32kb
518(adjustable via $Coro::POOL_RSS) it will also be destroyed.
519
520=cut
521
522our $POOL_SIZE = 8;
523our $POOL_RSS = 32 * 1024;
524our @async_pool;
525
526sub pool_handler {
527 while () {
528 eval {
529 &{&_pool_handler} while 1;
530 };
531
532 warn $@ if $@;
533 }
46} 534}
47 535
48=item $coro = new [$coderef [, @args]] 536=back
49 537
50Create a new coroutine and return it. The first C<transfer> call to this 538=head1 STATIC METHODS
51coroutine will start execution at the given coderef. If, the subroutine
52returns it will be executed again.
53 539
54If the coderef is omitted this function will create a new "empty" 540Static methods are actually functions that implicitly operate on the
55coroutine, i.e. a coroutine that cannot be transfered to but can be used 541current coro.
56to save the current coroutine in. 542
543=over 4
544
545=item schedule
546
547Calls the scheduler. The scheduler will find the next coro that is
548to be run from the ready queue and switches to it. The next coro
549to be run is simply the one with the highest priority that is longest
550in its ready queue. If there is no coro ready, it will call the
551C<$Coro::idle> hook.
552
553Please note that the current coro will I<not> be put into the ready
554queue, so calling this function usually means you will never be called
555again unless something else (e.g. an event handler) calls C<< ->ready >>,
556thus waking you up.
557
558This makes C<schedule> I<the> generic method to use to block the current
559coro and wait for events: first you remember the current coro in
560a variable, then arrange for some callback of yours to call C<< ->ready
561>> on that once some event happens, and last you call C<schedule> to put
562yourself to sleep. Note that a lot of things can wake your coro up,
563so you need to check whether the event indeed happened, e.g. by storing the
564status in a variable.
565
566See B<HOW TO WAIT FOR A CALLBACK>, below, for some ways to wait for callbacks.
567
568=item cede
569
570"Cede" to other coros. This function puts the current coro into
571the ready queue and calls C<schedule>, which has the effect of giving
572up the current "timeslice" to other coros of the same or higher
573priority. Once your coro gets its turn again it will automatically be
574resumed.
575
576This function is often called C<yield> in other languages.
577
578=item Coro::cede_notself
579
580Works like cede, but is not exported by default and will cede to I<any>
581coro, regardless of priority. This is useful sometimes to ensure
582progress is made.
583
584=item terminate [arg...]
585
586Terminates the current coro with the given status values (see
587L<cancel>). The values will not be copied, but referenced directly.
588
589=item Coro::on_enter BLOCK, Coro::on_leave BLOCK
590
591These function install enter and leave winders in the current scope. The
592enter block will be executed when on_enter is called and whenever the
593current coro is re-entered by the scheduler, while the leave block is
594executed whenever the current coro is blocked by the scheduler, and
595also when the containing scope is exited (by whatever means, be it exit,
596die, last etc.).
597
598I<Neither invoking the scheduler, nor exceptions, are allowed within those
599BLOCKs>. That means: do not even think about calling C<die> without an
600eval, and do not even think of entering the scheduler in any way.
601
602Since both BLOCKs are tied to the current scope, they will automatically
603be removed when the current scope exits.
604
605These functions implement the same concept as C<dynamic-wind> in scheme
606does, and are useful when you want to localise some resource to a specific
607coro.
608
609They slow down thread switching considerably for coros that use them
610(about 40% for a BLOCK with a single assignment, so thread switching is
611still reasonably fast if the handlers are fast).
612
613These functions are best understood by an example: The following function
614will change the current timezone to "Antarctica/South_Pole", which
615requires a call to C<tzset>, but by using C<on_enter> and C<on_leave>,
616which remember/change the current timezone and restore the previous
617value, respectively, the timezone is only changed for the coro that
618installed those handlers.
619
620 use POSIX qw(tzset);
621
622 async {
623 my $old_tz; # store outside TZ value here
624
625 Coro::on_enter {
626 $old_tz = $ENV{TZ}; # remember the old value
627
628 $ENV{TZ} = "Antarctica/South_Pole";
629 tzset; # enable new value
630 };
631
632 Coro::on_leave {
633 $ENV{TZ} = $old_tz;
634 tzset; # restore old value
635 };
636
637 # at this place, the timezone is Antarctica/South_Pole,
638 # without disturbing the TZ of any other coro.
639 };
640
641This can be used to localise about any resource (locale, uid, current
642working directory etc.) to a block, despite the existance of other
643coros.
644
645Another interesting example implements time-sliced multitasking using
646interval timers (this could obviously be optimised, but does the job):
647
648 # "timeslice" the given block
649 sub timeslice(&) {
650 use Time::HiRes ();
651
652 Coro::on_enter {
653 # on entering the thread, we set an VTALRM handler to cede
654 $SIG{VTALRM} = sub { cede };
655 # and then start the interval timer
656 Time::HiRes::setitimer &Time::HiRes::ITIMER_VIRTUAL, 0.01, 0.01;
657 };
658 Coro::on_leave {
659 # on leaving the thread, we stop the interval timer again
660 Time::HiRes::setitimer &Time::HiRes::ITIMER_VIRTUAL, 0, 0;
661 };
662
663 &{+shift};
664 }
665
666 # use like this:
667 timeslice {
668 # The following is an endless loop that would normally
669 # monopolise the process. Since it runs in a timesliced
670 # environment, it will regularly cede to other threads.
671 while () { }
672 };
673
674
675=item killall
676
677Kills/terminates/cancels all coros except the currently running one.
678
679Note that while this will try to free some of the main interpreter
680resources if the calling coro isn't the main coro, but one
681cannot free all of them, so if a coro that is not the main coro
682calls this function, there will be some one-time resource leak.
57 683
58=cut 684=cut
59 685
60sub new { 686sub killall {
61 my $class = $_[0]; 687 for (Coro::State::list) {
62 my $proc = $_[1] || sub { die "tried to transfer to an empty coroutine" }; 688 $_->cancel
63 bless _newprocess { 689 if $_ != $current && UNIVERSAL::isa $_, "Coro";
64 do { 690 }
65 eval { &$proc };
66 if ($@) {
67 $error_msg = $@;
68 $error_coro = _newprocess { };
69 &transfer($error_coro, $error);
70 }
71 } while (1);
72 }, $class;
73} 691}
74 692
75=item $prev->transfer($next) 693=back
76 694
77Save the state of the current subroutine in $prev and switch to the 695=head1 CORO OBJECT METHODS
78coroutine saved in $next. 696
697These are the methods you can call on coro objects (or to create
698them).
699
700=over 4
701
702=item new Coro \&sub [, @args...]
703
704Create a new coro and return it. When the sub returns, the coro
705automatically terminates as if C<terminate> with the returned values were
706called. To make the coro run you must first put it into the ready
707queue by calling the ready method.
708
709See C<async> and C<Coro::State::new> for additional info about the
710coro environment.
79 711
80=cut 712=cut
81 713
82# I call the _transfer function from a perl function 714sub _coro_run {
83# because that way perl saves all important things on 715 terminate &{+shift};
84# the stack. 716}
717
718=item $success = $coro->ready
719
720Put the given coro into the end of its ready queue (there is one
721queue for each priority) and return true. If the coro is already in
722the ready queue, do nothing and return false.
723
724This ensures that the scheduler will resume this coro automatically
725once all the coro of higher priority and all coro of the same
726priority that were put into the ready queue earlier have been resumed.
727
728=item $coro->suspend
729
730Suspends the specified coro. A suspended coro works just like any other
731coro, except that the scheduler will not select a suspended coro for
732execution.
733
734Suspending a coro can be useful when you want to keep the coro from
735running, but you don't want to destroy it, or when you want to temporarily
736freeze a coro (e.g. for debugging) to resume it later.
737
738A scenario for the former would be to suspend all (other) coros after a
739fork and keep them alive, so their destructors aren't called, but new
740coros can be created.
741
742=item $coro->resume
743
744If the specified coro was suspended, it will be resumed. Note that when
745the coro was in the ready queue when it was suspended, it might have been
746unreadied by the scheduler, so an activation might have been lost.
747
748To avoid this, it is best to put a suspended coro into the ready queue
749unconditionally, as every synchronisation mechanism must protect itself
750against spurious wakeups, and the one in the Coro family certainly do
751that.
752
753=item $state->is_new
754
755Returns true iff this Coro object is "new", i.e. has never been run
756yet. Those states basically consist of only the code reference to call and
757the arguments, but consumes very little other resources. New states will
758automatically get assigned a perl interpreter when they are transfered to.
759
760=item $state->is_zombie
761
762Returns true iff the Coro object has been cancelled, i.e.
763it's resources freed because they were C<cancel>'ed, C<terminate>'d,
764C<safe_cancel>'ed or simply went out of scope.
765
766The name "zombie" stems from UNIX culture, where a process that has
767exited and only stores and exit status and no other resources is called a
768"zombie".
769
770=item $is_ready = $coro->is_ready
771
772Returns true iff the Coro object is in the ready queue. Unless the Coro
773object gets destroyed, it will eventually be scheduled by the scheduler.
774
775=item $is_running = $coro->is_running
776
777Returns true iff the Coro object is currently running. Only one Coro object
778can ever be in the running state (but it currently is possible to have
779multiple running Coro::States).
780
781=item $is_suspended = $coro->is_suspended
782
783Returns true iff this Coro object has been suspended. Suspended Coros will
784not ever be scheduled.
785
786=item $coro->cancel (arg...)
787
788Terminates the given Coro thread and makes it return the given arguments as
789status (default: an empty list). Never returns if the Coro is the
790current Coro.
791
792This is a rather brutal way to free a coro, with some limitations - if
793the thread is inside a C callback that doesn't expect to be canceled,
794bad things can happen, or if the cancelled thread insists on running
795complicated cleanup handlers that rely on its thread context, things will
796not work.
797
798Any cleanup code being run (e.g. from C<guard> blocks, destructors and so
799on) will be run without a thread context, and is not allowed to switch
800to other threads. A common mistake is to call C<< ->cancel >> from a
801destructor called by die'ing inside the thread to be cancelled for
802example.
803
804On the plus side, C<< ->cancel >> will always clean up the thread, no
805matter what. If your cleanup code is complex or you want to avoid
806cancelling a C-thread that doesn't know how to clean up itself, it can be
807better to C<< ->throw >> an exception, or use C<< ->safe_cancel >>.
808
809The arguments to C<< ->cancel >> are not copied, but instead will
810be referenced directly (e.g. if you pass C<$var> and after the call
811change that variable, then you might change the return values passed to
812e.g. C<join>, so don't do that).
813
814The resources of the Coro are usually freed (or destructed) before this
815call returns, but this can be delayed for an indefinite amount of time, as
816in some cases the manager thread has to run first to actually destruct the
817Coro object.
818
819=item $coro->safe_cancel ($arg...)
820
821Works mostly like C<< ->cancel >>, but is inherently "safer", and
822consequently, can fail with an exception in cases the thread is not in a
823cancellable state. Essentially, C<< ->safe_cancel >> is a C<< ->cancel >>
824with extra checks before canceling.
825
826It works a bit like throwing an exception that cannot be caught -
827specifically, it will clean up the thread from within itself, so all
828cleanup handlers (e.g. C<guard> blocks) are run with full thread
829context and can block if they wish. The downside is that there is no
830guarantee that the thread can be cancelled when you call this method, and
831therefore, it might fail. It is also considerably slower than C<cancel> or
832C<terminate>.
833
834A thread is in a safe-cancellable state if it either hasn't been run yet,
835or it has no C context attached and is inside an SLF function.
836
837The latter two basically mean that the thread isn't currently inside a
838perl callback called from some C function (usually via some XS modules)
839and isn't currently executing inside some C function itself (via Coro's XS
840API).
841
842This call returns true when it could cancel the thread, or croaks with an
843error otherwise (i.e. it either returns true or doesn't return at all).
844
845Why the weird interface? Well, there are two common models on how and
846when to cancel things. In the first, you have the expectation that your
847coro thread can be cancelled when you want to cancel it - if the thread
848isn't cancellable, this would be a bug somewhere, so C<< ->safe_cancel >>
849croaks to notify of the bug.
850
851In the second model you sometimes want to ask nicely to cancel a thread,
852but if it's not a good time, well, then don't cancel. This can be done
853relatively easy like this:
854
855 if (! eval { $coro->safe_cancel }) {
856 warn "unable to cancel thread: $@";
857 }
858
859However, what you never should do is first try to cancel "safely" and
860if that fails, cancel the "hard" way with C<< ->cancel >>. That makes
861no sense: either you rely on being able to execute cleanup code in your
862thread context, or you don't. If you do, then C<< ->safe_cancel >> is the
863only way, and if you don't, then C<< ->cancel >> is always faster and more
864direct.
865
866=item $coro->schedule_to
867
868Puts the current coro to sleep (like C<Coro::schedule>), but instead
869of continuing with the next coro from the ready queue, always switch to
870the given coro object (regardless of priority etc.). The readyness
871state of that coro isn't changed.
872
873This is an advanced method for special cases - I'd love to hear about any
874uses for this one.
875
876=item $coro->cede_to
877
878Like C<schedule_to>, but puts the current coro into the ready
879queue. This has the effect of temporarily switching to the given
880coro, and continuing some time later.
881
882This is an advanced method for special cases - I'd love to hear about any
883uses for this one.
884
885=item $coro->throw ([$scalar])
886
887If C<$throw> is specified and defined, it will be thrown as an exception
888inside the coro at the next convenient point in time. Otherwise
889clears the exception object.
890
891Coro will check for the exception each time a schedule-like-function
892returns, i.e. after each C<schedule>, C<cede>, C<< Coro::Semaphore->down
893>>, C<< Coro::Handle->readable >> and so on. Most of those functions (all
894that are part of Coro itself) detect this case and return early in case an
895exception is pending.
896
897The exception object will be thrown "as is" with the specified scalar in
898C<$@>, i.e. if it is a string, no line number or newline will be appended
899(unlike with C<die>).
900
901This can be used as a softer means than either C<cancel> or C<safe_cancel
902>to ask a coro to end itself, although there is no guarantee that the
903exception will lead to termination, and if the exception isn't caught it
904might well end the whole program.
905
906You might also think of C<throw> as being the moral equivalent of
907C<kill>ing a coro with a signal (in this case, a scalar).
908
909=item $coro->join
910
911Wait until the coro terminates and return any values given to the
912C<terminate> or C<cancel> functions. C<join> can be called concurrently
913from multiple threads, and all will be resumed and given the status
914return once the C<$coro> terminates.
915
916=item $coro->on_destroy (\&cb)
917
918Registers a callback that is called when this coro thread gets destroyed,
919that is, after it's resources have been freed but before it is joined. The
920callback gets passed the terminate/cancel arguments, if any, and I<must
921not> die, under any circumstances.
922
923There can be any number of C<on_destroy> callbacks per coro, and there is
924currently no way to remove a callback once added.
925
926=item $oldprio = $coro->prio ($newprio)
927
928Sets (or gets, if the argument is missing) the priority of the
929coro thread. Higher priority coro get run before lower priority
930coros. Priorities are small signed integers (currently -4 .. +3),
931that you can refer to using PRIO_xxx constants (use the import tag :prio
932to get then):
933
934 PRIO_MAX > PRIO_HIGH > PRIO_NORMAL > PRIO_LOW > PRIO_IDLE > PRIO_MIN
935 3 > 1 > 0 > -1 > -3 > -4
936
937 # set priority to HIGH
938 current->prio (PRIO_HIGH);
939
940The idle coro thread ($Coro::idle) always has a lower priority than any
941existing coro.
942
943Changing the priority of the current coro will take effect immediately,
944but changing the priority of a coro in the ready queue (but not running)
945will only take effect after the next schedule (of that coro). This is a
946bug that will be fixed in some future version.
947
948=item $newprio = $coro->nice ($change)
949
950Similar to C<prio>, but subtract the given value from the priority (i.e.
951higher values mean lower priority, just as in UNIX's nice command).
952
953=item $olddesc = $coro->desc ($newdesc)
954
955Sets (or gets in case the argument is missing) the description for this
956coro thread. This is just a free-form string you can associate with a
957coro.
958
959This method simply sets the C<< $coro->{desc} >> member to the given
960string. You can modify this member directly if you wish, and in fact, this
961is often preferred to indicate major processing states that can then be
962seen for example in a L<Coro::Debug> session:
963
964 sub my_long_function {
965 local $Coro::current->{desc} = "now in my_long_function";
966 ...
967 $Coro::current->{desc} = "my_long_function: phase 1";
968 ...
969 $Coro::current->{desc} = "my_long_function: phase 2";
970 ...
971 }
972
973=cut
974
975sub desc {
976 my $old = $_[0]{desc};
977 $_[0]{desc} = $_[1] if @_ > 1;
978 $old;
979}
980
85sub transfer { 981sub transfer {
86 _transfer($_[0], $_[1]); 982 require Carp;
983 Carp::croak ("You must not call ->transfer on Coro objects. Use Coro::State objects or the ->schedule_to method. Caught");
87} 984}
88 985
89=item $error, $error_msg, $error_coro 986=back
90 987
91This coroutine will be called on fatal errors. C<$error_msg> and 988=head1 GLOBAL FUNCTIONS
92C<$error_coro> return the error message and the error-causing coroutine 989
93(NOT an object) respectively. This API might change. 990=over 4
991
992=item Coro::nready
993
994Returns the number of coro that are currently in the ready state,
995i.e. that can be switched to by calling C<schedule> directory or
996indirectly. The value C<0> means that the only runnable coro is the
997currently running one, so C<cede> would have no effect, and C<schedule>
998would cause a deadlock unless there is an idle handler that wakes up some
999coro.
1000
1001=item my $guard = Coro::guard { ... }
1002
1003This function still exists, but is deprecated. Please use the
1004C<Guard::guard> function instead.
94 1005
95=cut 1006=cut
96 1007
97$error_msg = 1008BEGIN { *guard = \&Guard::guard }
98$error_coro = undef;
99 1009
100$error = _newprocess { 1010=item unblock_sub { ... }
101 print STDERR "FATAL: $error_msg\nprogram aborted\n"; 1011
102 exit 50; 1012This utility function takes a BLOCK or code reference and "unblocks" it,
1013returning a new coderef. Unblocking means that calling the new coderef
1014will return immediately without blocking, returning nothing, while the
1015original code ref will be called (with parameters) from within another
1016coro.
1017
1018The reason this function exists is that many event libraries (such as
1019the venerable L<Event|Event> module) are not thread-safe (a weaker form
1020of reentrancy). This means you must not block within event callbacks,
1021otherwise you might suffer from crashes or worse. The only event library
1022currently known that is safe to use without C<unblock_sub> is L<EV> (but
1023you might still run into deadlocks if all event loops are blocked).
1024
1025Coro will try to catch you when you block in the event loop
1026("FATAL: $Coro::idle blocked itself"), but this is just best effort and
1027only works when you do not run your own event loop.
1028
1029This function allows your callbacks to block by executing them in another
1030coro where it is safe to block. One example where blocking is handy
1031is when you use the L<Coro::AIO|Coro::AIO> functions to save results to
1032disk, for example.
1033
1034In short: simply use C<unblock_sub { ... }> instead of C<sub { ... }> when
1035creating event callbacks that want to block.
1036
1037If your handler does not plan to block (e.g. simply sends a message to
1038another coro, or puts some other coro into the ready queue), there is
1039no reason to use C<unblock_sub>.
1040
1041Note that you also need to use C<unblock_sub> for any other callbacks that
1042are indirectly executed by any C-based event loop. For example, when you
1043use a module that uses L<AnyEvent> (and you use L<Coro::AnyEvent>) and it
1044provides callbacks that are the result of some event callback, then you
1045must not block either, or use C<unblock_sub>.
1046
1047=cut
1048
1049our @unblock_queue;
1050
1051# we create a special coro because we want to cede,
1052# to reduce pressure on the coro pool (because most callbacks
1053# return immediately and can be reused) and because we cannot cede
1054# inside an event callback.
1055our $unblock_scheduler = new Coro sub {
1056 while () {
1057 while (my $cb = pop @unblock_queue) {
1058 &async_pool (@$cb);
1059
1060 # for short-lived callbacks, this reduces pressure on the coro pool
1061 # as the chance is very high that the async_poll coro will be back
1062 # in the idle state when cede returns
1063 cede;
1064 }
1065 schedule; # sleep well
1066 }
103}; 1067};
1068$unblock_scheduler->{desc} = "[unblock_sub scheduler]";
1069
1070sub unblock_sub(&) {
1071 my $cb = shift;
1072
1073 sub {
1074 unshift @unblock_queue, [$cb, @_];
1075 $unblock_scheduler->ready;
1076 }
1077}
1078
1079=item $cb = rouse_cb
1080
1081Create and return a "rouse callback". That's a code reference that,
1082when called, will remember a copy of its arguments and notify the owner
1083coro of the callback.
1084
1085See the next function.
1086
1087=item @args = rouse_wait [$cb]
1088
1089Wait for the specified rouse callback (or the last one that was created in
1090this coro).
1091
1092As soon as the callback is invoked (or when the callback was invoked
1093before C<rouse_wait>), it will return the arguments originally passed to
1094the rouse callback. In scalar context, that means you get the I<last>
1095argument, just as if C<rouse_wait> had a C<return ($a1, $a2, $a3...)>
1096statement at the end.
1097
1098See the section B<HOW TO WAIT FOR A CALLBACK> for an actual usage example.
1099
1100=back
1101
1102=cut
1103
1104for my $module (qw(Channel RWLock Semaphore SemaphoreSet Signal Specific)) {
1105 my $old = defined &{"Coro::$module\::new"} && \&{"Coro::$module\::new"};
1106
1107 *{"Coro::$module\::new"} = sub {
1108 require "Coro/$module.pm";
1109
1110 # some modules have their new predefined in State.xs, some don't
1111 *{"Coro::$module\::new"} = $old
1112 if $old;
1113
1114 goto &{"Coro::$module\::new"};
1115 };
1116}
104 1117
1051; 11181;
106 1119
1120=head1 HOW TO WAIT FOR A CALLBACK
1121
1122It is very common for a coro to wait for some callback to be
1123called. This occurs naturally when you use coro in an otherwise
1124event-based program, or when you use event-based libraries.
1125
1126These typically register a callback for some event, and call that callback
1127when the event occured. In a coro, however, you typically want to
1128just wait for the event, simplyifying things.
1129
1130For example C<< AnyEvent->child >> registers a callback to be called when
1131a specific child has exited:
1132
1133 my $child_watcher = AnyEvent->child (pid => $pid, cb => sub { ... });
1134
1135But from within a coro, you often just want to write this:
1136
1137 my $status = wait_for_child $pid;
1138
1139Coro offers two functions specifically designed to make this easy,
1140C<rouse_cb> and C<rouse_wait>.
1141
1142The first function, C<rouse_cb>, generates and returns a callback that,
1143when invoked, will save its arguments and notify the coro that
1144created the callback.
1145
1146The second function, C<rouse_wait>, waits for the callback to be called
1147(by calling C<schedule> to go to sleep) and returns the arguments
1148originally passed to the callback.
1149
1150Using these functions, it becomes easy to write the C<wait_for_child>
1151function mentioned above:
1152
1153 sub wait_for_child($) {
1154 my ($pid) = @_;
1155
1156 my $watcher = AnyEvent->child (pid => $pid, cb => rouse_cb);
1157
1158 my ($rpid, $rstatus) = rouse_wait;
1159 $rstatus
1160 }
1161
1162In the case where C<rouse_cb> and C<rouse_wait> are not flexible enough,
1163you can roll your own, using C<schedule> and C<ready>:
1164
1165 sub wait_for_child($) {
1166 my ($pid) = @_;
1167
1168 # store the current coro in $current,
1169 # and provide result variables for the closure passed to ->child
1170 my $current = $Coro::current;
1171 my ($done, $rstatus);
1172
1173 # pass a closure to ->child
1174 my $watcher = AnyEvent->child (pid => $pid, cb => sub {
1175 $rstatus = $_[1]; # remember rstatus
1176 $done = 1; # mark $rstatus as valid
1177 $current->ready; # wake up the waiting thread
1178 });
1179
1180 # wait until the closure has been called
1181 schedule while !$done;
1182
1183 $rstatus
1184 }
1185
1186
1187=head1 BUGS/LIMITATIONS
1188
1189=over 4
1190
1191=item fork with pthread backend
1192
1193When Coro is compiled using the pthread backend (which isn't recommended
1194but required on many BSDs as their libcs are completely broken), then
1195coro will not survive a fork. There is no known workaround except to
1196fix your libc and use a saner backend.
1197
1198=item perl process emulation ("threads")
1199
1200This module is not perl-pseudo-thread-safe. You should only ever use this
1201module from the first thread (this requirement might be removed in the
1202future to allow per-thread schedulers, but Coro::State does not yet allow
1203this). I recommend disabling thread support and using processes, as having
1204the windows process emulation enabled under unix roughly halves perl
1205performance, even when not used.
1206
1207Attempts to use threads created in another emulated process will crash
1208("cleanly", with a null pointer exception).
1209
1210=item coro switching is not signal safe
1211
1212You must not switch to another coro from within a signal handler (only
1213relevant with %SIG - most event libraries provide safe signals), I<unless>
1214you are sure you are not interrupting a Coro function.
1215
1216That means you I<MUST NOT> call any function that might "block" the
1217current coro - C<cede>, C<schedule> C<< Coro::Semaphore->down >> or
1218anything that calls those. Everything else, including calling C<ready>,
1219works.
1220
107=back 1221=back
108 1222
109=head1 BUGS
110 1223
111This module has not yet been extensively tested. 1224=head1 WINDOWS PROCESS EMULATION
1225
1226A great many people seem to be confused about ithreads (for example, Chip
1227Salzenberg called me unintelligent, incapable, stupid and gullible,
1228while in the same mail making rather confused statements about perl
1229ithreads (for example, that memory or files would be shared), showing his
1230lack of understanding of this area - if it is hard to understand for Chip,
1231it is probably not obvious to everybody).
1232
1233What follows is an ultra-condensed version of my talk about threads in
1234scripting languages given on the perl workshop 2009:
1235
1236The so-called "ithreads" were originally implemented for two reasons:
1237first, to (badly) emulate unix processes on native win32 perls, and
1238secondly, to replace the older, real thread model ("5.005-threads").
1239
1240It does that by using threads instead of OS processes. The difference
1241between processes and threads is that threads share memory (and other
1242state, such as files) between threads within a single process, while
1243processes do not share anything (at least not semantically). That
1244means that modifications done by one thread are seen by others, while
1245modifications by one process are not seen by other processes.
1246
1247The "ithreads" work exactly like that: when creating a new ithreads
1248process, all state is copied (memory is copied physically, files and code
1249is copied logically). Afterwards, it isolates all modifications. On UNIX,
1250the same behaviour can be achieved by using operating system processes,
1251except that UNIX typically uses hardware built into the system to do this
1252efficiently, while the windows process emulation emulates this hardware in
1253software (rather efficiently, but of course it is still much slower than
1254dedicated hardware).
1255
1256As mentioned before, loading code, modifying code, modifying data
1257structures and so on is only visible in the ithreads process doing the
1258modification, not in other ithread processes within the same OS process.
1259
1260This is why "ithreads" do not implement threads for perl at all, only
1261processes. What makes it so bad is that on non-windows platforms, you can
1262actually take advantage of custom hardware for this purpose (as evidenced
1263by the forks module, which gives you the (i-) threads API, just much
1264faster).
1265
1266Sharing data is in the i-threads model is done by transfering data
1267structures between threads using copying semantics, which is very slow -
1268shared data simply does not exist. Benchmarks using i-threads which are
1269communication-intensive show extremely bad behaviour with i-threads (in
1270fact, so bad that Coro, which cannot take direct advantage of multiple
1271CPUs, is often orders of magnitude faster because it shares data using
1272real threads, refer to my talk for details).
1273
1274As summary, i-threads *use* threads to implement processes, while
1275the compatible forks module *uses* processes to emulate, uhm,
1276processes. I-threads slow down every perl program when enabled, and
1277outside of windows, serve no (or little) practical purpose, but
1278disadvantages every single-threaded Perl program.
1279
1280This is the reason that I try to avoid the name "ithreads", as it is
1281misleading as it implies that it implements some kind of thread model for
1282perl, and prefer the name "windows process emulation", which describes the
1283actual use and behaviour of it much better.
112 1284
113=head1 SEE ALSO 1285=head1 SEE ALSO
114 1286
115L<Coro::Process>, L<Coro::Signal>. 1287Event-Loop integration: L<Coro::AnyEvent>, L<Coro::EV>, L<Coro::Event>.
116 1288
117=head1 AUTHOR 1289Debugging: L<Coro::Debug>.
118 1290
119 Marc Lehmann <pcg@goof.com> 1291Support/Utility: L<Coro::Specific>, L<Coro::Util>.
120 http://www.goof.com/pcg/marc/ 1292
1293Locking and IPC: L<Coro::Signal>, L<Coro::Channel>, L<Coro::Semaphore>,
1294L<Coro::SemaphoreSet>, L<Coro::RWLock>.
1295
1296I/O and Timers: L<Coro::Timer>, L<Coro::Handle>, L<Coro::Socket>, L<Coro::AIO>.
1297
1298Compatibility with other modules: L<Coro::LWP> (but see also L<AnyEvent::HTTP> for
1299a better-working alternative), L<Coro::BDB>, L<Coro::Storable>,
1300L<Coro::Select>.
1301
1302XS API: L<Coro::MakeMaker>.
1303
1304Low level Configuration, Thread Environment, Continuations: L<Coro::State>.
1305
1306=head1 AUTHOR/SUPPORT/CONTACT
1307
1308 Marc A. Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
1309 http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/Coro.html
121 1310
122=cut 1311=cut
123 1312

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