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Revision 1.4 by root, Fri Oct 26 19:11:35 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.61 by root, Thu Dec 6 03:13:07 2007 UTC

1=head1 NAME 1=head1 NAME
2 2
3EV - perl interface to libevent, monkey.org/~provos/libevent/ 3EV - perl interface to libev, a high performance full-featured event loop
4 4
5=head1 SYNOPSIS 5=head1 SYNOPSIS
6 6
7 use EV; 7 use EV;
8 8
9 # TIMER 9 # TIMERS
10 10
11 my $w = EV::timer 2, 0, sub { 11 my $w = EV::timer 2, 0, sub {
12 warn "is called after 2s"; 12 warn "is called after 2s";
13 }; 13 };
14 14
15 my $w = EV::timer 2, 1, sub { 15 my $w = EV::timer 2, 2, sub {
16 warn "is called roughly every 2s (repeat = 1)"; 16 warn "is called roughly every 2s (repeat = 2)";
17 }; 17 };
18 18
19 undef $w; # destroy event watcher again 19 undef $w; # destroy event watcher again
20 20
21 # IO
22
23 my $w = EV::timer_abs 0, 60, sub { 21 my $w = EV::periodic 0, 60, 0, sub {
24 warn "is called every minute, on the minute, exactly"; 22 warn "is called every minute, on the minute, exactly";
25 }; 23 };
26 24
25 # IO
26
27 my $w = EV::io \*STDIN, EV::READ | EV::PERSIST, sub { 27 my $w = EV::io *STDIN, EV::READ, sub {
28 my ($w, $events) = @_; # all callbacks get the watcher object and event mask 28 my ($w, $revents) = @_; # all callbacks receive the watcher and event mask
29 if ($events & EV::TIMEOUT) {
30 warn "nothign received on stdin for 10 seconds, retrying";
31 } else {
32 warn "stdin is readable, you entered: ", <STDIN>; 29 warn "stdin is readable, you entered: ", <STDIN>;
33 }
34 }; 30 };
35 $w->timeout (10); 31
32 # SIGNALS
33
34 my $w = EV::signal 'QUIT', sub {
35 warn "sigquit received\n";
36 };
37
38 # CHILD/PID STATUS CHANGES
36 39
40 my $w = EV::child 666, sub {
41 my ($w, $revents) = @_;
42 my $status = $w->rstatus;
43 };
44
45 # STAT CHANGES
46 my $w = EV::stat "/etc/passwd", 10, sub {
47 my ($w, $revents) = @_;
48 warn $w->path, " has changed somehow.\n";
49 };
50
37 # MAINLOOP 51 # MAINLOOP
38 EV::dispatch; # loop as long as watchers are active 52 EV::loop; # loop until EV::unloop is called or all watchers stop
39 EV::loop; # the same thing 53 EV::loop EV::LOOP_ONESHOT; # block until at least one event could be handled
40 EV::loop EV::LOOP_ONCE; 54 EV::loop EV::LOOP_NONBLOCK; # try to handle same events, but do not block
41 EV::loop EV::LOOP_ONSHOT;
42 55
43=head1 DESCRIPTION 56=head1 DESCRIPTION
44 57
45This module provides an interface to libevent 58This module provides an interface to libev
46(L<http://monkey.org/~provos/libevent/>). 59(L<http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/libev.html>). While the documentation
60below is comprehensive, one might also consult the documentation of libev
61itself (L<http://cvs.schmorp.de/libev/ev.html>) for more subtle details on
62watcher semantics or some discussion on the available backends, or how to
63force a specific backend with C<LIBEV_FLAGS>.
47 64
48=cut 65=cut
49 66
50package EV; 67package EV;
51 68
52use strict; 69use strict;
53 70
54BEGIN { 71BEGIN {
55 our $VERSION = '0.01'; 72 our $VERSION = '1.6';
56 use XSLoader; 73 use XSLoader;
57 XSLoader::load "EV", $VERSION; 74 XSLoader::load "EV", $VERSION;
58} 75}
59 76
60=head1 FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE 77@EV::IO::ISA =
78@EV::Timer::ISA =
79@EV::Periodic::ISA =
80@EV::Signal::ISA =
81@EV::Child::ISA =
82@EV::Stat::ISA =
83@EV::Idle::ISA =
84@EV::Prepare::ISA =
85@EV::Check::ISA =
86@EV::Embed::ISA =
87@EV::Fork::ISA =
88 "EV::Watcher";
61 89
62=over 4 90=head1 BASIC INTERFACE
63 91
92=over 4
93
64=item $EV::NPRI 94=item $EV::DIED
65 95
66How many priority levels are available. 96Must contain a reference to a function that is called when a callback
97throws an exception (with $@ containing thr error). The default prints an
98informative message and continues.
99
100If this callback throws an exception it will be silently ignored.
101
102=item $time = EV::time
103
104Returns the current time in (fractional) seconds since the epoch.
67 105
68=item $time = EV::now 106=item $time = EV::now
69 107
70Returns the time in (fractional) seconds since the epoch. 108Returns the time the last event loop iteration has been started. This
71 109is the time that (relative) timers are based on, and refering to it is
72=item $version = EV::version 110usually faster then calling EV::time.
73 111
74=item $method = EV::method 112=item $method = EV::method
75 113
76Return version string and event polling method used. 114Returns an integer describing the backend used by libev (EV::METHOD_SELECT
115or EV::METHOD_EPOLL).
77 116
78=item EV::loop $flags # EV::LOOP_ONCE, EV::LOOP_ONESHOT 117=item EV::loop [$flags]
79 118
80=item EV::loopexit $after 119Begin checking for events and calling callbacks. It returns when a
120callback calls EV::unloop.
81 121
82Exit any active loop or dispatch after C<$after> seconds or immediately if 122The $flags argument can be one of the following:
83C<$after> is missing or zero.
84 123
85=item EV::dispatch 124 0 as above
125 EV::LOOP_ONESHOT block at most once (wait, but do not loop)
126 EV::LOOP_NONBLOCK do not block at all (fetch/handle events but do not wait)
86 127
87Same as C<EV::loop 0>. 128=item EV::unloop [$how]
88 129
89=item EV::event $callback 130When called with no arguments or an argument of EV::UNLOOP_ONE, makes the
131innermost call to EV::loop return.
90 132
91Creates a new event watcher waiting for nothing, calling the given callback. 133When called with an argument of EV::UNLOOP_ALL, all calls to EV::loop will return as
134fast as possible.
92 135
136=item $count = EV::loop_count
137
138Return the number of times the event loop has polled for new
139events. Sometiems useful as a generation counter.
140
141=item EV::once $fh_or_undef, $events, $timeout, $cb->($revents)
142
143This function rolls together an I/O and a timer watcher for a single
144one-shot event without the need for managing a watcher object.
145
146If C<$fh_or_undef> is a filehandle or file descriptor, then C<$events>
147must be a bitset containing either C<EV::READ>, C<EV::WRITE> or C<EV::READ
148| EV::WRITE>, indicating the type of I/O event you want to wait for. If
149you do not want to wait for some I/O event, specify C<undef> for
150C<$fh_or_undef> and C<0> for C<$events>).
151
152If timeout is C<undef> or negative, then there will be no
153timeout. Otherwise a EV::timer with this value will be started.
154
155When an error occurs or either the timeout or I/O watcher triggers, then
156the callback will be called with the received event set (in general
157you can expect it to be a combination of C<EV:ERROR>, C<EV::READ>,
158C<EV::WRITE> and C<EV::TIMEOUT>).
159
160EV::once doesn't return anything: the watchers stay active till either
161of them triggers, then they will be stopped and freed, and the callback
162invoked.
163
164=back
165
166=head2 WATCHER OBJECTS
167
168A watcher is an object that gets created to record your interest in some
169event. For instance, if you want to wait for STDIN to become readable, you
170would create an EV::io watcher for that:
171
172 my $watcher = EV::io *STDIN, EV::READ, sub {
173 my ($watcher, $revents) = @_;
174 warn "yeah, STDIN should not be readable without blocking!\n"
175 };
176
177All watchers can be active (waiting for events) or inactive (paused). Only
178active watchers will have their callbacks invoked. All callbacks will be
179called with at least two arguments: the watcher and a bitmask of received
180events.
181
182Each watcher type has its associated bit in revents, so you can use the
183same callback for multiple watchers. The event mask is named after the
184type, i..e. EV::child sets EV::CHILD, EV::prepare sets EV::PREPARE,
185EV::periodic sets EV::PERIODIC and so on, with the exception of IO events
186(which can set both EV::READ and EV::WRITE bits), and EV::timer (which
187uses EV::TIMEOUT).
188
189In the rare case where one wants to create a watcher but not start it at
190the same time, each constructor has a variant with a trailing C<_ns> in
191its name, e.g. EV::io has a non-starting variant EV::io_ns and so on.
192
193Please note that a watcher will automatically be stopped when the watcher
194object is destroyed, so you I<need> to keep the watcher objects returned by
195the constructors.
196
197Also, all methods changing some aspect of a watcher (->set, ->priority,
198->fh and so on) automatically stop and start it again if it is active,
199which means pending events get lost.
200
201=head2 COMMON WATCHER METHODS
202
203This section lists methods common to all watchers.
204
205=over 4
206
207=item $w->start
208
209Starts a watcher if it isn't active already. Does nothing to an already
210active watcher. By default, all watchers start out in the active state
211(see the description of the C<_ns> variants if you need stopped watchers).
212
213=item $w->stop
214
215Stop a watcher if it is active. Also clear any pending events (events that
216have been received but that didn't yet result in a callback invocation),
217regardless of wether the watcher was active or not.
218
219=item $bool = $w->is_active
220
221Returns true if the watcher is active, false otherwise.
222
223=item $current_data = $w->data
224
225=item $old_data = $w->data ($new_data)
226
227Queries a freely usable data scalar on the watcher and optionally changes
228it. This is a way to associate custom data with a watcher:
229
230 my $w = EV::timer 60, 0, sub {
231 warn $_[0]->data;
232 };
233 $w->data ("print me!");
234
235=item $current_cb = $w->cb
236
237=item $old_cb = $w->cb ($new_cb)
238
239Queries the callback on the watcher and optionally changes it. You can do
240this at any time without the watcher restarting.
241
242=item $current_priority = $w->priority
243
244=item $old_priority = $w->priority ($new_priority)
245
246Queries the priority on the watcher and optionally changes it. Pending
247watchers with higher priority will be invoked first. The valid range of
248priorities lies between EV::MAXPRI (default 2) and EV::MINPRI (default
249-2). If the priority is outside this range it will automatically be
250normalised to the nearest valid priority.
251
252The default priority of any newly-created watcher is 0.
253
254Note that the priority semantics have not yet been fleshed out and are
255subject to almost certain change.
256
257=item $w->trigger ($revents)
258
259Call the callback *now* with the given event mask.
260
261=item $previous_state = $w->keepalive ($bool)
262
263Normally, C<EV::loop> will return when there are no active watchers
264(which is a "deadlock" because no progress can be made anymore). This is
265convinient because it allows you to start your watchers (and your jobs),
266call C<EV::loop> once and when it returns you know that all your jobs are
267finished (or they forgot to register some watchers for their task :).
268
269Sometimes, however, this gets in your way, for example when you the module
270that calls C<EV::loop> (usually the main program) is not the same module
271as a long-living watcher (for example a DNS client module written by
272somebody else even). Then you might want any outstanding requests to be
273handled, but you would not want to keep C<EV::loop> from returning just
274because you happen to have this long-running UDP port watcher.
275
276In this case you can clear the keepalive status, which means that even
277though your watcher is active, it won't keep C<EV::loop> from returning.
278
279The initial value for keepalive is true (enabled), and you cna change it
280any time.
281
282Example: Register an IO watcher for some UDP socket but do not keep the
283event loop from running just because of that watcher.
284
285 my $udp_socket = ...
286 my $udp_watcher = EV::io $udp_socket, EV::READ, sub { ... };
287 $udp_watcher->keepalive (0);
288
289=back
290
291
292=head2 WATCHER TYPES
293
294Each of the following subsections describes a single watcher type.
295
296=head3 IO WATCHERS - is this file descriptor readable or writable?
297
298=over 4
299
93=item my $w = EV::io $fileno_or_fh, $eventmask, $callback 300=item $w = EV::io $fileno_or_fh, $eventmask, $callback
94 301
95=item my $w = EV::io_ns $fileno_or_fh, $eventmask, $callback 302=item $w = EV::io_ns $fileno_or_fh, $eventmask, $callback
96 303
97As long as the returned watcher object is alive, call the C<$callback> 304As long as the returned watcher object is alive, call the C<$callback>
98when the events specified in C<$eventmask> happen. Initially, the timeout 305when at least one of events specified in C<$eventmask> occurs.
99is disabled.
100 306
101The C<io_ns> variant doesn't add/start the newly created watcher.
102
103Eventmask can be one or more of these constants ORed together: 307The $eventmask can be one or more of these constants ORed together:
104 308
105 EV::READ wait until read() wouldn't block anymore 309 EV::READ wait until read() wouldn't block anymore
106 EV::WRITE wait until write() wouldn't block anymore 310 EV::WRITE wait until write() wouldn't block anymore
107 EV::PERSIST stay active after an event occured
108 311
109=item my $w = EV::timer $after, $repeat, $callback
110
111=item my $w = EV::timer_ns $after, $repeat, $callback
112
113Calls the callback after C<$after> seconds. If C<$repeat> is true, the
114timer will be restarted after the callback returns. This means that the
115callback would be called roughly every C<$after> seconds, prolonged by the
116time the callback takes.
117
118The C<timer_ns> variant doesn't add/start the newly created watcher. 312The C<io_ns> variant doesn't start (activate) the newly created watcher.
119 313
120=item my $w = EV::timer_abs $at, $interval, $callback 314=item $w->set ($fileno_or_fh, $eventmask)
121 315
122=item my $w = EV::timer_abs_ns $at, $interval, $callback 316Reconfigures the watcher, see the constructor above for details. Can be
123 317called at any time.
124Similar to EV::timer, but the time is given as an absolute point in time
125(C<$at>), plus an optional C<$interval>.
126
127If the C<$interval> is zero, then the callback will be called at the time
128C<$at> if that is in the future, or as soon as possible if its in the
129past. It will not automatically repeat.
130
131If the C<$interval> is nonzero, then the watcher will always be scheduled
132to time out at the next C<$at + integer * $interval> time.
133
134This can be used to schedule a callback to run at very regular intervals,
135as long as the processing time is less then the interval (otherwise
136obviously events will be skipped).
137
138The C<timer_abs_ns> variant doesn't add/start the newly created watcher.
139
140=item my $w = EV::signal $signum, $callback
141
142=item my $w = EV::signal_ns $signum, $callback
143
144Call the callback when signal $signum is received.
145
146The C<signal_ns> variant doesn't add/start the newly created watcher.
147
148=back
149
150=head1 THE EV::Event CLASS
151
152All EV functions creating an event watcher (designated by C<my $w =>
153above) support the following methods on the returned watcher object:
154
155=over 4
156
157=item $w->add ($timeout)
158
159Stops and (re-)starts the event watcher, setting the optional timeout to
160the given value, or clearing the timeout if none is given.
161
162=item $w->start
163
164Stops and (re-)starts the event watcher without touching the timeout.
165
166=item $w->del
167
168=item $w->stop
169
170Stop the event watcher if it was started.
171
172=item $current_callback = $w->cb
173
174=item $old_callback = $w->cb ($new_callback)
175
176Return the previously set callback and optionally set a new one.
177 318
178=item $current_fh = $w->fh 319=item $current_fh = $w->fh
179 320
180=item $old_fh = $w->fh ($new_fh) 321=item $old_fh = $w->fh ($new_fh)
181 322
185 326
186=item $old_eventmask = $w->events ($new_eventmask) 327=item $old_eventmask = $w->events ($new_eventmask)
187 328
188Returns the previously set event mask and optionally set a new one. 329Returns the previously set event mask and optionally set a new one.
189 330
331=back
332
333
334=head3 TIMER WATCHERS - relative and optionally repeating timeouts
335
336=over 4
337
338=item $w = EV::timer $after, $repeat, $callback
339
340=item $w = EV::timer_ns $after, $repeat, $callback
341
342Calls the callback after C<$after> seconds (which may be fractional). If
343C<$repeat> is non-zero, the timer will be restarted (with the $repeat
344value as $after) after the callback returns.
345
346This means that the callback would be called roughly after C<$after>
347seconds, and then every C<$repeat> seconds. The timer does his best not
348to drift, but it will not invoke the timer more often then once per event
349loop iteration, and might drift in other cases. If that isn't acceptable,
350look at EV::periodic, which can provide long-term stable timers.
351
352The timer is based on a monotonic clock, that is, if somebody is sitting
353in front of the machine while the timer is running and changes the system
354clock, the timer will nevertheless run (roughly) the same time.
355
356The C<timer_ns> variant doesn't start (activate) the newly created watcher.
357
190=item $w->timeout ($after, $repeat) 358=item $w->set ($after, $repeat)
191 359
192Resets the timeout (see C<EV::timer> for details). 360Reconfigures the watcher, see the constructor above for details. Can be called at
361any time.
193 362
363=item $w->again
364
365Similar to the C<start> method, but has special semantics for repeating timers:
366
367If the timer is active and non-repeating, it will be stopped.
368
369If the timer is active and repeating, reset the timeout to occur
370C<$repeat> seconds after now.
371
372If the timer is inactive and repeating, start it using the repeat value.
373
374Otherwise do nothing.
375
376This behaviour is useful when you have a timeout for some IO
377operation. You create a timer object with the same value for C<$after> and
378C<$repeat>, and then, in the read/write watcher, run the C<again> method
379on the timeout.
380
381=back
382
383
384=head3 PERIODIC WATCHERS - to cron or not to cron?
385
386=over 4
387
388=item $w = EV::periodic $at, $interval, $reschedule_cb, $callback
389
390=item $w = EV::periodic_ns $at, $interval, $reschedule_cb, $callback
391
392Similar to EV::timer, but is not based on relative timeouts but on
393absolute times. Apart from creating "simple" timers that trigger "at" the
394specified time, it can also be used for non-drifting absolute timers and
395more complex, cron-like, setups that are not adversely affected by time
396jumps (i.e. when the system clock is changed by explicit date -s or other
397means such as ntpd). It is also the most complex watcher type in EV.
398
399It has three distinct "modes":
400
401=over 4
402
403=item * absolute timer ($interval = $reschedule_cb = 0)
404
405This time simply fires at the wallclock time C<$at> and doesn't repeat. It
406will not adjust when a time jump occurs, that is, if it is to be run
407at January 1st 2011 then it will run when the system time reaches or
408surpasses this time.
409
410=item * non-repeating interval timer ($interval > 0, $reschedule_cb = 0)
411
412In this mode the watcher will always be scheduled to time out at the
413next C<$at + N * $interval> time (for some integer N) and then repeat,
414regardless of any time jumps.
415
416This can be used to create timers that do not drift with respect to system
417time:
418
419 my $hourly = EV::periodic 0, 3600, 0, sub { print "once/hour\n" };
420
421That doesn't mean there will always be 3600 seconds in between triggers,
422but only that the the clalback will be called when the system time shows a
423full hour (UTC).
424
425Another way to think about it (for the mathematically inclined) is that
426EV::periodic will try to run the callback in this mode at the next
427possible time where C<$time = $at (mod $interval)>, regardless of any time
428jumps.
429
430=item * manual reschedule mode ($reschedule_cb = coderef)
431
432In this mode $interval and $at are both being ignored. Instead, each
433time the periodic watcher gets scheduled, the reschedule callback
434($reschedule_cb) will be called with the watcher as first, and the current
435time as second argument.
436
437I<This callback MUST NOT stop or destroy this or any other periodic
438watcher, ever>. If you need to stop it, return 1e30 and stop it
439afterwards.
440
441It must return the next time to trigger, based on the passed time value
442(that is, the lowest time value larger than to the second argument). It
443will usually be called just before the callback will be triggered, but
444might be called at other times, too.
445
446This can be used to create very complex timers, such as a timer that
447triggers on each midnight, local time (actually 24 hours after the last
448midnight, to keep the example simple. If you know a way to do it correctly
449in about the same space (without requiring elaborate modules), drop me a
450note :):
451
452 my $daily = EV::periodic 0, 0, sub {
453 my ($w, $now) = @_;
454
455 use Time::Local ();
456 my (undef, undef, undef, $d, $m, $y) = localtime $now;
457 86400 + Time::Local::timelocal 0, 0, 0, $d, $m, $y
458 }, sub {
459 print "it's midnight or likely shortly after, now\n";
460 };
461
462=back
463
464The C<periodic_ns> variant doesn't start (activate) the newly created watcher.
465
466=item $w->set ($at, $interval, $reschedule_cb)
467
468Reconfigures the watcher, see the constructor above for details. Can be called at
469any time.
470
471=item $w->again
472
473Simply stops and starts the watcher again.
474
475=back
476
477
478=head3 SIGNAL WATCHERS - signal me when a signal gets signalled!
479
480=over 4
481
482=item $w = EV::signal $signal, $callback
483
484=item $w = EV::signal_ns $signal, $callback
485
486Call the callback when $signal is received (the signal can be specified by
487number or by name, just as with C<kill> or C<%SIG>).
488
489EV will grab the signal for the process (the kernel only allows one
490component to receive a signal at a time) when you start a signal watcher,
491and removes it again when you stop it. Perl does the same when you
492add/remove callbacks to C<%SIG>, so watch out.
493
494You can have as many signal watchers per signal as you want.
495
496The C<signal_ns> variant doesn't start (activate) the newly created watcher.
497
498=item $w->set ($signal)
499
500Reconfigures the watcher, see the constructor above for details. Can be
501called at any time.
502
503=item $current_signum = $w->signal
504
505=item $old_signum = $w->signal ($new_signal)
506
507Returns the previously set signal (always as a number not name) and
508optionally set a new one.
509
510=back
511
512
513=head3 CHILD WATCHERS - watch out for process status changes
514
515=over 4
516
517=item $w = EV::child $pid, $callback
518
519=item $w = EV::child_ns $pid, $callback
520
521Call the callback when a status change for pid C<$pid> (or any pid if
522C<$pid> is 0) has been received. More precisely: when the process receives
523a C<SIGCHLD>, EV will fetch the outstanding exit/wait status for all
524changed/zombie children and call the callback.
525
526It is valid (and fully supported) to install a child watcher after a child
527has exited but before the event loop has started its next iteration (for
528example, first you C<fork>, then the new child process might exit, and
529only then do you install a child watcher in the parent for the new pid).
530
531You can access both exit (or tracing) status and pid by using the
532C<rstatus> and C<rpid> methods on the watcher object.
533
534You can have as many pid watchers per pid as you want, they will all be
535called.
536
537The C<child_ns> variant doesn't start (activate) the newly created watcher.
538
539=item $w->set ($pid)
540
541Reconfigures the watcher, see the constructor above for details. Can be called at
542any time.
543
544=item $current_pid = $w->pid
545
546=item $old_pid = $w->pid ($new_pid)
547
548Returns the previously set process id and optionally set a new one.
549
550=item $exit_status = $w->rstatus
551
552Return the exit/wait status (as returned by waitpid, see the waitpid entry
553in perlfunc).
554
555=item $pid = $w->rpid
556
557Return the pid of the awaited child (useful when you have installed a
558watcher for all pids).
559
560=back
561
562
563=head3 STAT WATCHERS - did the file attributes just change?
564
565=over 4
566
567=item $w = EV::stat $path, $interval, $callback
568
569=item $w = EV::stat_ns $path, $interval, $callback
570
571Call the callback when a file status change has been detected on
572C<$path>. The C<$path> does not need to exist, changing from "path exists"
573to "path does not exist" is a status change like any other.
574
575The C<$interval> is a recommended polling interval for systems where
576OS-supported change notifications don't exist or are not supported. If
577you use C<0> then an unspecified default is used (which is highly
578recommended!), which is to be expected to be around five seconds usually.
579
580This watcher type is not meant for massive numbers of stat watchers,
581as even with OS-supported change notifications, this can be
582resource-intensive.
583
584The C<stat_ns> variant doesn't start (activate) the newly created watcher.
585
586=item ... = $w->stat
587
588This call is very similar to the perl C<stat> built-in: It stats (using
589C<lstat>) the path specified in the watcher and sets perls stat cache (as
590well as EV's idea of the current stat values) to the values found.
591
592In scalar context, a boolean is return indicating success or failure of
593the stat. In list context, the same 13-value list as with stat is returned
594(except that the blksize and blocks fields are not reliable).
595
596In the case of an error, errno is set to C<ENOENT> (regardless of the
597actual error value) and the C<nlink> value is forced to zero (if the stat
598was successful then nlink is guaranteed to be non-zero).
599
600See also the next two entries for more info.
601
602=item ... = $w->attr
603
604Just like C<< $w->stat >>, but without the initial stat'ing: this returns
605the values most recently detected by EV. See the next entry for more info.
606
607=item ... = $w->prev
608
609Just like C<< $w->stat >>, but without the initial stat'ing: this returns
610the previous set of values, before the change.
611
612That is, when the watcher callback is invoked, C<< $w->prev >> will be set
613to the values found I<before> a change was detected, while C<< $w->attr >>
614returns the values found leading to the change detection. The difference (if any)
615between C<prev> and C<attr> is what triggered the callback.
616
617If you did something to the filesystem object and do not want to trigger
618yet another change, you can call C<stat> to update EV's idea of what the
619current attributes are.
620
194=item $w->timeout_abs ($at, $interval) 621=item $w->set ($path, $interval)
195 622
196Resets the timeout (see C<EV::timer_abs> for details). 623Reconfigures the watcher, see the constructor above for details. Can be
624called at any time.
197 625
198=item $w->priority_set ($priority) 626=item $current_path = $w->path
199 627
200Set the priority of the watcher to C<$priority> (0 <= $priority < $EV::NPRI). 628=item $old_path = $w->path ($new_path)
201 629
202=back 630Returns the previously set path and optionally set a new one.
203 631
204=head1 BUGS 632=item $current_interval = $w->interval
205 633
206Lots. Libevent itself isn't well tested and rather buggy, and this module 634=item $old_interval = $w->interval ($new_interval)
207is quite new at the moment. 635
636Returns the previously set interval and optionally set a new one. Can be
637used to query the actual interval used.
638
639=back
640
641
642=head3 IDLE WATCHERS - when you've got nothing better to do...
643
644=over 4
645
646=item $w = EV::idle $callback
647
648=item $w = EV::idle_ns $callback
649
650Call the callback when there are no pending io, timer/periodic, signal or
651child events, i.e. when the process is idle.
652
653The process will not block as long as any idle watchers are active, and
654they will be called repeatedly until stopped.
655
656The C<idle_ns> variant doesn't start (activate) the newly created watcher.
657
658=back
659
660
661=head3 PREPARE WATCHERS - customise your event loop!
662
663=over 4
664
665=item $w = EV::prepare $callback
666
667=item $w = EV::prepare_ns $callback
668
669Call the callback just before the process would block. You can still
670create/modify any watchers at this point.
671
672See the EV::check watcher, below, for explanations and an example.
673
674The C<prepare_ns> variant doesn't start (activate) the newly created watcher.
675
676=back
677
678
679=head3 CHECK WATCHERS - customise your event loop even more!
680
681=over 4
682
683=item $w = EV::check $callback
684
685=item $w = EV::check_ns $callback
686
687Call the callback just after the process wakes up again (after it has
688gathered events), but before any other callbacks have been invoked.
689
690This is used to integrate other event-based software into the EV
691mainloop: You register a prepare callback and in there, you create io and
692timer watchers as required by the other software. Here is a real-world
693example of integrating Net::SNMP (with some details left out):
694
695 our @snmp_watcher;
696
697 our $snmp_prepare = EV::prepare sub {
698 # do nothing unless active
699 $dispatcher->{_event_queue_h}
700 or return;
701
702 # make the dispatcher handle any outstanding stuff
703 ... not shown
704
705 # create an IO watcher for each and every socket
706 @snmp_watcher = (
707 (map { EV::io $_, EV::READ, sub { } }
708 keys %{ $dispatcher->{_descriptors} }),
709
710 EV::timer +($event->[Net::SNMP::Dispatcher::_ACTIVE]
711 ? $event->[Net::SNMP::Dispatcher::_TIME] - EV::now : 0),
712 0, sub { },
713 );
714 };
715
716The callbacks are irrelevant (and are not even being called), the
717only purpose of those watchers is to wake up the process as soon as
718one of those events occurs (socket readable, or timer timed out). The
719corresponding EV::check watcher will then clean up:
720
721 our $snmp_check = EV::check sub {
722 # destroy all watchers
723 @snmp_watcher = ();
724
725 # make the dispatcher handle any new stuff
726 ... not shown
727 };
728
729The callbacks of the created watchers will not be called as the watchers
730are destroyed before this cna happen (remember EV::check gets called
731first).
732
733The C<check_ns> variant doesn't start (activate) the newly created watcher.
734
735=back
736
737
738=head3 FORK WATCHERS - the audacity to resume the event loop after a fork
739
740Fork watchers are called when a C<fork ()> was detected. The invocation
741is done before the event loop blocks next and before C<check> watchers
742are being called, and only in the child after the fork.
743
744=over 4
745
746=item $w = EV::fork $callback
747
748=item $w = EV::fork_ns $callback
749
750Call the callback before the event loop is resumed in the child process
751after a fork.
752
753The C<fork_ns> variant doesn't start (activate) the newly created watcher.
754
755=back
756
757
758=head1 PERL SIGNALS
759
760While Perl signal handling (C<%SIG>) is not affected by EV, the behaviour
761with EV is as the same as any other C library: Perl-signals will only be
762handled when Perl runs, which means your signal handler might be invoked
763only the next time an event callback is invoked.
764
765The solution is to use EV signal watchers (see C<EV::signal>), which will
766ensure proper operations with regards to other event watchers.
767
768If you cannot do this for whatever reason, you can also force a watcher
769to be called on every event loop iteration by installing a C<EV::check>
770watcher:
771
772 my $async_check = EV::check sub { };
773
774This ensures that perl shortly gets into control for a short time, and
775also ensures slower overall operation.
776
777=head1 THREADS
778
779Threads are not supported by this module in any way. Perl pseudo-threads
780is evil stuff and must die. As soon as Perl gains real threads I will work
781on thread support for it.
782
783=head1 FORK
784
785Most of the "improved" event delivering mechanisms of modern operating
786systems have quite a few problems with fork(2) (to put it bluntly: it is
787not supported and usually destructive). Libev makes it possible to work
788around this by having a function that recreates the kernel state after
789fork in the child.
790
791On non-win32 platforms, this module requires the pthread_atfork
792functionality to do this automatically for you. This function is quite
793buggy on most BSDs, though, so YMMV. The overhead for this is quite
794negligible, because everything the function currently does is set a flag
795that is checked only when the event loop gets used the next time, so when
796you do fork but not use EV, the overhead is minimal.
797
798On win32, there is no notion of fork so all this doesn't apply, of course.
208 799
209=cut 800=cut
210 801
211our $NPRI = 4; 802our $DIED = sub {
212our $BASE = init; 803 warn "EV: error in callback (ignoring): $@";
213priority_init $NPRI; 804};
214 805
215push @AnyEvent::REGISTRY, [EV => "EV::AnyEvent"]; 806default_loop
807 or die 'EV: cannot initialise libev backend. bad $ENV{LIBEV_METHODS}?';
216 808
2171; 8091;
218 810
219=head1 SEE ALSO 811=head1 SEE ALSO
220 812
221 L<EV::DNS>, L<event(3)>, L<event.h>, L<evdns.h>. 813L<EV::ADNS> (asynchronous dns), L<Glib::EV> (makes Glib/Gtk2 use EV as
814event loop), L<Coro::EV> (efficient coroutines with EV).
222 815
223=head1 AUTHOR 816=head1 AUTHOR
224 817
225 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 818 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
226 http://home.schmorp.de/ 819 http://home.schmorp.de/

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