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Revision: 1.6
Committed: Thu Nov 1 17:32:39 2007 UTC (16 years, 6 months ago) by root
Branch: MAIN
Changes since 1.5: +269 -144 lines
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File Contents

# Content
1 NAME
2 EV - perl interface to libev, a high performance full-featured event
3 loop
4
5 SYNOPSIS
6 use EV;
7
8 # TIMERS
9
10 my $w = EV::timer 2, 0, sub {
11 warn "is called after 2s";
12 };
13
14 my $w = EV::timer 2, 1, sub {
15 warn "is called roughly every 2s (repeat = 1)";
16 };
17
18 undef $w; # destroy event watcher again
19
20 my $w = EV::periodic 0, 60, sub {
21 warn "is called every minute, on the minute, exactly";
22 };
23
24 # IO
25
26 my $w = EV::io *STDIN, EV::READ, sub {
27 my ($w, $revents) = @_; # all callbacks get the watcher object and event mask
28 warn "stdin is readable, you entered: ", <STDIN>;
29 };
30
31 # SIGNALS
32
33 my $w = EV::signal 'QUIT', sub {
34 warn "sigquit received\n";
35 };
36
37 my $w = EV::signal 3, sub {
38 warn "sigquit received (this is GNU/Linux, right?)\n";
39 };
40
41 # CHILD/PID STATUS CHANGES
42
43 my $w = EV::child 666, sub {
44 my ($w, $revents, $status) = @_;
45 };
46
47 # MAINLOOP
48 EV::loop; # loop until EV::loop_done is called
49 EV::loop EV::LOOP_ONESHOT; # block until at least one event could be handled
50 EV::loop EV::LOOP_NONBLOCK; # try to handle same events, but do not block
51
52 DESCRIPTION
53 This module provides an interface to libev
54 (<http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/libev.html>).
55
56 BASIC INTERFACE
57 $EV::DIED
58 Must contain a reference to a function that is called when a
59 callback throws an exception (with $@ containing thr error). The
60 default prints an informative message and continues.
61
62 If this callback throws an exception it will be silently ignored.
63
64 $time = EV::time
65 Returns the current time in (fractional) seconds since the epoch.
66
67 $time = EV::now
68 Returns the time the last event loop iteration has been started.
69 This is the time that (relative) timers are based on, and refering
70 to it is usually faster then calling EV::time.
71
72 $method = EV::ev_method
73 Returns an integer describing the backend used by libev
74 (EV::METHOD_SELECT or EV::METHOD_EPOLL).
75
76 EV::loop [$flags]
77 Begin checking for events and calling callbacks. It returns when a
78 callback calls EV::loop_done.
79
80 The $flags argument can be one of the following:
81
82 0 as above
83 EV::LOOP_ONESHOT block at most once (wait, but do not loop)
84 EV::LOOP_NONBLOCK do not block at all (fetch/handle events but do not wait)
85
86 EV::loop_done [$how]
87 When called with no arguments or an argument of 1, makes the
88 innermost call to EV::loop return.
89
90 When called with an agrument of 2, all calls to EV::loop will return
91 as fast as possible.
92
93 WATCHER
94 A watcher is an object that gets created to record your interest in some
95 event. For instance, if you want to wait for STDIN to become readable,
96 you would create an EV::io watcher for that:
97
98 my $watcher = EV::io *STDIN, EV::READ, sub {
99 my ($watcher, $revents) = @_;
100 warn "yeah, STDIN should not be readable without blocking!\n"
101 };
102
103 All watchers can be active (waiting for events) or inactive (paused).
104 Only active watchers will have their callbacks invoked. All callbacks
105 will be called with at least two arguments: the watcher and a bitmask of
106 received events.
107
108 Each watcher type has its associated bit in revents, so you can use the
109 same callback for multiple watchers. The event mask is named after the
110 type, i..e. EV::child sets EV::CHILD, EV::prepare sets EV::PREPARE,
111 EV::periodic sets EV::PERIODIC and so on, with the exception of IO
112 events (which can set both EV::READ and EV::WRITE bits), and EV::timer
113 (which uses EV::TIMEOUT).
114
115 In the rare case where one wants to create a watcher but not start it at
116 the same time, each constructor has a variant with a trailing "_ns" in
117 its name, e.g. EV::io has a non-starting variant EV::io_ns and so on.
118
119 Please note that a watcher will automatically be stopped when the
120 watcher object is returned, so you *need* to keep the watcher objects
121 returned by the constructors.
122
123 WATCHER TYPES
124 Now lets move to the existing watcher types and asociated methods.
125
126 The following methods are available for all watchers. Then followes a
127 description of each watcher constructor (EV::io, EV::timer,
128 EV::periodic, EV::signal, EV::child, EV::idle, EV::prepare and
129 EV::check), followed by any type-specific methods (if any).
130
131 $w->start
132 Starts a watcher if it isn't active already. Does nothing to an
133 already active watcher. By default, all watchers start out in the
134 active state (see the description of the "_ns" variants if you need
135 stopped watchers).
136
137 $w->stop
138 Stop a watcher if it is active. Also clear any pending events
139 (events that have been received but that didn't yet result in a
140 callback invocation), regardless of wether the watcher was active or
141 not.
142
143 $bool = $w->is_active
144 Returns true if the watcher is active, false otherwise.
145
146 $current_cb = $w->cb
147 $old_cb = $w->cb ($new_cb)
148 Queries the callback on the watcher and optionally changes it. You
149 cna do this at any time.
150
151 $w->trigger ($revents)
152 Call the callback *now* with the given event mask.
153
154 $w = EV::io $fileno_or_fh, $eventmask, $callback
155 $w = EV::io_ns $fileno_or_fh, $eventmask, $callback
156 As long as the returned watcher object is alive, call the $callback
157 when the events specified in $eventmask.
158
159 The $eventmask can be one or more of these constants ORed together:
160
161 EV::READ wait until read() wouldn't block anymore
162 EV::WRITE wait until write() wouldn't block anymore
163
164 The "io_ns" variant doesn't start (activate) the newly created
165 watcher.
166
167 $w->set ($fileno_or_fh, $eventmask)
168 Reconfigures the watcher, see the constructor above for details. Can
169 be called at any time.
170
171 $current_fh = $w->fh
172 $old_fh = $w->fh ($new_fh)
173 Returns the previously set filehandle and optionally set a new one.
174
175 $current_eventmask = $w->events
176 $old_eventmask = $w->events ($new_eventmask)
177 Returns the previously set event mask and optionally set a new one.
178
179 $w = EV::timer $after, $repeat, $callback
180 $w = EV::timer_ns $after, $repeat, $callback
181 Calls the callback after $after seconds. If $repeat is non-zero, the
182 timer will be restarted (with the $repeat value as $after) after the
183 callback returns.
184
185 This means that the callback would be called roughly after $after
186 seconds, and then every $repeat seconds. "Roughly" because the time
187 of callback processing is not taken into account, so the timer will
188 slowly drift. If that isn't acceptable, look at EV::periodic.
189
190 The timer is based on a monotonic clock, that is if somebody is
191 sitting in front of the machine while the timer is running and
192 changes the system clock, the timer will nevertheless run (roughly)
193 the same time.
194
195 The "timer_ns" variant doesn't start (activate) the newly created
196 watcher.
197
198 $w->set ($after, $repeat)
199 Reconfigures the watcher, see the constructor above for details. Can
200 be at any time.
201
202 $w->again
203 Similar to the "start" method, but has special semantics for
204 repeating timers:
205
206 If the timer is active and repeating, reset the timeout to occur
207 $repeat seconds after now.
208
209 If the timer is active and non-repeating, it will be stopped.
210
211 If the timer is in active and repeating, start it.
212
213 Otherwise do nothing.
214
215 This behaviour is useful when you have a timeout for some IO
216 operation. You create a timer object with the same value for $after
217 and $repeat, and then, in the read/write watcher, run the "again"
218 method on the timeout.
219
220 $w = EV::periodic $at, $interval, $callback
221 $w = EV::periodic_ns $at, $interval, $callback
222 Similar to EV::timer, but the time is given as an absolute point in
223 time ($at), plus an optional $interval.
224
225 If the $interval is zero, then the callback will be called at the
226 time $at if that is in the future, or as soon as possible if it is
227 in the past. It will not automatically repeat.
228
229 If the $interval is nonzero, then the watcher will always be
230 scheduled to time out at the next "$at + N * $interval" time.
231
232 This can be used to schedule a callback to run at very regular
233 intervals, as long as the processing time is less then the interval
234 (otherwise obviously events will be skipped).
235
236 Another way to think about it (for the mathematically inclined) is
237 that EV::periodic will try to run the callback at the next possible
238 time where "$time = $at (mod $interval)", regardless of any time
239 jumps.
240
241 This periodic timer is based on "wallclock time", that is, if the
242 clock changes ("ntp", "date -s" etc.), then the timer will
243 nevertheless run at the specified time. This means it will never
244 drift (it might jitter, but it will not drift).
245
246 The "periodic_ns" variant doesn't start (activate) the newly created
247 watcher.
248
249 $w->set ($at, $interval)
250 Reconfigures the watcher, see the constructor above for details. Can
251 be at any time.
252
253 $w = EV::signal $signal, $callback
254 $w = EV::signal_ns $signal, $callback
255 Call the callback when $signal is received (the signal can be
256 specified by number or by name, just as with kill or %SIG).
257
258 EV will grab the signal for the process (the kernel only allows one
259 component to receive a signal at a time) when you start a signal
260 watcher, and removes it again when you stop it. Perl does the same
261 when you add/remove callbacks to %SIG, so watch out.
262
263 You can have as many signal watchers per signal as you want.
264
265 The "signal_ns" variant doesn't start (activate) the newly created
266 watcher.
267
268 $w->set ($signal)
269 Reconfigures the watcher, see the constructor above for details. Can
270 be at any time.
271
272 $w = EV::child $pid, $callback
273 $w = EV::child_ns $pid, $callback
274 Call the callback when a status change for pid $pid (or any pid if
275 $pid is 0) has been received. More precisely: when the process
276 receives a SIGCHLD, EV will fetch the outstanding exit/wait status
277 for all changed/zombie children and call the callback.
278
279 Unlike all other callbacks, this callback will be called with an
280 additional third argument which is the exit status. See the
281 "waitpid" function for details.
282
283 You can have as many pid watchers per pid as you want.
284
285 The "child_ns" variant doesn't start (activate) the newly created
286 watcher.
287
288 $w->set ($pid)
289 Reconfigures the watcher, see the constructor above for details. Can
290 be at any time.
291
292 $w = EV::idle $callback
293 $w = EV::idle_ns $callback
294 Call the callback when there are no pending io, timer/periodic,
295 signal or child events, i.e. when the process is idle.
296
297 The process will not block as long as any idle watchers are active,
298 and they will be called repeatedly until stopped.
299
300 The "idle_ns" variant doesn't start (activate) the newly created
301 watcher.
302
303 $w = EV::prepare $callback
304 $w = EV::prepare_ns $callback
305 Call the callback just before the process would block. You can still
306 create/modify any watchers at this point.
307
308 See the EV::check watcher, below, for explanations and an example.
309
310 The "prepare_ns" variant doesn't start (activate) the newly created
311 watcher.
312
313 $w = EV::check $callback
314 $w = EV::check_ns $callback
315 Call the callback just after the process wakes up again (after it
316 has gathered events), but before any other callbacks have been
317 invoked.
318
319 This is used to integrate other event-based software into the EV
320 mainloop: You register a prepare callback and in there, you create
321 io and timer watchers as required by the other software. Here is a
322 real-world example of integrating Net::SNMP (with some details left
323 out):
324
325 our @snmp_watcher;
326
327 our $snmp_prepare = EV::prepare sub {
328 # do nothing unless active
329 $dispatcher->{_event_queue_h}
330 or return;
331
332 # make the dispatcher handle any outstanding stuff
333
334 # create an IO watcher for each and every socket
335 @snmp_watcher = (
336 (map { EV::io $_, EV::READ, sub { } }
337 keys %{ $dispatcher->{_descriptors} }),
338 );
339
340 # if there are any timeouts, also create a timer
341 push @snmp_watcher, EV::timer $event->[Net::SNMP::Dispatcher::_TIME] - EV::now, 0, sub { }
342 if $event->[Net::SNMP::Dispatcher::_ACTIVE];
343 };
344
345 The callbacks are irrelevant, the only purpose of those watchers is
346 to wake up the process as soon as one of those events occurs (socket
347 readable, or timer timed out). The corresponding EV::check watcher
348 will then clean up:
349
350 our $snmp_check = EV::check sub {
351 # destroy all watchers
352 @snmp_watcher = ();
353
354 # make the dispatcher handle any new stuff
355 };
356
357 The callbacks of the created watchers will not be called as the
358 watchers are destroyed before this cna happen (remember EV::check
359 gets called first).
360
361 The "check_ns" variant doesn't start (activate) the newly created
362 watcher.
363
364 THREADS
365 Threads are not supported by this in any way. Perl pseudo-threads is
366 evil stuff and must die.
367
368 SEE ALSO
369 L<EV::DNS>, L<EV::AnyEvent>.
370
371 AUTHOR
372 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
373 http://home.schmorp.de/
374