Guard/Guard.pm

=head1 NAME

Guard - safe cleanup blocks

=head1 SYNOPSIS

   use Guard;
   
   # temporarily chdir to "/etc" directory, but make sure
   # to go back to "/" no matter how myfun exits:
   sub myfun {
      scope_guard { chdir "/" };
      chdir "/etc";
   
      code_that_might_die_or_does_other_fun_stuff;
   }

   # create an object that, when the last reference to it is gone,
   # invokes the given codeblock:
   my $guard = guard { print "destroyed!\n" };
   undef $guard; # probably destroyed here

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This module implements so-called "guards". A guard is something (usually
an object) that "guards" a resource, ensuring that it is cleaned up when
expected.

Specifically, this module supports two different types of guards: guard
objects, which execute a given code block when destroyed, and scoped
guards, which are tied to the scope exit.

=head1 FUNCTIONS

This module currently exports the C<scope_guard> and C<guard> functions by
default.

=over 4

=cut

package Guard;

no warnings;

BEGIN {
   $VERSION = 1.023;
   @ISA = qw(Exporter);
   @EXPORT = qw(guard scope_guard);

   require Exporter;

   require XSLoader;
   XSLoader::load Guard, $VERSION;
}

our $DIED = sub { warn "$@" };

=item scope_guard BLOCK

=item scope_guard ($coderef)

Registers a block that is executed when the current scope (block,
function, method, eval etc.) is exited.

See the EXCEPTIONS section for an explanation of how exceptions
(i.e. C<die>) are handled inside guard blocks.

The description below sounds a bit complicated, but that's just because
C<scope_guard> tries to get even corner cases "right": the goal is to
provide you with a rock solid clean up tool.

The behaviour is similar to this code fragment:

   eval ... code following scope_guard ...
   {
      local $@;
      eval BLOCK;
      eval { $Guard::DIED->() } if $@;
   }
   die if $@;

Except it is much faster, and the whole thing gets executed even when the
BLOCK calls C<exit>, C<goto>, C<last> or escapes via other means.

If multiple BLOCKs are registered to the same scope, they will be executed
in reverse order. Other scope-related things such as C<local> are managed
via the same mechanism, so variables C<local>ised I<after> calling
C<scope_guard> will be restored I<before> the guard runs.

Example: temporarily change the timezone for the current process,
ensuring it will be reset when the C<if> scope is exited:

   use Guard;
   use POSIX ();

   if ($need_to_switch_tz) {
      # make sure we call tzset after $ENV{TZ} has been restored
      scope_guard { POSIX::tzset };

      # localise after the scope_guard, so it gets undone in time
      local $ENV{TZ} = "Europe/London";
      POSIX::tzset;

      # do something with the new timezone
   }

=item my $guard = guard BLOCK

=item my $guard = guard ($coderef)

Behaves the same as C<scope_guard>, except that instead of executing
the block on scope exit, it returns an object whose lifetime determines
when the BLOCK gets executed: when the last reference to the object gets
destroyed, the BLOCK gets executed as with C<scope_guard>.

See the EXCEPTIONS section for an explanation of how exceptions
(i.e. C<die>) are handled inside guard blocks.

Example: acquire a Coro::Semaphore for a second by registering a
timer. The timer callback references the guard used to unlock it
again. (Please ignore the fact that C<Coro::Semaphore> has a C<guard>
method that does this already):

   use Guard;
   use Coro::AnyEvent;
   use Coro::Semaphore;

   my $sem = new Coro::Semaphore;

   sub lock_for_a_second {
      $sem->down;
      my $guard = guard { $sem->up };

      Coro::AnyEvent::sleep 1;

      # $sem->up gets executed when returning
   }

The advantage of doing this with a guard instead of simply calling C<<
$sem->down >> in the callback is that you can opt not to create the timer,
or your code can throw an exception before it can create the timer (or
the thread gets canceled), or you can create multiple timers or other
event watchers and only when the last one gets executed will the lock be
unlocked. Using the C<guard>, you do not have to worry about catching all
the places where you have to unlock the semaphore.

=item $guard->cancel

Calling this function will "disable" the guard object returned by the
C<guard> function, i.e. it will free the BLOCK originally passed to
C<guard >and will arrange for the BLOCK not to be executed.

This can be useful when you use C<guard> to create a cleanup handler to be
called under fatal conditions and later decide it is no longer needed.

=cut

1;

=back

=head1 EXCEPTIONS

Guard blocks should not normally throw exceptions (that is, C<die>). After
all, they are usually used to clean up after such exceptions. However,
if something truly exceptional is happening, a guard block should of
course be allowed to die. Also, programming errors are a large source of
exceptions, and the programmer certainly wants to know about those.

Since in most cases, the block executing when the guard gets executed does
not know or does not care about the guard blocks, it makes little sense to
let containing code handle the exception.

Therefore, whenever a guard block throws an exception, it will be caught
by Guard, followed by calling the code reference stored in C<$Guard::DIED>
(with C<$@> set to the actual exception), which is similar to how most
event loops handle this case.

The default for C<$Guard::DIED> is to call C<warn "$@">, i.e. the error is
printed as a warning and the program continues.

The C<$@> variable will be restored to its value before the guard call in
all cases, so guards will not disturb C<$@> in any way.

The code reference stored in C<$Guard::DIED> should not die (behaviour is
not guaranteed, but right now, the exception will simply be ignored).

=head1 AUTHOR

 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
 http://home.schmorp.de/

=head1 THANKS

Thanks to Marco Maisenhelder, who reminded me of the C<$Guard::DIED>
solution to the problem of exceptions.

=head1 SEE ALSO

L<Scope::Guard> and L<Sub::ScopeFinalizer>, which actually implement
dynamically scoped guards only, not the lexically scoped guards that their
documentation promises, and have a lot higher CPU, memory and typing
overhead.

L<Hook::Scope>, which has apparently never been finished and can corrupt
memory when used.

L<Scope::Guard> seems to have a big SEE ALSO section for even more
modules like it.

=cut

Revision:	1.26
Committed:	Tue Mar 21 11:39:27 2017 UTC (7 years, 1 month ago) by root
Branch:	MAIN
CVS Tags:	HEAD
Changes since 1.25:	+1 -1 lines
Log Message:	* empty log message *
#	Content
1	=head1 NAME
2
3	Guard - safe cleanup blocks
4
5	=head1 SYNOPSIS
6
7	use Guard;
8
9	# temporarily chdir to "/etc" directory, but make sure
10	# to go back to "/" no matter how myfun exits:
11	sub myfun {
12	scope_guard { chdir "/" };
13	chdir "/etc";
14
15	code_that_might_die_or_does_other_fun_stuff;
16	}
17
18	# create an object that, when the last reference to it is gone,
19	# invokes the given codeblock:
20	my $guard = guard { print "destroyed!\n" };
21	undef $guard; # probably destroyed here
22
23	=head1 DESCRIPTION
24
25	This module implements so-called "guards". A guard is something (usually
26	an object) that "guards" a resource, ensuring that it is cleaned up when
27	expected.
28
29	Specifically, this module supports two different types of guards: guard
30	objects, which execute a given code block when destroyed, and scoped
31	guards, which are tied to the scope exit.
32
33	=head1 FUNCTIONS
34
35	This module currently exports the C<scope_guard> and C<guard> functions by
36	default.
37
38	=over 4
39
40	=cut
41
42	package Guard;
43
44	no warnings;
45
46	BEGIN {
47	$VERSION = 1.023;
48	@ISA = qw(Exporter);
49	@EXPORT = qw(guard scope_guard);
50
51	require Exporter;
52
53	require XSLoader;
54	XSLoader::load Guard, $VERSION;
55	}
56
57	our $DIED = sub { warn "$@" };
58
59	=item scope_guard BLOCK
60
61	=item scope_guard ($coderef)
62
63	Registers a block that is executed when the current scope (block,
64	function, method, eval etc.) is exited.
65
66	See the EXCEPTIONS section for an explanation of how exceptions
67	(i.e. C<die>) are handled inside guard blocks.
68
69	The description below sounds a bit complicated, but that's just because
70	C<scope_guard> tries to get even corner cases "right": the goal is to
71	provide you with a rock solid clean up tool.
72
73	The behaviour is similar to this code fragment:
74
75	eval ... code following scope_guard ...
76	{
77	local $@;
78	eval BLOCK;
79	eval { $Guard::DIED->() } if $@;
80	}
81	die if $@;
82
83	Except it is much faster, and the whole thing gets executed even when the
84	BLOCK calls C<exit>, C<goto>, C<last> or escapes via other means.
85
86	If multiple BLOCKs are registered to the same scope, they will be executed
87	in reverse order. Other scope-related things such as C<local> are managed
88	via the same mechanism, so variables C<local>ised I<after> calling
89	C<scope_guard> will be restored I<before> the guard runs.
90
91	Example: temporarily change the timezone for the current process,
92	ensuring it will be reset when the C<if> scope is exited:
93
94	use Guard;
95	use POSIX ();
96
97	if ($need_to_switch_tz) {
98	# make sure we call tzset after $ENV{TZ} has been restored
99	scope_guard { POSIX::tzset };
100
101	# localise after the scope_guard, so it gets undone in time
102	local $ENV{TZ} = "Europe/London";
103	POSIX::tzset;
104
105	# do something with the new timezone
106	}
107
108	=item my $guard = guard BLOCK
109
110	=item my $guard = guard ($coderef)
111
112	Behaves the same as C<scope_guard>, except that instead of executing
113	the block on scope exit, it returns an object whose lifetime determines
114	when the BLOCK gets executed: when the last reference to the object gets
115	destroyed, the BLOCK gets executed as with C<scope_guard>.
116
117	See the EXCEPTIONS section for an explanation of how exceptions
118	(i.e. C<die>) are handled inside guard blocks.
119
120	Example: acquire a Coro::Semaphore for a second by registering a
121	timer. The timer callback references the guard used to unlock it
122	again. (Please ignore the fact that C<Coro::Semaphore> has a C<guard>
123	method that does this already):
124
125	use Guard;
126	use Coro::AnyEvent;
127	use Coro::Semaphore;
128
129	my $sem = new Coro::Semaphore;
130
131	sub lock_for_a_second {
132	$sem->down;
133	my $guard = guard { $sem->up };
134
135	Coro::AnyEvent::sleep 1;
136
137	# $sem->up gets executed when returning
138	}
139
140	The advantage of doing this with a guard instead of simply calling C<<
141	$sem->down >> in the callback is that you can opt not to create the timer,
142	or your code can throw an exception before it can create the timer (or
143	the thread gets canceled), or you can create multiple timers or other
144	event watchers and only when the last one gets executed will the lock be
145	unlocked. Using the C<guard>, you do not have to worry about catching all
146	the places where you have to unlock the semaphore.
147
148	=item $guard->cancel
149
150	Calling this function will "disable" the guard object returned by the
151	C<guard> function, i.e. it will free the BLOCK originally passed to
152	C<guard >and will arrange for the BLOCK not to be executed.
153
154	This can be useful when you use C<guard> to create a cleanup handler to be
155	called under fatal conditions and later decide it is no longer needed.
156
157	=cut
158
159	1;
160
161	=back
162
163	=head1 EXCEPTIONS
164
165	Guard blocks should not normally throw exceptions (that is, C<die>). After
166	all, they are usually used to clean up after such exceptions. However,
167	if something truly exceptional is happening, a guard block should of
168	course be allowed to die. Also, programming errors are a large source of
169	exceptions, and the programmer certainly wants to know about those.
170
171	Since in most cases, the block executing when the guard gets executed does
172	not know or does not care about the guard blocks, it makes little sense to
173	let containing code handle the exception.
174
175	Therefore, whenever a guard block throws an exception, it will be caught
176	by Guard, followed by calling the code reference stored in C<$Guard::DIED>
177	(with C<$@> set to the actual exception), which is similar to how most
178	event loops handle this case.
179
180	The default for C<$Guard::DIED> is to call C<warn "$@">, i.e. the error is
181	printed as a warning and the program continues.
182
183	The C<$@> variable will be restored to its value before the guard call in
184	all cases, so guards will not disturb C<$@> in any way.
185
186	The code reference stored in C<$Guard::DIED> should not die (behaviour is
187	not guaranteed, but right now, the exception will simply be ignored).
188
189	=head1 AUTHOR
190
191	Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
192	http://home.schmorp.de/
193
194	=head1 THANKS
195
196	Thanks to Marco Maisenhelder, who reminded me of the C<$Guard::DIED>
197	solution to the problem of exceptions.
198
199	=head1 SEE ALSO
200
201	L<Scope::Guard> and L<Sub::ScopeFinalizer>, which actually implement
202	dynamically scoped guards only, not the lexically scoped guards that their
203	documentation promises, and have a lot higher CPU, memory and typing
204	overhead.
205
206	L<Hook::Scope>, which has apparently never been finished and can corrupt
207	memory when used.
208
209	L<Scope::Guard> seems to have a big SEE ALSO section for even more
210	modules like it.
211
212	=cut
213