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Revision: 1.45
Committed: Thu Dec 30 07:19:31 2010 UTC (13 years, 4 months ago) by root
Branch: MAIN
CVS Tags: rel-3_71
Changes since 1.44: +17 -7 lines
Log Message:
3.71

File Contents

# User Rev Content
1 root 1.1 NAME
2     IO::AIO - Asynchronous Input/Output
3    
4     SYNOPSIS
5     use IO::AIO;
6    
7 root 1.44 aio_open "/etc/passwd", IO::AIO::O_RDONLY, 0, sub {
8 root 1.21 my $fh = shift
9     or die "/etc/passwd: $!";
10 root 1.5 ...
11     };
12    
13     aio_unlink "/tmp/file", sub { };
14    
15     aio_read $fh, 30000, 1024, $buffer, 0, sub {
16     $_[0] > 0 or die "read error: $!";
17     };
18    
19 root 1.18 # version 2+ has request and group objects
20     use IO::AIO 2;
21    
22     aioreq_pri 4; # give next request a very high priority
23     my $req = aio_unlink "/tmp/file", sub { };
24     $req->cancel; # cancel request if still in queue
25    
26     my $grp = aio_group sub { print "all stats done\n" };
27     add $grp aio_stat "..." for ...;
28    
29 root 1.1 DESCRIPTION
30     This module implements asynchronous I/O using whatever means your
31 root 1.38 operating system supports. It is implemented as an interface to "libeio"
32     (<http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/libeio.html>).
33 root 1.1
34 root 1.19 Asynchronous means that operations that can normally block your program
35     (e.g. reading from disk) will be done asynchronously: the operation will
36     still block, but you can do something else in the meantime. This is
37     extremely useful for programs that need to stay interactive even when
38     doing heavy I/O (GUI programs, high performance network servers etc.),
39     but can also be used to easily do operations in parallel that are
40     normally done sequentially, e.g. stat'ing many files, which is much
41     faster on a RAID volume or over NFS when you do a number of stat
42     operations concurrently.
43    
44 root 1.20 While most of this works on all types of file descriptors (for example
45     sockets), using these functions on file descriptors that support
46 root 1.24 nonblocking operation (again, sockets, pipes etc.) is very inefficient.
47 root 1.38 Use an event loop for that (such as the EV module): IO::AIO will
48 root 1.24 naturally fit into such an event loop itself.
49 root 1.19
50 root 1.18 In this version, a number of threads are started that execute your
51     requests and signal their completion. You don't need thread support in
52     perl, and the threads created by this module will not be visible to
53     perl. In the future, this module might make use of the native aio
54     functions available on many operating systems. However, they are often
55 root 1.19 not well-supported or restricted (GNU/Linux doesn't allow them on normal
56 root 1.18 files currently, for example), and they would only support aio_read and
57 root 1.2 aio_write, so the remaining functionality would have to be implemented
58     using threads anyway.
59 root 1.1
60 root 1.24 Although the module will work in the presence of other (Perl-) threads,
61     it is currently not reentrant in any way, so use appropriate locking
62     yourself, always call "poll_cb" from within the same thread, or never
63     call "poll_cb" (or other "aio_" functions) recursively.
64 root 1.18
65 root 1.19 EXAMPLE
66 root 1.38 This is a simple example that uses the EV module and loads /etc/passwd
67     asynchronously:
68 root 1.19
69     use Fcntl;
70 root 1.38 use EV;
71 root 1.19 use IO::AIO;
72    
73 root 1.38 # register the IO::AIO callback with EV
74     my $aio_w = EV::io IO::AIO::poll_fileno, EV::READ, \&IO::AIO::poll_cb;
75 root 1.19
76     # queue the request to open /etc/passwd
77 root 1.44 aio_open "/etc/passwd", IO::AIO::O_RDONLY, 0, sub {
78 root 1.21 my $fh = shift
79 root 1.19 or die "error while opening: $!";
80    
81     # stat'ing filehandles is generally non-blocking
82     my $size = -s $fh;
83    
84     # queue a request to read the file
85     my $contents;
86     aio_read $fh, 0, $size, $contents, 0, sub {
87     $_[0] == $size
88     or die "short read: $!";
89    
90     close $fh;
91    
92     # file contents now in $contents
93     print $contents;
94    
95     # exit event loop and program
96 root 1.38 EV::unloop;
97 root 1.19 };
98     };
99    
100     # possibly queue up other requests, or open GUI windows,
101     # check for sockets etc. etc.
102    
103     # process events as long as there are some:
104 root 1.38 EV::loop;
105 root 1.19
106 root 1.18 REQUEST ANATOMY AND LIFETIME
107     Every "aio_*" function creates a request. which is a C data structure
108     not directly visible to Perl.
109    
110     If called in non-void context, every request function returns a Perl
111     object representing the request. In void context, nothing is returned,
112     which saves a bit of memory.
113    
114     The perl object is a fairly standard ref-to-hash object. The hash
115     contents are not used by IO::AIO so you are free to store anything you
116     like in it.
117    
118     During their existance, aio requests travel through the following
119     states, in order:
120    
121     ready
122     Immediately after a request is created it is put into the ready
123     state, waiting for a thread to execute it.
124    
125     execute
126     A thread has accepted the request for processing and is currently
127     executing it (e.g. blocking in read).
128    
129     pending
130     The request has been executed and is waiting for result processing.
131    
132     While request submission and execution is fully asynchronous, result
133     processing is not and relies on the perl interpreter calling
134     "poll_cb" (or another function with the same effect).
135    
136     result
137     The request results are processed synchronously by "poll_cb".
138    
139     The "poll_cb" function will process all outstanding aio requests by
140     calling their callbacks, freeing memory associated with them and
141     managing any groups they are contained in.
142    
143     done
144     Request has reached the end of its lifetime and holds no resources
145     anymore (except possibly for the Perl object, but its connection to
146     the actual aio request is severed and calling its methods will
147     either do nothing or result in a runtime error).
148 root 1.1
149 root 1.4 FUNCTIONS
150 root 1.43 QUICK OVERVIEW
151     This section simply lists the prototypes of the most important functions
152     for quick reference. See the following sections for function-by-function
153     documentation.
154    
155     aio_open $pathname, $flags, $mode, $callback->($fh)
156     aio_close $fh, $callback->($status)
157     aio_read $fh,$offset,$length, $data,$dataoffset, $callback->($retval)
158     aio_write $fh,$offset,$length, $data,$dataoffset, $callback->($retval)
159     aio_sendfile $out_fh, $in_fh, $in_offset, $length, $callback->($retval)
160     aio_readahead $fh,$offset,$length, $callback->($retval)
161     aio_stat $fh_or_path, $callback->($status)
162     aio_lstat $fh, $callback->($status)
163     aio_statvfs $fh_or_path, $callback->($statvfs)
164     aio_utime $fh_or_path, $atime, $mtime, $callback->($status)
165     aio_chown $fh_or_path, $uid, $gid, $callback->($status)
166     aio_truncate $fh_or_path, $offset, $callback->($status)
167     aio_chmod $fh_or_path, $mode, $callback->($status)
168     aio_unlink $pathname, $callback->($status)
169     aio_mknod $path, $mode, $dev, $callback->($status)
170     aio_link $srcpath, $dstpath, $callback->($status)
171     aio_symlink $srcpath, $dstpath, $callback->($status)
172     aio_readlink $path, $callback->($link)
173     aio_rename $srcpath, $dstpath, $callback->($status)
174     aio_mkdir $pathname, $mode, $callback->($status)
175     aio_rmdir $pathname, $callback->($status)
176     aio_readdir $pathname, $callback->($entries)
177     aio_readdirx $pathname, $flags, $callback->($entries, $flags)
178     IO::AIO::READDIR_DENTS IO::AIO::READDIR_DIRS_FIRST
179     IO::AIO::READDIR_STAT_ORDER IO::AIO::READDIR_FOUND_UNKNOWN
180     aio_load $path, $data, $callback->($status)
181     aio_copy $srcpath, $dstpath, $callback->($status)
182     aio_move $srcpath, $dstpath, $callback->($status)
183     aio_scandir $path, $maxreq, $callback->($dirs, $nondirs)
184     aio_rmtree $path, $callback->($status)
185     aio_sync $callback->($status)
186     aio_fsync $fh, $callback->($status)
187     aio_fdatasync $fh, $callback->($status)
188     aio_sync_file_range $fh, $offset, $nbytes, $flags, $callback->($status)
189     aio_pathsync $path, $callback->($status)
190     aio_msync $scalar, $offset = 0, $length = undef, flags = 0, $callback->($status)
191     aio_mtouch $scalar, $offset = 0, $length = undef, flags = 0, $callback->($status)
192 root 1.44 aio_mlock $scalar, $offset = 0, $length = undef, $callback->($status)
193     aio_mlockall $flags, $callback->($status)
194 root 1.43 aio_group $callback->(...)
195     aio_nop $callback->()
196    
197     $prev_pri = aioreq_pri [$pri]
198     aioreq_nice $pri_adjust
199    
200     IO::AIO::poll_wait
201     IO::AIO::poll_cb
202     IO::AIO::poll
203     IO::AIO::flush
204     IO::AIO::max_poll_reqs $nreqs
205     IO::AIO::max_poll_time $seconds
206     IO::AIO::min_parallel $nthreads
207     IO::AIO::max_parallel $nthreads
208     IO::AIO::max_idle $nthreads
209     IO::AIO::max_outstanding $maxreqs
210     IO::AIO::nreqs
211     IO::AIO::nready
212     IO::AIO::npending
213    
214     IO::AIO::sendfile $ofh, $ifh, $offset, $count
215     IO::AIO::fadvise $fh, $offset, $len, $advice
216 root 1.44 IO::AIO::madvise $scalar, $offset, $length, $advice
217     IO::AIO::mprotect $scalar, $offset, $length, $protect
218     IO::AIO::munlock $scalar, $offset = 0, $length = undef
219 root 1.43 IO::AIO::munlockall
220    
221 root 1.19 AIO REQUEST FUNCTIONS
222 root 1.20 All the "aio_*" calls are more or less thin wrappers around the syscall
223     with the same name (sans "aio_"). The arguments are similar or
224     identical, and they all accept an additional (and optional) $callback
225     argument which must be a code reference. This code reference will get
226     called with the syscall return code (e.g. most syscalls return -1 on
227 root 1.32 error, unlike perl, which usually delivers "false") as its sole argument
228     after the given syscall has been executed asynchronously.
229 root 1.20
230     All functions expecting a filehandle keep a copy of the filehandle
231     internally until the request has finished.
232    
233     All functions return request objects of type IO::AIO::REQ that allow
234     further manipulation of those requests while they are in-flight.
235    
236     The pathnames you pass to these routines *must* be absolute and encoded
237     as octets. The reason for the former is that at the time the request is
238     being executed, the current working directory could have changed.
239     Alternatively, you can make sure that you never change the current
240     working directory anywhere in the program and then use relative paths.
241    
242     To encode pathnames as octets, either make sure you either: a) always
243     pass in filenames you got from outside (command line, readdir etc.)
244     without tinkering, b) are ASCII or ISO 8859-1, c) use the Encode module
245     and encode your pathnames to the locale (or other) encoding in effect in
246     the user environment, d) use Glib::filename_from_unicode on unicode
247     filenames or e) use something else to ensure your scalar has the correct
248     contents.
249    
250     This works, btw. independent of the internal UTF-8 bit, which IO::AIO
251 root 1.32 handles correctly whether it is set or not.
252 root 1.20
253     $prev_pri = aioreq_pri [$pri]
254     Returns the priority value that would be used for the next request
255     and, if $pri is given, sets the priority for the next aio request.
256    
257     The default priority is 0, the minimum and maximum priorities are -4
258     and 4, respectively. Requests with higher priority will be serviced
259     first.
260    
261     The priority will be reset to 0 after each call to one of the
262     "aio_*" functions.
263    
264     Example: open a file with low priority, then read something from it
265     with higher priority so the read request is serviced before other
266     low priority open requests (potentially spamming the cache):
267    
268     aioreq_pri -3;
269     aio_open ..., sub {
270     return unless $_[0];
271    
272     aioreq_pri -2;
273     aio_read $_[0], ..., sub {
274     ...
275     };
276     };
277    
278     aioreq_nice $pri_adjust
279     Similar to "aioreq_pri", but subtracts the given value from the
280     current priority, so the effect is cumulative.
281    
282     aio_open $pathname, $flags, $mode, $callback->($fh)
283     Asynchronously open or create a file and call the callback with a
284     newly created filehandle for the file.
285    
286     The pathname passed to "aio_open" must be absolute. See API NOTES,
287     above, for an explanation.
288    
289     The $flags argument is a bitmask. See the "Fcntl" module for a list.
290     They are the same as used by "sysopen".
291    
292     Likewise, $mode specifies the mode of the newly created file, if it
293     didn't exist and "O_CREAT" has been given, just like perl's
294     "sysopen", except that it is mandatory (i.e. use 0 if you don't
295 root 1.23 create new files, and 0666 or 0777 if you do). Note that the $mode
296     will be modified by the umask in effect then the request is being
297     executed, so better never change the umask.
298 root 1.20
299     Example:
300    
301 root 1.44 aio_open "/etc/passwd", IO::AIO::O_RDONLY, 0, sub {
302 root 1.20 if ($_[0]) {
303     print "open successful, fh is $_[0]\n";
304     ...
305     } else {
306     die "open failed: $!\n";
307     }
308     };
309    
310     aio_close $fh, $callback->($status)
311     Asynchronously close a file and call the callback with the result
312 root 1.26 code.
313 root 1.20
314 root 1.27 Unfortunately, you can't do this to perl. Perl *insists* very
315     strongly on closing the file descriptor associated with the
316 root 1.29 filehandle itself.
317 root 1.27
318 root 1.29 Therefore, "aio_close" will not close the filehandle - instead it
319     will use dup2 to overwrite the file descriptor with the write-end of
320     a pipe (the pipe fd will be created on demand and will be cached).
321 root 1.27
322 root 1.29 Or in other words: the file descriptor will be closed, but it will
323     not be free for reuse until the perl filehandle is closed.
324 root 1.20
325     aio_read $fh,$offset,$length, $data,$dataoffset, $callback->($retval)
326     aio_write $fh,$offset,$length, $data,$dataoffset, $callback->($retval)
327 root 1.35 Reads or writes $length bytes from or to the specified $fh and
328     $offset into the scalar given by $data and offset $dataoffset and
329     calls the callback without the actual number of bytes read (or -1 on
330     error, just like the syscall).
331    
332     "aio_read" will, like "sysread", shrink or grow the $data scalar to
333     offset plus the actual number of bytes read.
334 root 1.24
335 root 1.25 If $offset is undefined, then the current file descriptor offset
336     will be used (and updated), otherwise the file descriptor offset
337     will not be changed by these calls.
338 root 1.24
339     If $length is undefined in "aio_write", use the remaining length of
340     $data.
341    
342     If $dataoffset is less than zero, it will be counted from the end of
343     $data.
344 root 1.20
345     The $data scalar *MUST NOT* be modified in any way while the request
346 root 1.24 is outstanding. Modifying it can result in segfaults or World War
347     III (if the necessary/optional hardware is installed).
348 root 1.20
349     Example: Read 15 bytes at offset 7 into scalar $buffer, starting at
350     offset 0 within the scalar:
351    
352     aio_read $fh, 7, 15, $buffer, 0, sub {
353     $_[0] > 0 or die "read error: $!";
354     print "read $_[0] bytes: <$buffer>\n";
355     };
356    
357     aio_sendfile $out_fh, $in_fh, $in_offset, $length, $callback->($retval)
358     Tries to copy $length bytes from $in_fh to $out_fh. It starts
359     reading at byte offset $in_offset, and starts writing at the current
360     file offset of $out_fh. Because of that, it is not safe to issue
361     more than one "aio_sendfile" per $out_fh, as they will interfere
362     with each other.
363    
364 root 1.45 Please note that "aio_sendfile" can read more bytes from $in_fh than
365     are written, and there is no way to find out how many bytes have
366     been read from "aio_sendfile" alone, as "aio_sendfile" only provides
367     the number of bytes written to $out_fh. Only if the result value
368     equals $length one can assume that $length bytes have been read.
369    
370     Unlike with other "aio_" functions, it makes a lot of sense to use
371     "aio_sendfile" on non-blocking sockets, as long as one end
372     (typically the $in_fh) is a file - the file I/O will then be
373     asynchronous, while the socket I/O will be non-blocking. Note,
374     however, that you can run into a trap where "aio_sendfile" reads
375     some data with readahead, then fails to write all data, and when the
376     socket is ready the next time, the data in the cache is already
377     lost, forcing "aio_sendfile" to again hit the disk. Explicit
378     "aio_read" + "aio_write" let's you control resource usage much
379     better.
380    
381 root 1.20 This call tries to make use of a native "sendfile" syscall to
382     provide zero-copy operation. For this to work, $out_fh should refer
383 root 1.43 to a socket, and $in_fh should refer to an mmap'able file.
384 root 1.20
385 root 1.41 If a native sendfile cannot be found or it fails with "ENOSYS",
386     "ENOTSUP", "EOPNOTSUPP", "EAFNOSUPPORT", "EPROTOTYPE" or "ENOTSOCK",
387     it will be emulated, so you can call "aio_sendfile" on any type of
388     filehandle regardless of the limitations of the operating system.
389 root 1.20
390     aio_readahead $fh,$offset,$length, $callback->($retval)
391     "aio_readahead" populates the page cache with data from a file so
392     that subsequent reads from that file will not block on disk I/O. The
393     $offset argument specifies the starting point from which data is to
394     be read and $length specifies the number of bytes to be read. I/O is
395     performed in whole pages, so that offset is effectively rounded down
396     to a page boundary and bytes are read up to the next page boundary
397     greater than or equal to (off-set+length). "aio_readahead" does not
398     read beyond the end of the file. The current file offset of the file
399     is left unchanged.
400    
401     If that syscall doesn't exist (likely if your OS isn't Linux) it
402     will be emulated by simply reading the data, which would have a
403     similar effect.
404    
405     aio_stat $fh_or_path, $callback->($status)
406     aio_lstat $fh, $callback->($status)
407     Works like perl's "stat" or "lstat" in void context. The callback
408     will be called after the stat and the results will be available
409     using "stat _" or "-s _" etc...
410    
411     The pathname passed to "aio_stat" must be absolute. See API NOTES,
412     above, for an explanation.
413    
414     Currently, the stats are always 64-bit-stats, i.e. instead of
415     returning an error when stat'ing a large file, the results will be
416     silently truncated unless perl itself is compiled with large file
417     support.
418    
419     Example: Print the length of /etc/passwd:
420    
421     aio_stat "/etc/passwd", sub {
422     $_[0] and die "stat failed: $!";
423     print "size is ", -s _, "\n";
424     };
425    
426 root 1.42 aio_statvfs $fh_or_path, $callback->($statvfs)
427     Works like the POSIX "statvfs" or "fstatvfs" syscalls, depending on
428     whether a file handle or path was passed.
429    
430     On success, the callback is passed a hash reference with the
431     following members: "bsize", "frsize", "blocks", "bfree", "bavail",
432     "files", "ffree", "favail", "fsid", "flag" and "namemax". On
433     failure, "undef" is passed.
434    
435     The following POSIX IO::AIO::ST_* constants are defined: "ST_RDONLY"
436     and "ST_NOSUID".
437    
438     The following non-POSIX IO::AIO::ST_* flag masks are defined to
439     their correct value when available, or to 0 on systems that do not
440     support them: "ST_NODEV", "ST_NOEXEC", "ST_SYNCHRONOUS",
441     "ST_MANDLOCK", "ST_WRITE", "ST_APPEND", "ST_IMMUTABLE",
442     "ST_NOATIME", "ST_NODIRATIME" and "ST_RELATIME".
443    
444     Example: stat "/wd" and dump out the data if successful.
445    
446     aio_statvfs "/wd", sub {
447     my $f = $_[0]
448     or die "statvfs: $!";
449    
450     use Data::Dumper;
451     say Dumper $f;
452     };
453    
454     # result:
455     {
456     bsize => 1024,
457     bfree => 4333064312,
458     blocks => 10253828096,
459     files => 2050765568,
460     flag => 4096,
461     favail => 2042092649,
462     bavail => 4333064312,
463     ffree => 2042092649,
464     namemax => 255,
465     frsize => 1024,
466     fsid => 1810
467     }
468    
469 root 1.24 aio_utime $fh_or_path, $atime, $mtime, $callback->($status)
470     Works like perl's "utime" function (including the special case of
471     $atime and $mtime being undef). Fractional times are supported if
472     the underlying syscalls support them.
473    
474     When called with a pathname, uses utimes(2) if available, otherwise
475     utime(2). If called on a file descriptor, uses futimes(2) if
476     available, otherwise returns ENOSYS, so this is not portable.
477    
478     Examples:
479    
480     # set atime and mtime to current time (basically touch(1)):
481     aio_utime "path", undef, undef;
482     # set atime to current time and mtime to beginning of the epoch:
483     aio_utime "path", time, undef; # undef==0
484    
485     aio_chown $fh_or_path, $uid, $gid, $callback->($status)
486     Works like perl's "chown" function, except that "undef" for either
487     $uid or $gid is being interpreted as "do not change" (but -1 can
488     also be used).
489    
490     Examples:
491    
492     # same as "chown root path" in the shell:
493     aio_chown "path", 0, -1;
494     # same as above:
495     aio_chown "path", 0, undef;
496    
497     aio_truncate $fh_or_path, $offset, $callback->($status)
498     Works like truncate(2) or ftruncate(2).
499    
500     aio_chmod $fh_or_path, $mode, $callback->($status)
501     Works like perl's "chmod" function.
502    
503 root 1.20 aio_unlink $pathname, $callback->($status)
504     Asynchronously unlink (delete) a file and call the callback with the
505     result code.
506    
507     aio_mknod $path, $mode, $dev, $callback->($status)
508     [EXPERIMENTAL]
509    
510     Asynchronously create a device node (or fifo). See mknod(2).
511    
512     The only (POSIX-) portable way of calling this function is:
513    
514     aio_mknod $path, IO::AIO::S_IFIFO | $mode, 0, sub { ...
515    
516     aio_link $srcpath, $dstpath, $callback->($status)
517     Asynchronously create a new link to the existing object at $srcpath
518     at the path $dstpath and call the callback with the result code.
519    
520     aio_symlink $srcpath, $dstpath, $callback->($status)
521     Asynchronously create a new symbolic link to the existing object at
522     $srcpath at the path $dstpath and call the callback with the result
523     code.
524    
525     aio_readlink $path, $callback->($link)
526     Asynchronously read the symlink specified by $path and pass it to
527     the callback. If an error occurs, nothing or undef gets passed to
528     the callback.
529    
530     aio_rename $srcpath, $dstpath, $callback->($status)
531     Asynchronously rename the object at $srcpath to $dstpath, just as
532     rename(2) and call the callback with the result code.
533    
534 root 1.23 aio_mkdir $pathname, $mode, $callback->($status)
535     Asynchronously mkdir (create) a directory and call the callback with
536     the result code. $mode will be modified by the umask at the time the
537     request is executed, so do not change your umask.
538    
539 root 1.20 aio_rmdir $pathname, $callback->($status)
540     Asynchronously rmdir (delete) a directory and call the callback with
541     the result code.
542    
543     aio_readdir $pathname, $callback->($entries)
544     Unlike the POSIX call of the same name, "aio_readdir" reads an
545     entire directory (i.e. opendir + readdir + closedir). The entries
546     will not be sorted, and will NOT include the "." and ".." entries.
547    
548 root 1.36 The callback is passed a single argument which is either "undef" or
549     an array-ref with the filenames.
550    
551     aio_readdirx $pathname, $flags, $callback->($entries, $flags)
552     Quite similar to "aio_readdir", but the $flags argument allows to
553     tune behaviour and output format. In case of an error, $entries will
554     be "undef".
555    
556     The flags are a combination of the following constants, ORed
557     together (the flags will also be passed to the callback, possibly
558     modified):
559    
560     IO::AIO::READDIR_DENTS
561     When this flag is off, then the callback gets an arrayref with
562     of names only (as with "aio_readdir"), otherwise it gets an
563     arrayref with "[$name, $type, $inode]" arrayrefs, each
564     describing a single directory entry in more detail.
565    
566     $name is the name of the entry.
567    
568     $type is one of the "IO::AIO::DT_xxx" constants:
569    
570     "IO::AIO::DT_UNKNOWN", "IO::AIO::DT_FIFO", "IO::AIO::DT_CHR",
571     "IO::AIO::DT_DIR", "IO::AIO::DT_BLK", "IO::AIO::DT_REG",
572     "IO::AIO::DT_LNK", "IO::AIO::DT_SOCK", "IO::AIO::DT_WHT".
573    
574     "IO::AIO::DT_UNKNOWN" means just that: readdir does not know. If
575     you need to know, you have to run stat yourself. Also, for speed
576     reasons, the $type scalars are read-only: you can not modify
577     them.
578    
579     $inode is the inode number (which might not be exact on systems
580 root 1.38 with 64 bit inode numbers and 32 bit perls). This field has
581     unspecified content on systems that do not deliver the inode
582     information.
583 root 1.36
584     IO::AIO::READDIR_DIRS_FIRST
585     When this flag is set, then the names will be returned in an
586     order where likely directories come first. This is useful when
587     you need to quickly find directories, or you want to find all
588     directories while avoiding to stat() each entry.
589    
590     If the system returns type information in readdir, then this is
591     used to find directories directly. Otherwise, likely directories
592     are files beginning with ".", or otherwise files with no dots,
593     of which files with short names are tried first.
594    
595     IO::AIO::READDIR_STAT_ORDER
596     When this flag is set, then the names will be returned in an
597     order suitable for stat()'ing each one. That is, when you plan
598     to stat() all files in the given directory, then the returned
599     order will likely be fastest.
600    
601     If both this flag and "IO::AIO::READDIR_DIRS_FIRST" are
602     specified, then the likely dirs come first, resulting in a less
603     optimal stat order.
604    
605     IO::AIO::READDIR_FOUND_UNKNOWN
606     This flag should not be set when calling "aio_readdirx".
607     Instead, it is being set by "aio_readdirx", when any of the
608     $type's found were "IO::AIO::DT_UNKNOWN". The absense of this
609     flag therefore indicates that all $type's are known, which can
610     be used to speed up some algorithms.
611 root 1.20
612 root 1.22 aio_load $path, $data, $callback->($status)
613     This is a composite request that tries to fully load the given file
614     into memory. Status is the same as with aio_read.
615    
616 root 1.20 aio_copy $srcpath, $dstpath, $callback->($status)
617     Try to copy the *file* (directories not supported as either source
618     or destination) from $srcpath to $dstpath and call the callback with
619 root 1.40 a status of 0 (ok) or -1 (error, see $!).
620 root 1.20
621 root 1.32 This is a composite request that creates the destination file with
622     mode 0200 and copies the contents of the source file into it using
623     "aio_sendfile", followed by restoring atime, mtime, access mode and
624     uid/gid, in that order.
625 root 1.20
626     If an error occurs, the partial destination file will be unlinked,
627     if possible, except when setting atime, mtime, access mode and
628     uid/gid, where errors are being ignored.
629    
630     aio_move $srcpath, $dstpath, $callback->($status)
631     Try to move the *file* (directories not supported as either source
632     or destination) from $srcpath to $dstpath and call the callback with
633 root 1.40 a status of 0 (ok) or -1 (error, see $!).
634 root 1.20
635 root 1.33 This is a composite request that tries to rename(2) the file first;
636     if rename fails with "EXDEV", it copies the file with "aio_copy"
637     and, if that is successful, unlinks the $srcpath.
638 root 1.20
639     aio_scandir $path, $maxreq, $callback->($dirs, $nondirs)
640     Scans a directory (similar to "aio_readdir") but additionally tries
641     to efficiently separate the entries of directory $path into two sets
642     of names, directories you can recurse into (directories), and ones
643     you cannot recurse into (everything else, including symlinks to
644     directories).
645    
646     "aio_scandir" is a composite request that creates of many sub
647     requests_ $maxreq specifies the maximum number of outstanding aio
648     requests that this function generates. If it is "<= 0", then a
649     suitable default will be chosen (currently 4).
650    
651     On error, the callback is called without arguments, otherwise it
652     receives two array-refs with path-relative entry names.
653    
654     Example:
655    
656     aio_scandir $dir, 0, sub {
657     my ($dirs, $nondirs) = @_;
658     print "real directories: @$dirs\n";
659     print "everything else: @$nondirs\n";
660     };
661    
662     Implementation notes.
663    
664     The "aio_readdir" cannot be avoided, but "stat()"'ing every entry
665     can.
666    
667 root 1.36 If readdir returns file type information, then this is used directly
668     to find directories.
669    
670     Otherwise, after reading the directory, the modification time, size
671     etc. of the directory before and after the readdir is checked, and
672     if they match (and isn't the current time), the link count will be
673     used to decide how many entries are directories (if >= 2).
674     Otherwise, no knowledge of the number of subdirectories will be
675     assumed.
676    
677     Then entries will be sorted into likely directories a non-initial
678     dot currently) and likely non-directories (see "aio_readdirx"). Then
679     every entry plus an appended "/." will be "stat"'ed, likely
680     directories first, in order of their inode numbers. If that
681     succeeds, it assumes that the entry is a directory or a symlink to
682     directory (which will be checked seperately). This is often faster
683     than stat'ing the entry itself because filesystems might detect the
684     type of the entry without reading the inode data (e.g. ext2fs
685     filetype feature), even on systems that cannot return the filetype
686     information on readdir.
687 root 1.20
688     If the known number of directories (link count - 2) has been
689     reached, the rest of the entries is assumed to be non-directories.
690    
691     This only works with certainty on POSIX (= UNIX) filesystems, which
692     fortunately are the vast majority of filesystems around.
693    
694     It will also likely work on non-POSIX filesystems with reduced
695     efficiency as those tend to return 0 or 1 as link counts, which
696     disables the directory counting heuristic.
697    
698 root 1.23 aio_rmtree $path, $callback->($status)
699     Delete a directory tree starting (and including) $path, return the
700     status of the final "rmdir" only. This is a composite request that
701     uses "aio_scandir" to recurse into and rmdir directories, and unlink
702     everything else.
703    
704 root 1.28 aio_sync $callback->($status)
705     Asynchronously call sync and call the callback when finished.
706    
707 root 1.20 aio_fsync $fh, $callback->($status)
708     Asynchronously call fsync on the given filehandle and call the
709     callback with the fsync result code.
710    
711     aio_fdatasync $fh, $callback->($status)
712     Asynchronously call fdatasync on the given filehandle and call the
713     callback with the fdatasync result code.
714    
715     If this call isn't available because your OS lacks it or it couldn't
716     be detected, it will be emulated by calling "fsync" instead.
717    
718 root 1.34 aio_sync_file_range $fh, $offset, $nbytes, $flags, $callback->($status)
719     Sync the data portion of the file specified by $offset and $length
720     to disk (but NOT the metadata), by calling the Linux-specific
721     sync_file_range call. If sync_file_range is not available or it
722     returns ENOSYS, then fdatasync or fsync is being substituted.
723    
724     $flags can be a combination of
725     "IO::AIO::SYNC_FILE_RANGE_WAIT_BEFORE",
726     "IO::AIO::SYNC_FILE_RANGE_WRITE" and
727     "IO::AIO::SYNC_FILE_RANGE_WAIT_AFTER": refer to the sync_file_range
728     manpage for details.
729    
730 root 1.28 aio_pathsync $path, $callback->($status)
731     This request tries to open, fsync and close the given path. This is
732 root 1.32 a composite request intended to sync directories after directory
733 root 1.28 operations (E.g. rename). This might not work on all operating
734     systems or have any specific effect, but usually it makes sure that
735     directory changes get written to disc. It works for anything that
736     can be opened for read-only, not just directories.
737    
738 root 1.39 Future versions of this function might fall back to other methods
739     when "fsync" on the directory fails (such as calling "sync").
740    
741 root 1.28 Passes 0 when everything went ok, and -1 on error.
742    
743 root 1.41 aio_msync $scalar, $offset = 0, $length = undef, flags = 0,
744     $callback->($status)
745     This is a rather advanced IO::AIO call, which only works on
746 root 1.43 mmap(2)ed scalars (see the "IO::AIO::mmap" function, although it
747     also works on data scalars managed by the Sys::Mmap or Mmap modules,
748     note that the scalar must only be modified in-place while an aio
749     operation is pending on it).
750 root 1.41
751     It calls the "msync" function of your OS, if available, with the
752     memory area starting at $offset in the string and ending $length
753     bytes later. If $length is negative, counts from the end, and if
754     $length is "undef", then it goes till the end of the string. The
755     flags can be a combination of "IO::AIO::MS_ASYNC",
756     "IO::AIO::MS_INVALIDATE" and "IO::AIO::MS_SYNC".
757    
758     aio_mtouch $scalar, $offset = 0, $length = undef, flags = 0,
759     $callback->($status)
760     This is a rather advanced IO::AIO call, which works best on
761     mmap(2)ed scalars.
762    
763     It touches (reads or writes) all memory pages in the specified range
764     inside the scalar. All caveats and parameters are the same as for
765     "aio_msync", above, except for flags, which must be either 0 (which
766     reads all pages and ensures they are instantiated) or
767     "IO::AIO::MT_MODIFY", which modifies the memory page s(by reading
768     and writing an octet from it, which dirties the page).
769    
770 root 1.44 aio_mlock $scalar, $offset = 0, $length = undef, $callback->($status)
771     This is a rather advanced IO::AIO call, which works best on
772     mmap(2)ed scalars.
773    
774     It reads in all the pages of the underlying storage into memory (if
775     any) and locks them, so they are not getting swapped/paged out or
776     removed.
777    
778     If $length is undefined, then the scalar will be locked till the
779     end.
780    
781     On systems that do not implement "mlock", this function returns -1
782     and sets errno to "ENOSYS".
783    
784     Note that the corresponding "munlock" is synchronous and is
785     documented under "MISCELLANEOUS FUNCTIONS".
786    
787     Example: open a file, mmap and mlock it - both will be undone when
788     $data gets destroyed.
789    
790     open my $fh, "<", $path or die "$path: $!";
791     my $data;
792     IO::AIO::mmap $data, -s $fh, IO::AIO::PROT_READ, IO::AIO::MAP_SHARED, $fh;
793     aio_mlock $data; # mlock in background
794    
795     aio_mlockall $flags, $callback->($status)
796     Calls the "mlockall" function with the given $flags (a combination
797     of "IO::AIO::MCL_CURRENT" and "IO::AIO::MCL_FUTURE").
798    
799     On systems that do not implement "mlockall", this function returns
800     -1 and sets errno to "ENOSYS".
801    
802     Note that the corresponding "munlockall" is synchronous and is
803     documented under "MISCELLANEOUS FUNCTIONS".
804    
805     Example: asynchronously lock all current and future pages into
806     memory.
807    
808     aio_mlockall IO::AIO::MCL_FUTURE;
809    
810 root 1.20 aio_group $callback->(...)
811     This is a very special aio request: Instead of doing something, it
812     is a container for other aio requests, which is useful if you want
813     to bundle many requests into a single, composite, request with a
814     definite callback and the ability to cancel the whole request with
815     its subrequests.
816    
817     Returns an object of class IO::AIO::GRP. See its documentation below
818     for more info.
819    
820     Example:
821    
822     my $grp = aio_group sub {
823     print "all stats done\n";
824     };
825    
826     add $grp
827     (aio_stat ...),
828     (aio_stat ...),
829     ...;
830    
831     aio_nop $callback->()
832     This is a special request - it does nothing in itself and is only
833     used for side effects, such as when you want to add a dummy request
834     to a group so that finishing the requests in the group depends on
835     executing the given code.
836    
837     While this request does nothing, it still goes through the execution
838     phase and still requires a worker thread. Thus, the callback will
839     not be executed immediately but only after other requests in the
840     queue have entered their execution phase. This can be used to
841     measure request latency.
842    
843     IO::AIO::aio_busy $fractional_seconds, $callback->() *NOT EXPORTED*
844     Mainly used for debugging and benchmarking, this aio request puts
845     one of the request workers to sleep for the given time.
846    
847     While it is theoretically handy to have simple I/O scheduling
848     requests like sleep and file handle readable/writable, the overhead
849     this creates is immense (it blocks a thread for a long time) so do
850     not use this function except to put your application under
851     artificial I/O pressure.
852 root 1.18
853     IO::AIO::REQ CLASS
854 root 1.20 All non-aggregate "aio_*" functions return an object of this class when
855     called in non-void context.
856 root 1.18
857 root 1.20 cancel $req
858     Cancels the request, if possible. Has the effect of skipping
859     execution when entering the execute state and skipping calling the
860     callback when entering the the result state, but will leave the
861 root 1.37 request otherwise untouched (with the exception of readdir). That
862     means that requests that currently execute will not be stopped and
863     resources held by the request will not be freed prematurely.
864 root 1.18
865 root 1.20 cb $req $callback->(...)
866     Replace (or simply set) the callback registered to the request.
867 root 1.18
868     IO::AIO::GRP CLASS
869 root 1.20 This class is a subclass of IO::AIO::REQ, so all its methods apply to
870     objects of this class, too.
871 root 1.18
872 root 1.20 A IO::AIO::GRP object is a special request that can contain multiple
873     other aio requests.
874 root 1.18
875 root 1.20 You create one by calling the "aio_group" constructing function with a
876     callback that will be called when all contained requests have entered
877     the "done" state:
878 root 1.18
879 root 1.20 my $grp = aio_group sub {
880     print "all requests are done\n";
881     };
882    
883     You add requests by calling the "add" method with one or more
884     "IO::AIO::REQ" objects:
885    
886     $grp->add (aio_unlink "...");
887    
888     add $grp aio_stat "...", sub {
889     $_[0] or return $grp->result ("error");
890 root 1.1
891 root 1.20 # add another request dynamically, if first succeeded
892     add $grp aio_open "...", sub {
893     $grp->result ("ok");
894     };
895     };
896 root 1.18
897 root 1.20 This makes it very easy to create composite requests (see the source of
898     "aio_move" for an application) that work and feel like simple requests.
899 root 1.18
900 root 1.28 * The IO::AIO::GRP objects will be cleaned up during calls to
901     "IO::AIO::poll_cb", just like any other request.
902    
903     * They can be canceled like any other request. Canceling will cancel
904     not only the request itself, but also all requests it contains.
905    
906     * They can also can also be added to other IO::AIO::GRP objects.
907    
908     * You must not add requests to a group from within the group callback
909     (or any later time).
910 root 1.20
911     Their lifetime, simplified, looks like this: when they are empty, they
912     will finish very quickly. If they contain only requests that are in the
913     "done" state, they will also finish. Otherwise they will continue to
914     exist.
915    
916 root 1.32 That means after creating a group you have some time to add requests
917     (precisely before the callback has been invoked, which is only done
918     within the "poll_cb"). And in the callbacks of those requests, you can
919     add further requests to the group. And only when all those requests have
920     finished will the the group itself finish.
921 root 1.20
922     add $grp ...
923     $grp->add (...)
924     Add one or more requests to the group. Any type of IO::AIO::REQ can
925     be added, including other groups, as long as you do not create
926     circular dependencies.
927    
928     Returns all its arguments.
929    
930     $grp->cancel_subs
931     Cancel all subrequests and clears any feeder, but not the group
932     request itself. Useful when you queued a lot of events but got a
933     result early.
934    
935 root 1.41 The group request will finish normally (you cannot add requests to
936     the group).
937    
938 root 1.20 $grp->result (...)
939     Set the result value(s) that will be passed to the group callback
940 root 1.28 when all subrequests have finished and set the groups errno to the
941 root 1.20 current value of errno (just like calling "errno" without an error
942     number). By default, no argument will be passed and errno is zero.
943    
944     $grp->errno ([$errno])
945     Sets the group errno value to $errno, or the current value of errno
946     when the argument is missing.
947    
948     Every aio request has an associated errno value that is restored
949     when the callback is invoked. This method lets you change this value
950     from its default (0).
951    
952     Calling "result" will also set errno, so make sure you either set $!
953     before the call to "result", or call c<errno> after it.
954    
955     feed $grp $callback->($grp)
956     Sets a feeder/generator on this group: every group can have an
957     attached generator that generates requests if idle. The idea behind
958     this is that, although you could just queue as many requests as you
959     want in a group, this might starve other requests for a potentially
960     long time. For example, "aio_scandir" might generate hundreds of
961     thousands "aio_stat" requests, delaying any later requests for a
962     long time.
963    
964     To avoid this, and allow incremental generation of requests, you can
965     instead a group and set a feeder on it that generates those
966     requests. The feed callback will be called whenever there are few
967     enough (see "limit", below) requests active in the group itself and
968     is expected to queue more requests.
969    
970     The feed callback can queue as many requests as it likes (i.e. "add"
971     does not impose any limits).
972    
973     If the feed does not queue more requests when called, it will be
974     automatically removed from the group.
975    
976 root 1.33 If the feed limit is 0 when this method is called, it will be set to
977     2 automatically.
978 root 1.20
979     Example:
980    
981     # stat all files in @files, but only ever use four aio requests concurrently:
982    
983     my $grp = aio_group sub { print "finished\n" };
984     limit $grp 4;
985     feed $grp sub {
986     my $file = pop @files
987     or return;
988 root 1.18
989 root 1.20 add $grp aio_stat $file, sub { ... };
990 root 1.1 };
991    
992 root 1.20 limit $grp $num
993     Sets the feeder limit for the group: The feeder will be called
994     whenever the group contains less than this many requests.
995 root 1.18
996 root 1.20 Setting the limit to 0 will pause the feeding process.
997 root 1.17
998 root 1.33 The default value for the limit is 0, but note that setting a feeder
999     automatically bumps it up to 2.
1000    
1001 root 1.18 SUPPORT FUNCTIONS
1002 root 1.19 EVENT PROCESSING AND EVENT LOOP INTEGRATION
1003 root 1.20 $fileno = IO::AIO::poll_fileno
1004     Return the *request result pipe file descriptor*. This filehandle
1005     must be polled for reading by some mechanism outside this module
1006 root 1.38 (e.g. EV, Glib, select and so on, see below or the SYNOPSIS). If the
1007     pipe becomes readable you have to call "poll_cb" to check the
1008     results.
1009 root 1.20
1010     See "poll_cb" for an example.
1011    
1012     IO::AIO::poll_cb
1013     Process some outstanding events on the result pipe. You have to call
1014 root 1.31 this regularly. Returns 0 if all events could be processed, or -1 if
1015     it returned earlier for whatever reason. Returns immediately when no
1016     events are outstanding. The amount of events processed depends on
1017     the settings of "IO::AIO::max_poll_req" and
1018 root 1.20 "IO::AIO::max_poll_time".
1019    
1020     If not all requests were processed for whatever reason, the
1021 root 1.31 filehandle will still be ready when "poll_cb" returns, so normally
1022     you don't have to do anything special to have it called later.
1023 root 1.20
1024     Example: Install an Event watcher that automatically calls
1025 root 1.38 IO::AIO::poll_cb with high priority (more examples can be found in
1026     the SYNOPSIS section, at the top of this document):
1027 root 1.20
1028     Event->io (fd => IO::AIO::poll_fileno,
1029     poll => 'r', async => 1,
1030     cb => \&IO::AIO::poll_cb);
1031    
1032 root 1.43 IO::AIO::poll_wait
1033     If there are any outstanding requests and none of them in the result
1034     phase, wait till the result filehandle becomes ready for reading
1035     (simply does a "select" on the filehandle. This is useful if you
1036     want to synchronously wait for some requests to finish).
1037    
1038     See "nreqs" for an example.
1039    
1040     IO::AIO::poll
1041     Waits until some requests have been handled.
1042    
1043     Returns the number of requests processed, but is otherwise strictly
1044     equivalent to:
1045    
1046     IO::AIO::poll_wait, IO::AIO::poll_cb
1047    
1048     IO::AIO::flush
1049     Wait till all outstanding AIO requests have been handled.
1050    
1051     Strictly equivalent to:
1052    
1053     IO::AIO::poll_wait, IO::AIO::poll_cb
1054     while IO::AIO::nreqs;
1055    
1056 root 1.20 IO::AIO::max_poll_reqs $nreqs
1057     IO::AIO::max_poll_time $seconds
1058     These set the maximum number of requests (default 0, meaning
1059     infinity) that are being processed by "IO::AIO::poll_cb" in one
1060     call, respectively the maximum amount of time (default 0, meaning
1061     infinity) spent in "IO::AIO::poll_cb" to process requests (more
1062     correctly the mininum amount of time "poll_cb" is allowed to use).
1063    
1064     Setting "max_poll_time" to a non-zero value creates an overhead of
1065     one syscall per request processed, which is not normally a problem
1066     unless your callbacks are really really fast or your OS is really
1067     really slow (I am not mentioning Solaris here). Using
1068     "max_poll_reqs" incurs no overhead.
1069    
1070     Setting these is useful if you want to ensure some level of
1071     interactiveness when perl is not fast enough to process all requests
1072     in time.
1073    
1074     For interactive programs, values such as 0.01 to 0.1 should be fine.
1075 root 1.4
1076 root 1.20 Example: Install an Event watcher that automatically calls
1077     IO::AIO::poll_cb with low priority, to ensure that other parts of
1078     the program get the CPU sometimes even under high AIO load.
1079 root 1.4
1080 root 1.20 # try not to spend much more than 0.1s in poll_cb
1081     IO::AIO::max_poll_time 0.1;
1082 root 1.4
1083 root 1.20 # use a low priority so other tasks have priority
1084     Event->io (fd => IO::AIO::poll_fileno,
1085     poll => 'r', nice => 1,
1086     cb => &IO::AIO::poll_cb);
1087    
1088 root 1.19 CONTROLLING THE NUMBER OF THREADS
1089 root 1.20 IO::AIO::min_parallel $nthreads
1090     Set the minimum number of AIO threads to $nthreads. The current
1091     default is 8, which means eight asynchronous operations can execute
1092     concurrently at any one time (the number of outstanding requests,
1093     however, is unlimited).
1094    
1095     IO::AIO starts threads only on demand, when an AIO request is queued
1096     and no free thread exists. Please note that queueing up a hundred
1097     requests can create demand for a hundred threads, even if it turns
1098     out that everything is in the cache and could have been processed
1099     faster by a single thread.
1100    
1101     It is recommended to keep the number of threads relatively low, as
1102     some Linux kernel versions will scale negatively with the number of
1103     threads (higher parallelity => MUCH higher latency). With current
1104     Linux 2.6 versions, 4-32 threads should be fine.
1105    
1106     Under most circumstances you don't need to call this function, as
1107     the module selects a default that is suitable for low to moderate
1108     load.
1109    
1110     IO::AIO::max_parallel $nthreads
1111     Sets the maximum number of AIO threads to $nthreads. If more than
1112     the specified number of threads are currently running, this function
1113     kills them. This function blocks until the limit is reached.
1114    
1115     While $nthreads are zero, aio requests get queued but not executed
1116     until the number of threads has been increased again.
1117    
1118     This module automatically runs "max_parallel 0" at program end, to
1119     ensure that all threads are killed and that there are no outstanding
1120     requests.
1121    
1122     Under normal circumstances you don't need to call this function.
1123    
1124     IO::AIO::max_idle $nthreads
1125     Limit the number of threads (default: 4) that are allowed to idle
1126     (i.e., threads that did not get a request to process within 10
1127     seconds). That means if a thread becomes idle while $nthreads other
1128     threads are also idle, it will free its resources and exit.
1129    
1130     This is useful when you allow a large number of threads (e.g. 100 or
1131     1000) to allow for extremely high load situations, but want to free
1132     resources under normal circumstances (1000 threads can easily
1133     consume 30MB of RAM).
1134    
1135     The default is probably ok in most situations, especially if thread
1136     creation is fast. If thread creation is very slow on your system you
1137     might want to use larger values.
1138    
1139 root 1.30 IO::AIO::max_outstanding $maxreqs
1140 root 1.20 This is a very bad function to use in interactive programs because
1141     it blocks, and a bad way to reduce concurrency because it is
1142     inexact: Better use an "aio_group" together with a feed callback.
1143    
1144 root 1.25 Sets the maximum number of outstanding requests to $nreqs. If you do
1145 root 1.20 queue up more than this number of requests, the next call to the
1146     "poll_cb" (and "poll_some" and other functions calling "poll_cb")
1147     function will block until the limit is no longer exceeded.
1148    
1149     The default value is very large, so there is no practical limit on
1150     the number of outstanding requests.
1151    
1152     You can still queue as many requests as you want. Therefore,
1153 root 1.30 "max_outstanding" is mainly useful in simple scripts (with low
1154 root 1.20 values) or as a stop gap to shield against fatal memory overflow
1155     (with large values).
1156 root 1.1
1157 root 1.19 STATISTICAL INFORMATION
1158 root 1.20 IO::AIO::nreqs
1159     Returns the number of requests currently in the ready, execute or
1160     pending states (i.e. for which their callback has not been invoked
1161     yet).
1162    
1163     Example: wait till there are no outstanding requests anymore:
1164    
1165     IO::AIO::poll_wait, IO::AIO::poll_cb
1166     while IO::AIO::nreqs;
1167    
1168     IO::AIO::nready
1169     Returns the number of requests currently in the ready state (not yet
1170     executed).
1171    
1172     IO::AIO::npending
1173     Returns the number of requests currently in the pending state
1174     (executed, but not yet processed by poll_cb).
1175 root 1.19
1176 root 1.38 MISCELLANEOUS FUNCTIONS
1177     IO::AIO implements some functions that might be useful, but are not
1178     asynchronous.
1179    
1180     IO::AIO::sendfile $ofh, $ifh, $offset, $count
1181     Calls the "eio_sendfile_sync" function, which is like
1182     "aio_sendfile", but is blocking (this makes most sense if you know
1183     the input data is likely cached already and the output filehandle is
1184     set to non-blocking operations).
1185    
1186     Returns the number of bytes copied, or -1 on error.
1187    
1188     IO::AIO::fadvise $fh, $offset, $len, $advice
1189 root 1.44 Simply calls the "posix_fadvise" function (see its manpage for
1190 root 1.38 details). The following advice constants are avaiable:
1191     "IO::AIO::FADV_NORMAL", "IO::AIO::FADV_SEQUENTIAL",
1192     "IO::AIO::FADV_RANDOM", "IO::AIO::FADV_NOREUSE",
1193     "IO::AIO::FADV_WILLNEED", "IO::AIO::FADV_DONTNEED".
1194    
1195     On systems that do not implement "posix_fadvise", this function
1196     returns ENOSYS, otherwise the return value of "posix_fadvise".
1197    
1198 root 1.44 IO::AIO::madvise $scalar, $offset, $len, $advice
1199     Simply calls the "posix_madvise" function (see its manpage for
1200     details). The following advice constants are avaiable:
1201     "IO::AIO::MADV_NORMAL", "IO::AIO::MADV_SEQUENTIAL",
1202     "IO::AIO::MADV_RANDOM", "IO::AIO::MADV_WILLNEED",
1203     "IO::AIO::MADV_DONTNEED".
1204    
1205     On systems that do not implement "posix_madvise", this function
1206     returns ENOSYS, otherwise the return value of "posix_madvise".
1207    
1208     IO::AIO::mprotect $scalar, $offset, $len, $protect
1209     Simply calls the "mprotect" function on the preferably AIO::mmap'ed
1210     $scalar (see its manpage for details). The following protect
1211     constants are avaiable: "IO::AIO::PROT_NONE", "IO::AIO::PROT_READ",
1212     "IO::AIO::PROT_WRITE", "IO::AIO::PROT_EXEC".
1213    
1214     On systems that do not implement "mprotect", this function returns
1215     ENOSYS, otherwise the return value of "mprotect".
1216    
1217 root 1.43 IO::AIO::mmap $scalar, $length, $prot, $flags, $fh[, $offset]
1218     Memory-maps a file (or anonymous memory range) and attaches it to
1219     the given $scalar, which will act like a string scalar.
1220    
1221     The only operations allowed on the scalar are "substr"/"vec" that
1222     don't change the string length, and most read-only operations such
1223     as copying it or searching it with regexes and so on.
1224    
1225     Anything else is unsafe and will, at best, result in memory leaks.
1226    
1227     The memory map associated with the $scalar is automatically removed
1228     when the $scalar is destroyed, or when the "IO::AIO::mmap" or
1229     "IO::AIO::munmap" functions are called.
1230    
1231     This calls the "mmap"(2) function internally. See your system's
1232     manual page for details on the $length, $prot and $flags parameters.
1233    
1234     The $length must be larger than zero and smaller than the actual
1235     filesize.
1236    
1237     $prot is a combination of "IO::AIO::PROT_NONE",
1238     "IO::AIO::PROT_EXEC", "IO::AIO::PROT_READ" and/or
1239     "IO::AIO::PROT_WRITE",
1240    
1241     $flags can be a combination of "IO::AIO::MAP_SHARED" or
1242     "IO::AIO::MAP_PRIVATE", or a number of system-specific flags (when
1243     not available, the are defined as 0): "IO::AIO::MAP_ANONYMOUS"
1244     (which is set to "MAP_ANON" if your system only provides this
1245     constant), "IO::AIO::MAP_HUGETLB", "IO::AIO::MAP_LOCKED",
1246     "IO::AIO::MAP_NORESERVE", "IO::AIO::MAP_POPULATE" or
1247     "IO::AIO::MAP_NONBLOCK"
1248    
1249     If $fh is "undef", then a file descriptor of -1 is passed.
1250    
1251     $offset is the offset from the start of the file - it generally must
1252     be a multiple of "IO::AIO::PAGESIZE" and defaults to 0.
1253    
1254     Example:
1255    
1256     use Digest::MD5;
1257     use IO::AIO;
1258    
1259     open my $fh, "<verybigfile"
1260     or die "$!";
1261    
1262     IO::AIO::mmap my $data, -s $fh, IO::AIO::PROT_READ, IO::AIO::MAP_SHARED, $fh
1263     or die "verybigfile: $!";
1264    
1265     my $fast_md5 = md5 $data;
1266    
1267     IO::AIO::munmap $scalar
1268     Removes a previous mmap and undefines the $scalar.
1269    
1270 root 1.44 IO::AIO::munlock $scalar, $offset = 0, $length = undef
1271     Calls the "munlock" function, undoing the effects of a previous
1272     "aio_mlock" call (see its description for details).
1273 root 1.43
1274     IO::AIO::munlockall
1275     Calls the "munlockall" function.
1276    
1277     On systems that do not implement "munlockall", this function returns
1278     ENOSYS, otherwise the return value of "munlockall".
1279    
1280     EVENT LOOP INTEGRATION
1281     It is recommended to use AnyEvent::AIO to integrate IO::AIO
1282     automatically into many event loops:
1283    
1284     # AnyEvent integration (EV, Event, Glib, Tk, POE, urxvt, pureperl...)
1285     use AnyEvent::AIO;
1286    
1287     You can also integrate IO::AIO manually into many event loops, here are
1288     some examples of how to do this:
1289    
1290     # EV integration
1291     my $aio_w = EV::io IO::AIO::poll_fileno, EV::READ, \&IO::AIO::poll_cb;
1292    
1293     # Event integration
1294     Event->io (fd => IO::AIO::poll_fileno,
1295     poll => 'r',
1296     cb => \&IO::AIO::poll_cb);
1297    
1298     # Glib/Gtk2 integration
1299     add_watch Glib::IO IO::AIO::poll_fileno,
1300     in => sub { IO::AIO::poll_cb; 1 };
1301    
1302     # Tk integration
1303     Tk::Event::IO->fileevent (IO::AIO::poll_fileno, "",
1304     readable => \&IO::AIO::poll_cb);
1305    
1306     # Danga::Socket integration
1307     Danga::Socket->AddOtherFds (IO::AIO::poll_fileno =>
1308     \&IO::AIO::poll_cb);
1309    
1310 root 1.9 FORK BEHAVIOUR
1311 root 1.20 This module should do "the right thing" when the process using it forks:
1312 root 1.18
1313 root 1.20 Before the fork, IO::AIO enters a quiescent state where no requests can
1314     be added in other threads and no results will be processed. After the
1315     fork the parent simply leaves the quiescent state and continues
1316     request/result processing, while the child frees the request/result
1317     queue (so that the requests started before the fork will only be handled
1318     in the parent). Threads will be started on demand until the limit set in
1319     the parent process has been reached again.
1320    
1321     In short: the parent will, after a short pause, continue as if fork had
1322     not been called, while the child will act as if IO::AIO has not been
1323     used yet.
1324 root 1.18
1325     MEMORY USAGE
1326 root 1.20 Per-request usage:
1327 root 1.18
1328 root 1.20 Each aio request uses - depending on your architecture - around 100-200
1329     bytes of memory. In addition, stat requests need a stat buffer (possibly
1330     a few hundred bytes), readdir requires a result buffer and so on. Perl
1331     scalars and other data passed into aio requests will also be locked and
1332     will consume memory till the request has entered the done state.
1333    
1334 root 1.25 This is not awfully much, so queuing lots of requests is not usually a
1335 root 1.20 problem.
1336    
1337     Per-thread usage:
1338    
1339     In the execution phase, some aio requests require more memory for
1340     temporary buffers, and each thread requires a stack and other data
1341     structures (usually around 16k-128k, depending on the OS).
1342 root 1.18
1343     KNOWN BUGS
1344 root 1.20 Known bugs will be fixed in the next release.
1345 root 1.9
1346 root 1.1 SEE ALSO
1347 root 1.30 AnyEvent::AIO for easy integration into event loops, Coro::AIO for a
1348     more natural syntax.
1349 root 1.1
1350     AUTHOR
1351 root 1.20 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
1352     http://home.schmorp.de/
1353 root 1.1