[ViewVC] Annotation of: cvs/libev/README

Homepage: http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/libev
E-Mail: libev@schmorp.de

libev is a high-performance event loop/event model with lots of features.

It is modelled (very losely) after libevent
(http://monkey.org/~provos/libevent/) and the Event perl module, but aims
to be faster and more correct, and also more featureful.

DIFFERENCES AND COMPARISON TO LIBEVENT:

(comparisons relative to libevent-1.3e and libev-0.00, see also the benchmark
at http://libev.schmorp.de/bench.html).

- multiple watchers can wait for the same event without deregistering others,
  both for file descriptors as well as signals.
  (registering two read events on fd 10 and unregistering one will not
  break the other).

- fork() is supported and can be handled
  (there is no way to recover from a fork when libevent is active).

- timers are handled as a priority queue (important operations are O(1))
  (libevent uses a much less efficient but more complex red-black tree).

- supports absolute (wallclock-based) timers in addition to relative ones,
  i.e. can schedule timers to occur after n seconds, or at a specific time.

- timers can be repeating (both absolute and relative ones).

- detects time jumps and adjusts timers
  (works for both forward and backward time jumps and also for absolute timers).

- race-free signal processing
  (libevent may delay processing signals till after the next event).

- less calls to epoll_ctl
  (stopping and starting an io watcher between two loop iterations will now
  result in spuriois epoll_ctl calls).

- usually less calls to gettimeofday and clock_gettime
  (libevent calls it on every timer event change, libev twice per iteration).

- watchers use less memory
  (libevent on amd64: 152 bytes, libev: <= 56 bytes).

- library uses less memory
  (libevent allocates large data structures wether used or not, libev
  scales all its data structures dynamically).

- no hardcoded arbitrary limits
  (libevent contains an off-by-one bug and sometimes hardcodes a limit of
  32000 fds).

- libev separates timer, signal and io watchers from each other
  (libevent combines them, but with libev you can combine them yourself
  by reusing the same callback and still save memory).

- simpler design, backends are potentially much simpler
  (in libevent, backends have to deal with watchers, thus the problems)
  (epoll backend in libevent: 366 lines, libev: 90 lines, and more features).

- libev handles EBADF gracefully by removing the offending fds.

- doesn't rely on nonportable BSD header files.

- a event.h compatibility header exists, and can be used to run a wide
  range of libevent programs unchanged (such as evdns.c).

- win32 compatibility for the core parts.

- the event core library (ev and event layer) compiles and works both as
  C and C++.

whats missing?

- no event-like priority support at the moment (the ev priorities
  are not yet finished and work differently, but you can use idle watchers
  to get a similar effect).

AUTHOR

libev was written and designed by Marc Lehmann and Emanuele Giaquinta.

The following people sent in patches or made other noteworthy
contributions (if I forgot to include you, please shout at me, it was an
accident):

W.C.A. Wijngaards
Christopher Layne
Chris Brody

Revision:	1.17
Committed:	Mon Nov 12 05:40:55 2007 UTC (18 years, 3 months ago) by root
Branch:	MAIN
CVS Tags:	rel-0_9
Changes since 1.16:	+9 -0 lines
Log Message:	applied patches by W.C.A. Wijngaards, changed env variable handling
#	User	Rev	Content
1	root	1.16	Homepage: http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/libev
2			E-Mail: libev@schmorp.de
3
4	root	1.11	libev is a high-performance event loop/event model with lots of features.
5	root	1.9
6			It is modelled (very losely) after libevent
7			(http://monkey.org/~provos/libevent/) and the Event perl module, but aims
8			to be faster and more correct, and also more featureful.
9
10			DIFFERENCES AND COMPARISON TO LIBEVENT:
11	root	1.1
12	root	1.10	(comparisons relative to libevent-1.3e and libev-0.00, see also the benchmark
13			at http://libev.schmorp.de/bench.html).
14	root	1.5
15	root	1.4	- multiple watchers can wait for the same event without deregistering others,
16			both for file descriptors as well as signals.
17	root	1.2	(registering two read events on fd 10 and unregistering one will not
18	root	1.9	break the other).
19	root	1.2
20			- fork() is supported and can be handled
21	root	1.9	(there is no way to recover from a fork when libevent is active).
22	root	1.2
23	root	1.7	- timers are handled as a priority queue (important operations are O(1))
24	root	1.9	(libevent uses a much less efficient but more complex red-black tree).
25	root	1.2
26			- supports absolute (wallclock-based) timers in addition to relative ones,
27			i.e. can schedule timers to occur after n seconds, or at a specific time.
28
29	root	1.9	- timers can be repeating (both absolute and relative ones).
30	root	1.2
31			- detects time jumps and adjusts timers
32	root	1.9	(works for both forward and backward time jumps and also for absolute timers).
33	root	1.2
34	root	1.3	- race-free signal processing
35	root	1.9	(libevent may delay processing signals till after the next event).
36	root	1.3
37	root	1.2	- less calls to epoll_ctl
38			(stopping and starting an io watcher between two loop iterations will now
39	root	1.9	result in spuriois epoll_ctl calls).
40	root	1.2
41			- usually less calls to gettimeofday and clock_gettime
42	root	1.9	(libevent calls it on every timer event change, libev twice per iteration).
43	root	1.2
44			- watchers use less memory
45	root	1.9	(libevent on amd64: 152 bytes, libev: <= 56 bytes).
46	root	1.2
47			- library uses less memory
48			(libevent allocates large data structures wether used or not, libev
49	root	1.9	scales all its data structures dynamically).
50	root	1.2
51			- no hardcoded arbitrary limits
52			(libevent contains an off-by-one bug and sometimes hardcodes a limit of
53	root	1.9	32000 fds).
54	root	1.2
55			- libev separates timer, signal and io watchers from each other
56			(libevent combines them, but with libev you can combine them yourself
57	root	1.9	by reusing the same callback and still save memory).
58	root	1.2
59			- simpler design, backends are potentially much simpler
60			(in libevent, backends have to deal with watchers, thus the problems)
61	root	1.9	(epoll backend in libevent: 366 lines, libev: 90 lines, and more features).
62	root	1.2
63	root	1.6	- libev handles EBADF gracefully by removing the offending fds.
64
65	root	1.8	- doesn't rely on nonportable BSD header files.
66
67	root	1.9	- a event.h compatibility header exists, and can be used to run a wide
68			range of libevent programs unchanged (such as evdns.c).
69
70	root	1.13	- win32 compatibility for the core parts.
71
72			- the event core library (ev and event layer) compiles and works both as
73			C and C++.
74
75	root	1.2	whats missing?
76
77	root	1.14	- no event-like priority support at the moment (the ev priorities
78	ayin	1.15	are not yet finished and work differently, but you can use idle watchers
79	root	1.14	to get a similar effect).
80	root	1.2
81	root	1.16	AUTHOR
82	root	1.1
83	root	1.16	libev was written and designed by Marc Lehmann and Emanuele Giaquinta.
84	root	1.17
85			The following people sent in patches or made other noteworthy
86			contributions (if I forgot to include you, please shout at me, it was an
87			accident):
88
89			W.C.A. Wijngaards
90			Christopher Layne
91			Chris Brody
92