[ViewVC] Diff of: cvs/libev/ev.3

Comparing libev/ev.3 (file contents):
Revision 1.58 by root, Sat Dec 22 16:53:56 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.65 by root, Sun May 11 11:47:27 2008 UTC

-.\" Automatically generated by Pod::Man v1.37, Pod::Parser v1.35
+.\" Automatically generated by Pod::Man 2.16 (Pod::Simple 3.05)
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-.IX Title "EV 1"
+.IX Title "LIBEV 3"
-.TH EV 1 "2007-12-22" "perl v5.8.8" "User Contributed Perl Documentation"
+.TH LIBEV 3 "2008-05-09" "libev-1.1" "libev - high perfromance full featured event loop"
+.\" For nroff, turn off justification.  Always turn off hyphenation; it makes
+.\" way too many mistakes in technical documents.
+.if n .ad l
+.nh
 .SH "NAME"
 libev \- a high performance full\-featured event loop written in C
 .SH "SYNOPSIS"
 .IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
 .Vb 1
 \&  #include <ev.h>
 .Ve
-.SH "EXAMPLE PROGRAM"
+.Sh "\s-1EXAMPLE\s0 \s-1PROGRAM\s0"
-.IX Header "EXAMPLE PROGRAM"
+.IX Subsection "EXAMPLE PROGRAM"
-.Vb 1
+.Vb 2
+\&  // a single header file is required
 \&  #include <ev.h>
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
+\&  // every watcher type has its own typedef\*(Aqd struct
-.Vb 2
+\&  // with the name ev_<type>
 \&  ev_io stdin_watcher;
 \&  ev_timer timeout_watcher;
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
+\&  // all watcher callbacks have a similar signature
-.Vb 8
-\&  /* called when data readable on stdin */
+\&  // this callback is called when data is readable on stdin
 \&  static void
 \&  stdin_cb (EV_P_ struct ev_io *w, int revents)
 \&  {
-\&    /* puts ("stdin ready"); */
+\&    puts ("stdin ready");
-\&    ev_io_stop (EV_A_ w); /* just a syntax example */
+\&    // for one\-shot events, one must manually stop the watcher
-\&    ev_unloop (EV_A_ EVUNLOOP_ALL); /* leave all loop calls */
+\&    // with its corresponding stop function.
+\&    ev_io_stop (EV_A_ w);
+\&
+\&    // this causes all nested ev_loop\*(Aqs to stop iterating
+\&    ev_unloop (EV_A_ EVUNLOOP_ALL);
 \&  }
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
+\&  // another callback, this time for a time\-out
-.Vb 6
 \&  static void
 \&  timeout_cb (EV_P_ struct ev_timer *w, int revents)
 \&  {
-\&    /* puts ("timeout"); */
+\&    puts ("timeout");
-\&    ev_unloop (EV_A_ EVUNLOOP_ONE); /* leave one loop call */
+\&    // this causes the innermost ev_loop to stop iterating
+\&    ev_unloop (EV_A_ EVUNLOOP_ONE);
 \&  }
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 4
 \&  int
 \&  main (void)
 \&  {
+\&    // use the default event loop unless you have special needs
 \&    struct ev_loop *loop = ev_default_loop (0);
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 3
-\&    /* initialise an io watcher, then start it */
+\&    // initialise an io watcher, then start it
+\&    // this one will watch for stdin to become readable
 \&    ev_io_init (&stdin_watcher, stdin_cb, /*STDIN_FILENO*/ 0, EV_READ);
 \&    ev_io_start (loop, &stdin_watcher);
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
+\&    // initialise a timer watcher, then start it
-.Vb 3
-\&    /* simple non-repeating 5.5 second timeout */
+\&    // simple non\-repeating 5.5 second timeout
 \&    ev_timer_init (&timeout_watcher, timeout_cb, 5.5, 0.);
 \&    ev_timer_start (loop, &timeout_watcher);
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
+\&    // now wait for events to arrive
-.Vb 2
-\&    /* loop till timeout or data ready */
 \&    ev_loop (loop, 0);
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
+\&    // unloop was called, so exit
-.Vb 2
 \&    return 0;
 \&  }
 .Ve
 .SH "DESCRIPTION"
 .IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
-The newest version of this document is also available as a html-formatted
+The newest version of this document is also available as an html-formatted
 web page you might find easier to navigate when reading it for the first
 time: <http://cvs.schmorp.de/libev/ev.html>.
 .PP
 Libev is an event loop: you register interest in certain events (such as a
 file descriptor being readable or a timeout occurring), and it will manage
 .PP
 You register interest in certain events by registering so-called \fIevent
 watchers\fR, which are relatively small C structures you initialise with the
 details of the event, and then hand it over to libev by \fIstarting\fR the
 watcher.
-.SH "FEATURES"
+.Sh "\s-1FEATURES\s0"
-.IX Header "FEATURES"
+.IX Subsection "FEATURES"
 Libev supports \f(CW\*(C`select\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`poll\*(C'\fR, the Linux-specific \f(CW\*(C`epoll\*(C'\fR, the
 BSD-specific \f(CW\*(C`kqueue\*(C'\fR and the Solaris-specific event port mechanisms
 for file descriptor events (\f(CW\*(C`ev_io\*(C'\fR), the Linux \f(CW\*(C`inotify\*(C'\fR interface
 (for \f(CW\*(C`ev_stat\*(C'\fR), relative timers (\f(CW\*(C`ev_timer\*(C'\fR), absolute timers
 with customised rescheduling (\f(CW\*(C`ev_periodic\*(C'\fR), synchronous signals
 (\f(CW\*(C`ev_fork\*(C'\fR).
 .PP
 It also is quite fast (see this
 benchmark comparing it to libevent
 for example).
-.SH "CONVENTIONS"
+.Sh "\s-1CONVENTIONS\s0"
-.IX Header "CONVENTIONS"
+.IX Subsection "CONVENTIONS"
-Libev is very configurable. In this manual the default configuration will
+Libev is very configurable. In this manual the default (and most common)
-be described, which supports multiple event loops. For more info about
+configuration will be described, which supports multiple event loops. For
-various configuration options please have a look at \fB\s-1EMBED\s0\fR section in
+more info about various configuration options please have a look at
-this manual. If libev was configured without support for multiple event
+\&\fB\s-1EMBED\s0\fR section in this manual. If libev was configured without support
-loops, then all functions taking an initial argument of name \f(CW\*(C`loop\*(C'\fR
+for multiple event loops, then all functions taking an initial argument of
-(which is always of type \f(CW\*(C`struct ev_loop *\*(C'\fR) will not have this argument.
+name \f(CW\*(C`loop\*(C'\fR (which is always of type \f(CW\*(C`struct ev_loop *\*(C'\fR) will not have
-.SH "TIME REPRESENTATION"
+this argument.
+.Sh "\s-1TIME\s0 \s-1REPRESENTATION\s0"
-.IX Header "TIME REPRESENTATION"
+.IX Subsection "TIME REPRESENTATION"
 Libev represents time as a single floating point number, representing the
 (fractional) number of seconds since the (\s-1POSIX\s0) epoch (somewhere near
 the beginning of 1970, details are complicated, don't ask). This type is
 called \f(CW\*(C`ev_tstamp\*(C'\fR, which is what you should use too. It usually aliases
 to the \f(CW\*(C`double\*(C'\fR type in C, and when you need to do any calculations on
 (assuming you know what you are doing). This is the set of backends that
 libev will probe for if you specify no backends explicitly.
 .IP "unsigned int ev_embeddable_backends ()" 4
 .IX Item "unsigned int ev_embeddable_backends ()"
 Returns the set of backends that are embeddable in other event loops. This
-is the theoretical, all\-platform, value. To find which backends
+is the theoretical, all-platform, value. To find which backends
 might be supported on the current system, you would need to look at
 \&\f(CW\*(C`ev_embeddable_backends () & ev_supported_backends ()\*(C'\fR, likewise for
 recommended ones.
 .Sp
 See the description of \f(CW\*(C`ev_embed\*(C'\fR watchers for more info.
 .IP "ev_set_allocator (void *(*cb)(void *ptr, long size))" 4
 .IX Item "ev_set_allocator (void *(*cb)(void *ptr, long size))"
 Sets the allocation function to use (the prototype is similar \- the
-semantics is identical \- to the realloc C function). It is used to
+semantics are identical to the \f(CW\*(C`realloc\*(C'\fR C89/SuS/POSIX function). It is
-allocate and free memory (no surprises here). If it returns zero when
+used to allocate and free memory (no surprises here). If it returns zero
-memory needs to be allocated, the library might abort or take some
+when memory needs to be allocated (\f(CW\*(C`size != 0\*(C'\fR), the library might abort
-potentially destructive action. The default is your system realloc
+or take some potentially destructive action.
-function.
+.Sp
+Since some systems (at least OpenBSD and Darwin) fail to implement
+correct \f(CW\*(C`realloc\*(C'\fR semantics, libev will use a wrapper around the system
+\&\f(CW\*(C`realloc\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`free\*(C'\fR functions by default.
 .Sp
 You could override this function in high-availability programs to, say,
 free some memory if it cannot allocate memory, to use a special allocator,
 or even to sleep a while and retry until some memory is available.
 .Sp
 Example: Replace the libev allocator with one that waits a bit and then
-retries).
+retries (example requires a standards-compliant \f(CW\*(C`realloc\*(C'\fR).
 .Sp
 .Vb 6
 \&   static void *
 \&   persistent_realloc (void *ptr, size_t size)
 \&   {
 \&     for (;;)
 \&       {
 \&         void *newptr = realloc (ptr, size);
-.Ve
+\&
-.Sp
-.Vb 2
 \&         if (newptr)
 \&           return newptr;
-.Ve
+\&
-.Sp
-.Vb 3
 \&         sleep (60);
 \&       }
 \&   }
-.Ve
+\&
-.Sp
-.Vb 2
 \&   ...
 \&   ev_set_allocator (persistent_realloc);
 .Ve
 .IP "ev_set_syserr_cb (void (*cb)(const char *msg));" 4
 .IX Item "ev_set_syserr_cb (void (*cb)(const char *msg));"
 \&   fatal_error (const char *msg)
 \&   {
 \&     perror (msg);
 \&     abort ();
 \&   }
-.Ve
+\&
-.Sp
-.Vb 2
 \&   ...
 \&   ev_set_syserr_cb (fatal_error);
 .Ve
 .SH "FUNCTIONS CONTROLLING THE EVENT LOOP"
 .IX Header "FUNCTIONS CONTROLLING THE EVENT LOOP"
 An event loop is described by a \f(CW\*(C`struct ev_loop *\*(C'\fR. The library knows two
 types of such loops, the \fIdefault\fR loop, which supports signals and child
 events, and dynamically created loops which do not.
-.PP
-If you use threads, a common model is to run the default event loop
-in your main thread (or in a separate thread) and for each thread you
-create, you also create another event loop. Libev itself does no locking
-whatsoever, so if you mix calls to the same event loop in different
-threads, make sure you lock (this is usually a bad idea, though, even if
-done correctly, because it's hideous and inefficient).
 .IP "struct ev_loop *ev_default_loop (unsigned int flags)" 4
 .IX Item "struct ev_loop *ev_default_loop (unsigned int flags)"
 This will initialise the default event loop if it hasn't been initialised
 yet and return it. If the default loop could not be initialised, returns
 false. If it already was initialised it simply returns it (and ignores the
 flags. If that is troubling you, check \f(CW\*(C`ev_backend ()\*(C'\fR afterwards).
 .Sp
 If you don't know what event loop to use, use the one returned from this
 function.
+.Sp
+Note that this function is \fInot\fR thread-safe, so if you want to use it
+from multiple threads, you have to lock (note also that this is unlikely,
+as loops cannot bes hared easily between threads anyway).
+.Sp
+The default loop is the only loop that can handle \f(CW\*(C`ev_signal\*(C'\fR and
+\&\f(CW\*(C`ev_child\*(C'\fR watchers, and to do this, it always registers a handler
+for \f(CW\*(C`SIGCHLD\*(C'\fR. If this is a problem for your app you can either
+create a dynamic loop with \f(CW\*(C`ev_loop_new\*(C'\fR that doesn't do that, or you
+can simply overwrite the \f(CW\*(C`SIGCHLD\*(C'\fR signal handler \fIafter\fR calling
+\&\f(CW\*(C`ev_default_init\*(C'\fR.
 .Sp
 The flags argument can be used to specify special behaviour or specific
 backends to use, and is usually specified as \f(CW0\fR (or \f(CW\*(C`EVFLAG_AUTO\*(C'\fR).
 .Sp
 The following flags are supported:
 enabling this flag.
 .Sp
 This works by calling \f(CW\*(C`getpid ()\*(C'\fR on every iteration of the loop,
 and thus this might slow down your event loop if you do a lot of loop
 iterations and little real work, but is usually not noticeable (on my
-Linux system for example, \f(CW\*(C`getpid\*(C'\fR is actually a simple 5\-insn sequence
+GNU/Linux system for example, \f(CW\*(C`getpid\*(C'\fR is actually a simple 5\-insn sequence
-without a syscall and thus \fIvery\fR fast, but my Linux system also has
+without a syscall and thus \fIvery\fR fast, but my GNU/Linux system also has
 \&\f(CW\*(C`pthread_atfork\*(C'\fR which is even faster).
 .Sp
 The big advantage of this flag is that you can forget about fork (and
 forget about forgetting to tell libev about forking) when you use this
 flag.
 .IX Item "EVBACKEND_SELECT  (value 1, portable select backend)"
 This is your standard \fIselect\fR\|(2) backend. Not \fIcompletely\fR standard, as
 libev tries to roll its own fd_set with no limits on the number of fds,
 but if that fails, expect a fairly low limit on the number of fds when
 using this backend. It doesn't scale too well (O(highest_fd)), but its
-usually the fastest backend for a low number of (low\-numbered :) fds.
+usually the fastest backend for a low number of (low-numbered :) fds.
 .Sp
 To get good performance out of this backend you need a high amount of
 parallelity (most of the file descriptors should be busy). If you are
 writing a server, you should \f(CW\*(C`accept ()\*(C'\fR in a loop to accept as many
 connections as possible during one iteration. You might also want to have
 For few fds, this backend is a bit little slower than poll and select,
 but it scales phenomenally better. While poll and select usually scale
 like O(total_fds) where n is the total number of fds (or the highest fd),
 epoll scales either O(1) or O(active_fds). The epoll design has a number
 of shortcomings, such as silently dropping events in some hard-to-detect
-cases and rewiring a syscall per fd change, no fork support and bad
+cases and requiring a syscall per fd change, no fork support and bad
 support for dup.
 .Sp
 While stopping, setting and starting an I/O watcher in the same iteration
 will result in some caching, there is still a syscall per such incident
 (because the fd could point to a different file description now), so its
 .Sp
 While this backend scales well, it requires one system call per active
 file descriptor per loop iteration. For small and medium numbers of file
 descriptors a \*(L"slow\*(R" \f(CW\*(C`EVBACKEND_SELECT\*(C'\fR or \f(CW\*(C`EVBACKEND_POLL\*(C'\fR backend
 might perform better.
+.Sp
+On the positive side, ignoring the spurious readyness notifications, this
+backend actually performed to specification in all tests and is fully
+embeddable, which is a rare feat among the OS-specific backends.
 .ie n .IP """EVBACKEND_ALL""" 4
 .el .IP "\f(CWEVBACKEND_ALL\fR" 4
 .IX Item "EVBACKEND_ALL"
 Try all backends (even potentially broken ones that wouldn't be tried
 with \f(CW\*(C`EVFLAG_AUTO\*(C'\fR). Since this is a mask, you can do stuff such as
 It is definitely not recommended to use this flag.
 .RE
 .RS 4
 .Sp
 If one or more of these are ored into the flags value, then only these
-backends will be tried (in the reverse order as given here). If none are
+backends will be tried (in the reverse order as listed here). If none are
-specified, most compiled-in backend will be tried, usually in reverse
+specified, all backends in \f(CW\*(C`ev_recommended_backends ()\*(C'\fR will be tried.
-order of their flag values :)
 .Sp
 The most typical usage is like this:
 .Sp
 .Vb 2
 \&  if (!ev_default_loop (0))
 .IX Item "struct ev_loop *ev_loop_new (unsigned int flags)"
 Similar to \f(CW\*(C`ev_default_loop\*(C'\fR, but always creates a new event loop that is
 always distinct from the default loop. Unlike the default loop, it cannot
 handle signal and child watchers, and attempts to do so will be greeted by
 undefined behaviour (or a failed assertion if assertions are enabled).
+.Sp
+Note that this function \fIis\fR thread-safe, and the recommended way to use
+libev with threads is indeed to create one loop per thread, and using the
+default loop in the \*(L"main\*(R" or \*(L"initial\*(R" thread.
 .Sp
 Example: Try to create a event loop that uses epoll and nothing else.
 .Sp
 .Vb 3
 \&  struct ev_loop *epoller = ev_loop_new (EVBACKEND_EPOLL | EVFLAG_NOENV);
 .IX Item "ev_loop_destroy (loop)"
 Like \f(CW\*(C`ev_default_destroy\*(C'\fR, but destroys an event loop created by an
 earlier call to \f(CW\*(C`ev_loop_new\*(C'\fR.
 .IP "ev_default_fork ()" 4
 .IX Item "ev_default_fork ()"
+This function sets a flag that causes subsequent \f(CW\*(C`ev_loop\*(C'\fR iterations
-This function reinitialises the kernel state for backends that have
+to reinitialise the kernel state for backends that have one. Despite the
-one. Despite the name, you can call it anytime, but it makes most sense
+name, you can call it anytime, but it makes most sense after forking, in
-after forking, in either the parent or child process (or both, but that
+the child process (or both child and parent, but that again makes little
-again makes little sense).
+sense). You \fImust\fR call it in the child before using any of the libev
+functions, and it will only take effect at the next \f(CW\*(C`ev_loop\*(C'\fR iteration.
 .Sp
-You \fImust\fR call this function in the child process after forking if and
+On the other hand, you only need to call this function in the child
-only if you want to use the event library in both processes. If you just
+process if and only if you want to use the event library in the child. If
-fork+exec, you don't have to call it.
+you just fork+exec, you don't have to call it at all.
 .Sp
 The function itself is quite fast and it's usually not a problem to call
 it just in case after a fork. To make this easy, the function will fit in
 quite nicely into a call to \f(CW\*(C`pthread_atfork\*(C'\fR:
 .Sp
 .Vb 1
 \&    pthread_atfork (0, 0, ev_default_fork);
 .Ve
-.Sp
-At the moment, \f(CW\*(C`EVBACKEND_SELECT\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`EVBACKEND_POLL\*(C'\fR are safe to use
-without calling this function, so if you force one of those backends you
-do not need to care.
 .IP "ev_loop_fork (loop)" 4
 .IX Item "ev_loop_fork (loop)"
 Like \f(CW\*(C`ev_default_fork\*(C'\fR, but acts on an event loop created by
 \&\f(CW\*(C`ev_loop_new\*(C'\fR. Yes, you have to call this on every allocated event loop
 after fork, and how you do this is entirely your own problem.
+.IP "int ev_is_default_loop (loop)" 4
+.IX Item "int ev_is_default_loop (loop)"
+Returns true when the given loop actually is the default loop, false otherwise.
 .IP "unsigned int ev_loop_count (loop)" 4
 .IX Item "unsigned int ev_loop_count (loop)"
 Returns the count of loop iterations for the loop, which is identical to
 the number of times libev did poll for new events. It starts at \f(CW0\fR and
 happily wraps around with enough iterations.
 libev watchers. However, a pair of \f(CW\*(C`ev_prepare\*(C'\fR/\f(CW\*(C`ev_check\*(C'\fR watchers is
 usually a better approach for this kind of thing.
 .Sp
 Here are the gory details of what \f(CW\*(C`ev_loop\*(C'\fR does:
 .Sp
-.Vb 19
+.Vb 10
-\&   - Before the first iteration, call any pending watchers.
+\&   \- Before the first iteration, call any pending watchers.
-\&   * If there are no active watchers (reference count is zero), return.
+\&   * If EVFLAG_FORKCHECK was used, check for a fork.
-\&   - Queue all prepare watchers and then call all outstanding watchers.
+\&   \- If a fork was detected, queue and call all fork watchers.
+\&   \- Queue and call all prepare watchers.
-\&   - If we have been forked, recreate the kernel state.
+\&   \- If we have been forked, recreate the kernel state.
-\&   - Update the kernel state with all outstanding changes.
+\&   \- Update the kernel state with all outstanding changes.
-\&   - Update the "event loop time".
+\&   \- Update the "event loop time".
-\&   - Calculate for how long to block.
+\&   \- Calculate for how long to sleep or block, if at all
+\&     (active idle watchers, EVLOOP_NONBLOCK or not having
+\&     any active watchers at all will result in not sleeping).
+\&   \- Sleep if the I/O and timer collect interval say so.
-\&   - Block the process, waiting for any events.
+\&   \- Block the process, waiting for any events.
-\&   - Queue all outstanding I/O (fd) events.
+\&   \- Queue all outstanding I/O (fd) events.
-\&   - Update the "event loop time" and do time jump handling.
+\&   \- Update the "event loop time" and do time jump handling.
-\&   - Queue all outstanding timers.
+\&   \- Queue all outstanding timers.
-\&   - Queue all outstanding periodics.
+\&   \- Queue all outstanding periodics.
-\&   - If no events are pending now, queue all idle watchers.
+\&   \- If no events are pending now, queue all idle watchers.
-\&   - Queue all check watchers.
+\&   \- Queue all check watchers.
-\&   - Call all queued watchers in reverse order (i.e. check watchers first).
+\&   \- Call all queued watchers in reverse order (i.e. check watchers first).
 \&     Signals and child watchers are implemented as I/O watchers, and will
 \&     be handled here by queueing them when their watcher gets executed.
-\&   - If ev_unloop has been called or EVLOOP_ONESHOT or EVLOOP_NONBLOCK
+\&   \- If ev_unloop has been called, or EVLOOP_ONESHOT or EVLOOP_NONBLOCK
-\&     were used, return, otherwise continue with step *.
+\&     were used, or there are no active watchers, return, otherwise
+\&     continue with step *.
 .Ve
 .Sp
-Example: Queue some jobs and then loop until no events are outsanding
+Example: Queue some jobs and then loop until no events are outstanding
 anymore.
 .Sp
 .Vb 4
 \&   ... queue jobs here, make sure they register event watchers as long
 \&   ... as they still have work to do (even an idle watcher will do..)
 .IX Item "ev_unloop (loop, how)"
 Can be used to make a call to \f(CW\*(C`ev_loop\*(C'\fR return early (but only after it
 has processed all outstanding events). The \f(CW\*(C`how\*(C'\fR argument must be either
 \&\f(CW\*(C`EVUNLOOP_ONE\*(C'\fR, which will make the innermost \f(CW\*(C`ev_loop\*(C'\fR call return, or
 \&\f(CW\*(C`EVUNLOOP_ALL\*(C'\fR, which will make all nested \f(CW\*(C`ev_loop\*(C'\fR calls return.
+.Sp
+This \*(L"unloop state\*(R" will be cleared when entering \f(CW\*(C`ev_loop\*(C'\fR again.
 .IP "ev_ref (loop)" 4
 .IX Item "ev_ref (loop)"
 .PD 0
 .IP "ev_unref (loop)" 4
 .IX Item "ev_unref (loop)"
 returning, \fIev_unref()\fR after starting, and \fIev_ref()\fR before stopping it. For
 example, libev itself uses this for its internal signal pipe: It is not
 visible to the libev user and should not keep \f(CW\*(C`ev_loop\*(C'\fR from exiting if
 no event watchers registered by it are active. It is also an excellent
 way to do this for generic recurring timers or from within third-party
-libraries. Just remember to \fIunref after start\fR and \fIref before stop\fR.
+libraries. Just remember to \fIunref after start\fR and \fIref before stop\fR
+(but only if the watcher wasn't active before, or was active before,
+respectively).
 .Sp
 Example: Create a signal watcher, but keep it from keeping \f(CW\*(C`ev_loop\*(C'\fR
 running when nothing else is active.
 .Sp
 .Vb 4
 \&  static void my_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_io *w, int revents)
 \&  {
 \&    ev_io_stop (w);
 \&    ev_unloop (loop, EVUNLOOP_ALL);
 \&  }
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 6
 \&  struct ev_loop *loop = ev_default_loop (0);
 \&  struct ev_io stdin_watcher;
 \&  ev_init (&stdin_watcher, my_cb);
 \&  ev_io_set (&stdin_watcher, STDIN_FILENO, EV_READ);
 \&  ev_io_start (loop, &stdin_watcher);
 .ie n .IP """EV_FORK""" 4
 .el .IP "\f(CWEV_FORK\fR" 4
 .IX Item "EV_FORK"
 The event loop has been resumed in the child process after fork (see
 \&\f(CW\*(C`ev_fork\*(C'\fR).
+.ie n .IP """EV_ASYNC""" 4
+.el .IP "\f(CWEV_ASYNC\fR" 4
+.IX Item "EV_ASYNC"
+The given async watcher has been asynchronously notified (see \f(CW\*(C`ev_async\*(C'\fR).
 .ie n .IP """EV_ERROR""" 4
 .el .IP "\f(CWEV_ERROR\fR" 4
 .IX Item "EV_ERROR"
 An unspecified error has occured, the watcher has been stopped. This might
 happen because the watcher could not be properly started because libev
 In this case getting the pointer to \f(CW\*(C`my_biggy\*(C'\fR is a bit more complicated,
 you need to use \f(CW\*(C`offsetof\*(C'\fR:
 .PP
 .Vb 1
 \&  #include <stddef.h>
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 6
 \&  static void
 \&  t1_cb (EV_P_ struct ev_timer *w, int revents)
 \&  {
 \&    struct my_biggy big = (struct my_biggy *
-\&      (((char *)w) - offsetof (struct my_biggy, t1));
+\&      (((char *)w) \- offsetof (struct my_biggy, t1));
 \&  }
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 6
 \&  static void
 \&  t2_cb (EV_P_ struct ev_timer *w, int revents)
 \&  {
 \&    struct my_biggy big = (struct my_biggy *
-\&      (((char *)w) - offsetof (struct my_biggy, t2));
+\&      (((char *)w) \- offsetof (struct my_biggy, t2));
 \&  }
 .Ve
 .SH "WATCHER TYPES"
 .IX Header "WATCHER TYPES"
 This section describes each watcher in detail, but will not repeat
 In general you can register as many read and/or write event watchers per
 fd as you want (as long as you don't confuse yourself). Setting all file
 descriptors to non-blocking mode is also usually a good idea (but not
 required if you know what you are doing).
 .PP
-You have to be careful with dup'ed file descriptors, though. Some backends
-(the linux epoll backend is a notable example) cannot handle dup'ed file
-descriptors correctly if you register interest in two or more fds pointing
-to the same underlying file/socket/etc. description (that is, they share
-the same underlying \*(L"file open\*(R").
-.PP
 If you must do this, then force the use of a known-to-be-good backend
 (at the time of this writing, this includes only \f(CW\*(C`EVBACKEND_SELECT\*(C'\fR and
 \&\f(CW\*(C`EVBACKEND_POLL\*(C'\fR).
 .PP
 Another thing you have to watch out for is that it is quite easy to
 .PP
 \fIThe special problem of dup'ed file descriptors\fR
 .IX Subsection "The special problem of dup'ed file descriptors"
 .PP
 Some backends (e.g. epoll), cannot register events for file descriptors,
-but only events for the underlying file descriptions. That menas when you
+but only events for the underlying file descriptions. That means when you
-have \f(CW\*(C`dup ()\*(C'\fR'ed file descriptors and register events for them, only one
+have \f(CW\*(C`dup ()\*(C'\fR'ed file descriptors or weirder constellations, and register
-file descriptor might actually receive events.
+events for them, only one file descriptor might actually receive events.
 .PP
-There is no workaorund possible except not registering events
+There is no workaround possible except not registering events
-for potentially \f(CW\*(C`dup ()\*(C'\fR'ed file descriptors or to resort to
+for potentially \f(CW\*(C`dup ()\*(C'\fR'ed file descriptors, or to resort to
 \&\f(CW\*(C`EVBACKEND_SELECT\*(C'\fR or \f(CW\*(C`EVBACKEND_POLL\*(C'\fR.
 .PP
 \fIThe special problem of fork\fR
 .IX Subsection "The special problem of fork"
 .PP
 .PP
 To support fork in your programs, you either have to call
 \&\f(CW\*(C`ev_default_fork ()\*(C'\fR or \f(CW\*(C`ev_loop_fork ()\*(C'\fR after a fork in the child,
 enable \f(CW\*(C`EVFLAG_FORKCHECK\*(C'\fR, or resort to \f(CW\*(C`EVBACKEND_SELECT\*(C'\fR or
 \&\f(CW\*(C`EVBACKEND_POLL\*(C'\fR.
+.PP
+\fIThe special problem of \s-1SIGPIPE\s0\fR
+.IX Subsection "The special problem of SIGPIPE"
+.PP
+While not really specific to libev, it is easy to forget about \s-1SIGPIPE:\s0
+when reading from a pipe whose other end has been closed, your program
+gets send a \s-1SIGPIPE\s0, which, by default, aborts your program. For most
+programs this is sensible behaviour, for daemons, this is usually
+undesirable.
+.PP
+So when you encounter spurious, unexplained daemon exits, make sure you
+ignore \s-1SIGPIPE\s0 (and maybe make sure you log the exit status of your daemon
+somewhere, as that would have given you a big clue).
 .PP
 \fIWatcher-Specific Functions\fR
 .IX Subsection "Watcher-Specific Functions"
 .IP "ev_io_init (ev_io *, callback, int fd, int events)" 4
 .IX Item "ev_io_init (ev_io *, callback, int fd, int events)"
 The file descriptor being watched.
 .IP "int events [read\-only]" 4
 .IX Item "int events [read-only]"
 The events being watched.
 .PP
+\fIExamples\fR
+.IX Subsection "Examples"
+.PP
 Example: Call \f(CW\*(C`stdin_readable_cb\*(C'\fR when \s-1STDIN_FILENO\s0 has become, well
-readable, but only once. Since it is likely line\-buffered, you could
+readable, but only once. Since it is likely line-buffered, you could
 attempt to read a whole line in the callback.
 .PP
 .Vb 6
 \&  static void
 \&  stdin_readable_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_io *w, int revents)
 \&  {
 \&     ev_io_stop (loop, w);
-\&    .. read from stdin here (or from w->fd) and haqndle any I/O errors
+\&    .. read from stdin here (or from w\->fd) and haqndle any I/O errors
 \&  }
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 6
 \&  ...
 \&  struct ev_loop *loop = ev_default_init (0);
 \&  struct ev_io stdin_readable;
 \&  ev_io_init (&stdin_readable, stdin_readable_cb, STDIN_FILENO, EV_READ);
 \&  ev_io_start (loop, &stdin_readable);
 of the event triggering whatever timeout you are modifying/starting. If
 you suspect event processing to be delayed and you \fIneed\fR to base the timeout
 on the current time, use something like this to adjust for this:
 .PP
 .Vb 1
-\&   ev_timer_set (&timer, after + ev_now () - ev_time (), 0.);
+\&   ev_timer_set (&timer, after + ev_now () \- ev_time (), 0.);
 .Ve
 .PP
 The callback is guarenteed to be invoked only when its timeout has passed,
 but if multiple timers become ready during the same loop iteration then
 order of execution is undefined.
 The timer itself will do a best-effort at avoiding drift, that is, if you
 configure a timer to trigger every 10 seconds, then it will trigger at
 exactly 10 second intervals. If, however, your program cannot keep up with
 the timer (because it takes longer than those 10 seconds to do stuff) the
 timer will not fire more than once per event loop iteration.
-.IP "ev_timer_again (loop)" 4
+.IP "ev_timer_again (loop, ev_timer *)" 4
-.IX Item "ev_timer_again (loop)"
+.IX Item "ev_timer_again (loop, ev_timer *)"
 This will act as if the timer timed out and restart it again if it is
 repeating. The exact semantics are:
 .Sp
 If the timer is pending, its pending status is cleared.
 .Sp
 .Sp
 .Vb 8
 \&   ev_timer_init (timer, callback, 0., 5.);
 \&   ev_timer_again (loop, timer);
 \&   ...
-\&   timer->again = 17.;
+\&   timer\->again = 17.;
 \&   ev_timer_again (loop, timer);
 \&   ...
-\&   timer->again = 10.;
+\&   timer\->again = 10.;
 \&   ev_timer_again (loop, timer);
 .Ve
 .Sp
 This is more slightly efficient then stopping/starting the timer each time
 you want to modify its timeout value.
 .IX Item "ev_tstamp repeat [read-write]"
 The current \f(CW\*(C`repeat\*(C'\fR value. Will be used each time the watcher times out
 or \f(CW\*(C`ev_timer_again\*(C'\fR is called and determines the next timeout (if any),
 which is also when any modifications are taken into account.
 .PP
+\fIExamples\fR
+.IX Subsection "Examples"
+.PP
 Example: Create a timer that fires after 60 seconds.
 .PP
 .Vb 5
 \&  static void
 \&  one_minute_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_timer *w, int revents)
 \&  {
 \&    .. one minute over, w is actually stopped right here
 \&  }
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 3
 \&  struct ev_timer mytimer;
 \&  ev_timer_init (&mytimer, one_minute_cb, 60., 0.);
 \&  ev_timer_start (loop, &mytimer);
 .Ve
 .PP
 \&  static void
 \&  timeout_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_timer *w, int revents)
 \&  {
 \&    .. ten seconds without any activity
 \&  }
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 4
 \&  struct ev_timer mytimer;
 \&  ev_timer_init (&mytimer, timeout_cb, 0., 10.); /* note, only repeat used */
 \&  ev_timer_again (&mytimer); /* start timer */
 \&  ev_loop (loop, 0);
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 3
 \&  // and in some piece of code that gets executed on any "activity":
 \&  // reset the timeout to start ticking again at 10 seconds
 \&  ev_timer_again (&mytimer);
 .Ve
 .ie n .Sh """ev_periodic"" \- to cron or not to cron?"
 .IX Item "ev_periodic_set (ev_periodic *, ev_tstamp after, ev_tstamp repeat, reschedule_cb)"
 .PD
 Lots of arguments, lets sort it out... There are basically three modes of
 operation, and we will explain them from simplest to complex:
 .RS 4
+.IP "\(bu" 4
-.IP "* absolute timer (at = time, interval = reschedule_cb = 0)" 4
+absolute timer (at = time, interval = reschedule_cb = 0)
-.IX Item "absolute timer (at = time, interval = reschedule_cb = 0)"
+.Sp
 In this configuration the watcher triggers an event at the wallclock time
 \&\f(CW\*(C`at\*(C'\fR and doesn't repeat. It will not adjust when a time jump occurs,
 that is, if it is to be run at January 1st 2011 then it will run when the
 system time reaches or surpasses this time.
+.IP "\(bu" 4
-.IP "* non-repeating interval timer (at = offset, interval > 0, reschedule_cb = 0)" 4
+repeating interval timer (at = offset, interval > 0, reschedule_cb = 0)
-.IX Item "non-repeating interval timer (at = offset, interval > 0, reschedule_cb = 0)"
+.Sp
 In this mode the watcher will always be scheduled to time out at the next
 \&\f(CW\*(C`at + N * interval\*(C'\fR time (for some integer N, which can also be negative)
 and then repeat, regardless of any time jumps.
 .Sp
 This can be used to create timers that do not drift with respect to system
 time where \f(CW\*(C`time = at (mod interval)\*(C'\fR, regardless of any time jumps.
 .Sp
 For numerical stability it is preferable that the \f(CW\*(C`at\*(C'\fR value is near
 \&\f(CW\*(C`ev_now ()\*(C'\fR (the current time), but there is no range requirement for
 this value.
+.IP "\(bu" 4
-.IP "* manual reschedule mode (at and interval ignored, reschedule_cb = callback)" 4
+manual reschedule mode (at and interval ignored, reschedule_cb = callback)
-.IX Item "manual reschedule mode (at and interval ignored, reschedule_cb = callback)"
+.Sp
 In this mode the values for \f(CW\*(C`interval\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`at\*(C'\fR are both being
 ignored. Instead, each time the periodic watcher gets scheduled, the
 reschedule callback will be called with the watcher as first, and the
 current time as second argument.
 .Sp
 .IX Item "ev_periodic_again (loop, ev_periodic *)"
 Simply stops and restarts the periodic watcher again. This is only useful
 when you changed some parameters or the reschedule callback would return
 a different time than the last time it was called (e.g. in a crond like
 program when the crontabs have changed).
+.IP "ev_tstamp ev_periodic_at (ev_periodic *)" 4
+.IX Item "ev_tstamp ev_periodic_at (ev_periodic *)"
+When active, returns the absolute time that the watcher is supposed to
+trigger next.
 .IP "ev_tstamp offset [read\-write]" 4
 .IX Item "ev_tstamp offset [read-write]"
 When repeating, this contains the offset value, otherwise this is the
 absolute point in time (the \f(CW\*(C`at\*(C'\fR value passed to \f(CW\*(C`ev_periodic_set\*(C'\fR).
 .Sp
 .IP "ev_tstamp (*reschedule_cb)(struct ev_periodic *w, ev_tstamp now) [read\-write]" 4
 .IX Item "ev_tstamp (*reschedule_cb)(struct ev_periodic *w, ev_tstamp now) [read-write]"
 The current reschedule callback, or \f(CW0\fR, if this functionality is
 switched off. Can be changed any time, but changes only take effect when
 the periodic timer fires or \f(CW\*(C`ev_periodic_again\*(C'\fR is being called.
-.IP "ev_tstamp at [read\-only]" 4
+.PP
-.IX Item "ev_tstamp at [read-only]"
+\fIExamples\fR
-When active, contains the absolute time that the watcher is supposed to
+.IX Subsection "Examples"
-trigger next.
 .PP
 Example: Call a callback every hour, or, more precisely, whenever the
 system clock is divisible by 3600. The callback invocation times have
 potentially a lot of jittering, but good long-term stability.
 .PP
 \&  static void
 \&  clock_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_io *w, int revents)
 \&  {
 \&    ... its now a full hour (UTC, or TAI or whatever your clock follows)
 \&  }
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 3
 \&  struct ev_periodic hourly_tick;
 \&  ev_periodic_init (&hourly_tick, clock_cb, 0., 3600., 0);
 \&  ev_periodic_start (loop, &hourly_tick);
 .Ve
 .PP
 Example: The same as above, but use a reschedule callback to do it:
 .PP
 .Vb 1
 \&  #include <math.h>
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 5
 \&  static ev_tstamp
 \&  my_scheduler_cb (struct ev_periodic *w, ev_tstamp now)
 \&  {
 \&    return fmod (now, 3600.) + 3600.;
 \&  }
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 1
 \&  ev_periodic_init (&hourly_tick, clock_cb, 0., 0., my_scheduler_cb);
 .Ve
 .PP
 Example: Call a callback every hour, starting now:
 .PP
 first watcher gets started will libev actually register a signal watcher
 with the kernel (thus it coexists with your own signal handlers as long
 as you don't register any with libev). Similarly, when the last signal
 watcher for a signal is stopped libev will reset the signal handler to
 \&\s-1SIG_DFL\s0 (regardless of what it was set to before).
+.PP
+If possible and supported, libev will install its handlers with
+\&\f(CW\*(C`SA_RESTART\*(C'\fR behaviour enabled, so syscalls should not be unduly
+interrupted. If you have a problem with syscalls getting interrupted by
+signals you can block all signals in an \f(CW\*(C`ev_check\*(C'\fR watcher and unblock
+them in an \f(CW\*(C`ev_prepare\*(C'\fR watcher.
 .PP
 \fIWatcher-Specific Functions and Data Members\fR
 .IX Subsection "Watcher-Specific Functions and Data Members"
 .IP "ev_signal_init (ev_signal *, callback, int signum)" 4
 .IX Item "ev_signal_init (ev_signal *, callback, int signum)"
 Configures the watcher to trigger on the given signal number (usually one
 of the \f(CW\*(C`SIGxxx\*(C'\fR constants).
 .IP "int signum [read\-only]" 4
 .IX Item "int signum [read-only]"
 The signal the watcher watches out for.
+.PP
+\fIExamples\fR
+.IX Subsection "Examples"
+.PP
+Example: Try to exit cleanly on \s-1SIGINT\s0 and \s-1SIGTERM\s0.
+.PP
+.Vb 5
+\&  static void
+\&  sigint_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_signal *w, int revents)
+\&  {
+\&    ev_unloop (loop, EVUNLOOP_ALL);
+\&  }
+\&
+\&  struct ev_signal signal_watcher;
+\&  ev_signal_init (&signal_watcher, sigint_cb, SIGINT);
+\&  ev_signal_start (loop, &sigint_cb);
+.Ve
 .ie n .Sh """ev_child"" \- watch out for process status changes"
 .el .Sh "\f(CWev_child\fP \- watch out for process status changes"
 .IX Subsection "ev_child - watch out for process status changes"
 Child watchers trigger when your process receives a \s-1SIGCHLD\s0 in response to
-some child status changes (most typically when a child of yours dies).
+some child status changes (most typically when a child of yours dies). It
+is permissible to install a child watcher \fIafter\fR the child has been
+forked (which implies it might have already exited), as long as the event
+loop isn't entered (or is continued from a watcher).
+.PP
+Only the default event loop is capable of handling signals, and therefore
+you can only rgeister child watchers in the default event loop.
+.PP
+\fIProcess Interaction\fR
+.IX Subsection "Process Interaction"
+.PP
+Libev grabs \f(CW\*(C`SIGCHLD\*(C'\fR as soon as the default event loop is
+initialised. This is necessary to guarantee proper behaviour even if
+the first child watcher is started after the child exits. The occurance
+of \f(CW\*(C`SIGCHLD\*(C'\fR is recorded asynchronously, but child reaping is done
+synchronously as part of the event loop processing. Libev always reaps all
+children, even ones not watched.
+.PP
+\fIOverriding the Built-In Processing\fR
+.IX Subsection "Overriding the Built-In Processing"
+.PP
+Libev offers no special support for overriding the built-in child
+processing, but if your application collides with libev's default child
+handler, you can override it easily by installing your own handler for
+\&\f(CW\*(C`SIGCHLD\*(C'\fR after initialising the default loop, and making sure the
+default loop never gets destroyed. You are encouraged, however, to use an
+event-based approach to child reaping and thus use libev's support for
+that, so other libev users can use \f(CW\*(C`ev_child\*(C'\fR watchers freely.
 .PP
 \fIWatcher-Specific Functions and Data Members\fR
 .IX Subsection "Watcher-Specific Functions and Data Members"
-.IP "ev_child_init (ev_child *, callback, int pid)" 4
+.IP "ev_child_init (ev_child *, callback, int pid, int trace)" 4
-.IX Item "ev_child_init (ev_child *, callback, int pid)"
+.IX Item "ev_child_init (ev_child *, callback, int pid, int trace)"
 .PD 0
-.IP "ev_child_set (ev_child *, int pid)" 4
+.IP "ev_child_set (ev_child *, int pid, int trace)" 4
-.IX Item "ev_child_set (ev_child *, int pid)"
+.IX Item "ev_child_set (ev_child *, int pid, int trace)"
 .PD
 Configures the watcher to wait for status changes of process \f(CW\*(C`pid\*(C'\fR (or
 \&\fIany\fR process if \f(CW\*(C`pid\*(C'\fR is specified as \f(CW0\fR). The callback can look
 at the \f(CW\*(C`rstatus\*(C'\fR member of the \f(CW\*(C`ev_child\*(C'\fR watcher structure to see
 the status word (use the macros from \f(CW\*(C`sys/wait.h\*(C'\fR and see your systems
 \&\f(CW\*(C`waitpid\*(C'\fR documentation). The \f(CW\*(C`rpid\*(C'\fR member contains the pid of the
-process causing the status change.
+process causing the status change. \f(CW\*(C`trace\*(C'\fR must be either \f(CW0\fR (only
+activate the watcher when the process terminates) or \f(CW1\fR (additionally
+activate the watcher when the process is stopped or continued).
 .IP "int pid [read\-only]" 4
 .IX Item "int pid [read-only]"
 The process id this watcher watches out for, or \f(CW0\fR, meaning any process id.
 .IP "int rpid [read\-write]" 4
 .IX Item "int rpid [read-write]"
 .IP "int rstatus [read\-write]" 4
 .IX Item "int rstatus [read-write]"
 The process exit/trace status caused by \f(CW\*(C`rpid\*(C'\fR (see your systems
 \&\f(CW\*(C`waitpid\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`sys/wait.h\*(C'\fR documentation for details).
 .PP
-Example: Try to exit cleanly on \s-1SIGINT\s0 and \s-1SIGTERM\s0.
+\fIExamples\fR
+.IX Subsection "Examples"
 .PP
+Example: \f(CW\*(C`fork()\*(C'\fR a new process and install a child handler to wait for
+its completion.
+.PP
-.Vb 5
+.Vb 1
+\&  ev_child cw;
+\&
 \&  static void
-\&  sigint_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_signal *w, int revents)
+\&  child_cb (EV_P_ struct ev_child *w, int revents)
 \&  {
-\&    ev_unloop (loop, EVUNLOOP_ALL);
+\&    ev_child_stop (EV_A_ w);
+\&    printf ("process %d exited with status %x\en", w\->rpid, w\->rstatus);
 \&  }
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
+\&  pid_t pid = fork ();
-.Vb 3
+\&
-\&  struct ev_signal signal_watcher;
+\&  if (pid < 0)
-\&  ev_signal_init (&signal_watcher, sigint_cb, SIGINT);
+\&    // error
-\&  ev_signal_start (loop, &sigint_cb);
+\&  else if (pid == 0)
+\&    {
+\&      // the forked child executes here
+\&      exit (1);
+\&    }
+\&  else
+\&    {
+\&      ev_child_init (&cw, child_cb, pid, 0);
+\&      ev_child_start (EV_DEFAULT_ &cw);
+\&    }
 .Ve
 .ie n .Sh """ev_stat"" \- did the file attributes just change?"
 .el .Sh "\f(CWev_stat\fP \- did the file attributes just change?"
 .IX Subsection "ev_stat - did the file attributes just change?"
 This watches a filesystem path for attribute changes. That is, it calls
 impose a minimum interval which is currently around \f(CW0.1\fR, but thats
 usually overkill.
 .PP
 This watcher type is not meant for massive numbers of stat watchers,
 as even with OS-supported change notifications, this can be
-resource\-intensive.
+resource-intensive.
 .PP
 At the time of this writing, only the Linux inotify interface is
 implemented (implementing kqueue support is left as an exercise for the
+reader, note, however, that the author sees no way of implementing ev_stat
-reader). Inotify will be used to give hints only and should not change the
+semantics with kqueue). Inotify will be used to give hints only and should
-semantics of \f(CW\*(C`ev_stat\*(C'\fR watchers, which means that libev sometimes needs
+not change the semantics of \f(CW\*(C`ev_stat\*(C'\fR watchers, which means that libev
-to fall back to regular polling again even with inotify, but changes are
+sometimes needs to fall back to regular polling again even with inotify,
-usually detected immediately, and if the file exists there will be no
+but changes are usually detected immediately, and if the file exists there
-polling.
+will be no polling.
+.PP
+\fI\s-1ABI\s0 Issues (Largefile Support)\fR
+.IX Subsection "ABI Issues (Largefile Support)"
+.PP
+Libev by default (unless the user overrides this) uses the default
+compilation environment, which means that on systems with optionally
+disabled large file support, you get the 32 bit version of the stat
+structure. When using the library from programs that change the \s-1ABI\s0 to
+use 64 bit file offsets the programs will fail. In that case you have to
+compile libev with the same flags to get binary compatibility. This is
+obviously the case with any flags that change the \s-1ABI\s0, but the problem is
+most noticably with ev_stat and largefile support.
+.PP
+\fIInotify\fR
+.IX Subsection "Inotify"
+.PP
+When \f(CW\*(C`inotify (7)\*(C'\fR support has been compiled into libev (generally only
+available on Linux) and present at runtime, it will be used to speed up
+change detection where possible. The inotify descriptor will be created lazily
+when the first \f(CW\*(C`ev_stat\*(C'\fR watcher is being started.
+.PP
+Inotify presence does not change the semantics of \f(CW\*(C`ev_stat\*(C'\fR watchers
+except that changes might be detected earlier, and in some cases, to avoid
+making regular \f(CW\*(C`stat\*(C'\fR calls. Even in the presence of inotify support
+there are many cases where libev has to resort to regular \f(CW\*(C`stat\*(C'\fR polling.
+.PP
+(There is no support for kqueue, as apparently it cannot be used to
+implement this functionality, due to the requirement of having a file
+descriptor open on the object at all times).
+.PP
+\fIThe special problem of stat time resolution\fR
+.IX Subsection "The special problem of stat time resolution"
+.PP
+The \f(CW\*(C`stat ()\*(C'\fR syscall only supports full-second resolution portably, and
+even on systems where the resolution is higher, many filesystems still
+only support whole seconds.
+.PP
+That means that, if the time is the only thing that changes, you can
+easily miss updates: on the first update, \f(CW\*(C`ev_stat\*(C'\fR detects a change and
+calls your callback, which does something. When there is another update
+within the same second, \f(CW\*(C`ev_stat\*(C'\fR will be unable to detect it as the stat
+data does not change.
+.PP
+The solution to this is to delay acting on a change for slightly more
+than second (or till slightly after the next full second boundary), using
+a roughly one-second-delay \f(CW\*(C`ev_timer\*(C'\fR (e.g. \f(CW\*(C`ev_timer_set (w, 0., 1.02);
+ev_timer_again (loop, w)\*(C'\fR).
+.PP
+The \f(CW.02\fR offset is added to work around small timing inconsistencies
+of some operating systems (where the second counter of the current time
+might be be delayed. One such system is the Linux kernel, where a call to
+\&\f(CW\*(C`gettimeofday\*(C'\fR might return a timestamp with a full second later than
+a subsequent \f(CW\*(C`time\*(C'\fR call \- if the equivalent of \f(CW\*(C`time ()\*(C'\fR is used to
+update file times then there will be a small window where the kernel uses
+the previous second to update file times but libev might already execute
+the timer callback).
 .PP
 \fIWatcher-Specific Functions and Data Members\fR
 .IX Subsection "Watcher-Specific Functions and Data Members"
 .IP "ev_stat_init (ev_stat *, callback, const char *path, ev_tstamp interval)" 4
 .IX Item "ev_stat_init (ev_stat *, callback, const char *path, ev_tstamp interval)"
 \&\f(CW\*(C`path\*(C'\fR. The \f(CW\*(C`interval\*(C'\fR is a hint on how quickly a change is expected to
 be detected and should normally be specified as \f(CW0\fR to let libev choose
 a suitable value. The memory pointed to by \f(CW\*(C`path\*(C'\fR must point to the same
 path for as long as the watcher is active.
 .Sp
-The callback will be receive \f(CW\*(C`EV_STAT\*(C'\fR when a change was detected,
+The callback will receive \f(CW\*(C`EV_STAT\*(C'\fR when a change was detected, relative
-relative to the attributes at the time the watcher was started (or the
+to the attributes at the time the watcher was started (or the last change
-last change was detected).
+was detected).
-.IP "ev_stat_stat (ev_stat *)" 4
+.IP "ev_stat_stat (loop, ev_stat *)" 4
-.IX Item "ev_stat_stat (ev_stat *)"
+.IX Item "ev_stat_stat (loop, ev_stat *)"
 Updates the stat buffer immediately with new values. If you change the
-watched path in your callback, you could call this fucntion to avoid
+watched path in your callback, you could call this function to avoid
-detecting this change (while introducing a race condition). Can also be
+detecting this change (while introducing a race condition if you are not
-useful simply to find out the new values.
+the only one changing the path). Can also be useful simply to find out the
+new values.
 .IP "ev_statdata attr [read\-only]" 4
 .IX Item "ev_statdata attr [read-only]"
-The most-recently detected attributes of the file. Although the type is of
+The most-recently detected attributes of the file. Although the type is
 \&\f(CW\*(C`ev_statdata\*(C'\fR, this is usually the (or one of the) \f(CW\*(C`struct stat\*(C'\fR types
+suitable for your system, but you can only rely on the POSIX-standardised
-suitable for your system. If the \f(CW\*(C`st_nlink\*(C'\fR member is \f(CW0\fR, then there
+members to be present. If the \f(CW\*(C`st_nlink\*(C'\fR member is \f(CW0\fR, then there was
-was some error while \f(CW\*(C`stat\*(C'\fRing the file.
+some error while \f(CW\*(C`stat\*(C'\fRing the file.
 .IP "ev_statdata prev [read\-only]" 4
 .IX Item "ev_statdata prev [read-only]"
 The previous attributes of the file. The callback gets invoked whenever
-\&\f(CW\*(C`prev\*(C'\fR != \f(CW\*(C`attr\*(C'\fR.
+\&\f(CW\*(C`prev\*(C'\fR != \f(CW\*(C`attr\*(C'\fR, or, more precisely, one or more of these members
+differ: \f(CW\*(C`st_dev\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`st_ino\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`st_mode\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`st_nlink\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`st_uid\*(C'\fR,
+\&\f(CW\*(C`st_gid\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`st_rdev\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`st_size\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`st_atime\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`st_mtime\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`st_ctime\*(C'\fR.
 .IP "ev_tstamp interval [read\-only]" 4
 .IX Item "ev_tstamp interval [read-only]"
 The specified interval.
 .IP "const char *path [read\-only]" 4
 .IX Item "const char *path [read-only]"
 The filesystem path that is being watched.
 .PP
+\fIExamples\fR
+.IX Subsection "Examples"
+.PP
 Example: Watch \f(CW\*(C`/etc/passwd\*(C'\fR for attribute changes.
 .PP
-.Vb 15
+.Vb 10
 \&  static void
 \&  passwd_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, ev_stat *w, int revents)
 \&  {
 \&    /* /etc/passwd changed in some way */
-\&    if (w->attr.st_nlink)
+\&    if (w\->attr.st_nlink)
 \&      {
-\&        printf ("passwd current size  %ld\en", (long)w->attr.st_size);
+\&        printf ("passwd current size  %ld\en", (long)w\->attr.st_size);
-\&        printf ("passwd current atime %ld\en", (long)w->attr.st_mtime);
+\&        printf ("passwd current atime %ld\en", (long)w\->attr.st_mtime);
-\&        printf ("passwd current mtime %ld\en", (long)w->attr.st_mtime);
+\&        printf ("passwd current mtime %ld\en", (long)w\->attr.st_mtime);
 \&      }
 \&    else
 \&      /* you shalt not abuse printf for puts */
 \&      puts ("wow, /etc/passwd is not there, expect problems. "
 \&            "if this is windows, they already arrived\en");
 \&  }
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 2
 \&  ...
 \&  ev_stat passwd;
+\&
+\&  ev_stat_init (&passwd, passwd_cb, "/etc/passwd", 0.);
+\&  ev_stat_start (loop, &passwd);
 .Ve
+.PP
+Example: Like above, but additionally use a one-second delay so we do not
+miss updates (however, frequent updates will delay processing, too, so
+one might do the work both on \f(CW\*(C`ev_stat\*(C'\fR callback invocation \fIand\fR on
+\&\f(CW\*(C`ev_timer\*(C'\fR callback invocation).
 .PP
 .Vb 2
+\&  static ev_stat passwd;
+\&  static ev_timer timer;
+\&
+\&  static void
+\&  timer_cb (EV_P_ ev_timer *w, int revents)
+\&  {
+\&    ev_timer_stop (EV_A_ w);
+\&
+\&    /* now it\*(Aqs one second after the most recent passwd change */
+\&  }
+\&
+\&  static void
+\&  stat_cb (EV_P_ ev_stat *w, int revents)
+\&  {
+\&    /* reset the one\-second timer */
+\&    ev_timer_again (EV_A_ &timer);
+\&  }
+\&
+\&  ...
-\&  ev_stat_init (&passwd, passwd_cb, "/etc/passwd");
+\&  ev_stat_init (&passwd, stat_cb, "/etc/passwd", 0.);
 \&  ev_stat_start (loop, &passwd);
+\&  ev_timer_init (&timer, timer_cb, 0., 1.02);
 .Ve
 .ie n .Sh """ev_idle"" \- when you've got nothing better to do..."
 .el .Sh "\f(CWev_idle\fP \- when you've got nothing better to do..."
 .IX Subsection "ev_idle - when you've got nothing better to do..."
 Idle watchers trigger events when no other events of the same or higher
 The most noteworthy effect is that as long as any idle watchers are
 active, the process will not block when waiting for new events.
 .PP
 Apart from keeping your process non-blocking (which is a useful
 effect on its own sometimes), idle watchers are a good place to do
-\&\*(L"pseudo\-background processing\*(R", or delay processing stuff to after the
+\&\*(L"pseudo-background processing\*(R", or delay processing stuff to after the
 event loop has handled all outstanding events.
 .PP
 \fIWatcher-Specific Functions and Data Members\fR
 .IX Subsection "Watcher-Specific Functions and Data Members"
 .IP "ev_idle_init (ev_signal *, callback)" 4
 .IX Item "ev_idle_init (ev_signal *, callback)"
 Initialises and configures the idle watcher \- it has no parameters of any
 kind. There is a \f(CW\*(C`ev_idle_set\*(C'\fR macro, but using it is utterly pointless,
 believe me.
 .PP
+\fIExamples\fR
+.IX Subsection "Examples"
+.PP
 Example: Dynamically allocate an \f(CW\*(C`ev_idle\*(C'\fR watcher, start it, and in the
 callback, free it. Also, use no error checking, as usual.
 .PP
 .Vb 7
 \&  static void
 \&  idle_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_idle *w, int revents)
 \&  {
 \&    free (w);
 \&    // now do something you wanted to do when the program has
-\&    // no longer asnything immediate to do.
+\&    // no longer anything immediate to do.
 \&  }
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 3
 \&  struct ev_idle *idle_watcher = malloc (sizeof (struct ev_idle));
 \&  ev_idle_init (idle_watcher, idle_cb);
 \&  ev_idle_start (loop, idle_cb);
 .Ve
 .ie n .Sh """ev_prepare""\fP and \f(CW""ev_check"" \- customise your event loop!"
 .PP
 It is recommended to give \f(CW\*(C`ev_check\*(C'\fR watchers highest (\f(CW\*(C`EV_MAXPRI\*(C'\fR)
 priority, to ensure that they are being run before any other watchers
 after the poll. Also, \f(CW\*(C`ev_check\*(C'\fR watchers (and \f(CW\*(C`ev_prepare\*(C'\fR watchers,
 too) should not activate (\*(L"feed\*(R") events into libev. While libev fully
-supports this, they will be called before other \f(CW\*(C`ev_check\*(C'\fR watchers
+supports this, they might get executed before other \f(CW\*(C`ev_check\*(C'\fR watchers
 did their job. As \f(CW\*(C`ev_check\*(C'\fR watchers are often used to embed other
-(non\-libev) event loops those other event loops might be in an unusable
+(non-libev) event loops those other event loops might be in an unusable
 state until their \f(CW\*(C`ev_check\*(C'\fR watcher ran (always remind yourself to
 coexist peacefully with others).
 .PP
 \fIWatcher-Specific Functions and Data Members\fR
 .IX Subsection "Watcher-Specific Functions and Data Members"
 .PD
 Initialises and configures the prepare or check watcher \- they have no
 parameters of any kind. There are \f(CW\*(C`ev_prepare_set\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`ev_check_set\*(C'\fR
 macros, but using them is utterly, utterly and completely pointless.
 .PP
+\fIExamples\fR
+.IX Subsection "Examples"
+.PP
 There are a number of principal ways to embed other event loops or modules
 into libev. Here are some ideas on how to include libadns into libev
 (there is a Perl module named \f(CW\*(C`EV::ADNS\*(C'\fR that does this, which you could
-use for an actually working example. Another Perl module named \f(CW\*(C`EV::Glib\*(C'\fR
+use as a working example. Another Perl module named \f(CW\*(C`EV::Glib\*(C'\fR embeds a
-embeds a Glib main context into libev, and finally, \f(CW\*(C`Glib::EV\*(C'\fR embeds \s-1EV\s0
+Glib main context into libev, and finally, \f(CW\*(C`Glib::EV\*(C'\fR embeds \s-1EV\s0 into the
-into the Glib event loop).
+Glib event loop).
 .PP
 Method 1: Add \s-1IO\s0 watchers and a timeout watcher in a prepare handler,
 and in a check watcher, destroy them and call into libadns. What follows
 is pseudo-code only of course. This requires you to either use a low
 priority for the check watcher or use \f(CW\*(C`ev_clear_pending\*(C'\fR explicitly, as
 the callbacks for the IO/timeout watchers might not have been called yet.
 .PP
 .Vb 2
 \&  static ev_io iow [nfd];
 \&  static ev_timer tw;
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 4
 \&  static void
 \&  io_cb (ev_loop *loop, ev_io *w, int revents)
 \&  {
 \&  }
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 8
 \&  // create io watchers for each fd and a timer before blocking
 \&  static void
 \&  adns_prepare_cb (ev_loop *loop, ev_prepare *w, int revents)
 \&  {
 \&    int timeout = 3600000;
 \&    struct pollfd fds [nfd];
 \&    // actual code will need to loop here and realloc etc.
 \&    adns_beforepoll (ads, fds, &nfd, &timeout, timeval_from (ev_time ()));
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 3
-\&    /* the callback is illegal, but won't be called as we stop during check */
+\&    /* the callback is illegal, but won\*(Aqt be called as we stop during check */
-\&    ev_timer_init (&tw, 0, timeout * 1e-3);
+\&    ev_timer_init (&tw, 0, timeout * 1e\-3);
 \&    ev_timer_start (loop, &tw);
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 6
 \&    // create one ev_io per pollfd
 \&    for (int i = 0; i < nfd; ++i)
 \&      {
 \&        ev_io_init (iow + i, io_cb, fds [i].fd,
 \&          ((fds [i].events & POLLIN ? EV_READ : 0)
 \&           | (fds [i].events & POLLOUT ? EV_WRITE : 0)));
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 4
 \&        fds [i].revents = 0;
 \&        ev_io_start (loop, iow + i);
 \&      }
 \&  }
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 5
 \&  // stop all watchers after blocking
 \&  static void
 \&  adns_check_cb (ev_loop *loop, ev_check *w, int revents)
 \&  {
 \&    ev_timer_stop (loop, &tw);
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 8
 \&    for (int i = 0; i < nfd; ++i)
 \&      {
 \&        // set the relevant poll flags
 \&        // could also call adns_processreadable etc. here
 \&        struct pollfd *fd = fds + i;
 \&        int revents = ev_clear_pending (iow + i);
-\&        if (revents & EV_READ ) fd->revents |= fd->events & POLLIN;
+\&        if (revents & EV_READ ) fd\->revents |= fd\->events & POLLIN;
-\&        if (revents & EV_WRITE) fd->revents |= fd->events & POLLOUT;
+\&        if (revents & EV_WRITE) fd\->revents |= fd\->events & POLLOUT;
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 3
 \&        // now stop the watcher
 \&        ev_io_stop (loop, iow + i);
 \&      }
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 2
 \&    adns_afterpoll (adns, fds, nfd, timeval_from (ev_now (loop));
 \&  }
 .Ve
 .PP
 Method 2: This would be just like method 1, but you run \f(CW\*(C`adns_afterpoll\*(C'\fR
 .PP
 .Vb 5
 \&  static void
 \&  timer_cb (EV_P_ ev_timer *w, int revents)
 \&  {
-\&    adns_state ads = (adns_state)w->data;
+\&    adns_state ads = (adns_state)w\->data;
 \&    update_now (EV_A);
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 2
 \&    adns_processtimeouts (ads, &tv_now);
 \&  }
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 5
 \&  static void
 \&  io_cb (EV_P_ ev_io *w, int revents)
 \&  {
-\&    adns_state ads = (adns_state)w->data;
+\&    adns_state ads = (adns_state)w\->data;
 \&    update_now (EV_A);
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 3
-\&    if (revents & EV_READ ) adns_processreadable  (ads, w->fd, &tv_now);
+\&    if (revents & EV_READ ) adns_processreadable  (ads, w\->fd, &tv_now);
-\&    if (revents & EV_WRITE) adns_processwriteable (ads, w->fd, &tv_now);
+\&    if (revents & EV_WRITE) adns_processwriteable (ads, w\->fd, &tv_now);
 \&  }
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 1
 \&  // do not ever call adns_afterpoll
 .Ve
 .PP
 Method 4: Do not use a prepare or check watcher because the module you
 want to embed is too inflexible to support it. Instead, youc na override
 .Vb 4
 \&  static gint
 \&  event_poll_func (GPollFD *fds, guint nfds, gint timeout)
 \&  {
 \&    int got_events = 0;
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 2
 \&    for (n = 0; n < nfds; ++n)
 \&      // create/start io watcher that sets the relevant bits in fds[n] and increment got_events
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 2
 \&    if (timeout >= 0)
 \&      // create/start timer
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 2
 \&    // poll
 \&    ev_loop (EV_A_ 0);
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 3
 \&    // stop timer again
 \&    if (timeout >= 0)
 \&      ev_timer_stop (EV_A_ &to);
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 3
-\&    // stop io watchers again - their callbacks should have set
+\&    // stop io watchers again \- their callbacks should have set
 \&    for (n = 0; n < nfds; ++n)
 \&      ev_io_stop (EV_A_ iow [n]);
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 2
 \&    return got_events;
 \&  }
 .Ve
 .ie n .Sh """ev_embed"" \- when one backend isn't enough..."
 .el .Sh "\f(CWev_embed\fP \- when one backend isn't enough..."
 portable one.
 .PP
 So when you want to use this feature you will always have to be prepared
 that you cannot get an embeddable loop. The recommended way to get around
 this is to have a separate variables for your embeddable loop, try to
-create it, and if that fails, use the normal loop for everything:
+create it, and if that fails, use the normal loop for everything.
-.PP
-.Vb 3
-\&  struct ev_loop *loop_hi = ev_default_init (0);
-\&  struct ev_loop *loop_lo = 0;
-\&  struct ev_embed embed;
-.Ve
-.PP
-.Vb 5
-\&  // see if there is a chance of getting one that works
-\&  // (remember that a flags value of 0 means autodetection)
-\&  loop_lo = ev_embeddable_backends () & ev_recommended_backends ()
-\&    ? ev_loop_new (ev_embeddable_backends () & ev_recommended_backends ())
-\&    : 0;
-.Ve
-.PP
-.Vb 8
-\&  // if we got one, then embed it, otherwise default to loop_hi
-\&  if (loop_lo)
-\&    {
-\&      ev_embed_init (&embed, 0, loop_lo);
-\&      ev_embed_start (loop_hi, &embed);
-\&    }
-\&  else
-\&    loop_lo = loop_hi;
-.Ve
 .PP
 \fIWatcher-Specific Functions and Data Members\fR
 .IX Subsection "Watcher-Specific Functions and Data Members"
 .IP "ev_embed_init (ev_embed *, callback, struct ev_loop *embedded_loop)" 4
 .IX Item "ev_embed_init (ev_embed *, callback, struct ev_loop *embedded_loop)"
 similarly to \f(CW\*(C`ev_loop (embedded_loop, EVLOOP_NONBLOCK)\*(C'\fR, but in the most
 apropriate way for embedded loops.
 .IP "struct ev_loop *other [read\-only]" 4
 .IX Item "struct ev_loop *other [read-only]"
 The embedded event loop.
+.PP
+\fIExamples\fR
+.IX Subsection "Examples"
+.PP
+Example: Try to get an embeddable event loop and embed it into the default
+event loop. If that is not possible, use the default loop. The default
+loop is stored in \f(CW\*(C`loop_hi\*(C'\fR, while the mebeddable loop is stored in
+\&\f(CW\*(C`loop_lo\*(C'\fR (which is \f(CW\*(C`loop_hi\*(C'\fR in the acse no embeddable loop can be
+used).
+.PP
+.Vb 3
+\&  struct ev_loop *loop_hi = ev_default_init (0);
+\&  struct ev_loop *loop_lo = 0;
+\&  struct ev_embed embed;
+\&
+\&  // see if there is a chance of getting one that works
+\&  // (remember that a flags value of 0 means autodetection)
+\&  loop_lo = ev_embeddable_backends () & ev_recommended_backends ()
+\&    ? ev_loop_new (ev_embeddable_backends () & ev_recommended_backends ())
+\&    : 0;
+\&
+\&  // if we got one, then embed it, otherwise default to loop_hi
+\&  if (loop_lo)
+\&    {
+\&      ev_embed_init (&embed, 0, loop_lo);
+\&      ev_embed_start (loop_hi, &embed);
+\&    }
+\&  else
+\&    loop_lo = loop_hi;
+.Ve
+.PP
+Example: Check if kqueue is available but not recommended and create
+a kqueue backend for use with sockets (which usually work with any
+kqueue implementation). Store the kqueue/socket\-only event loop in
+\&\f(CW\*(C`loop_socket\*(C'\fR. (One might optionally use \f(CW\*(C`EVFLAG_NOENV\*(C'\fR, too).
+.PP
+.Vb 3
+\&  struct ev_loop *loop = ev_default_init (0);
+\&  struct ev_loop *loop_socket = 0;
+\&  struct ev_embed embed;
+\&
+\&  if (ev_supported_backends () & ~ev_recommended_backends () & EVBACKEND_KQUEUE)
+\&    if ((loop_socket = ev_loop_new (EVBACKEND_KQUEUE))
+\&      {
+\&        ev_embed_init (&embed, 0, loop_socket);
+\&        ev_embed_start (loop, &embed);
+\&      }
+\&
+\&  if (!loop_socket)
+\&    loop_socket = loop;
+\&
+\&  // now use loop_socket for all sockets, and loop for everything else
+.Ve
 .ie n .Sh """ev_fork"" \- the audacity to resume the event loop after a fork"
 .el .Sh "\f(CWev_fork\fP \- the audacity to resume the event loop after a fork"
 .IX Subsection "ev_fork - the audacity to resume the event loop after a fork"
 Fork watchers are called when a \f(CW\*(C`fork ()\*(C'\fR was detected (usually because
 whoever is a good citizen cared to tell libev about it by calling
 .IP "ev_fork_init (ev_signal *, callback)" 4
 .IX Item "ev_fork_init (ev_signal *, callback)"
 Initialises and configures the fork watcher \- it has no parameters of any
 kind. There is a \f(CW\*(C`ev_fork_set\*(C'\fR macro, but using it is utterly pointless,
 believe me.
+.ie n .Sh """ev_async"" \- how to wake up another event loop"
+.el .Sh "\f(CWev_async\fP \- how to wake up another event loop"
+.IX Subsection "ev_async - how to wake up another event loop"
+In general, you cannot use an \f(CW\*(C`ev_loop\*(C'\fR from multiple threads or other
+asynchronous sources such as signal handlers (as opposed to multiple event
+loops \- those are of course safe to use in different threads).
+.PP
+Sometimes, however, you need to wake up another event loop you do not
+control, for example because it belongs to another thread. This is what
+\&\f(CW\*(C`ev_async\*(C'\fR watchers do: as long as the \f(CW\*(C`ev_async\*(C'\fR watcher is active, you
+can signal it by calling \f(CW\*(C`ev_async_send\*(C'\fR, which is thread\- and signal
+safe.
+.PP
+This functionality is very similar to \f(CW\*(C`ev_signal\*(C'\fR watchers, as signals,
+too, are asynchronous in nature, and signals, too, will be compressed
+(i.e. the number of callback invocations may be less than the number of
+\&\f(CW\*(C`ev_async_sent\*(C'\fR calls).
+.PP
+Unlike \f(CW\*(C`ev_signal\*(C'\fR watchers, \f(CW\*(C`ev_async\*(C'\fR works with any event loop, not
+just the default loop.
+.PP
+\fIQueueing\fR
+.IX Subsection "Queueing"
+.PP
+\&\f(CW\*(C`ev_async\*(C'\fR does not support queueing of data in any way. The reason
+is that the author does not know of a simple (or any) algorithm for a
+multiple-writer-single-reader queue that works in all cases and doesn't
+need elaborate support such as pthreads.
+.PP
+That means that if you want to queue data, you have to provide your own
+queue. But at least I can tell you would implement locking around your
+queue:
+.IP "queueing from a signal handler context" 4
+.IX Item "queueing from a signal handler context"
+To implement race-free queueing, you simply add to the queue in the signal
+handler but you block the signal handler in the watcher callback. Here is an example that does that for
+some fictitiuous \s-1SIGUSR1\s0 handler:
+.Sp
+.Vb 1
+\&   static ev_async mysig;
+\&
+\&   static void
+\&   sigusr1_handler (void)
+\&   {
+\&     sometype data;
+\&
+\&     // no locking etc.
+\&     queue_put (data);
+\&     ev_async_send (EV_DEFAULT_ &mysig);
+\&   }
+\&
+\&   static void
+\&   mysig_cb (EV_P_ ev_async *w, int revents)
+\&   {
+\&     sometype data;
+\&     sigset_t block, prev;
+\&
+\&     sigemptyset (&block);
+\&     sigaddset (&block, SIGUSR1);
+\&     sigprocmask (SIG_BLOCK, &block, &prev);
+\&
+\&     while (queue_get (&data))
+\&       process (data);
+\&
+\&     if (sigismember (&prev, SIGUSR1)
+\&       sigprocmask (SIG_UNBLOCK, &block, 0);
+\&   }
+.Ve
+.Sp
+(Note: pthreads in theory requires you to use \f(CW\*(C`pthread_setmask\*(C'\fR
+instead of \f(CW\*(C`sigprocmask\*(C'\fR when you use threads, but libev doesn't do it
+either...).
+.IP "queueing from a thread context" 4
+.IX Item "queueing from a thread context"
+The strategy for threads is different, as you cannot (easily) block
+threads but you can easily preempt them, so to queue safely you need to
+employ a traditional mutex lock, such as in this pthread example:
+.Sp
+.Vb 2
+\&   static ev_async mysig;
+\&   static pthread_mutex_t mymutex = PTHREAD_MUTEX_INITIALIZER;
+\&
+\&   static void
+\&   otherthread (void)
+\&   {
+\&     // only need to lock the actual queueing operation
+\&     pthread_mutex_lock (&mymutex);
+\&     queue_put (data);
+\&     pthread_mutex_unlock (&mymutex);
+\&
+\&     ev_async_send (EV_DEFAULT_ &mysig);
+\&   }
+\&
+\&   static void
+\&   mysig_cb (EV_P_ ev_async *w, int revents)
+\&   {
+\&     pthread_mutex_lock (&mymutex);
+\&
+\&     while (queue_get (&data))
+\&       process (data);
+\&
+\&     pthread_mutex_unlock (&mymutex);
+\&   }
+.Ve
+.PP
+\fIWatcher-Specific Functions and Data Members\fR
+.IX Subsection "Watcher-Specific Functions and Data Members"
+.IP "ev_async_init (ev_async *, callback)" 4
+.IX Item "ev_async_init (ev_async *, callback)"
+Initialises and configures the async watcher \- it has no parameters of any
+kind. There is a \f(CW\*(C`ev_asynd_set\*(C'\fR macro, but using it is utterly pointless,
+believe me.
+.IP "ev_async_send (loop, ev_async *)" 4
+.IX Item "ev_async_send (loop, ev_async *)"
+Sends/signals/activates the given \f(CW\*(C`ev_async\*(C'\fR watcher, that is, feeds
+an \f(CW\*(C`EV_ASYNC\*(C'\fR event on the watcher into the event loop. Unlike
+\&\f(CW\*(C`ev_feed_event\*(C'\fR, this call is safe to do in other threads, signal or
+similar contexts (see the dicusssion of \f(CW\*(C`EV_ATOMIC_T\*(C'\fR in the embedding
+section below on what exactly this means).
+.Sp
+This call incurs the overhead of a syscall only once per loop iteration,
+so while the overhead might be noticable, it doesn't apply to repeated
+calls to \f(CW\*(C`ev_async_send\*(C'\fR.
+.IP "bool = ev_async_pending (ev_async *)" 4
+.IX Item "bool = ev_async_pending (ev_async *)"
+Returns a non-zero value when \f(CW\*(C`ev_async_send\*(C'\fR has been called on the
+watcher but the event has not yet been processed (or even noted) by the
+event loop.
+.Sp
+\&\f(CW\*(C`ev_async_send\*(C'\fR sets a flag in the watcher and wakes up the loop. When
+the loop iterates next and checks for the watcher to have become active,
+it will reset the flag again. \f(CW\*(C`ev_async_pending\*(C'\fR can be used to very
+quickly check wether invoking the loop might be a good idea.
+.Sp
+Not that this does \fInot\fR check wether the watcher itself is pending, only
+wether it has been requested to make this watcher pending.
 .SH "OTHER FUNCTIONS"
 .IX Header "OTHER FUNCTIONS"
 There are some other functions of possible interest. Described. Here. Now.
 .IP "ev_once (loop, int fd, int events, ev_tstamp timeout, callback)" 4
 .IX Item "ev_once (loop, int fd, int events, ev_tstamp timeout, callback)"
 \&    if (revents & EV_TIMEOUT)
 \&      /* doh, nothing entered */;
 \&    else if (revents & EV_READ)
 \&      /* stdin might have data for us, joy! */;
 \&  }
-.Ve
+\&
-.Sp
-.Vb 1
 \&  ev_once (STDIN_FILENO, EV_READ, 10., stdin_ready, 0);
 .Ve
 .IP "ev_feed_event (ev_loop *, watcher *, int revents)" 4
 .IX Item "ev_feed_event (ev_loop *, watcher *, int revents)"
 Feeds the given event set into the event loop, as if the specified event
 loop!).
 .SH "LIBEVENT EMULATION"
 .IX Header "LIBEVENT EMULATION"
 Libev offers a compatibility emulation layer for libevent. It cannot
 emulate the internals of libevent, so here are some usage hints:
+.IP "\(bu" 4
-.IP "* Use it by including <event.h>, as usual." 4
+Use it by including <event.h>, as usual.
-.IX Item "Use it by including <event.h>, as usual."
+.IP "\(bu" 4
-.PD 0
+The following members are fully supported: ev_base, ev_callback,
-.IP "* The following members are fully supported: ev_base, ev_callback, ev_arg, ev_fd, ev_res, ev_events." 4
+ev_arg, ev_fd, ev_res, ev_events.
-.IX Item "The following members are fully supported: ev_base, ev_callback, ev_arg, ev_fd, ev_res, ev_events."
+.IP "\(bu" 4
-.IP "* Avoid using ev_flags and the EVLIST_*\-macros, while it is maintained by libev, it does not work exactly the same way as in libevent (consider it a private \s-1API\s0)." 4
+Avoid using ev_flags and the EVLIST_*\-macros, while it is
-.IX Item "Avoid using ev_flags and the EVLIST_*-macros, while it is maintained by libev, it does not work exactly the same way as in libevent (consider it a private API)."
+maintained by libev, it does not work exactly the same way as in libevent (consider
-.IP "* Priorities are not currently supported. Initialising priorities will fail and all watchers will have the same priority, even though there is an ev_pri field." 4
+it a private \s-1API\s0).
-.IX Item "Priorities are not currently supported. Initialising priorities will fail and all watchers will have the same priority, even though there is an ev_pri field."
+.IP "\(bu" 4
+Priorities are not currently supported. Initialising priorities
+will fail and all watchers will have the same priority, even though there
+is an ev_pri field.
+.IP "\(bu" 4
+In libevent, the last base created gets the signals, in libev, the
+first base created (== the default loop) gets the signals.
+.IP "\(bu" 4
-.IP "* Other members are not supported." 4
+Other members are not supported.
-.IX Item "Other members are not supported."
+.IP "\(bu" 4
-.IP "* The libev emulation is \fInot\fR \s-1ABI\s0 compatible to libevent, you need to use the libev header file and library." 4
+The libev emulation is \fInot\fR \s-1ABI\s0 compatible to libevent, you need
-.IX Item "The libev emulation is not ABI compatible to libevent, you need to use the libev header file and library."
+to use the libev header file and library.
-.PD
 .SH "\*(C+ SUPPORT"
 .IX Header " SUPPORT"
 Libev comes with some simplistic wrapper classes for \*(C+ that mainly allow
 you to use some convinience methods to start/stop watchers and also change
 the callback model to a model using method callbacks on objects.
 .Vb 4
 \&  struct myclass
 \&  {
 \&    void io_cb (ev::io &w, int revents) { }
 \&  }
-.Ve
+\&
-.Sp
-.Vb 3
 \&  myclass obj;
 \&  ev::io iow;
 \&  iow.set <myclass, &myclass::io_cb> (&obj);
 .Ve
 .IP "w\->set<function> (void *data = 0)" 4
 the constructor.
 .PP
 .Vb 4
 \&  class myclass
 \&  {
-\&    ev_io   io;   void io_cb   (ev::io   &w, int revents);
+\&    ev::io   io;  void io_cb   (ev::io   &w, int revents);
-\&    ev_idle idle  void idle_cb (ev::idle &w, int revents);
+\&    ev:idle idle  void idle_cb (ev::idle &w, int revents);
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 2
-\&    myclass ();
+\&    myclass (int fd)
-\&  }
-.Ve
-.PP
-.Vb 4
-\&  myclass::myclass (int fd)
-\&  {
+\&    {
-\&    io  .set <myclass, &myclass::io_cb  > (this);
+\&      io  .set <myclass, &myclass::io_cb  > (this);
-\&    idle.set <myclass, &myclass::idle_cb> (this);
+\&      idle.set <myclass, &myclass::idle_cb> (this);
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 2
-\&    io.start (fd, ev::READ);
+\&      io.start (fd, ev::READ);
+\&    }
-\&  }
+\&  };
 .Ve
+.SH "OTHER LANGUAGE BINDINGS"
+.IX Header "OTHER LANGUAGE BINDINGS"
+Libev does not offer other language bindings itself, but bindings for a
+numbe rof languages exist in the form of third-party packages. If you know
+any interesting language binding in addition to the ones listed here, drop
+me a note.
+.IP "Perl" 4
+.IX Item "Perl"
+The \s-1EV\s0 module implements the full libev \s-1API\s0 and is actually used to test
+libev. \s-1EV\s0 is developed together with libev. Apart from the \s-1EV\s0 core module,
+there are additional modules that implement libev-compatible interfaces
+to \f(CW\*(C`libadns\*(C'\fR (\f(CW\*(C`EV::ADNS\*(C'\fR), \f(CW\*(C`Net::SNMP\*(C'\fR (\f(CW\*(C`Net::SNMP::EV\*(C'\fR) and the
+\&\f(CW\*(C`libglib\*(C'\fR event core (\f(CW\*(C`Glib::EV\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`EV::Glib\*(C'\fR).
+.Sp
+It can be found and installed via \s-1CPAN\s0, its homepage is found at
+<http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/EV>.
+.IP "Ruby" 4
+.IX Item "Ruby"
+Tony Arcieri has written a ruby extension that offers access to a subset
+of the libev \s-1API\s0 and adds filehandle abstractions, asynchronous \s-1DNS\s0 and
+more on top of it. It can be found via gem servers. Its homepage is at
+<http://rev.rubyforge.org/>.
+.IP "D" 4
+.IX Item "D"
+Leandro Lucarella has written a D language binding (\fIev.d\fR) for libev, to
+be found at <http://git.llucax.com.ar/?p=software/ev.d.git;a=summary>.
 .SH "MACRO MAGIC"
 .IX Header "MACRO MAGIC"
 Libev can be compiled with a variety of options, the most fundamantal
 of which is \f(CW\*(C`EV_MULTIPLICITY\*(C'\fR. This option determines whether (most)
 functions and callbacks have an initial \f(CW\*(C`struct ev_loop *\*(C'\fR argument.
 \&\f(CW\*(C`EV_P_\*(C'\fR is used when other parameters are following. Example:
 .Sp
 .Vb 2
 \&  // this is how ev_unref is being declared
 \&  static void ev_unref (EV_P);
-.Ve
+\&
-.Sp
-.Vb 2
 \&  // this is how you can declare your typical callback
 \&  static void cb (EV_P_ ev_timer *w, int revents)
 .Ve
 .Sp
 It declares a parameter \f(CW\*(C`loop\*(C'\fR of type \f(CW\*(C`struct ev_loop *\*(C'\fR, quite
 .ie n .IP """EV_DEFAULT""\fR, \f(CW""EV_DEFAULT_""" 4
 .el .IP "\f(CWEV_DEFAULT\fR, \f(CWEV_DEFAULT_\fR" 4
 .IX Item "EV_DEFAULT, EV_DEFAULT_"
 Similar to the other two macros, this gives you the value of the default
 loop, if multiple loops are supported (\*(L"ev loop default\*(R").
+.ie n .IP """EV_DEFAULT_UC""\fR, \f(CW""EV_DEFAULT_UC_""" 4
+.el .IP "\f(CWEV_DEFAULT_UC\fR, \f(CWEV_DEFAULT_UC_\fR" 4
+.IX Item "EV_DEFAULT_UC, EV_DEFAULT_UC_"
+Usage identical to \f(CW\*(C`EV_DEFAULT\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`EV_DEFAULT_\*(C'\fR, but requires that the
+default loop has been initialised (\f(CW\*(C`UC\*(C'\fR == unchecked). Their behaviour
+is undefined when the default loop has not been initialised by a previous
+execution of \f(CW\*(C`EV_DEFAULT\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`EV_DEFAULT_\*(C'\fR or \f(CW\*(C`ev_default_init (...)\*(C'\fR.
+.Sp
+It is often prudent to use \f(CW\*(C`EV_DEFAULT\*(C'\fR when initialising the first
+watcher in a function but use \f(CW\*(C`EV_DEFAULT_UC\*(C'\fR afterwards.
 .PP
 Example: Declare and initialise a check watcher, utilising the above
 macros so it will work regardless of whether multiple loops are supported
 or not.
 .PP
 \&  static void
 \&  check_cb (EV_P_ ev_timer *w, int revents)
 \&  {
 \&    ev_check_stop (EV_A_ w);
 \&  }
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 4
 \&  ev_check check;
 \&  ev_check_init (&check, check_cb);
 \&  ev_check_start (EV_DEFAULT_ &check);
 \&  ev_loop (EV_DEFAULT_ 0);
 .Ve
 .SH "EMBEDDING"
 .IX Header "EMBEDDING"
 Libev can (and often is) directly embedded into host
 applications. Examples of applications that embed it include the Deliantra
 Game Server, the \s-1EV\s0 perl module, the \s-1GNU\s0 Virtual Private Ethernet (gvpe)
-and rxvt\-unicode.
+and rxvt-unicode.
 .PP
 The goal is to enable you to just copy the necessary files into your
 source directory without having to change even a single line in them, so
 you can easily upgrade by simply copying (or having a checked-out copy of
 libev somewhere in your source tree).
 .Vb 4
 \&  ev.h
 \&  ev.c
 \&  ev_vars.h
 \&  ev_wrap.h
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 1
 \&  ev_win32.c      required on win32 platforms only
-.Ve
+\&
-.PP
-.Vb 5
 \&  ev_select.c     only when select backend is enabled (which is enabled by default)
 \&  ev_poll.c       only when poll backend is enabled (disabled by default)
 \&  ev_epoll.c      only when the epoll backend is enabled (disabled by default)
 \&  ev_kqueue.c     only when the kqueue backend is enabled (disabled by default)
 \&  ev_port.c       only when the solaris port backend is enabled (disabled by default)
 .Vb 1
 \&  libev.m4
 .Ve
 .Sh "\s-1PREPROCESSOR\s0 \s-1SYMBOLS/MACROS\s0"
 .IX Subsection "PREPROCESSOR SYMBOLS/MACROS"
-Libev can be configured via a variety of preprocessor symbols you have to define
+Libev can be configured via a variety of preprocessor symbols you have to
-before including any of its files. The default is not to build for multiplicity
+define before including any of its files. The default in the absense of
-and only include the select backend.
+autoconf is noted for every option.
 .IP "\s-1EV_STANDALONE\s0" 4
 .IX Item "EV_STANDALONE"
 Must always be \f(CW1\fR if you do not use autoconf configuration, which
 keeps libev from including \fIconfig.h\fR, and it also defines dummy
 implementations for some libevent functions (such as logging, which is not
 note about libraries in the description of \f(CW\*(C`EV_USE_MONOTONIC\*(C'\fR, though.
 .IP "\s-1EV_USE_NANOSLEEP\s0" 4
 .IX Item "EV_USE_NANOSLEEP"
 If defined to be \f(CW1\fR, libev will assume that \f(CW\*(C`nanosleep ()\*(C'\fR is available
 and will use it for delays. Otherwise it will use \f(CW\*(C`select ()\*(C'\fR.
+.IP "\s-1EV_USE_EVENTFD\s0" 4
+.IX Item "EV_USE_EVENTFD"
+If defined to be \f(CW1\fR, then libev will assume that \f(CW\*(C`eventfd ()\*(C'\fR is
+available and will probe for kernel support at runtime. This will improve
+\&\f(CW\*(C`ev_signal\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`ev_async\*(C'\fR performance and reduce resource consumption.
+If undefined, it will be enabled if the headers indicate GNU/Linux + Glibc
+2.7 or newer, otherwise disabled.
 .IP "\s-1EV_USE_SELECT\s0" 4
 .IX Item "EV_USE_SELECT"
 If undefined or defined to be \f(CW1\fR, libev will compile in support for the
 \&\f(CW\*(C`select\*(C'\fR(2) backend. No attempt at autodetection will be done: if no
 other method takes over, select will be it. Otherwise the select backend
 wants osf handles on win32 (this is the case when the select to
 be used is the winsock select). This means that it will call
 \&\f(CW\*(C`_get_osfhandle\*(C'\fR on the fd to convert it to an \s-1OS\s0 handle. Otherwise,
 it is assumed that all these functions actually work on fds, even
 on win32. Should not be defined on non\-win32 platforms.
+.IP "\s-1EV_FD_TO_WIN32_HANDLE\s0" 4
+.IX Item "EV_FD_TO_WIN32_HANDLE"
+If \f(CW\*(C`EV_SELECT_IS_WINSOCKET\*(C'\fR is enabled, then libev needs a way to map
+file descriptors to socket handles. When not defining this symbol (the
+default), then libev will call \f(CW\*(C`_get_osfhandle\*(C'\fR, which is usually
+correct. In some cases, programs use their own file descriptor management,
+in which case they can provide this function to map fds to socket handles.
 .IP "\s-1EV_USE_POLL\s0" 4
 .IX Item "EV_USE_POLL"
 If defined to be \f(CW1\fR, libev will compile in support for the \f(CW\*(C`poll\*(C'\fR(2)
 backend. Otherwise it will be enabled on non\-win32 platforms. It
 takes precedence over select.
 .IP "\s-1EV_USE_EPOLL\s0" 4
 .IX Item "EV_USE_EPOLL"
 If defined to be \f(CW1\fR, libev will compile in support for the Linux
 \&\f(CW\*(C`epoll\*(C'\fR(7) backend. Its availability will be detected at runtime,
-otherwise another method will be used as fallback. This is the
+otherwise another method will be used as fallback. This is the preferred
-preferred backend for GNU/Linux systems.
+backend for GNU/Linux systems. If undefined, it will be enabled if the
+headers indicate GNU/Linux + Glibc 2.4 or newer, otherwise disabled.
 .IP "\s-1EV_USE_KQUEUE\s0" 4
 .IX Item "EV_USE_KQUEUE"
 If defined to be \f(CW1\fR, libev will compile in support for the \s-1BSD\s0 style
 \&\f(CW\*(C`kqueue\*(C'\fR(2) backend. Its actual availability will be detected at runtime,
 otherwise another method will be used as fallback. This is the preferred
 reserved for future expansion, works like the \s-1USE\s0 symbols above.
 .IP "\s-1EV_USE_INOTIFY\s0" 4
 .IX Item "EV_USE_INOTIFY"
 If defined to be \f(CW1\fR, libev will compile in support for the Linux inotify
 interface to speed up \f(CW\*(C`ev_stat\*(C'\fR watchers. Its actual availability will
-be detected at runtime.
+be detected at runtime. If undefined, it will be enabled if the headers
+indicate GNU/Linux + Glibc 2.4 or newer, otherwise disabled.
+.IP "\s-1EV_ATOMIC_T\s0" 4
+.IX Item "EV_ATOMIC_T"
+Libev requires an integer type (suitable for storing \f(CW0\fR or \f(CW1\fR) whose
+access is atomic with respect to other threads or signal contexts. No such
+type is easily found in the C language, so you can provide your own type
+that you know is safe for your purposes. It is used both for signal handler \*(L"locking\*(R"
+as well as for signal and thread safety in \f(CW\*(C`ev_async\*(C'\fR watchers.
+.Sp
+In the absense of this define, libev will use \f(CW\*(C`sig_atomic_t volatile\*(C'\fR
+(from \fIsignal.h\fR), which is usually good enough on most platforms.
 .IP "\s-1EV_H\s0" 4
 .IX Item "EV_H"
 The name of the \fIev.h\fR header file used to include it. The default if
-undefined is \f(CW\*(C`<ev.h>\*(C'\fR in \fIevent.h\fR and \f(CW"ev.h"\fR in \fIev.c\fR. This
+undefined is \f(CW"ev.h"\fR in \fIevent.h\fR, \fIev.c\fR and \fIev++.h\fR. This can be
-can be used to virtually rename the \fIev.h\fR header file in case of conflicts.
+used to virtually rename the \fIev.h\fR header file in case of conflicts.
 .IP "\s-1EV_CONFIG_H\s0" 4
 .IX Item "EV_CONFIG_H"
 If \f(CW\*(C`EV_STANDALONE\*(C'\fR isn't \f(CW1\fR, this variable can be used to override
 \&\fIev.c\fR's idea of where to find the \fIconfig.h\fR file, similarly to
 \&\f(CW\*(C`EV_H\*(C'\fR, above.
 .IP "\s-1EV_EVENT_H\s0" 4
 .IX Item "EV_EVENT_H"
 Similarly to \f(CW\*(C`EV_H\*(C'\fR, this macro can be used to override \fIevent.c\fR's idea
-of how the \fIevent.h\fR header can be found.
+of how the \fIevent.h\fR header can be found, the default is \f(CW"event.h"\fR.
 .IP "\s-1EV_PROTOTYPES\s0" 4
 .IX Item "EV_PROTOTYPES"
 If defined to be \f(CW0\fR, then \fIev.h\fR will not define any function
 prototypes, but still define all the structs and other symbols. This is
 occasionally useful if you want to provide your own wrapper functions
 defined to be \f(CW0\fR, then they are not.
 .IP "\s-1EV_FORK_ENABLE\s0" 4
 .IX Item "EV_FORK_ENABLE"
 If undefined or defined to be \f(CW1\fR, then fork watchers are supported. If
 defined to be \f(CW0\fR, then they are not.
+.IP "\s-1EV_ASYNC_ENABLE\s0" 4
+.IX Item "EV_ASYNC_ENABLE"
+If undefined or defined to be \f(CW1\fR, then async watchers are supported. If
+defined to be \f(CW0\fR, then they are not.
 .IP "\s-1EV_MINIMAL\s0" 4
 .IX Item "EV_MINIMAL"
 If you need to shave off some kilobytes of code at the expense of some
-speed, define this symbol to \f(CW1\fR. Currently only used for gcc to override
+speed, define this symbol to \f(CW1\fR. Currently this is used to override some
-some inlining decisions, saves roughly 30% codesize of amd64.
+inlining decisions, saves roughly 30% codesize of amd64. It also selects a
+much smaller 2\-heap for timer management over the default 4\-heap.
 .IP "\s-1EV_PID_HASHSIZE\s0" 4
 .IX Item "EV_PID_HASHSIZE"
 \&\f(CW\*(C`ev_child\*(C'\fR watchers use a small hash table to distribute workload by
 pid. The default size is \f(CW16\fR (or \f(CW1\fR with \f(CW\*(C`EV_MINIMAL\*(C'\fR), usually more
 than enough. If you need to manage thousands of children you might want to
 increase this value (\fImust\fR be a power of two).
 .IP "\s-1EV_INOTIFY_HASHSIZE\s0" 4
 .IX Item "EV_INOTIFY_HASHSIZE"
-\&\f(CW\*(C`ev_staz\*(C'\fR watchers use a small hash table to distribute workload by
+\&\f(CW\*(C`ev_stat\*(C'\fR watchers use a small hash table to distribute workload by
 inotify watch id. The default size is \f(CW16\fR (or \f(CW1\fR with \f(CW\*(C`EV_MINIMAL\*(C'\fR),
 usually more than enough. If you need to manage thousands of \f(CW\*(C`ev_stat\*(C'\fR
 watchers you might want to increase this value (\fImust\fR be a power of
 two).
+.IP "\s-1EV_USE_4HEAP\s0" 4
+.IX Item "EV_USE_4HEAP"
+Heaps are not very cache-efficient. To improve the cache-efficiency of the
+timer and periodics heap, libev uses a 4\-heap when this symbol is defined
+to \f(CW1\fR. The 4\-heap uses more complicated (longer) code but has a
+noticable after performance with many (thousands) of watchers.
+.Sp
+The default is \f(CW1\fR unless \f(CW\*(C`EV_MINIMAL\*(C'\fR is set in which case it is \f(CW0\fR
+(disabled).
+.IP "\s-1EV_HEAP_CACHE_AT\s0" 4
+.IX Item "EV_HEAP_CACHE_AT"
+Heaps are not very cache-efficient. To improve the cache-efficiency of the
+timer and periodics heap, libev can cache the timestamp (\fIat\fR) within
+the heap structure (selected by defining \f(CW\*(C`EV_HEAP_CACHE_AT\*(C'\fR to \f(CW1\fR),
+which uses 8\-12 bytes more per watcher and a few hundred bytes more code,
+but avoids random read accesses on heap changes. This noticably improves
+performance noticably with with many (hundreds) of watchers.
+.Sp
+The default is \f(CW1\fR unless \f(CW\*(C`EV_MINIMAL\*(C'\fR is set in which case it is \f(CW0\fR
+(disabled).
 .IP "\s-1EV_COMMON\s0" 4
 .IX Item "EV_COMMON"
 By default, all watchers have a \f(CW\*(C`void *data\*(C'\fR member. By redefining
 this macro to a something else you can include more and other types of
 members. You have to define it each time you include one of the files,
 .Sh "\s-1EXPORTED\s0 \s-1API\s0 \s-1SYMBOLS\s0"
 .IX Subsection "EXPORTED API SYMBOLS"
 If you need to re-export the \s-1API\s0 (e.g. via a dll) and you need a list of
 exported symbols, you can use the provided \fISymbol.*\fR files which list
 all public symbols, one per line:
-.Sp
+.PP
 .Vb 2
 \&  Symbols.ev      for libev proper
 \&  Symbols.event   for the libevent emulation
 .Ve
-.Sp
+.PP
 This can also be used to rename all public symbols to avoid clashes with
 multiple versions of libev linked together (which is obviously bad in
 itself, but sometimes it is inconvinient to avoid this).
-.Sp
+.PP
 A sed command like this will create wrapper \f(CW\*(C`#define\*(C'\fR's that you need to
 include before including \fIev.h\fR:
-.Sp
+.PP
 .Vb 1
-\&   <Symbols.ev sed -e "s/.*/#define & myprefix_&/" >wrap.h
+\&   <Symbols.ev sed \-e "s/.*/#define & myprefix_&/" >wrap.h
 .Ve
-.Sp
+.PP
 This would create a file \fIwrap.h\fR which essentially looks like this:
-.Sp
+.PP
 .Vb 4
 \&   #define ev_backend     myprefix_ev_backend
 \&   #define ev_check_start myprefix_ev_check_start
 \&   #define ev_check_stop  myprefix_ev_check_stop
 \&   ...
 (<http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/EV.html>). It has the libev files in
 the \fIlibev/\fR subdirectory and includes them in the \fI\s-1EV/EVAPI\s0.h\fR (public
 interface) and \fI\s-1EV\s0.xs\fR (implementation) files. Only the \fI\s-1EV\s0.xs\fR file
 will be compiled. It is pretty complex because it provides its own header
 file.
-.Sp
+.PP
 The usage in rxvt-unicode is simpler. It has a \fIev_cpp.h\fR header file
 that everybody includes and which overrides some configure choices:
-.Sp
+.PP
 .Vb 9
 \&  #define EV_MINIMAL 1
 \&  #define EV_USE_POLL 0
 \&  #define EV_MULTIPLICITY 0
 \&  #define EV_PERIODIC_ENABLE 0
 \&  #define EV_STAT_ENABLE 0
 \&  #define EV_FORK_ENABLE 0
 \&  #define EV_CONFIG_H <config.h>
 \&  #define EV_MINPRI 0
 \&  #define EV_MAXPRI 0
-.Ve
+\&
-.Sp
-.Vb 1
 \&  #include "ev++.h"
 .Ve
-.Sp
+.PP
 And a \fIev_cpp.C\fR implementation file that contains libev proper and is compiled:
-.Sp
+.PP
 .Vb 2
 \&  #include "ev_cpp.h"
 \&  #include "ev.c"
 .Ve
+.SH "THREADS AND COROUTINES"
+.IX Header "THREADS AND COROUTINES"
+.Sh "\s-1THREADS\s0"
+.IX Subsection "THREADS"
+Libev itself is completely threadsafe, but it uses no locking. This
+means that you can use as many loops as you want in parallel, as long as
+only one thread ever calls into one libev function with the same loop
+parameter.
+.PP
+Or put differently: calls with different loop parameters can be done in
+parallel from multiple threads, calls with the same loop parameter must be
+done serially (but can be done from different threads, as long as only one
+thread ever is inside a call at any point in time, e.g. by using a mutex
+per loop).
+.PP
+If you want to know which design is best for your problem, then I cannot
+help you but by giving some generic advice:
+.IP "\(bu" 4
+most applications have a main thread: use the default libev loop
+in that thread, or create a seperate thread running only the default loop.
+.Sp
+This helps integrating other libraries or software modules that use libev
+themselves and don't care/know about threading.
+.IP "\(bu" 4
+one loop per thread is usually a good model.
+.Sp
+Doing this is almost never wrong, sometimes a better-performance model
+exists, but it is always a good start.
+.IP "\(bu" 4
+other models exist, such as the leader/follower pattern, where one
+loop is handed through multiple threads in a kind of round-robbin fashion.
+.Sp
+Chosing a model is hard \- look around, learn, know that usually you cna do
+better than you currently do :\-)
+.IP "\(bu" 4
+often you need to talk to some other thread which blocks in the
+event loop \- \f(CW\*(C`ev_async\*(C'\fR watchers can be used to wake them up from other
+threads safely (or from signal contexts...).
+.Sh "\s-1COROUTINES\s0"
+.IX Subsection "COROUTINES"
+Libev is much more accomodating to coroutines (\*(L"cooperative threads\*(R"):
+libev fully supports nesting calls to it's functions from different
+coroutines (e.g. you can call \f(CW\*(C`ev_loop\*(C'\fR on the same loop from two
+different coroutines and switch freely between both coroutines running the
+loop, as long as you don't confuse yourself). The only exception is that
+you must not do this from \f(CW\*(C`ev_periodic\*(C'\fR reschedule callbacks.
+.PP
+Care has been invested into making sure that libev does not keep local
+state inside \f(CW\*(C`ev_loop\*(C'\fR, and other calls do not usually allow coroutine
+switches.
 .SH "COMPLEXITIES"
 .IX Header "COMPLEXITIES"
 In this section the complexities of (many of) the algorithms used inside
 libev will be explained. For complexity discussions about backends see the
 documentation for \f(CW\*(C`ev_default_init\*(C'\fR.
-.Sp
+.PP
 All of the following are about amortised time: If an array needs to be
 extended, libev needs to realloc and move the whole array, but this
 happens asymptotically never with higher number of elements, so O(1) might
 mean it might do a lengthy realloc operation in rare cases, but on average
 it is much faster and asymptotically approaches constant time.
-.RS 4
 .IP "Starting and stopping timer/periodic watchers: O(log skipped_other_timers)" 4
 .IX Item "Starting and stopping timer/periodic watchers: O(log skipped_other_timers)"
 This means that, when you have a watcher that triggers in one hour and
 there are 100 watchers that would trigger before that then inserting will
-have to skip those 100 watchers.
+have to skip roughly seven (\f(CW\*(C`ld 100\*(C'\fR) of these watchers.
-.IP "Changing timer/periodic watchers (by autorepeat, again): O(log skipped_other_timers)" 4
+.IP "Changing timer/periodic watchers (by autorepeat or calling again): O(log skipped_other_timers)" 4
-.IX Item "Changing timer/periodic watchers (by autorepeat, again): O(log skipped_other_timers)"
+.IX Item "Changing timer/periodic watchers (by autorepeat or calling again): O(log skipped_other_timers)"
-That means that for changing a timer costs less than removing/adding them
+That means that changing a timer costs less than removing/adding them
 as only the relative motion in the event queue has to be paid for.
-.IP "Starting io/check/prepare/idle/signal/child watchers: O(1)" 4
+.IP "Starting io/check/prepare/idle/signal/child/fork/async watchers: O(1)" 4
-.IX Item "Starting io/check/prepare/idle/signal/child watchers: O(1)"
+.IX Item "Starting io/check/prepare/idle/signal/child/fork/async watchers: O(1)"
 These just add the watcher into an array or at the head of a list.
+.IP "Stopping check/prepare/idle/fork/async watchers: O(1)" 4
-=item Stopping check/prepare/idle watchers: O(1)
+.IX Item "Stopping check/prepare/idle/fork/async watchers: O(1)"
+.PD 0
 .IP "Stopping an io/signal/child watcher: O(number_of_watchers_for_this_(fd/signal/pid % \s-1EV_PID_HASHSIZE\s0))" 4
 .IX Item "Stopping an io/signal/child watcher: O(number_of_watchers_for_this_(fd/signal/pid % EV_PID_HASHSIZE))"
+.PD
 These watchers are stored in lists then need to be walked to find the
 correct watcher to remove. The lists are usually short (you don't usually
 have many watchers waiting for the same fd or signal).
-.IP "Finding the next timer per loop iteration: O(1)" 4
+.IP "Finding the next timer in each loop iteration: O(1)" 4
-.IX Item "Finding the next timer per loop iteration: O(1)"
+.IX Item "Finding the next timer in each loop iteration: O(1)"
-.PD 0
+By virtue of using a binary or 4\-heap, the next timer is always found at a
+fixed position in the storage array.
 .IP "Each change on a file descriptor per loop iteration: O(number_of_watchers_for_this_fd)" 4
 .IX Item "Each change on a file descriptor per loop iteration: O(number_of_watchers_for_this_fd)"
-.PD
 A change means an I/O watcher gets started or stopped, which requires
-libev to recalculate its status (and possibly tell the kernel).
+libev to recalculate its status (and possibly tell the kernel, depending
-.IP "Activating one watcher: O(1)" 4
+on backend and wether \f(CW\*(C`ev_io_set\*(C'\fR was used).
-.IX Item "Activating one watcher: O(1)"
+.IP "Activating one watcher (putting it into the pending state): O(1)" 4
+.IX Item "Activating one watcher (putting it into the pending state): O(1)"
 .PD 0
 .IP "Priority handling: O(number_of_priorities)" 4
 .IX Item "Priority handling: O(number_of_priorities)"
 .PD
 Priorities are implemented by allocating some space for each
 priority. When doing priority-based operations, libev usually has to
-linearly search all the priorities.
+linearly search all the priorities, but starting/stopping and activating
-.RE
+watchers becomes O(1) w.r.t. priority handling.
-.RS 4
+.IP "Sending an ev_async: O(1)" 4
+.IX Item "Sending an ev_async: O(1)"
+.PD 0
+.IP "Processing ev_async_send: O(number_of_async_watchers)" 4
+.IX Item "Processing ev_async_send: O(number_of_async_watchers)"
+.IP "Processing signals: O(max_signal_number)" 4
+.IX Item "Processing signals: O(max_signal_number)"
+.PD
+Sending involves a syscall \fIiff\fR there were no other \f(CW\*(C`ev_async_send\*(C'\fR
+calls in the current loop iteration. Checking for async and signal events
+involves iterating over all running async watchers or all signal numbers.
+.SH "Win32 platform limitations and workarounds"
+.IX Header "Win32 platform limitations and workarounds"
+Win32 doesn't support any of the standards (e.g. \s-1POSIX\s0) that libev
+requires, and its I/O model is fundamentally incompatible with the \s-1POSIX\s0
+model. Libev still offers limited functionality on this platform in
+the form of the \f(CW\*(C`EVBACKEND_SELECT\*(C'\fR backend, and only supports socket
+descriptors. This only applies when using Win32 natively, not when using
+e.g. cygwin.
+.PP
+Lifting these limitations would basically require the full
+re-implementation of the I/O system. If you are into these kinds of
+things, then note that glib does exactly that for you in a very portable
+way (note also that glib is the slowest event library known to man).
+.PP
+There is no supported compilation method available on windows except
+embedding it into other applications.
+.PP
+Due to the many, low, and arbitrary limits on the win32 platform and
+the abysmal performance of winsockets, using a large number of sockets
+is not recommended (and not reasonable). If your program needs to use
+more than a hundred or so sockets, then likely it needs to use a totally
+different implementation for windows, as libev offers the \s-1POSIX\s0 readyness
+notification model, which cannot be implemented efficiently on windows
+(microsoft monopoly games).
+.IP "The winsocket select function" 4
+.IX Item "The winsocket select function"
+The winsocket \f(CW\*(C`select\*(C'\fR function doesn't follow \s-1POSIX\s0 in that it requires
+socket \fIhandles\fR and not socket \fIfile descriptors\fR. This makes select
+very inefficient, and also requires a mapping from file descriptors
+to socket handles. See the discussion of the \f(CW\*(C`EV_SELECT_USE_FD_SET\*(C'\fR,
+\&\f(CW\*(C`EV_SELECT_IS_WINSOCKET\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`EV_FD_TO_WIN32_HANDLE\*(C'\fR preprocessor
+symbols for more info.
+.Sp
+The configuration for a \*(L"naked\*(R" win32 using the microsoft runtime
+libraries and raw winsocket select is:
+.Sp
+.Vb 2
+\&  #define EV_USE_SELECT 1
+\&  #define EV_SELECT_IS_WINSOCKET 1   /* forces EV_SELECT_USE_FD_SET, too */
+.Ve
+.Sp
+Note that winsockets handling of fd sets is O(n), so you can easily get a
+complexity in the O(nA\*^X) range when using win32.
+.IP "Limited number of file descriptors" 4
+.IX Item "Limited number of file descriptors"
+Windows has numerous arbitrary (and low) limits on things.
+.Sp
+Early versions of winsocket's select only supported waiting for a maximum
+of \f(CW64\fR handles (probably owning to the fact that all windows kernels
+can only wait for \f(CW64\fR things at the same time internally; microsoft
+recommends spawning a chain of threads and wait for 63 handles and the
+previous thread in each. Great).
+.Sp
+Newer versions support more handles, but you need to define \f(CW\*(C`FD_SETSIZE\*(C'\fR
+to some high number (e.g. \f(CW2048\fR) before compiling the winsocket select
+call (which might be in libev or elsewhere, for example, perl does its own
+select emulation on windows).
+.Sp
+Another limit is the number of file descriptors in the microsoft runtime
+libraries, which by default is \f(CW64\fR (there must be a hidden \fI64\fR fetish
+or something like this inside microsoft). You can increase this by calling
+\&\f(CW\*(C`_setmaxstdio\*(C'\fR, which can increase this limit to \f(CW2048\fR (another
+arbitrary limit), but is broken in many versions of the microsoft runtime
+libraries.
+.Sp
+This might get you to about \f(CW512\fR or \f(CW2048\fR sockets (depending on
+windows version and/or the phase of the moon). To get more, you need to
+wrap all I/O functions and provide your own fd management, but the cost of
+calling select (O(nA\*^X)) will likely make this unworkable.
+.SH "PORTABILITY REQUIREMENTS"
+.IX Header "PORTABILITY REQUIREMENTS"
+In addition to a working ISO-C implementation, libev relies on a few
+additional extensions:
+.ie n .IP """sig_atomic_t volatile"" must be thread-atomic as well" 4
+.el .IP "\f(CWsig_atomic_t volatile\fR must be thread-atomic as well" 4
+.IX Item "sig_atomic_t volatile must be thread-atomic as well"
+The type \f(CW\*(C`sig_atomic_t volatile\*(C'\fR (or whatever is defined as
+\&\f(CW\*(C`EV_ATOMIC_T\*(C'\fR) must be atomic w.r.t. accesses from different
+threads. This is not part of the specification for \f(CW\*(C`sig_atomic_t\*(C'\fR, but is
+believed to be sufficiently portable.
+.ie n .IP """sigprocmask"" must work in a threaded environment" 4
+.el .IP "\f(CWsigprocmask\fR must work in a threaded environment" 4
+.IX Item "sigprocmask must work in a threaded environment"
+Libev uses \f(CW\*(C`sigprocmask\*(C'\fR to temporarily block signals. This is not
+allowed in a threaded program (\f(CW\*(C`pthread_sigmask\*(C'\fR has to be used). Typical
+pthread implementations will either allow \f(CW\*(C`sigprocmask\*(C'\fR in the \*(L"main
+thread\*(R" or will block signals process-wide, both behaviours would
+be compatible with libev. Interaction between \f(CW\*(C`sigprocmask\*(C'\fR and
+\&\f(CW\*(C`pthread_sigmask\*(C'\fR could complicate things, however.
+.Sp
+The most portable way to handle signals is to block signals in all threads
+except the initial one, and run the default loop in the initial thread as
+well.
+.ie n .IP """long"" must be large enough for common memory allocation sizes" 4
+.el .IP "\f(CWlong\fR must be large enough for common memory allocation sizes" 4
+.IX Item "long must be large enough for common memory allocation sizes"
+To improve portability and simplify using libev, libev uses \f(CW\*(C`long\*(C'\fR
+internally instead of \f(CW\*(C`size_t\*(C'\fR when allocating its data structures. On
+non-POSIX systems (Microsoft...) this might be unexpectedly low, but
+is still at least 31 bits everywhere, which is enough for hundreds of
+millions of watchers.
+.ie n .IP """double"" must hold a time value in seconds with enough accuracy" 4
+.el .IP "\f(CWdouble\fR must hold a time value in seconds with enough accuracy" 4
+.IX Item "double must hold a time value in seconds with enough accuracy"
+The type \f(CW\*(C`double\*(C'\fR is used to represent timestamps. It is required to
+have at least 51 bits of mantissa (and 9 bits of exponent), which is good
+enough for at least into the year 4000. This requirement is fulfilled by
+implementations implementing \s-1IEEE\s0 754 (basically all existing ones).
+.PP
+If you know of other additional requirements drop me a note.
 .SH "AUTHOR"
 .IX Header "AUTHOR"
 Marc Lehmann <libev@schmorp.de>.
+.SH "POD ERRORS"
+.IX Header "POD ERRORS"
+Hey! \fBThe above document had some coding errors, which are explained below:\fR
+.IP "Around line 3052:" 4
+.IX Item "Around line 3052:"
+You forgot a '=back' before '=head2'

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Revision 1.58 by root, Sat Dec 22 16:53:56 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.65 by root, Sun May 11 11:47:27 2008 UTC