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Revision: 1.17
Committed: Mon Nov 12 08:57:03 2007 UTC (16 years, 6 months ago) by root
Branch: MAIN
Changes since 1.16: +4 -2 lines
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# User Rev Content
1 root 1.1 =head1 NAME
2    
3     libev - a high performance full-featured event loop written in C
4    
5     =head1 SYNOPSIS
6    
7     #include <ev.h>
8    
9     =head1 DESCRIPTION
10    
11     Libev is an event loop: you register interest in certain events (such as a
12     file descriptor being readable or a timeout occuring), and it will manage
13 root 1.4 these event sources and provide your program with events.
14 root 1.1
15     To do this, it must take more or less complete control over your process
16     (or thread) by executing the I<event loop> handler, and will then
17     communicate events via a callback mechanism.
18    
19     You register interest in certain events by registering so-called I<event
20     watchers>, which are relatively small C structures you initialise with the
21     details of the event, and then hand it over to libev by I<starting> the
22     watcher.
23    
24     =head1 FEATURES
25    
26     Libev supports select, poll, the linux-specific epoll and the bsd-specific
27     kqueue mechanisms for file descriptor events, relative timers, absolute
28     timers with customised rescheduling, signal events, process status change
29     events (related to SIGCHLD), and event watchers dealing with the event
30 root 1.5 loop mechanism itself (idle, prepare and check watchers). It also is quite
31 root 1.7 fast (see this L<benchmark|http://libev.schmorp.de/bench.html> comparing
32     it to libevent for example).
33 root 1.1
34     =head1 CONVENTIONS
35    
36     Libev is very configurable. In this manual the default configuration
37     will be described, which supports multiple event loops. For more info
38 root 1.7 about various configuration options please have a look at the file
39 root 1.1 F<README.embed> in the libev distribution. If libev was configured without
40     support for multiple event loops, then all functions taking an initial
41     argument of name C<loop> (which is always of type C<struct ev_loop *>)
42     will not have this argument.
43    
44 root 1.17 =head1 TIME REPRESENTATION
45 root 1.1
46 root 1.2 Libev represents time as a single floating point number, representing the
47     (fractional) number of seconds since the (POSIX) epoch (somewhere near
48     the beginning of 1970, details are complicated, don't ask). This type is
49 root 1.1 called C<ev_tstamp>, which is what you should use too. It usually aliases
50     to the double type in C.
51    
52 root 1.17 =head1 GLOBAL FUNCTIONS
53    
54 root 1.1 =over 4
55    
56     =item ev_tstamp ev_time ()
57    
58     Returns the current time as libev would use it.
59    
60     =item int ev_version_major ()
61    
62     =item int ev_version_minor ()
63    
64     You can find out the major and minor version numbers of the library
65     you linked against by calling the functions C<ev_version_major> and
66     C<ev_version_minor>. If you want, you can compare against the global
67     symbols C<EV_VERSION_MAJOR> and C<EV_VERSION_MINOR>, which specify the
68     version of the library your program was compiled against.
69    
70 root 1.9 Usually, it's a good idea to terminate if the major versions mismatch,
71 root 1.1 as this indicates an incompatible change. Minor versions are usually
72     compatible to older versions, so a larger minor version alone is usually
73     not a problem.
74    
75     =item ev_set_allocator (void *(*cb)(void *ptr, long size))
76    
77     Sets the allocation function to use (the prototype is similar to the
78 root 1.7 realloc C function, the semantics are identical). It is used to allocate
79     and free memory (no surprises here). If it returns zero when memory
80     needs to be allocated, the library might abort or take some potentially
81     destructive action. The default is your system realloc function.
82 root 1.1
83     You could override this function in high-availability programs to, say,
84     free some memory if it cannot allocate memory, to use a special allocator,
85     or even to sleep a while and retry until some memory is available.
86    
87     =item ev_set_syserr_cb (void (*cb)(const char *msg));
88    
89     Set the callback function to call on a retryable syscall error (such
90     as failed select, poll, epoll_wait). The message is a printable string
91     indicating the system call or subsystem causing the problem. If this
92     callback is set, then libev will expect it to remedy the sitution, no
93 root 1.7 matter what, when it returns. That is, libev will generally retry the
94 root 1.1 requested operation, or, if the condition doesn't go away, do bad stuff
95     (such as abort).
96    
97     =back
98    
99     =head1 FUNCTIONS CONTROLLING THE EVENT LOOP
100    
101     An event loop is described by a C<struct ev_loop *>. The library knows two
102     types of such loops, the I<default> loop, which supports signals and child
103     events, and dynamically created loops which do not.
104    
105     If you use threads, a common model is to run the default event loop
106 root 1.17 in your main thread (or in a separate thread) and for each thread you
107 root 1.7 create, you also create another event loop. Libev itself does no locking
108     whatsoever, so if you mix calls to the same event loop in different
109     threads, make sure you lock (this is usually a bad idea, though, even if
110 root 1.9 done correctly, because it's hideous and inefficient).
111 root 1.1
112     =over 4
113    
114     =item struct ev_loop *ev_default_loop (unsigned int flags)
115    
116     This will initialise the default event loop if it hasn't been initialised
117     yet and return it. If the default loop could not be initialised, returns
118     false. If it already was initialised it simply returns it (and ignores the
119     flags).
120    
121     If you don't know what event loop to use, use the one returned from this
122     function.
123    
124     The flags argument can be used to specify special behaviour or specific
125 root 1.8 backends to use, and is usually specified as 0 (or EVFLAG_AUTO).
126 root 1.1
127     It supports the following flags:
128    
129     =over 4
130    
131 root 1.10 =item C<EVFLAG_AUTO>
132 root 1.1
133 root 1.9 The default flags value. Use this if you have no clue (it's the right
134 root 1.1 thing, believe me).
135    
136 root 1.10 =item C<EVFLAG_NOENV>
137 root 1.1
138 root 1.8 If this flag bit is ored into the flag value (or the program runs setuid
139     or setgid) then libev will I<not> look at the environment variable
140     C<LIBEV_FLAGS>. Otherwise (the default), this environment variable will
141     override the flags completely if it is found in the environment. This is
142     useful to try out specific backends to test their performance, or to work
143     around bugs.
144 root 1.1
145 root 1.10 =item C<EVMETHOD_SELECT> (portable select backend)
146 root 1.1
147 root 1.10 =item C<EVMETHOD_POLL> (poll backend, available everywhere except on windows)
148 root 1.1
149 root 1.10 =item C<EVMETHOD_EPOLL> (linux only)
150 root 1.1
151 root 1.10 =item C<EVMETHOD_KQUEUE> (some bsds only)
152 root 1.1
153 root 1.10 =item C<EVMETHOD_DEVPOLL> (solaris 8 only)
154 root 1.1
155 root 1.10 =item C<EVMETHOD_PORT> (solaris 10 only)
156 root 1.1
157     If one or more of these are ored into the flags value, then only these
158     backends will be tried (in the reverse order as given here). If one are
159     specified, any backend will do.
160    
161     =back
162    
163     =item struct ev_loop *ev_loop_new (unsigned int flags)
164    
165     Similar to C<ev_default_loop>, but always creates a new event loop that is
166     always distinct from the default loop. Unlike the default loop, it cannot
167     handle signal and child watchers, and attempts to do so will be greeted by
168     undefined behaviour (or a failed assertion if assertions are enabled).
169    
170     =item ev_default_destroy ()
171    
172     Destroys the default loop again (frees all memory and kernel state
173     etc.). This stops all registered event watchers (by not touching them in
174 root 1.9 any way whatsoever, although you cannot rely on this :).
175 root 1.1
176     =item ev_loop_destroy (loop)
177    
178     Like C<ev_default_destroy>, but destroys an event loop created by an
179     earlier call to C<ev_loop_new>.
180    
181     =item ev_default_fork ()
182    
183     This function reinitialises the kernel state for backends that have
184     one. Despite the name, you can call it anytime, but it makes most sense
185     after forking, in either the parent or child process (or both, but that
186     again makes little sense).
187    
188     You I<must> call this function after forking if and only if you want to
189     use the event library in both processes. If you just fork+exec, you don't
190     have to call it.
191    
192 root 1.9 The function itself is quite fast and it's usually not a problem to call
193 root 1.1 it just in case after a fork. To make this easy, the function will fit in
194     quite nicely into a call to C<pthread_atfork>:
195    
196     pthread_atfork (0, 0, ev_default_fork);
197    
198     =item ev_loop_fork (loop)
199    
200     Like C<ev_default_fork>, but acts on an event loop created by
201     C<ev_loop_new>. Yes, you have to call this on every allocated event loop
202     after fork, and how you do this is entirely your own problem.
203    
204     =item unsigned int ev_method (loop)
205    
206     Returns one of the C<EVMETHOD_*> flags indicating the event backend in
207     use.
208    
209 root 1.9 =item ev_tstamp ev_now (loop)
210 root 1.1
211     Returns the current "event loop time", which is the time the event loop
212     got events and started processing them. This timestamp does not change
213     as long as callbacks are being processed, and this is also the base time
214     used for relative timers. You can treat it as the timestamp of the event
215     occuring (or more correctly, the mainloop finding out about it).
216    
217     =item ev_loop (loop, int flags)
218    
219     Finally, this is it, the event handler. This function usually is called
220     after you initialised all your watchers and you want to start handling
221     events.
222    
223     If the flags argument is specified as 0, it will not return until either
224     no event watchers are active anymore or C<ev_unloop> was called.
225    
226     A flags value of C<EVLOOP_NONBLOCK> will look for new events, will handle
227     those events and any outstanding ones, but will not block your process in
228 root 1.9 case there are no events and will return after one iteration of the loop.
229 root 1.1
230     A flags value of C<EVLOOP_ONESHOT> will look for new events (waiting if
231     neccessary) and will handle those and any outstanding ones. It will block
232 root 1.9 your process until at least one new event arrives, and will return after
233     one iteration of the loop.
234 root 1.1
235     This flags value could be used to implement alternative looping
236     constructs, but the C<prepare> and C<check> watchers provide a better and
237     more generic mechanism.
238    
239     =item ev_unloop (loop, how)
240    
241 root 1.9 Can be used to make a call to C<ev_loop> return early (but only after it
242     has processed all outstanding events). The C<how> argument must be either
243     C<EVUNLOOP_ONCE>, which will make the innermost C<ev_loop> call return, or
244     C<EVUNLOOP_ALL>, which will make all nested C<ev_loop> calls return.
245 root 1.1
246     =item ev_ref (loop)
247    
248     =item ev_unref (loop)
249    
250 root 1.9 Ref/unref can be used to add or remove a reference count on the event
251     loop: Every watcher keeps one reference, and as long as the reference
252     count is nonzero, C<ev_loop> will not return on its own. If you have
253     a watcher you never unregister that should not keep C<ev_loop> from
254     returning, ev_unref() after starting, and ev_ref() before stopping it. For
255     example, libev itself uses this for its internal signal pipe: It is not
256     visible to the libev user and should not keep C<ev_loop> from exiting if
257     no event watchers registered by it are active. It is also an excellent
258     way to do this for generic recurring timers or from within third-party
259     libraries. Just remember to I<unref after start> and I<ref before stop>.
260 root 1.1
261     =back
262    
263     =head1 ANATOMY OF A WATCHER
264    
265     A watcher is a structure that you create and register to record your
266     interest in some event. For instance, if you want to wait for STDIN to
267 root 1.10 become readable, you would create an C<ev_io> watcher for that:
268 root 1.1
269     static void my_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_io *w, int revents)
270     {
271     ev_io_stop (w);
272     ev_unloop (loop, EVUNLOOP_ALL);
273     }
274    
275     struct ev_loop *loop = ev_default_loop (0);
276     struct ev_io stdin_watcher;
277     ev_init (&stdin_watcher, my_cb);
278     ev_io_set (&stdin_watcher, STDIN_FILENO, EV_READ);
279     ev_io_start (loop, &stdin_watcher);
280     ev_loop (loop, 0);
281    
282     As you can see, you are responsible for allocating the memory for your
283     watcher structures (and it is usually a bad idea to do this on the stack,
284     although this can sometimes be quite valid).
285    
286     Each watcher structure must be initialised by a call to C<ev_init
287     (watcher *, callback)>, which expects a callback to be provided. This
288     callback gets invoked each time the event occurs (or, in the case of io
289     watchers, each time the event loop detects that the file descriptor given
290     is readable and/or writable).
291    
292     Each watcher type has its own C<< ev_<type>_set (watcher *, ...) >> macro
293     with arguments specific to this watcher type. There is also a macro
294     to combine initialisation and setting in one call: C<< ev_<type>_init
295     (watcher *, callback, ...) >>.
296    
297     To make the watcher actually watch out for events, you have to start it
298     with a watcher-specific start function (C<< ev_<type>_start (loop, watcher
299     *) >>), and you can stop watching for events at any time by calling the
300     corresponding stop function (C<< ev_<type>_stop (loop, watcher *) >>.
301    
302     As long as your watcher is active (has been started but not stopped) you
303     must not touch the values stored in it. Most specifically you must never
304     reinitialise it or call its set method.
305    
306 root 1.14 You can check whether an event is active by calling the C<ev_is_active
307 root 1.4 (watcher *)> macro. To see whether an event is outstanding (but the
308 root 1.14 callback for it has not been called yet) you can use the C<ev_is_pending
309 root 1.1 (watcher *)> macro.
310    
311     Each and every callback receives the event loop pointer as first, the
312     registered watcher structure as second, and a bitset of received events as
313     third argument.
314    
315 root 1.14 The received events usually include a single bit per event type received
316 root 1.1 (you can receive multiple events at the same time). The possible bit masks
317     are:
318    
319     =over 4
320    
321 root 1.10 =item C<EV_READ>
322 root 1.1
323 root 1.10 =item C<EV_WRITE>
324 root 1.1
325 root 1.10 The file descriptor in the C<ev_io> watcher has become readable and/or
326 root 1.1 writable.
327    
328 root 1.10 =item C<EV_TIMEOUT>
329 root 1.1
330 root 1.10 The C<ev_timer> watcher has timed out.
331 root 1.1
332 root 1.10 =item C<EV_PERIODIC>
333 root 1.1
334 root 1.10 The C<ev_periodic> watcher has timed out.
335 root 1.1
336 root 1.10 =item C<EV_SIGNAL>
337 root 1.1
338 root 1.10 The signal specified in the C<ev_signal> watcher has been received by a thread.
339 root 1.1
340 root 1.10 =item C<EV_CHILD>
341 root 1.1
342 root 1.10 The pid specified in the C<ev_child> watcher has received a status change.
343 root 1.1
344 root 1.10 =item C<EV_IDLE>
345 root 1.1
346 root 1.10 The C<ev_idle> watcher has determined that you have nothing better to do.
347 root 1.1
348 root 1.10 =item C<EV_PREPARE>
349 root 1.1
350 root 1.10 =item C<EV_CHECK>
351 root 1.1
352 root 1.10 All C<ev_prepare> watchers are invoked just I<before> C<ev_loop> starts
353     to gather new events, and all C<ev_check> watchers are invoked just after
354 root 1.1 C<ev_loop> has gathered them, but before it invokes any callbacks for any
355     received events. Callbacks of both watcher types can start and stop as
356     many watchers as they want, and all of them will be taken into account
357 root 1.10 (for example, a C<ev_prepare> watcher might start an idle watcher to keep
358 root 1.1 C<ev_loop> from blocking).
359    
360 root 1.10 =item C<EV_ERROR>
361 root 1.1
362     An unspecified error has occured, the watcher has been stopped. This might
363     happen because the watcher could not be properly started because libev
364     ran out of memory, a file descriptor was found to be closed or any other
365     problem. You best act on it by reporting the problem and somehow coping
366     with the watcher being stopped.
367    
368     Libev will usually signal a few "dummy" events together with an error,
369     for example it might indicate that a fd is readable or writable, and if
370     your callbacks is well-written it can just attempt the operation and cope
371     with the error from read() or write(). This will not work in multithreaded
372     programs, though, so beware.
373    
374     =back
375    
376     =head2 ASSOCIATING CUSTOM DATA WITH A WATCHER
377    
378     Each watcher has, by default, a member C<void *data> that you can change
379 root 1.14 and read at any time, libev will completely ignore it. This can be used
380 root 1.1 to associate arbitrary data with your watcher. If you need more data and
381     don't want to allocate memory and store a pointer to it in that data
382     member, you can also "subclass" the watcher type and provide your own
383     data:
384    
385     struct my_io
386     {
387     struct ev_io io;
388     int otherfd;
389     void *somedata;
390     struct whatever *mostinteresting;
391     }
392    
393     And since your callback will be called with a pointer to the watcher, you
394     can cast it back to your own type:
395    
396     static void my_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_io *w_, int revents)
397     {
398     struct my_io *w = (struct my_io *)w_;
399     ...
400     }
401    
402     More interesting and less C-conformant ways of catsing your callback type
403     have been omitted....
404    
405    
406     =head1 WATCHER TYPES
407    
408     This section describes each watcher in detail, but will not repeat
409     information given in the last section.
410    
411 root 1.11 =head2 C<ev_io> - is this file descriptor readable or writable
412 root 1.1
413 root 1.4 I/O watchers check whether a file descriptor is readable or writable
414 root 1.1 in each iteration of the event loop (This behaviour is called
415     level-triggering because you keep receiving events as long as the
416 root 1.14 condition persists. Remember you can stop the watcher if you don't want to
417 root 1.1 act on the event and neither want to receive future events).
418    
419 root 1.8 In general you can register as many read and/or write event watchers oer
420     fd as you want (as long as you don't confuse yourself). Setting all file
421     descriptors to non-blocking mode is also usually a good idea (but not
422     required if you know what you are doing).
423    
424     You have to be careful with dup'ed file descriptors, though. Some backends
425     (the linux epoll backend is a notable example) cannot handle dup'ed file
426     descriptors correctly if you register interest in two or more fds pointing
427     to the same file/socket etc. description.
428    
429     If you must do this, then force the use of a known-to-be-good backend
430     (at the time of this writing, this includes only EVMETHOD_SELECT and
431     EVMETHOD_POLL).
432    
433 root 1.1 =over 4
434    
435     =item ev_io_init (ev_io *, callback, int fd, int events)
436    
437     =item ev_io_set (ev_io *, int fd, int events)
438    
439 root 1.10 Configures an C<ev_io> watcher. The fd is the file descriptor to rceeive
440 root 1.1 events for and events is either C<EV_READ>, C<EV_WRITE> or C<EV_READ |
441     EV_WRITE> to receive the given events.
442    
443     =back
444    
445 root 1.10 =head2 C<ev_timer> - relative and optionally recurring timeouts
446 root 1.1
447     Timer watchers are simple relative timers that generate an event after a
448     given time, and optionally repeating in regular intervals after that.
449    
450     The timers are based on real time, that is, if you register an event that
451     times out after an hour and youreset your system clock to last years
452     time, it will still time out after (roughly) and hour. "Roughly" because
453     detecting time jumps is hard, and soem inaccuracies are unavoidable (the
454     monotonic clock option helps a lot here).
455    
456 root 1.9 The relative timeouts are calculated relative to the C<ev_now ()>
457     time. This is usually the right thing as this timestamp refers to the time
458     of the event triggering whatever timeout you are modifying/starting. If
459     you suspect event processing to be delayed and you *need* to base the timeout
460     ion the current time, use something like this to adjust for this:
461    
462     ev_timer_set (&timer, after + ev_now () - ev_time (), 0.);
463    
464 root 1.1 =over 4
465    
466     =item ev_timer_init (ev_timer *, callback, ev_tstamp after, ev_tstamp repeat)
467    
468     =item ev_timer_set (ev_timer *, ev_tstamp after, ev_tstamp repeat)
469    
470     Configure the timer to trigger after C<after> seconds. If C<repeat> is
471     C<0.>, then it will automatically be stopped. If it is positive, then the
472     timer will automatically be configured to trigger again C<repeat> seconds
473     later, again, and again, until stopped manually.
474    
475     The timer itself will do a best-effort at avoiding drift, that is, if you
476     configure a timer to trigger every 10 seconds, then it will trigger at
477     exactly 10 second intervals. If, however, your program cannot keep up with
478     the timer (ecause it takes longer than those 10 seconds to do stuff) the
479     timer will not fire more than once per event loop iteration.
480    
481     =item ev_timer_again (loop)
482    
483     This will act as if the timer timed out and restart it again if it is
484     repeating. The exact semantics are:
485    
486     If the timer is started but nonrepeating, stop it.
487    
488     If the timer is repeating, either start it if necessary (with the repeat
489     value), or reset the running timer to the repeat value.
490    
491     This sounds a bit complicated, but here is a useful and typical
492     example: Imagine you have a tcp connection and you want a so-called idle
493     timeout, that is, you want to be called when there have been, say, 60
494     seconds of inactivity on the socket. The easiest way to do this is to
495 root 1.10 configure an C<ev_timer> with after=repeat=60 and calling ev_timer_again each
496 root 1.1 time you successfully read or write some data. If you go into an idle
497     state where you do not expect data to travel on the socket, you can stop
498     the timer, and again will automatically restart it if need be.
499    
500     =back
501    
502 root 1.14 =head2 C<ev_periodic> - to cron or not to cron
503 root 1.1
504     Periodic watchers are also timers of a kind, but they are very versatile
505     (and unfortunately a bit complex).
506    
507 root 1.10 Unlike C<ev_timer>'s, they are not based on real time (or relative time)
508 root 1.1 but on wallclock time (absolute time). You can tell a periodic watcher
509     to trigger "at" some specific point in time. For example, if you tell a
510     periodic watcher to trigger in 10 seconds (by specifiying e.g. c<ev_now ()
511     + 10.>) and then reset your system clock to the last year, then it will
512 root 1.10 take a year to trigger the event (unlike an C<ev_timer>, which would trigger
513 root 1.1 roughly 10 seconds later and of course not if you reset your system time
514     again).
515    
516     They can also be used to implement vastly more complex timers, such as
517     triggering an event on eahc midnight, local time.
518    
519     =over 4
520    
521     =item ev_periodic_init (ev_periodic *, callback, ev_tstamp at, ev_tstamp interval, reschedule_cb)
522    
523     =item ev_periodic_set (ev_periodic *, ev_tstamp after, ev_tstamp repeat, reschedule_cb)
524    
525     Lots of arguments, lets sort it out... There are basically three modes of
526     operation, and we will explain them from simplest to complex:
527    
528    
529     =over 4
530    
531     =item * absolute timer (interval = reschedule_cb = 0)
532    
533     In this configuration the watcher triggers an event at the wallclock time
534     C<at> and doesn't repeat. It will not adjust when a time jump occurs,
535     that is, if it is to be run at January 1st 2011 then it will run when the
536     system time reaches or surpasses this time.
537    
538     =item * non-repeating interval timer (interval > 0, reschedule_cb = 0)
539    
540     In this mode the watcher will always be scheduled to time out at the next
541     C<at + N * interval> time (for some integer N) and then repeat, regardless
542     of any time jumps.
543    
544     This can be used to create timers that do not drift with respect to system
545     time:
546    
547     ev_periodic_set (&periodic, 0., 3600., 0);
548    
549     This doesn't mean there will always be 3600 seconds in between triggers,
550     but only that the the callback will be called when the system time shows a
551 root 1.12 full hour (UTC), or more correctly, when the system time is evenly divisible
552 root 1.1 by 3600.
553    
554     Another way to think about it (for the mathematically inclined) is that
555 root 1.10 C<ev_periodic> will try to run the callback in this mode at the next possible
556 root 1.1 time where C<time = at (mod interval)>, regardless of any time jumps.
557    
558     =item * manual reschedule mode (reschedule_cb = callback)
559    
560     In this mode the values for C<interval> and C<at> are both being
561     ignored. Instead, each time the periodic watcher gets scheduled, the
562     reschedule callback will be called with the watcher as first, and the
563     current time as second argument.
564    
565     NOTE: I<This callback MUST NOT stop or destroy the periodic or any other
566 root 1.12 periodic watcher, ever, or make any event loop modifications>. If you need
567     to stop it, return C<now + 1e30> (or so, fudge fudge) and stop it afterwards.
568    
569 root 1.13 Also, I<< this callback must always return a time that is later than the
570 root 1.12 passed C<now> value >>. Not even C<now> itself will be ok.
571 root 1.1
572 root 1.13 Its prototype is C<ev_tstamp (*reschedule_cb)(struct ev_periodic *w,
573 root 1.1 ev_tstamp now)>, e.g.:
574    
575     static ev_tstamp my_rescheduler (struct ev_periodic *w, ev_tstamp now)
576     {
577     return now + 60.;
578     }
579    
580     It must return the next time to trigger, based on the passed time value
581     (that is, the lowest time value larger than to the second argument). It
582     will usually be called just before the callback will be triggered, but
583     might be called at other times, too.
584    
585     This can be used to create very complex timers, such as a timer that
586     triggers on each midnight, local time. To do this, you would calculate the
587     next midnight after C<now> and return the timestamp value for this. How you do this
588     is, again, up to you (but it is not trivial).
589    
590     =back
591    
592     =item ev_periodic_again (loop, ev_periodic *)
593    
594     Simply stops and restarts the periodic watcher again. This is only useful
595     when you changed some parameters or the reschedule callback would return
596     a different time than the last time it was called (e.g. in a crond like
597     program when the crontabs have changed).
598    
599     =back
600    
601 root 1.10 =head2 C<ev_signal> - signal me when a signal gets signalled
602 root 1.1
603     Signal watchers will trigger an event when the process receives a specific
604     signal one or more times. Even though signals are very asynchronous, libev
605 root 1.9 will try it's best to deliver signals synchronously, i.e. as part of the
606 root 1.1 normal event processing, like any other event.
607    
608 root 1.14 You can configure as many watchers as you like per signal. Only when the
609 root 1.1 first watcher gets started will libev actually register a signal watcher
610     with the kernel (thus it coexists with your own signal handlers as long
611     as you don't register any with libev). Similarly, when the last signal
612     watcher for a signal is stopped libev will reset the signal handler to
613     SIG_DFL (regardless of what it was set to before).
614    
615     =over 4
616    
617     =item ev_signal_init (ev_signal *, callback, int signum)
618    
619     =item ev_signal_set (ev_signal *, int signum)
620    
621     Configures the watcher to trigger on the given signal number (usually one
622     of the C<SIGxxx> constants).
623    
624     =back
625    
626 root 1.10 =head2 C<ev_child> - wait for pid status changes
627 root 1.1
628     Child watchers trigger when your process receives a SIGCHLD in response to
629     some child status changes (most typically when a child of yours dies).
630    
631     =over 4
632    
633     =item ev_child_init (ev_child *, callback, int pid)
634    
635     =item ev_child_set (ev_child *, int pid)
636    
637     Configures the watcher to wait for status changes of process C<pid> (or
638     I<any> process if C<pid> is specified as C<0>). The callback can look
639     at the C<rstatus> member of the C<ev_child> watcher structure to see
640 root 1.14 the status word (use the macros from C<sys/wait.h> and see your systems
641     C<waitpid> documentation). The C<rpid> member contains the pid of the
642     process causing the status change.
643 root 1.1
644     =back
645    
646 root 1.10 =head2 C<ev_idle> - when you've got nothing better to do
647 root 1.1
648 root 1.14 Idle watchers trigger events when there are no other events are pending
649     (prepare, check and other idle watchers do not count). That is, as long
650     as your process is busy handling sockets or timeouts (or even signals,
651     imagine) it will not be triggered. But when your process is idle all idle
652     watchers are being called again and again, once per event loop iteration -
653     until stopped, that is, or your process receives more events and becomes
654     busy.
655 root 1.1
656     The most noteworthy effect is that as long as any idle watchers are
657     active, the process will not block when waiting for new events.
658    
659     Apart from keeping your process non-blocking (which is a useful
660     effect on its own sometimes), idle watchers are a good place to do
661     "pseudo-background processing", or delay processing stuff to after the
662     event loop has handled all outstanding events.
663    
664     =over 4
665    
666     =item ev_idle_init (ev_signal *, callback)
667    
668     Initialises and configures the idle watcher - it has no parameters of any
669     kind. There is a C<ev_idle_set> macro, but using it is utterly pointless,
670     believe me.
671    
672     =back
673    
674 root 1.16 =head2 C<ev_prepare> and C<ev_check> - customise your event loop
675 root 1.1
676 root 1.14 Prepare and check watchers are usually (but not always) used in tandem:
677     Prepare watchers get invoked before the process blocks and check watchers
678     afterwards.
679 root 1.1
680     Their main purpose is to integrate other event mechanisms into libev. This
681     could be used, for example, to track variable changes, implement your own
682     watchers, integrate net-snmp or a coroutine library and lots more.
683    
684     This is done by examining in each prepare call which file descriptors need
685 root 1.14 to be watched by the other library, registering C<ev_io> watchers for
686     them and starting an C<ev_timer> watcher for any timeouts (many libraries
687     provide just this functionality). Then, in the check watcher you check for
688     any events that occured (by checking the pending status of all watchers
689     and stopping them) and call back into the library. The I/O and timer
690     callbacks will never actually be called (but must be valid neverthelles,
691     because you never know, you know?).
692 root 1.1
693 root 1.14 As another example, the Perl Coro module uses these hooks to integrate
694 root 1.1 coroutines into libev programs, by yielding to other active coroutines
695     during each prepare and only letting the process block if no coroutines
696 root 1.14 are ready to run (its actually more complicated, it only runs coroutines
697     with priority higher than the event loop and one lower priority once,
698     using idle watchers to keep the event loop from blocking if lower-priority
699     coroutines exist, thus mapping low-priority coroutines to idle/background
700     tasks).
701 root 1.1
702     =over 4
703    
704     =item ev_prepare_init (ev_prepare *, callback)
705    
706     =item ev_check_init (ev_check *, callback)
707    
708     Initialises and configures the prepare or check watcher - they have no
709     parameters of any kind. There are C<ev_prepare_set> and C<ev_check_set>
710 root 1.14 macros, but using them is utterly, utterly and completely pointless.
711 root 1.1
712     =back
713    
714     =head1 OTHER FUNCTIONS
715    
716 root 1.14 There are some other functions of possible interest. Described. Here. Now.
717 root 1.1
718     =over 4
719    
720     =item ev_once (loop, int fd, int events, ev_tstamp timeout, callback)
721    
722     This function combines a simple timer and an I/O watcher, calls your
723     callback on whichever event happens first and automatically stop both
724     watchers. This is useful if you want to wait for a single event on an fd
725     or timeout without havign to allocate/configure/start/stop/free one or
726     more watchers yourself.
727    
728 root 1.14 If C<fd> is less than 0, then no I/O watcher will be started and events
729     is being ignored. Otherwise, an C<ev_io> watcher for the given C<fd> and
730     C<events> set will be craeted and started.
731 root 1.1
732     If C<timeout> is less than 0, then no timeout watcher will be
733 root 1.14 started. Otherwise an C<ev_timer> watcher with after = C<timeout> (and
734     repeat = 0) will be started. While C<0> is a valid timeout, it is of
735     dubious value.
736    
737     The callback has the type C<void (*cb)(int revents, void *arg)> and gets
738     passed an events set like normal event callbacks (with a combination of
739     C<EV_ERROR>, C<EV_READ>, C<EV_WRITE> or C<EV_TIMEOUT>) and the C<arg>
740     value passed to C<ev_once>:
741 root 1.1
742     static void stdin_ready (int revents, void *arg)
743     {
744     if (revents & EV_TIMEOUT)
745 root 1.14 /* doh, nothing entered */;
746 root 1.1 else if (revents & EV_READ)
747 root 1.14 /* stdin might have data for us, joy! */;
748 root 1.1 }
749    
750 root 1.14 ev_once (STDIN_FILENO, EV_READ, 10., stdin_ready, 0);
751 root 1.1
752     =item ev_feed_event (loop, watcher, int events)
753    
754     Feeds the given event set into the event loop, as if the specified event
755 root 1.14 had happened for the specified watcher (which must be a pointer to an
756     initialised but not necessarily started event watcher).
757 root 1.1
758     =item ev_feed_fd_event (loop, int fd, int revents)
759    
760 root 1.14 Feed an event on the given fd, as if a file descriptor backend detected
761     the given events it.
762 root 1.1
763     =item ev_feed_signal_event (loop, int signum)
764    
765     Feed an event as if the given signal occured (loop must be the default loop!).
766    
767     =back
768    
769     =head1 AUTHOR
770    
771     Marc Lehmann <libev@schmorp.de>.
772