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

Comparing libev/ev.pod (file contents):
Revision 1.156 by root, Tue May 20 20:00:34 2008 UTC vs.
Revision 1.160 by root, Thu May 22 03:06:58 2008 UTC

 called C<ev_tstamp>, which is what you should use too. It usually aliases
 to the C<double> type in C, and when you need to do any calculations on
 it, you should treat it as some floatingpoint value. Unlike the name
 component C<stamp> might indicate, it is also used for time differences
 throughout libev.
+=head1 ERROR HANDLING
+Libev knows three classes of errors: operating system errors, usage errors
+and internal errors (bugs).
+When libev catches an operating system error it cannot handle (for example
+a syscall indicating a condition libev cannot fix), it calls the callback
+set via C<ev_set_syserr_cb>, which is supposed to fix the problem or
+abort. The default is to print a diagnostic message and to call C<abort
+()>.
+When libev detects a usage error such as a negative timer interval, then
+it will print a diagnostic message and abort (via the C<assert> mechanism,
+so C<NDEBUG> will disable this checking): these are programming errors in
+the libev caller and need to be fixed there.
+Libev also has a few internal error-checking C<assert>ions, and also has
+extensive consistency checking code. These do not trigger under normal
+circumstances, as they indicate either a bug in libev or worse.
 =head1 GLOBAL FUNCTIONS
 These functions can be called anytime, even before initialising the
 library in any way.
 interval to a value near C<0.1> or so, which is often enough for
 interactive servers (of course not for games), likewise for timeouts. It
 usually doesn't make much sense to set it to a lower value than C<0.01>,
 as this approsaches the timing granularity of most systems.
+=item ev_loop_verify (loop)
+This function only does something when C<EV_VERIFY> support has been
+compiled in. It tries to go through all internal structures and checks
+them for validity. If anything is found to be inconsistent, it will print
+an error message to standard error and call C<abort ()>.
+This can be used to catch bugs inside libev itself: under normal
+circumstances, this function will never abort as of course libev keeps its
+data structures consistent.
 =back
 =head1 ANATOMY OF A WATCHER
 Timer watchers are simple relative timers that generate an event after a
 given time, and optionally repeating in regular intervals after that.
 The timers are based on real time, that is, if you register an event that
-times out after an hour and you reset your system clock to last years
+times out after an hour and you reset your system clock to january last
-time, it will still time out after (roughly) and hour. "Roughly" because
+year, it will still time out after (roughly) and hour. "Roughly" because
 detecting time jumps is hard, and some inaccuracies are unavoidable (the
 monotonic clock option helps a lot here).
 The relative timeouts are calculated relative to the C<ev_now ()>
 time. This is usually the right thing as this timestamp refers to the time
 you suspect event processing to be delayed and you I<need> to base the timeout
 on the current time, use something like this to adjust for this:
    ev_timer_set (&timer, after + ev_now () - ev_time (), 0.);
-The callback is guarenteed to be invoked only when its timeout has passed,
+The callback is guarenteed to be invoked only after its timeout has passed,
 but if multiple timers become ready during the same loop iteration then
 order of execution is undefined.
 =head3 Watcher-Specific Functions and Data Members
 =item ev_timer_init (ev_timer *, callback, ev_tstamp after, ev_tstamp repeat)
 =item ev_timer_set (ev_timer *, ev_tstamp after, ev_tstamp repeat)
-Configure the timer to trigger after C<after> seconds. If C<repeat> is
+Configure the timer to trigger after C<after> seconds. If C<repeat>
-C<0.>, then it will automatically be stopped. If it is positive, then the
+is C<0.>, then it will automatically be stopped once the timeout is
-timer will automatically be configured to trigger again C<repeat> seconds
+reached. If it is positive, then the timer will automatically be
-later, again, and again, until stopped manually.
+configured to trigger again C<repeat> seconds later, again, and again,
+until stopped manually.
-The timer itself will do a best-effort at avoiding drift, that is, if you
+The timer itself will do a best-effort at avoiding drift, that is, if
-configure a timer to trigger every 10 seconds, then it will trigger at
+you configure a timer to trigger every 10 seconds, then it will normally
-exactly 10 second intervals. If, however, your program cannot keep up with
+trigger at exactly 10 second intervals. If, however, your program cannot
-the timer (because it takes longer than those 10 seconds to do stuff) the
+keep up with the timer (because it takes longer than those 10 seconds to
-timer will not fire more than once per event loop iteration.
+do stuff) the timer will not fire more than once per event loop iteration.
 =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:
 Periodic watchers are also timers of a kind, but they are very versatile
 (and unfortunately a bit complex).
 Unlike C<ev_timer>'s, they are not based on real time (or relative time)
 but on wallclock time (absolute time). You can tell a periodic watcher
-to trigger "at" some specific point in time. For example, if you tell a
+to trigger after some specific point in time. For example, if you tell a
 periodic watcher to trigger in 10 seconds (by specifiying e.g. C<ev_now ()
-+ 10.>) and then reset your system clock to the last year, then it will
++ 10.>, that is, an absolute time not a delay) and then reset your system
+clock to january of the previous year, then it will take more than year
-take a year to trigger the event (unlike an C<ev_timer>, which would trigger
+to trigger the event (unlike an C<ev_timer>, which would still trigger
-roughly 10 seconds later).
+roughly 10 seconds later as it uses a relative timeout).
-They can also be used to implement vastly more complex timers, such as
+C<ev_periodic>s can also be used to implement vastly more complex timers,
-triggering an event on each midnight, local time or other, complicated,
+such as triggering an event on each "midnight, local time", or other
-rules.
+complicated, rules.
 As with timers, the callback is guarenteed to be invoked only when the
-time (C<at>) has been passed, but if multiple periodic timers become ready
+time (C<at>) has passed, but if multiple periodic timers become ready
 during the same loop iteration then order of execution is undefined.
 =head3 Watcher-Specific Functions and Data Members
 =over 4
 =over 4
 =item * absolute timer (at = time, interval = reschedule_cb = 0)
-In this configuration the watcher triggers an event at the wallclock time
+In this configuration the watcher triggers an event after the wallclock
-C<at> and doesn't repeat. It will not adjust when a time jump occurs,
+time C<at> has passed and doesn't repeat. It will not adjust when a time
-that is, if it is to be run at January 1st 2011 then it will run when the
+jump occurs, that is, if it is to be run at January 1st 2011 then it will
-system time reaches or surpasses this time.
+run when the system time reaches or surpasses this time.
 =item * repeating interval timer (at = offset, interval > 0, reschedule_cb = 0)
 In this mode the watcher will always be scheduled to time out at the next
 C<at + N * interval> time (for some integer N, which can also be negative)
 and then repeat, regardless of any time jumps.
 This can be used to create timers that do not drift with respect to system
-time:
+time, for example, here is a C<ev_periodic> that triggers each hour, on
+the hour:
    ev_periodic_set (&periodic, 0., 3600., 0);
 This doesn't mean there will always be 3600 seconds in between triggers,
 but only that the the callback will be called when the system time shows a
 C<ev_periodic> will try to run the callback in this mode at the next possible
 time where C<time = at (mod interval)>, regardless of any time jumps.
 For numerical stability it is preferable that the C<at> value is near
 C<ev_now ()> (the current time), but there is no range requirement for
-this value.
+this value, and in fact is often specified as zero.
+Note also that there is an upper limit to how often a timer can fire (cpu
+speed for example), so if C<interval> is very small then timing stability
+will of course detoriate. Libev itself tries to be exact to be about one
+millisecond (if the OS supports it and the machine is fast enough).
 =item * manual reschedule mode (at and interval ignored, reschedule_cb = callback)
 In this mode the values for C<interval> and C<at> 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.
 NOTE: I<This callback MUST NOT stop or destroy any periodic watcher,
-ever, or make any event loop modifications>. If you need to stop it,
+ever, or make ANY event loop modifications whatsoever>.
-return C<now + 1e30> (or so, fudge fudge) and stop it afterwards (e.g. by
-starting an C<ev_prepare> watcher, which is legal).
+If you need to stop it, return C<now + 1e30> (or so, fudge fudge) and stop
+it afterwards (e.g. by starting an C<ev_prepare> watcher, which is the
+only event loop modification you are allowed to do).
-Its prototype is C<ev_tstamp (*reschedule_cb)(struct ev_periodic *w,
+The callback prototype is C<ev_tstamp (*reschedule_cb)(struct ev_periodic
-ev_tstamp now)>, e.g.:
+*w, ev_tstamp now)>, e.g.:
    static ev_tstamp my_rescheduler (struct ev_periodic *w, ev_tstamp now)
    {
      return now + 60.;
    }
 It must return the next time to trigger, based on the passed time value
 (that is, the lowest time value larger than to the second argument). It
 will usually be called just before the callback will be triggered, but
 might be called at other times, too.
-NOTE: I<< This callback must always return a time that is later than the
+NOTE: I<< This callback must always return a time that is higher than or
-passed C<now> value >>. Not even C<now> itself will do, it I<must> be larger.
+equal to the passed C<now> value >>.
 This can be used to create very complex timers, such as a timer that
-triggers on each midnight, local time. To do this, you would calculate the
+triggers on "next midnight, local time". To do this, you would calculate the
 next midnight after C<now> and return the timestamp value for this. How
 you do this is, again, up to you (but it is not trivial, which is the main
 reason I omitted it as an example).
 =back
 noticably with with many (hundreds) of watchers.
 The default is C<1> unless C<EV_MINIMAL> is set in which case it is C<0>
 (disabled).
+=item EV_VERIFY
+Controls how much internal verification (see C<ev_loop_verify ()>) will
+be done: If set to C<0>, no internal verification code will be compiled
+in. If set to C<1>, then verification code will be compiled in, but not
+called. If set to C<2>, then the internal verification code will be
+called once per loop, which can slow down libev. If set to C<3>, then the
+verification code will be called very frequently, which will slow down
+libev considerably.
+The default is C<1>, unless C<EV_MINIMAL> is set, in which case it will be
+C<0.>
 =item EV_COMMON
 By default, all watchers have a C<void *data> 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,
 =over 4
 =item The winsocket select function
-The winsocket C<select> function doesn't follow POSIX in that it requires
+The winsocket C<select> function doesn't follow POSIX in that it
-socket I<handles> and not socket I<file descriptors>. This makes select
+requires socket I<handles> and not socket I<file descriptors> (it is
-very inefficient, and also requires a mapping from file descriptors
+also extremely buggy). This makes select very inefficient, and also
-to socket handles. See the discussion of the C<EV_SELECT_USE_FD_SET>,
+requires a mapping from file descriptors to socket handles. See the
-C<EV_SELECT_IS_WINSOCKET> and C<EV_FD_TO_WIN32_HANDLE> preprocessor
+discussion of the C<EV_SELECT_USE_FD_SET>, C<EV_SELECT_IS_WINSOCKET> and
-symbols for more info.
+C<EV_FD_TO_WIN32_HANDLE> preprocessor symbols for more info.
 The configuration for a "naked" win32 using the microsoft runtime
 libraries and raw winsocket select is:
   #define EV_USE_SELECT 1
 =back
 If you know of other additional requirements drop me a note.
+=head1 COMPILER WARNINGS
+Depending on your compiler and compiler settings, you might get no or a
+lot of warnings when compiling libev code. Some people are apparently
+scared by this.
+However, these are unavoidable for many reasons. For one, each compiler
+has different warnings, and each user has different tastes regarding
+warning options. "Warn-free" code therefore cannot be a goal except when
+targetting a specific compiler and compiler-version.
+Another reason is that some compiler warnings require elaborate
+workarounds, or other changes to the code that make it less clear and less
+maintainable.
+And of course, some compiler warnings are just plain stupid, or simply
+wrong (because they don't actually warn about the cindition their message
+seems to warn about).
+While libev is written to generate as few warnings as possible,
+"warn-free" code is not a goal, and it is recommended not to build libev
+with any compiler warnings enabled unless you are prepared to cope with
+them (e.g. by ignoring them). Remember that warnings are just that:
+warnings, not errors, or proof of bugs.
 =head1 VALGRIND
 Valgrind has a special section here because it is a popular tool that is
 highly useful, but valgrind reports are very hard to interpret.

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Comparing libev/ev.pod (file contents): Revision 1.156 by root, Tue May 20 20:00:34 2008 UTC vs. Revision 1.160 by root, Thu May 22 03:06:58 2008 UTC

Diff Legend

Comparing libev/ev.pod (file contents):
Revision 1.156 by root, Tue May 20 20:00:34 2008 UTC vs.
Revision 1.160 by root, Thu May 22 03:06:58 2008 UTC