--- libev/ev.pod	2009/07/15 16:58:53	1.258
+++ libev/ev.pod	2010/03/10 08:19:39	1.282
@@ -100,13 +100,14 @@
 Libev supports C<select>, C<poll>, the Linux-specific C<epoll>, the
 BSD-specific C<kqueue> and the Solaris-specific event port mechanisms
 for file descriptor events (C<ev_io>), the Linux C<inotify> interface
-(for C<ev_stat>), relative timers (C<ev_timer>), absolute timers
-with customised rescheduling (C<ev_periodic>), synchronous signals
-(C<ev_signal>), process status change events (C<ev_child>), and event
-watchers dealing with the event loop mechanism itself (C<ev_idle>,
-C<ev_embed>, C<ev_prepare> and C<ev_check> watchers) as well as
-file watchers (C<ev_stat>) and even limited support for fork events
-(C<ev_fork>).
+(for C<ev_stat>), Linux eventfd/signalfd (for faster and cleaner
+inter-thread wakeup (C<ev_async>)/signal handling (C<ev_signal>)) relative
+timers (C<ev_timer>), absolute timers with customised rescheduling
+(C<ev_periodic>), synchronous signals (C<ev_signal>), process status
+change events (C<ev_child>), and event watchers dealing with the event
+loop mechanism itself (C<ev_idle>, C<ev_embed>, C<ev_prepare> and
+C<ev_check> watchers) as well as file watchers (C<ev_stat>) and even
+limited support for fork events (C<ev_fork>).
 
 It also is quite fast (see this
 L<benchmark|http://libev.schmorp.de/bench.html> comparing it to libevent
@@ -119,7 +120,7 @@
 more info about various configuration options please have a look at
 B<EMBED> section in this manual. If libev was configured without support
 for multiple event loops, then all functions taking an initial argument of
-name C<loop> (which is always of type C<ev_loop *>) will not have
+name C<loop> (which is always of type C<struct ev_loop *>) will not have
 this argument.
 
 =head2 TIME REPRESENTATION
@@ -364,6 +365,26 @@
 This flag setting cannot be overridden or specified in the C<LIBEV_FLAGS>
 environment variable.
 
+=item C<EVFLAG_NOINOTIFY>
+
+When this flag is specified, then libev will not attempt to use the
+I<inotify> API for it's C<ev_stat> watchers. Apart from debugging and
+testing, this flag can be useful to conserve inotify file descriptors, as
+otherwise each loop using C<ev_stat> watchers consumes one inotify handle.
+
+=item C<EVFLAG_SIGNALFD>
+
+When this flag is specified, then libev will attempt to use the
+I<signalfd> API for it's C<ev_signal> (and C<ev_child>) watchers. This API
+delivers signals synchronously, which makes it both faster and might make
+it possible to get the queued signal data. It can also simplify signal
+handling with threads, as long as you properly block signals in your
+threads that are not interested in handling them.
+
+Signalfd will not be used by default as this changes your signal mask, and
+there are a lot of shoddy libraries and programs (glib's threadpool for
+example) that can't properly initialise their signal masks.
+
 =item C<EVBACKEND_SELECT>  (value 1, portable select backend)
 
 This is your standard select(2) backend. Not I<completely> standard, as
@@ -397,6 +418,9 @@
 
 =item C<EVBACKEND_EPOLL>   (value 4, Linux)
 
+Use the linux-specific epoll(7) interface (for both pre- and post-2.6.9
+kernels).
+
 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),
@@ -520,9 +544,10 @@
 
 =back
 
-If one or more of these are or'ed into the flags value, then only these
-backends will be tried (in the reverse order as listed here). If none are
-specified, all backends in C<ev_recommended_backends ()> will be tried.
+If one or more of the backend flags are or'ed into the flags value,
+then only these backends will be tried (in the reverse order as listed
+here). If none are specified, all backends in C<ev_recommended_backends
+()> will be tried.
 
 Example: This is the most typical usage.
 
@@ -575,7 +600,7 @@
 In general it is not advisable to call this function except in the
 rare occasion where you really need to free e.g. the signal handling
 pipe fds. If you need dynamically allocated loops it is better to use
-C<ev_loop_new> and C<ev_loop_destroy>).
+C<ev_loop_new> and C<ev_loop_destroy>.
 
 =item ev_loop_destroy (loop)
 
@@ -689,8 +714,8 @@
 =item ev_loop (loop, int flags)
 
 Finally, this is it, the event handler. This function usually is called
-after you initialised all your watchers and you want to start handling
-events.
+after you have initialised all your watchers and you want to start
+handling events.
 
 If the flags argument is specified as C<0>, it will not return until
 either no event watchers are active anymore or C<ev_unloop> was called.
@@ -774,9 +799,10 @@
 loop: Every watcher keeps one reference, and as long as the reference
 count is nonzero, C<ev_loop> will not return on its own.
 
-If you have a watcher you never unregister that should not keep C<ev_loop>
-from returning, call ev_unref() after starting, and ev_ref() before
-stopping it.
+This is useful when you have a watcher that you never intend to
+unregister, but that nevertheless should not keep C<ev_loop> from
+returning. In such a case, call C<ev_unref> after starting, and C<ev_ref>
+before stopping it.
 
 As an example, libev itself uses this for its internal signal pipe: It
 is not visible to the libev user and should not keep C<ev_loop> from
@@ -901,7 +927,7 @@
 C<release> and C<acquire> (that's their only purpose after all), no
 modifications done will affect the event loop, i.e. adding watchers will
 have no effect on the set of file descriptors being watched, or the time
-waited. USe an C<ev_async> watcher to wake up C<ev_loop> when you want it
+waited. Use an C<ev_async> watcher to wake up C<ev_loop> when you want it
 to take note of any changes you made.
 
 In theory, threads executing C<ev_loop> will be async-cancel safe between
@@ -1108,7 +1134,7 @@
    ev_init (&w, my_cb);
    ev_io_set (&w, STDIN_FILENO, EV_READ);
 
-=item C<ev_TYPE_set> (ev_TYPE *, [args])
+=item C<ev_TYPE_set> (ev_TYPE *watcher, [args])
 
 This macro initialises the type-specific parts of a watcher. You need to
 call C<ev_init> at least once before you call this macro, but you can
@@ -1131,7 +1157,7 @@
 
    ev_io_init (&w, my_cb, STDIN_FILENO, EV_READ);
 
-=item C<ev_TYPE_start> (loop *, ev_TYPE *watcher)
+=item C<ev_TYPE_start> (loop, ev_TYPE *watcher)
 
 Starts (activates) the given watcher. Only active watchers will receive
 events. If the watcher is already active nothing will happen.
@@ -1141,7 +1167,7 @@
 
    ev_io_start (EV_DEFAULT_UC, &w);
 
-=item C<ev_TYPE_stop> (loop *, ev_TYPE *watcher)
+=item C<ev_TYPE_stop> (loop, ev_TYPE *watcher)
 
 Stops the given watcher if active, and clears the pending status (whether
 the watcher was active or not).
@@ -1176,7 +1202,7 @@
 Change the callback. You can change the callback at virtually any time
 (modulo threads).
 
-=item ev_set_priority (ev_TYPE *watcher, priority)
+=item ev_set_priority (ev_TYPE *watcher, int priority)
 
 =item int ev_priority (ev_TYPE *watcher)
 
@@ -1218,6 +1244,20 @@
 Sometimes it can be useful to "poll" a watcher instead of waiting for its
 callback to be invoked, which can be accomplished with this function.
 
+=item ev_feed_event (loop, ev_TYPE *watcher, int revents)
+
+Feeds the given event set into the event loop, as if the specified event
+had happened for the specified watcher (which must be a pointer to an
+initialised but not necessarily started event watcher). Obviously you must
+not free the watcher as long as it has pending events.
+
+Stopping the watcher, letting libev invoke it, or calling
+C<ev_clear_pending> will clear the pending event, even if the watcher was
+not started in the first place.
+
+See also C<ev_feed_fd_event> and C<ev_feed_signal_event> for related
+functions that do not need a watcher.
+
 =back
 
 
@@ -1822,14 +1862,14 @@
 This sounds a bit complicated, see L<Be smart about timeouts>, above, for a
 usage example.
 
-=item ev_timer_remaining (loop, ev_timer *)
+=item ev_tstamp ev_timer_remaining (loop, ev_timer *)
 
 Returns the remaining time until a timer fires. If the timer is active,
 then this time is relative to the current event loop time, otherwise it's
 the timeout value currently configured.
 
 That is, after an C<ev_timer_set (w, 5, 7)>, C<ev_timer_remaining> returns
-C<5>. When the timer is started and one second passes, C<ev_timer_remain>
+C<5>. When the timer is started and one second passes, C<ev_timer_remaining>
 will return C<4>. When the timer expires and is restarted, it will return
 roughly C<7> (likely slightly less as callback invocation takes some time,
 too), and so on.
@@ -2078,22 +2118,55 @@
 will try it's best to deliver signals synchronously, i.e. as part of the
 normal event processing, like any other event.
 
-If you want signals asynchronously, just use C<sigaction> as you would
-do without libev and forget about sharing the signal. You can even use
-C<ev_async> from a signal handler to synchronously wake up an event loop.
+If you want signals to be delivered truly asynchronously, just use
+C<sigaction> as you would do without libev and forget about sharing
+the signal. You can even use C<ev_async> from a signal handler to
+synchronously wake up an event loop.
+
+You can configure as many watchers as you like for the same signal, but
+only within the same loop, i.e. you can watch for C<SIGINT> in your
+default loop and for C<SIGIO> in another loop, but you cannot watch for
+C<SIGINT> in both the default loop and another loop at the same time. At
+the moment, C<SIGCHLD> is permanently tied to the default loop.
 
-You can configure as many watchers as you like per signal. Only when the
-first watcher gets started will libev actually register a signal handler
+When the first watcher gets started will libev actually register something
 with the kernel (thus it coexists with your own signal handlers as long as
-you don't register any with libev for the same signal). Similarly, when
-the last signal watcher for a signal is stopped, libev will reset the
-signal handler to SIG_DFL (regardless of what it was set to before).
+you don't register any with libev for the same signal).
 
 If possible and supported, libev will install its handlers with
-C<SA_RESTART> behaviour enabled, so system calls should not be unduly
-interrupted. If you have a problem with system calls getting interrupted by
-signals you can block all signals in an C<ev_check> watcher and unblock
-them in an C<ev_prepare> watcher.
+C<SA_RESTART> (or equivalent) behaviour enabled, so system calls should
+not be unduly interrupted. If you have a problem with system calls getting
+interrupted by signals you can block all signals in an C<ev_check> watcher
+and unblock them in an C<ev_prepare> watcher.
+
+=head3 The special problem of inheritance over fork/execve/pthread_create
+
+Both the signal mask (C<sigprocmask>) and the signal disposition
+(C<sigaction>) are unspecified after starting a signal watcher (and after
+stopping it again), that is, libev might or might not block the signal,
+and might or might not set or restore the installed signal handler.
+
+While this does not matter for the signal disposition (libev never
+sets signals to C<SIG_IGN>, so handlers will be reset to C<SIG_DFL> on
+C<execve>), this matters for the signal mask: many programs do not expect
+certain signals to be blocked.
+
+This means that before calling C<exec> (from the child) you should reset
+the signal mask to whatever "default" you expect (all clear is a good
+choice usually).
+
+The simplest way to ensure that the signal mask is reset in the child is
+to install a fork handler with C<pthread_atfork> that resets it. That will
+catch fork calls done by libraries (such as the libc) as well.
+
+In current versions of libev, the signal will not be blocked indefinitely
+unless you use the C<signalfd> API (C<EV_SIGNALFD>). While this reduces
+the window of opportunity for problems, it will not go away, as libev
+I<has> to modify the signal mask, at least temporarily.
+
+So I can't stress this enough: I<If you do not reset your signal mask when
+you expect it to be empty, you have a race condition in your code>. This
+is not a libev-specific thing, this is true for most event libraries.
 
 =head3 Watcher-Specific Functions and Data Members
 
@@ -2148,8 +2221,8 @@
 =head3 Process Interaction
 
 Libev grabs C<SIGCHLD> 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 occurrence
+initialised. This is necessary to guarantee proper behaviour even if the
+first child watcher is started after the child exits. The occurrence
 of C<SIGCHLD> 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.
@@ -2169,7 +2242,8 @@
 Currently, the child watcher never gets stopped, even when the
 child terminates, so normally one needs to stop the watcher in the
 callback. Future versions of libev might stop the watcher automatically
-when a child exit is detected.
+when a child exit is detected (calling C<ev_child_stop> twice is not a
+problem).
 
 =head3 Watcher-Specific Functions and Data Members
 
@@ -2919,7 +2993,8 @@
 C<ev_async> 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.
+need elaborate support such as pthreads or unportable memory access
+semantics.
 
 That means that if you want to queue data, you have to provide your own
 queue. But at least I can tell you how to implement locking around your
@@ -3087,18 +3162,12 @@
 
    ev_once (STDIN_FILENO, EV_READ, 10., stdin_ready, 0);
 
-=item ev_feed_event (struct ev_loop *, watcher *, int revents)
-
-Feeds the given event set into the event loop, as if the specified event
-had happened for the specified watcher (which must be a pointer to an
-initialised but not necessarily started event watcher).
-
-=item ev_feed_fd_event (struct ev_loop *, int fd, int revents)
+=item ev_feed_fd_event (loop, int fd, int revents)
 
 Feed an event on the given fd, as if a file descriptor backend detected
 the given events it.
 
-=item ev_feed_signal_event (struct ev_loop *loop, int signum)
+=item ev_feed_signal_event (loop, int signum)
 
 Feed an event as if the given signal occurred (C<loop> must be the default
 loop!).
@@ -3188,7 +3257,7 @@
 
 =item ev::TYPE::TYPE ()
 
-=item ev::TYPE::TYPE (struct ev_loop *)
+=item ev::TYPE::TYPE (loop)
 
 =item ev::TYPE::~TYPE
 
@@ -3275,7 +3344,7 @@
    static void io_cb (ev::io &w, int revents) { }
    iow.set <io_cb> ();
 
-=item w->set (struct ev_loop *)
+=item w->set (loop)
 
 Associates a different C<struct ev_loop> with this watcher. You can only
 do this when the watcher is inactive (and not pending either).
@@ -3382,6 +3451,12 @@
 Erkki Seppala has written Ocaml bindings for libev, to be found at
 L<http://modeemi.cs.tut.fi/~flux/software/ocaml-ev/>.
 
+=item Lua
+
+Brian Maher has written a partial interface to libev for lua (at the
+time of this writing, only C<ev_io> and C<ev_timer>), to be found at
+L<http://github.com/brimworks/lua-ev>.
+
 =back
 
 
@@ -3544,12 +3619,19 @@
 =head2 PREPROCESSOR SYMBOLS/MACROS
 
 Libev can be configured via a variety of preprocessor symbols you have to
-define before including any of its files. The default in the absence of
-autoconf is documented for every option.
+define before including (or compiling) any of its files. The default in
+the absence of autoconf is documented for every option.
+
+Symbols marked with "(h)" do not change the ABI, and can have different
+values when compiling libev vs. including F<ev.h>, so it is permissible
+to redefine them before including F<ev.h> without breakign compatibility
+to a compiled library. All other symbols change the ABI, which means all
+users of libev and the libev code itself must be compiled with compatible
+settings.
 
 =over 4
 
-=item EV_STANDALONE
+=item EV_STANDALONE (h)
 
 Must always be C<1> if you do not use autoconf configuration, which
 keeps libev from including F<config.h>, and it also defines dummy
@@ -3557,7 +3639,7 @@
 supported). It will also not define any of the structs usually found in
 F<event.h> that are not directly supported by the libev core alone.
 
-In stanbdalone mode, libev will still try to automatically deduce the
+In standalone mode, libev will still try to automatically deduce the
 configuration, but has to be more conservative.
 
 =item EV_USE_MONOTONIC
@@ -3632,7 +3714,7 @@
 it is assumed that all these functions actually work on fds, even
 on win32. Should not be defined on non-win32 platforms.
 
-=item EV_FD_TO_WIN32_HANDLE
+=item EV_FD_TO_WIN32_HANDLE(fd)
 
 If C<EV_SELECT_IS_WINSOCKET> is enabled, then libev needs a way to map
 file descriptors to socket handles. When not defining this symbol (the
@@ -3640,6 +3722,20 @@
 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.
 
+=item EV_WIN32_HANDLE_TO_FD(handle)
+
+If C<EV_SELECT_IS_WINSOCKET> then libev maps handles to file descriptors
+using the standard C<_open_osfhandle> function. For programs implementing
+their own fd to handle mapping, overwriting this function makes it easier
+to do so. This can be done by defining this macro to an appropriate value.
+
+=item EV_WIN32_CLOSE_FD(fd)
+
+If programs implement their own fd to handle mapping on win32, then this
+macro can be used to override the C<close> function, useful to unregister
+file descriptors again. Note that the replacement function has to close
+the underlying OS handle.
+
 =item EV_USE_POLL
 
 If defined to be C<1>, libev will compile in support for the C<poll>(2)
@@ -3695,24 +3791,24 @@
 In the absence of this define, libev will use C<sig_atomic_t volatile>
 (from F<signal.h>), which is usually good enough on most platforms.
 
-=item EV_H
+=item EV_H (h)
 
 The name of the F<ev.h> header file used to include it. The default if
 undefined is C<"ev.h"> in F<event.h>, F<ev.c> and F<ev++.h>. This can be
 used to virtually rename the F<ev.h> header file in case of conflicts.
 
-=item EV_CONFIG_H
+=item EV_CONFIG_H (h)
 
 If C<EV_STANDALONE> isn't C<1>, this variable can be used to override
 F<ev.c>'s idea of where to find the F<config.h> file, similarly to
 C<EV_H>, above.
 
-=item EV_EVENT_H
+=item EV_EVENT_H (h)
 
 Similarly to C<EV_H>, this macro can be used to override F<event.c>'s idea
 of how the F<event.h> header can be found, the default is C<"event.h">.
 
-=item EV_PROTOTYPES
+=item EV_PROTOTYPES (h)
 
 If defined to be C<0>, then F<ev.h> will not define any function
 prototypes, but still define all the structs and other symbols. This is
@@ -3772,11 +3868,21 @@
 If undefined or defined to be C<1>, then fork watchers are supported. If
 defined to be C<0>, then they are not.
 
+=item EV_SIGNAL_ENABLE
+
+If undefined or defined to be C<1>, then signal watchers are supported. If
+defined to be C<0>, then they are not.
+
 =item EV_ASYNC_ENABLE
 
 If undefined or defined to be C<1>, then async watchers are supported. If
 defined to be C<0>, then they are not.
 
+=item EV_CHILD_ENABLE
+
+If undefined or defined to be C<1> (and C<_WIN32> is not defined), then
+child watchers are supported. If defined to be C<0>, then they are not.
+
 =item EV_MINIMAL
 
 If you need to shave off some kilobytes of code at the expense of some
@@ -3787,13 +3893,70 @@
 
 You can save even more by disabling watcher types you do not need
 and setting C<EV_MAXPRI> == C<EV_MINPRI>. Also, disabling C<assert>
-(C<-DNDEBUG>) will usually reduce code size a lot.
+(C<-DNDEBUG>) will usually reduce code size a lot. Disabling inotify,
+eventfd and signalfd will further help, and disabling backends one doesn't
+need (e.g. poll, epoll, kqueue, ports) will help further.
 
 Defining C<EV_MINIMAL> to C<2> will additionally reduce the core API to
 provide a bare-bones event library. See C<ev.h> for details on what parts
 of the API are still available, and do not complain if this subset changes
 over time.
 
+This example set of settings reduces the compiled size of libev from 24Kb
+to 8Kb on my GNU/Linux amd64 system (and leaves little in - there is also
+an effect on the amount of memory used). With an intelligent-enough linker
+further unused functions might be left out as well automatically.
+
+   // tuning and API changes
+   #define EV_MINIMAL 2
+   #define EV_MULTIPLICITY 0
+   #define EV_MINPRI 0
+   #define EV_MAXPRI 0
+
+   // OS-specific backends
+   #define EV_USE_INOTIFY 0
+   #define EV_USE_EVENTFD 0
+   #define EV_USE_SIGNALFD 0
+   #define EV_USE_REALTIME 0
+   #define EV_USE_MONOTONIC 0
+   #define EV_USE_CLOCK_SYSCALL 0
+
+   // disable all backends except select
+   #define EV_USE_POLL 0
+   #define EV_USE_PORT 0
+   #define EV_USE_KQUEUE 0
+   #define EV_USE_EPOLL 0
+
+   // disable all watcher types that cna be disabled
+   #define EV_STAT_ENABLE 0
+   #define EV_PERIODIC_ENABLE 0
+   #define EV_IDLE_ENABLE 0
+   #define EV_FORK_ENABLE 0
+   #define EV_SIGNAL_ENABLE 0
+   #define EV_CHILD_ENABLE 0
+   #define EV_ASYNC_ENABLE 0
+   #define EV_EMBED_ENABLE 0
+
+=item EV_AVOID_STDIO
+
+If this is set to C<1> at compiletime, then libev will avoid using stdio
+functions (printf, scanf, perror etc.). This will increase the codesize
+somewhat, but if your program doesn't otherwise depend on stdio and your
+libc allows it, this avoids linking in the stdio library which is quite
+big.
+
+Note that error messages might become less precise when this option is
+enabled.
+
+=item EV_NSIG
+
+The highest supported signal number, +1 (or, the number of
+signals): Normally, libev tries to deduce the maximum number of signals
+automatically, but sometimes this fails, in which case it can be
+specified. Also, using a lower number than detected (C<32> should be
+good for about any system in existance) can save some memory, as libev
+statically allocates some 12-24 bytes per signal number.
+
 =item EV_PID_HASHSIZE
 
 C<ev_child> watchers use a small hash table to distribute workload by