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# Content
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 these event sources and provide your program with events.
14
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 loop mechanism itself (idle, prepare and check watchers). It also is quite
31 fast (see this L<benchmark|http://libev.schmorp.de/bench.html> comparing
32 it to libevent for example).
33
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 about various configuration options please have a look at the file
39 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 =head1 TIME REPRESENTATION
45
46 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 called C<ev_tstamp>, which is what you should use too. It usually aliases
50 to the double type in C.
51
52 =head1 GLOBAL FUNCTIONS
53
54 =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 Usually, it's a good idea to terminate if the major versions mismatch,
71 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 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
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 matter what, when it returns. That is, libev will generally retry the
94 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 in your main thread (or in a separate thread) and for each thread you
107 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 done correctly, because it's hideous and inefficient).
111
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 backends to use, and is usually specified as 0 (or EVFLAG_AUTO).
126
127 It supports the following flags:
128
129 =over 4
130
131 =item C<EVFLAG_AUTO>
132
133 The default flags value. Use this if you have no clue (it's the right
134 thing, believe me).
135
136 =item C<EVFLAG_NOENV>
137
138 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
145 =item C<EVMETHOD_SELECT> (portable select backend)
146
147 =item C<EVMETHOD_POLL> (poll backend, available everywhere except on windows)
148
149 =item C<EVMETHOD_EPOLL> (linux only)
150
151 =item C<EVMETHOD_KQUEUE> (some bsds only)
152
153 =item C<EVMETHOD_DEVPOLL> (solaris 8 only)
154
155 =item C<EVMETHOD_PORT> (solaris 10 only)
156
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 any way whatsoever, although you cannot rely on this :).
175
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 The function itself is quite fast and it's usually not a problem to call
193 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 =item ev_tstamp ev_now (loop)
210
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 case there are no events and will return after one iteration of the loop.
229
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 your process until at least one new event arrives, and will return after
233 one iteration of the loop.
234
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 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
246 =item ev_ref (loop)
247
248 =item ev_unref (loop)
249
250 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
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 become readable, you would create an C<ev_io> watcher for that:
268
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 You can check whether an event is active by calling the C<ev_is_active
307 (watcher *)> macro. To see whether an event is outstanding (but the
308 callback for it has not been called yet) you can use the C<ev_is_pending
309 (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 The received events usually include a single bit per event type received
316 (you can receive multiple events at the same time). The possible bit masks
317 are:
318
319 =over 4
320
321 =item C<EV_READ>
322
323 =item C<EV_WRITE>
324
325 The file descriptor in the C<ev_io> watcher has become readable and/or
326 writable.
327
328 =item C<EV_TIMEOUT>
329
330 The C<ev_timer> watcher has timed out.
331
332 =item C<EV_PERIODIC>
333
334 The C<ev_periodic> watcher has timed out.
335
336 =item C<EV_SIGNAL>
337
338 The signal specified in the C<ev_signal> watcher has been received by a thread.
339
340 =item C<EV_CHILD>
341
342 The pid specified in the C<ev_child> watcher has received a status change.
343
344 =item C<EV_IDLE>
345
346 The C<ev_idle> watcher has determined that you have nothing better to do.
347
348 =item C<EV_PREPARE>
349
350 =item C<EV_CHECK>
351
352 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 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 (for example, a C<ev_prepare> watcher might start an idle watcher to keep
358 C<ev_loop> from blocking).
359
360 =item C<EV_ERROR>
361
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 and read at any time, libev will completely ignore it. This can be used
380 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 =head2 C<ev_io> - is this file descriptor readable or writable
412
413 I/O watchers check whether a file descriptor is readable or writable
414 in each iteration of the event loop (This behaviour is called
415 level-triggering because you keep receiving events as long as the
416 condition persists. Remember you can stop the watcher if you don't want to
417 act on the event and neither want to receive future events).
418
419 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 =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 Configures an C<ev_io> watcher. The fd is the file descriptor to rceeive
440 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 =head2 C<ev_timer> - relative and optionally recurring timeouts
446
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 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 =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 configure an C<ev_timer> with after=repeat=60 and calling ev_timer_again each
496 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 =head2 C<ev_periodic> - to cron or not to cron
503
504 Periodic watchers are also timers of a kind, but they are very versatile
505 (and unfortunately a bit complex).
506
507 Unlike C<ev_timer>'s, they are not based on real time (or relative time)
508 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 take a year to trigger the event (unlike an C<ev_timer>, which would trigger
513 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 full hour (UTC), or more correctly, when the system time is evenly divisible
552 by 3600.
553
554 Another way to think about it (for the mathematically inclined) is that
555 C<ev_periodic> will try to run the callback in this mode at the next possible
556 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 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 Also, I<< this callback must always return a time that is later than the
570 passed C<now> value >>. Not even C<now> itself will be ok.
571
572 Its prototype is C<ev_tstamp (*reschedule_cb)(struct ev_periodic *w,
573 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 =head2 C<ev_signal> - signal me when a signal gets signalled
602
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 will try it's best to deliver signals synchronously, i.e. as part of the
606 normal event processing, like any other event.
607
608 You can configure as many watchers as you like per signal. Only when the
609 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 =head2 C<ev_child> - wait for pid status changes
627
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 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
644 =back
645
646 =head2 C<ev_idle> - when you've got nothing better to do
647
648 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
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 =head2 C<ev_prepare> and C<ev_check> - customise your event loop
675
676 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
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 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
693 As another example, the Perl Coro module uses these hooks to integrate
694 coroutines into libev programs, by yielding to other active coroutines
695 during each prepare and only letting the process block if no coroutines
696 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
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 macros, but using them is utterly, utterly and completely pointless.
711
712 =back
713
714 =head1 OTHER FUNCTIONS
715
716 There are some other functions of possible interest. Described. Here. Now.
717
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 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
732 If C<timeout> is less than 0, then no timeout watcher will be
733 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
742 static void stdin_ready (int revents, void *arg)
743 {
744 if (revents & EV_TIMEOUT)
745 /* doh, nothing entered */;
746 else if (revents & EV_READ)
747 /* stdin might have data for us, joy! */;
748 }
749
750 ev_once (STDIN_FILENO, EV_READ, 10., stdin_ready, 0);
751
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 had happened for the specified watcher (which must be a pointer to an
756 initialised but not necessarily started event watcher).
757
758 =item ev_feed_fd_event (loop, int fd, int revents)
759
760 Feed an event on the given fd, as if a file descriptor backend detected
761 the given events it.
762
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