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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 These functions can be called anytime, even before initialising the
55 library in any way.
56
57 =over 4
58
59 =item ev_tstamp ev_time ()
60
61 Returns the current time as libev would use it.
62
63 =item int ev_version_major ()
64
65 =item int ev_version_minor ()
66
67 You can find out the major and minor version numbers of the library
68 you linked against by calling the functions C<ev_version_major> and
69 C<ev_version_minor>. If you want, you can compare against the global
70 symbols C<EV_VERSION_MAJOR> and C<EV_VERSION_MINOR>, which specify the
71 version of the library your program was compiled against.
72
73 Usually, it's a good idea to terminate if the major versions mismatch,
74 as this indicates an incompatible change. Minor versions are usually
75 compatible to older versions, so a larger minor version alone is usually
76 not a problem.
77
78 =item ev_set_allocator (void *(*cb)(void *ptr, long size))
79
80 Sets the allocation function to use (the prototype is similar to the
81 realloc C function, the semantics are identical). It is used to allocate
82 and free memory (no surprises here). If it returns zero when memory
83 needs to be allocated, the library might abort or take some potentially
84 destructive action. The default is your system realloc function.
85
86 You could override this function in high-availability programs to, say,
87 free some memory if it cannot allocate memory, to use a special allocator,
88 or even to sleep a while and retry until some memory is available.
89
90 =item ev_set_syserr_cb (void (*cb)(const char *msg));
91
92 Set the callback function to call on a retryable syscall error (such
93 as failed select, poll, epoll_wait). The message is a printable string
94 indicating the system call or subsystem causing the problem. If this
95 callback is set, then libev will expect it to remedy the sitution, no
96 matter what, when it returns. That is, libev will generally retry the
97 requested operation, or, if the condition doesn't go away, do bad stuff
98 (such as abort).
99
100 =back
101
102 =head1 FUNCTIONS CONTROLLING THE EVENT LOOP
103
104 An event loop is described by a C<struct ev_loop *>. The library knows two
105 types of such loops, the I<default> loop, which supports signals and child
106 events, and dynamically created loops which do not.
107
108 If you use threads, a common model is to run the default event loop
109 in your main thread (or in a separate thread) and for each thread you
110 create, you also create another event loop. Libev itself does no locking
111 whatsoever, so if you mix calls to the same event loop in different
112 threads, make sure you lock (this is usually a bad idea, though, even if
113 done correctly, because it's hideous and inefficient).
114
115 =over 4
116
117 =item struct ev_loop *ev_default_loop (unsigned int flags)
118
119 This will initialise the default event loop if it hasn't been initialised
120 yet and return it. If the default loop could not be initialised, returns
121 false. If it already was initialised it simply returns it (and ignores the
122 flags).
123
124 If you don't know what event loop to use, use the one returned from this
125 function.
126
127 The flags argument can be used to specify special behaviour or specific
128 backends to use, and is usually specified as 0 (or EVFLAG_AUTO).
129
130 It supports the following flags:
131
132 =over 4
133
134 =item C<EVFLAG_AUTO>
135
136 The default flags value. Use this if you have no clue (it's the right
137 thing, believe me).
138
139 =item C<EVFLAG_NOENV>
140
141 If this flag bit is ored into the flag value (or the program runs setuid
142 or setgid) then libev will I<not> look at the environment variable
143 C<LIBEV_FLAGS>. Otherwise (the default), this environment variable will
144 override the flags completely if it is found in the environment. This is
145 useful to try out specific backends to test their performance, or to work
146 around bugs.
147
148 =item C<EVMETHOD_SELECT> (portable select backend)
149
150 =item C<EVMETHOD_POLL> (poll backend, available everywhere except on windows)
151
152 =item C<EVMETHOD_EPOLL> (linux only)
153
154 =item C<EVMETHOD_KQUEUE> (some bsds only)
155
156 =item C<EVMETHOD_DEVPOLL> (solaris 8 only)
157
158 =item C<EVMETHOD_PORT> (solaris 10 only)
159
160 If one or more of these are ored into the flags value, then only these
161 backends will be tried (in the reverse order as given here). If one are
162 specified, any backend will do.
163
164 =back
165
166 =item struct ev_loop *ev_loop_new (unsigned int flags)
167
168 Similar to C<ev_default_loop>, but always creates a new event loop that is
169 always distinct from the default loop. Unlike the default loop, it cannot
170 handle signal and child watchers, and attempts to do so will be greeted by
171 undefined behaviour (or a failed assertion if assertions are enabled).
172
173 =item ev_default_destroy ()
174
175 Destroys the default loop again (frees all memory and kernel state
176 etc.). This stops all registered event watchers (by not touching them in
177 any way whatsoever, although you cannot rely on this :).
178
179 =item ev_loop_destroy (loop)
180
181 Like C<ev_default_destroy>, but destroys an event loop created by an
182 earlier call to C<ev_loop_new>.
183
184 =item ev_default_fork ()
185
186 This function reinitialises the kernel state for backends that have
187 one. Despite the name, you can call it anytime, but it makes most sense
188 after forking, in either the parent or child process (or both, but that
189 again makes little sense).
190
191 You I<must> call this function after forking if and only if you want to
192 use the event library in both processes. If you just fork+exec, you don't
193 have to call it.
194
195 The function itself is quite fast and it's usually not a problem to call
196 it just in case after a fork. To make this easy, the function will fit in
197 quite nicely into a call to C<pthread_atfork>:
198
199 pthread_atfork (0, 0, ev_default_fork);
200
201 =item ev_loop_fork (loop)
202
203 Like C<ev_default_fork>, but acts on an event loop created by
204 C<ev_loop_new>. Yes, you have to call this on every allocated event loop
205 after fork, and how you do this is entirely your own problem.
206
207 =item unsigned int ev_method (loop)
208
209 Returns one of the C<EVMETHOD_*> flags indicating the event backend in
210 use.
211
212 =item ev_tstamp ev_now (loop)
213
214 Returns the current "event loop time", which is the time the event loop
215 got events and started processing them. This timestamp does not change
216 as long as callbacks are being processed, and this is also the base time
217 used for relative timers. You can treat it as the timestamp of the event
218 occuring (or more correctly, the mainloop finding out about it).
219
220 =item ev_loop (loop, int flags)
221
222 Finally, this is it, the event handler. This function usually is called
223 after you initialised all your watchers and you want to start handling
224 events.
225
226 If the flags argument is specified as 0, it will not return until either
227 no event watchers are active anymore or C<ev_unloop> was called.
228
229 A flags value of C<EVLOOP_NONBLOCK> will look for new events, will handle
230 those events and any outstanding ones, but will not block your process in
231 case there are no events and will return after one iteration of the loop.
232
233 A flags value of C<EVLOOP_ONESHOT> will look for new events (waiting if
234 neccessary) and will handle those and any outstanding ones. It will block
235 your process until at least one new event arrives, and will return after
236 one iteration of the loop.
237
238 This flags value could be used to implement alternative looping
239 constructs, but the C<prepare> and C<check> watchers provide a better and
240 more generic mechanism.
241
242 =item ev_unloop (loop, how)
243
244 Can be used to make a call to C<ev_loop> return early (but only after it
245 has processed all outstanding events). The C<how> argument must be either
246 C<EVUNLOOP_ONCE>, which will make the innermost C<ev_loop> call return, or
247 C<EVUNLOOP_ALL>, which will make all nested C<ev_loop> calls return.
248
249 =item ev_ref (loop)
250
251 =item ev_unref (loop)
252
253 Ref/unref can be used to add or remove a reference count on the event
254 loop: Every watcher keeps one reference, and as long as the reference
255 count is nonzero, C<ev_loop> will not return on its own. If you have
256 a watcher you never unregister that should not keep C<ev_loop> from
257 returning, ev_unref() after starting, and ev_ref() before stopping it. For
258 example, libev itself uses this for its internal signal pipe: It is not
259 visible to the libev user and should not keep C<ev_loop> from exiting if
260 no event watchers registered by it are active. It is also an excellent
261 way to do this for generic recurring timers or from within third-party
262 libraries. Just remember to I<unref after start> and I<ref before stop>.
263
264 =back
265
266 =head1 ANATOMY OF A WATCHER
267
268 A watcher is a structure that you create and register to record your
269 interest in some event. For instance, if you want to wait for STDIN to
270 become readable, you would create an C<ev_io> watcher for that:
271
272 static void my_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_io *w, int revents)
273 {
274 ev_io_stop (w);
275 ev_unloop (loop, EVUNLOOP_ALL);
276 }
277
278 struct ev_loop *loop = ev_default_loop (0);
279 struct ev_io stdin_watcher;
280 ev_init (&stdin_watcher, my_cb);
281 ev_io_set (&stdin_watcher, STDIN_FILENO, EV_READ);
282 ev_io_start (loop, &stdin_watcher);
283 ev_loop (loop, 0);
284
285 As you can see, you are responsible for allocating the memory for your
286 watcher structures (and it is usually a bad idea to do this on the stack,
287 although this can sometimes be quite valid).
288
289 Each watcher structure must be initialised by a call to C<ev_init
290 (watcher *, callback)>, which expects a callback to be provided. This
291 callback gets invoked each time the event occurs (or, in the case of io
292 watchers, each time the event loop detects that the file descriptor given
293 is readable and/or writable).
294
295 Each watcher type has its own C<< ev_<type>_set (watcher *, ...) >> macro
296 with arguments specific to this watcher type. There is also a macro
297 to combine initialisation and setting in one call: C<< ev_<type>_init
298 (watcher *, callback, ...) >>.
299
300 To make the watcher actually watch out for events, you have to start it
301 with a watcher-specific start function (C<< ev_<type>_start (loop, watcher
302 *) >>), and you can stop watching for events at any time by calling the
303 corresponding stop function (C<< ev_<type>_stop (loop, watcher *) >>.
304
305 As long as your watcher is active (has been started but not stopped) you
306 must not touch the values stored in it. Most specifically you must never
307 reinitialise it or call its set method.
308
309 You can check whether an event is active by calling the C<ev_is_active
310 (watcher *)> macro. To see whether an event is outstanding (but the
311 callback for it has not been called yet) you can use the C<ev_is_pending
312 (watcher *)> macro.
313
314 Each and every callback receives the event loop pointer as first, the
315 registered watcher structure as second, and a bitset of received events as
316 third argument.
317
318 The received events usually include a single bit per event type received
319 (you can receive multiple events at the same time). The possible bit masks
320 are:
321
322 =over 4
323
324 =item C<EV_READ>
325
326 =item C<EV_WRITE>
327
328 The file descriptor in the C<ev_io> watcher has become readable and/or
329 writable.
330
331 =item C<EV_TIMEOUT>
332
333 The C<ev_timer> watcher has timed out.
334
335 =item C<EV_PERIODIC>
336
337 The C<ev_periodic> watcher has timed out.
338
339 =item C<EV_SIGNAL>
340
341 The signal specified in the C<ev_signal> watcher has been received by a thread.
342
343 =item C<EV_CHILD>
344
345 The pid specified in the C<ev_child> watcher has received a status change.
346
347 =item C<EV_IDLE>
348
349 The C<ev_idle> watcher has determined that you have nothing better to do.
350
351 =item C<EV_PREPARE>
352
353 =item C<EV_CHECK>
354
355 All C<ev_prepare> watchers are invoked just I<before> C<ev_loop> starts
356 to gather new events, and all C<ev_check> watchers are invoked just after
357 C<ev_loop> has gathered them, but before it invokes any callbacks for any
358 received events. Callbacks of both watcher types can start and stop as
359 many watchers as they want, and all of them will be taken into account
360 (for example, a C<ev_prepare> watcher might start an idle watcher to keep
361 C<ev_loop> from blocking).
362
363 =item C<EV_ERROR>
364
365 An unspecified error has occured, the watcher has been stopped. This might
366 happen because the watcher could not be properly started because libev
367 ran out of memory, a file descriptor was found to be closed or any other
368 problem. You best act on it by reporting the problem and somehow coping
369 with the watcher being stopped.
370
371 Libev will usually signal a few "dummy" events together with an error,
372 for example it might indicate that a fd is readable or writable, and if
373 your callbacks is well-written it can just attempt the operation and cope
374 with the error from read() or write(). This will not work in multithreaded
375 programs, though, so beware.
376
377 =back
378
379 =head2 ASSOCIATING CUSTOM DATA WITH A WATCHER
380
381 Each watcher has, by default, a member C<void *data> that you can change
382 and read at any time, libev will completely ignore it. This can be used
383 to associate arbitrary data with your watcher. If you need more data and
384 don't want to allocate memory and store a pointer to it in that data
385 member, you can also "subclass" the watcher type and provide your own
386 data:
387
388 struct my_io
389 {
390 struct ev_io io;
391 int otherfd;
392 void *somedata;
393 struct whatever *mostinteresting;
394 }
395
396 And since your callback will be called with a pointer to the watcher, you
397 can cast it back to your own type:
398
399 static void my_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_io *w_, int revents)
400 {
401 struct my_io *w = (struct my_io *)w_;
402 ...
403 }
404
405 More interesting and less C-conformant ways of catsing your callback type
406 have been omitted....
407
408
409 =head1 WATCHER TYPES
410
411 This section describes each watcher in detail, but will not repeat
412 information given in the last section.
413
414 =head2 C<ev_io> - is this file descriptor readable or writable
415
416 I/O watchers check whether a file descriptor is readable or writable
417 in each iteration of the event loop (This behaviour is called
418 level-triggering because you keep receiving events as long as the
419 condition persists. Remember you can stop the watcher if you don't want to
420 act on the event and neither want to receive future events).
421
422 In general you can register as many read and/or write event watchers oer
423 fd as you want (as long as you don't confuse yourself). Setting all file
424 descriptors to non-blocking mode is also usually a good idea (but not
425 required if you know what you are doing).
426
427 You have to be careful with dup'ed file descriptors, though. Some backends
428 (the linux epoll backend is a notable example) cannot handle dup'ed file
429 descriptors correctly if you register interest in two or more fds pointing
430 to the same file/socket etc. description.
431
432 If you must do this, then force the use of a known-to-be-good backend
433 (at the time of this writing, this includes only EVMETHOD_SELECT and
434 EVMETHOD_POLL).
435
436 =over 4
437
438 =item ev_io_init (ev_io *, callback, int fd, int events)
439
440 =item ev_io_set (ev_io *, int fd, int events)
441
442 Configures an C<ev_io> watcher. The fd is the file descriptor to rceeive
443 events for and events is either C<EV_READ>, C<EV_WRITE> or C<EV_READ |
444 EV_WRITE> to receive the given events.
445
446 =back
447
448 =head2 C<ev_timer> - relative and optionally recurring timeouts
449
450 Timer watchers are simple relative timers that generate an event after a
451 given time, and optionally repeating in regular intervals after that.
452
453 The timers are based on real time, that is, if you register an event that
454 times out after an hour and youreset your system clock to last years
455 time, it will still time out after (roughly) and hour. "Roughly" because
456 detecting time jumps is hard, and soem inaccuracies are unavoidable (the
457 monotonic clock option helps a lot here).
458
459 The relative timeouts are calculated relative to the C<ev_now ()>
460 time. This is usually the right thing as this timestamp refers to the time
461 of the event triggering whatever timeout you are modifying/starting. If
462 you suspect event processing to be delayed and you *need* to base the timeout
463 ion the current time, use something like this to adjust for this:
464
465 ev_timer_set (&timer, after + ev_now () - ev_time (), 0.);
466
467 =over 4
468
469 =item ev_timer_init (ev_timer *, callback, ev_tstamp after, ev_tstamp repeat)
470
471 =item ev_timer_set (ev_timer *, ev_tstamp after, ev_tstamp repeat)
472
473 Configure the timer to trigger after C<after> seconds. If C<repeat> is
474 C<0.>, then it will automatically be stopped. If it is positive, then the
475 timer will automatically be configured to trigger again C<repeat> seconds
476 later, again, and again, until stopped manually.
477
478 The timer itself will do a best-effort at avoiding drift, that is, if you
479 configure a timer to trigger every 10 seconds, then it will trigger at
480 exactly 10 second intervals. If, however, your program cannot keep up with
481 the timer (ecause it takes longer than those 10 seconds to do stuff) the
482 timer will not fire more than once per event loop iteration.
483
484 =item ev_timer_again (loop)
485
486 This will act as if the timer timed out and restart it again if it is
487 repeating. The exact semantics are:
488
489 If the timer is started but nonrepeating, stop it.
490
491 If the timer is repeating, either start it if necessary (with the repeat
492 value), or reset the running timer to the repeat value.
493
494 This sounds a bit complicated, but here is a useful and typical
495 example: Imagine you have a tcp connection and you want a so-called idle
496 timeout, that is, you want to be called when there have been, say, 60
497 seconds of inactivity on the socket. The easiest way to do this is to
498 configure an C<ev_timer> with after=repeat=60 and calling ev_timer_again each
499 time you successfully read or write some data. If you go into an idle
500 state where you do not expect data to travel on the socket, you can stop
501 the timer, and again will automatically restart it if need be.
502
503 =back
504
505 =head2 C<ev_periodic> - to cron or not to cron
506
507 Periodic watchers are also timers of a kind, but they are very versatile
508 (and unfortunately a bit complex).
509
510 Unlike C<ev_timer>'s, they are not based on real time (or relative time)
511 but on wallclock time (absolute time). You can tell a periodic watcher
512 to trigger "at" some specific point in time. For example, if you tell a
513 periodic watcher to trigger in 10 seconds (by specifiying e.g. c<ev_now ()
514 + 10.>) and then reset your system clock to the last year, then it will
515 take a year to trigger the event (unlike an C<ev_timer>, which would trigger
516 roughly 10 seconds later and of course not if you reset your system time
517 again).
518
519 They can also be used to implement vastly more complex timers, such as
520 triggering an event on eahc midnight, local time.
521
522 =over 4
523
524 =item ev_periodic_init (ev_periodic *, callback, ev_tstamp at, ev_tstamp interval, reschedule_cb)
525
526 =item ev_periodic_set (ev_periodic *, ev_tstamp after, ev_tstamp repeat, reschedule_cb)
527
528 Lots of arguments, lets sort it out... There are basically three modes of
529 operation, and we will explain them from simplest to complex:
530
531
532 =over 4
533
534 =item * absolute timer (interval = reschedule_cb = 0)
535
536 In this configuration the watcher triggers an event at the wallclock time
537 C<at> and doesn't repeat. It will not adjust when a time jump occurs,
538 that is, if it is to be run at January 1st 2011 then it will run when the
539 system time reaches or surpasses this time.
540
541 =item * non-repeating interval timer (interval > 0, reschedule_cb = 0)
542
543 In this mode the watcher will always be scheduled to time out at the next
544 C<at + N * interval> time (for some integer N) and then repeat, regardless
545 of any time jumps.
546
547 This can be used to create timers that do not drift with respect to system
548 time:
549
550 ev_periodic_set (&periodic, 0., 3600., 0);
551
552 This doesn't mean there will always be 3600 seconds in between triggers,
553 but only that the the callback will be called when the system time shows a
554 full hour (UTC), or more correctly, when the system time is evenly divisible
555 by 3600.
556
557 Another way to think about it (for the mathematically inclined) is that
558 C<ev_periodic> will try to run the callback in this mode at the next possible
559 time where C<time = at (mod interval)>, regardless of any time jumps.
560
561 =item * manual reschedule mode (reschedule_cb = callback)
562
563 In this mode the values for C<interval> and C<at> are both being
564 ignored. Instead, each time the periodic watcher gets scheduled, the
565 reschedule callback will be called with the watcher as first, and the
566 current time as second argument.
567
568 NOTE: I<This callback MUST NOT stop or destroy any periodic watcher,
569 ever, or make any event loop modifications>. If you need to stop it,
570 return C<now + 1e30> (or so, fudge fudge) and stop it afterwards (e.g. by
571 starting a prepare watcher).
572
573 Its prototype is C<ev_tstamp (*reschedule_cb)(struct ev_periodic *w,
574 ev_tstamp now)>, e.g.:
575
576 static ev_tstamp my_rescheduler (struct ev_periodic *w, ev_tstamp now)
577 {
578 return now + 60.;
579 }
580
581 It must return the next time to trigger, based on the passed time value
582 (that is, the lowest time value larger than to the second argument). It
583 will usually be called just before the callback will be triggered, but
584 might be called at other times, too.
585
586 NOTE: I<< This callback must always return a time that is later than the
587 passed C<now> value >>. Not even C<now> itself will do, it I<must> be larger.
588
589 This can be used to create very complex timers, such as a timer that
590 triggers on each midnight, local time. To do this, you would calculate the
591 next midnight after C<now> and return the timestamp value for this. How
592 you do this is, again, up to you (but it is not trivial, which is the main
593 reason I omitted it as an example).
594
595 =back
596
597 =item ev_periodic_again (loop, ev_periodic *)
598
599 Simply stops and restarts the periodic watcher again. This is only useful
600 when you changed some parameters or the reschedule callback would return
601 a different time than the last time it was called (e.g. in a crond like
602 program when the crontabs have changed).
603
604 =back
605
606 =head2 C<ev_signal> - signal me when a signal gets signalled
607
608 Signal watchers will trigger an event when the process receives a specific
609 signal one or more times. Even though signals are very asynchronous, libev
610 will try it's best to deliver signals synchronously, i.e. as part of the
611 normal event processing, like any other event.
612
613 You can configure as many watchers as you like per signal. Only when the
614 first watcher gets started will libev actually register a signal watcher
615 with the kernel (thus it coexists with your own signal handlers as long
616 as you don't register any with libev). Similarly, when the last signal
617 watcher for a signal is stopped libev will reset the signal handler to
618 SIG_DFL (regardless of what it was set to before).
619
620 =over 4
621
622 =item ev_signal_init (ev_signal *, callback, int signum)
623
624 =item ev_signal_set (ev_signal *, int signum)
625
626 Configures the watcher to trigger on the given signal number (usually one
627 of the C<SIGxxx> constants).
628
629 =back
630
631 =head2 C<ev_child> - wait for pid status changes
632
633 Child watchers trigger when your process receives a SIGCHLD in response to
634 some child status changes (most typically when a child of yours dies).
635
636 =over 4
637
638 =item ev_child_init (ev_child *, callback, int pid)
639
640 =item ev_child_set (ev_child *, int pid)
641
642 Configures the watcher to wait for status changes of process C<pid> (or
643 I<any> process if C<pid> is specified as C<0>). The callback can look
644 at the C<rstatus> member of the C<ev_child> watcher structure to see
645 the status word (use the macros from C<sys/wait.h> and see your systems
646 C<waitpid> documentation). The C<rpid> member contains the pid of the
647 process causing the status change.
648
649 =back
650
651 =head2 C<ev_idle> - when you've got nothing better to do
652
653 Idle watchers trigger events when there are no other events are pending
654 (prepare, check and other idle watchers do not count). That is, as long
655 as your process is busy handling sockets or timeouts (or even signals,
656 imagine) it will not be triggered. But when your process is idle all idle
657 watchers are being called again and again, once per event loop iteration -
658 until stopped, that is, or your process receives more events and becomes
659 busy.
660
661 The most noteworthy effect is that as long as any idle watchers are
662 active, the process will not block when waiting for new events.
663
664 Apart from keeping your process non-blocking (which is a useful
665 effect on its own sometimes), idle watchers are a good place to do
666 "pseudo-background processing", or delay processing stuff to after the
667 event loop has handled all outstanding events.
668
669 =over 4
670
671 =item ev_idle_init (ev_signal *, callback)
672
673 Initialises and configures the idle watcher - it has no parameters of any
674 kind. There is a C<ev_idle_set> macro, but using it is utterly pointless,
675 believe me.
676
677 =back
678
679 =head2 C<ev_prepare> and C<ev_check> - customise your event loop
680
681 Prepare and check watchers are usually (but not always) used in tandem:
682 prepare watchers get invoked before the process blocks and check watchers
683 afterwards.
684
685 Their main purpose is to integrate other event mechanisms into libev. This
686 could be used, for example, to track variable changes, implement your own
687 watchers, integrate net-snmp or a coroutine library and lots more.
688
689 This is done by examining in each prepare call which file descriptors need
690 to be watched by the other library, registering C<ev_io> watchers for
691 them and starting an C<ev_timer> watcher for any timeouts (many libraries
692 provide just this functionality). Then, in the check watcher you check for
693 any events that occured (by checking the pending status of all watchers
694 and stopping them) and call back into the library. The I/O and timer
695 callbacks will never actually be called (but must be valid nevertheless,
696 because you never know, you know?).
697
698 As another example, the Perl Coro module uses these hooks to integrate
699 coroutines into libev programs, by yielding to other active coroutines
700 during each prepare and only letting the process block if no coroutines
701 are ready to run (it's actually more complicated: it only runs coroutines
702 with priority higher than or equal to the event loop and one coroutine
703 of lower priority, but only once, using idle watchers to keep the event
704 loop from blocking if lower-priority coroutines are active, thus mapping
705 low-priority coroutines to idle/background tasks).
706
707 =over 4
708
709 =item ev_prepare_init (ev_prepare *, callback)
710
711 =item ev_check_init (ev_check *, callback)
712
713 Initialises and configures the prepare or check watcher - they have no
714 parameters of any kind. There are C<ev_prepare_set> and C<ev_check_set>
715 macros, but using them is utterly, utterly and completely pointless.
716
717 =back
718
719 =head1 OTHER FUNCTIONS
720
721 There are some other functions of possible interest. Described. Here. Now.
722
723 =over 4
724
725 =item ev_once (loop, int fd, int events, ev_tstamp timeout, callback)
726
727 This function combines a simple timer and an I/O watcher, calls your
728 callback on whichever event happens first and automatically stop both
729 watchers. This is useful if you want to wait for a single event on an fd
730 or timeout without havign to allocate/configure/start/stop/free one or
731 more watchers yourself.
732
733 If C<fd> is less than 0, then no I/O watcher will be started and events
734 is being ignored. Otherwise, an C<ev_io> watcher for the given C<fd> and
735 C<events> set will be craeted and started.
736
737 If C<timeout> is less than 0, then no timeout watcher will be
738 started. Otherwise an C<ev_timer> watcher with after = C<timeout> (and
739 repeat = 0) will be started. While C<0> is a valid timeout, it is of
740 dubious value.
741
742 The callback has the type C<void (*cb)(int revents, void *arg)> and gets
743 passed an C<revents> set like normal event callbacks (a combination of
744 C<EV_ERROR>, C<EV_READ>, C<EV_WRITE> or C<EV_TIMEOUT>) and the C<arg>
745 value passed to C<ev_once>:
746
747 static void stdin_ready (int revents, void *arg)
748 {
749 if (revents & EV_TIMEOUT)
750 /* doh, nothing entered */;
751 else if (revents & EV_READ)
752 /* stdin might have data for us, joy! */;
753 }
754
755 ev_once (STDIN_FILENO, EV_READ, 10., stdin_ready, 0);
756
757 =item ev_feed_event (loop, watcher, int events)
758
759 Feeds the given event set into the event loop, as if the specified event
760 had happened for the specified watcher (which must be a pointer to an
761 initialised but not necessarily started event watcher).
762
763 =item ev_feed_fd_event (loop, int fd, int revents)
764
765 Feed an event on the given fd, as if a file descriptor backend detected
766 the given events it.
767
768 =item ev_feed_signal_event (loop, int signum)
769
770 Feed an event as if the given signal occured (loop must be the default loop!).
771
772 =back
773
774 =head1 LIBEVENT EMULATION
775
776 TBD.
777
778 =head1 C++ SUPPORT
779
780 TBD.
781
782 =head1 AUTHOR
783
784 Marc Lehmann <libev@schmorp.de>.
785