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Revision: 1.6
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1 root 1.1 /*
2     * Author: Marc A. Lehmann <xsthreadpool@schmorp.de>
3     * License: public domain, or where this is not possible/at your option,
4     * CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
5     *
6     * Full documentation can be found at http://perlmulticore.schmorp.de/
7     * The newest version of this header can be downloaded from
8     * http://perlmulticore.schmorp.de/perlmulticore.h
9     */
10    
11     #ifndef PERL_MULTICORE_H
12     #define PERL_MULTICORE_H
13    
14     /*
15    
16     =head1 NAME
17    
18 root 1.2 perlmulticore.h - implements the Perl Multicore Specification
19 root 1.1
20     =head1 SYNOPSIS
21    
22 root 1.4 #include "perlmulticore.h"
23 root 1.1
24     // in your XS function:
25    
26     perlinterp_release ();
27     do_the_C_thing ();
28     perlinterp_acquire ();
29    
30 root 1.6 // optional, in BOOT section:
31    
32     perlmulticore_advertise ();
33    
34 root 1.1 =head1 DESCRIPTION
35    
36     This documentation is the abridged version of the full documention at
37     L<http://perlmulticore.schmorp.de/>. It's recommended to go there instead
38     of reading this document.
39    
40     This header file implements a very low overhead (both in code and runtime)
41     mechanism for XS modules to allow re-use of the perl interpreter for other
42     threads while doing some lengthy operation, such as cryptography, SQL
43     queries, disk I/O and so on.
44    
45     The newest version of the header file itself, can be downloaded from
46     L<http://perlmulticore.schmorp.de/perlmulticore.h>.
47    
48     =head1 HOW DO I USE THIS IN MY MODULES?
49    
50     The usage is very simple - you include this header file in your XS module. Then, before you
51     do your lengthy operation, you release the perl interpreter:
52    
53     perlinterp_release ();
54    
55     And when you are done with your computation, you acquire it again:
56    
57     perlinterp_acquire ();
58    
59     And that's it. This doesn't load any modules and consists of only a few
60     machine instructions when no module to take advantage of it is loaded.
61    
62     More documentation and examples can be found at the perl multicore site at
63     L<http://perlmulticore.schmorp.de>.
64    
65     =head1 THE HARD AND FAST RULES
66    
67     As with everything, there are a number of rules to follow.
68    
69     =over 4
70    
71     =item I<Never> touch any perl data structures after calling C<perlinterp_release>.
72    
73     Anything perl is completely off-limits after C<perlinterp_release>, until
74     you call C<perlinterp_acquire>, after which you can access perl stuff
75     again.
76    
77     That includes anything in the perl interpreter that you didn't prove to be
78     safe, and didn't prove to be safe in older and future versions of perl:
79     global variables, local perl scalars, even if you are sure nobody accesses
80     them and you only try to "read" their value.
81    
82     =item I<Always> call C<perlinterp_release> and C<perlinterp_acquire> in pairs.
83    
84     For each C<perlinterp_release> call there must be a C<perlinterp_acquire>
85     call. They don't have to be in the same function, and you can have
86     multiple calls to them, as long as every C<perlinterp_release> call is
87     followed by exactly one C<perlinterp_acquire> call at runtime.
88    
89     =item I<Never> nest calls to C<perlinterp_release> and C<perlinterp_acquire>.
90    
91     That simply means that after calling C<perlinterp_release>, you must
92     call C<perlinterp_acquire> before calling C<perlinterp_release>
93     again. Likewise, after C<perlinterp_acquire>, you can call
94     C<perlinterp_release> but not another C<perlinterp_acquire>.
95    
96     =item I<Always> call C<perlinterp_release> first.
97    
98     You I<must not> call C<perlinterp_acquire> without having called
99     C<perlinterp_release> before.
100    
101     =item I<Never> underestimate threads.
102    
103     While it's easy to add parallel execution ability to your XS module, it
104     doesn't mean it is safe. After you release the perl interpreter, it's
105     perfectly possible that it will call your XS function in another thread,
106     even while your original function still executes. In other words: your C
107     code must be thread safe, and if you use any library, that library must be
108     thread-safe, too.
109    
110     Always assume that the code between C<perlinterp_release> and
111     C<perlinterp_acquire> is executed in parallel on multiple CPUs at the same
112     time.
113    
114     =back
115    
116    
117     =head1 DISABLING PERL MULTICORE AT COMPILE TIME
118    
119     You can disable the complete perl multicore API by defining the
120     symbol C<PERL_MULTICORE_DISABLE> to C<1> (e.g. by specifying
121     F<-DPERL_MULTICORE_DISABLE> as compiler argument).
122    
123     This could be added to perl's C<CPPFLAGS> when configuring perl on
124     platforms that do not support threading at all for example.
125    
126    
127 root 1.6 =head1 ADVERTISING MULTICORE API SUPPORT
128    
129     To help users find out whether a particular build of your module is, in
130     fact, multicore enabled, you can invoke the C<perlmulticore_advertise>
131     macro in your C<BOOT:> section, e.g.:
132    
133    
134     MODULE = My::Mod PACKAGE = My::Mod::Pkg
135    
136     BOOT:
137     perlmulticore_advertise ();
138    
139     What this does is set the C<$My::Mod::PERLMULTICORE_SUPPORT> variable to
140     the major API version * 1000 + minor version, for example, version C<1002>
141     introduced this feature.
142    
143     For this to work, the C<cv> parameter passed to C<BOOT:> must still be
144     in scope. To ensure this, either invoke the macro early in your C<BOOT:>
145     section, or don't declare a local variable called C<cv>, either of which
146     should be easy to do.
147    
148     Note that this is I<optional>, so you don't have to do that.
149    
150    
151 root 1.1 =head1 AUTHOR
152    
153     Marc A. Lehmann <perlmulticore@schmorp.de>
154     http://perlmulticore.schmorp.de/
155    
156     =head1 LICENSE
157    
158     The F<perlmulticore.h> header file is put into the public
159     domain. Where this is legally not possible, or at your
160     option, it can be licensed under creativecommons CC0
161     license: L<https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/>.
162    
163     =cut
164    
165     */
166    
167     #define PERL_MULTICORE_MAJOR 1 /* bumped on incompatible changes */
168 root 1.6 #define PERL_MULTICORE_MINOR 2 /* bumped on every change */
169 root 1.1
170     #if PERL_MULTICORE_DISABLE
171    
172 root 1.6 #define perlinterp_release() do { } while (0)
173     #define perlinterp_acquire() do { } while (0)
174     #define perlmulticore_advertise() do { } while (0)
175 root 1.1
176     #else
177    
178 root 1.2 START_EXTERN_C
179    
180 root 1.1 /* this struct is shared between all modules, and currently */
181     /* contain only the two function pointers for release/acquire */
182     struct perl_multicore_api
183     {
184     void (*pmapi_release)(void);
185     void (*pmapi_acquire)(void);
186     };
187    
188     static void perl_multicore_init (void);
189    
190 root 1.2 static const struct perl_multicore_api perl_multicore_api_init
191     = { perl_multicore_init, 0 };
192 root 1.1
193     static struct perl_multicore_api *perl_multicore_api
194     = (struct perl_multicore_api *)&perl_multicore_api_init;
195    
196     #define perlinterp_release() perl_multicore_api->pmapi_release ()
197     #define perlinterp_acquire() perl_multicore_api->pmapi_acquire ()
198    
199     /* this is the release/acquire implementation used as fallback */
200     static void
201     perl_multicore_nop (void)
202     {
203     }
204    
205 root 1.3 static const char perl_multicore_api_key[] = "perl_multicore_api";
206    
207 root 1.1 /* this is the initial implementation of "release" - it initialises */
208     /* the api and then calls the real release function */
209     static void
210     perl_multicore_init (void)
211     {
212     dTHX;
213    
214     /* check for existing API struct in PL_modglobal */
215 root 1.3 SV **api_svp = hv_fetch (PL_modglobal, perl_multicore_api_key,
216     sizeof (perl_multicore_api_key) - 1, 1);
217 root 1.1
218     if (SvPOKp (*api_svp))
219     perl_multicore_api = (struct perl_multicore_api *)SvPVX (*api_svp); /* we have one, use the existing one */
220     else
221     {
222     /* create a new one with a dummy nop implementation */
223 root 1.5 #ifdef NEWSV
224 root 1.1 SV *api_sv = NEWSV (0, sizeof (*perl_multicore_api));
225 root 1.5 #else
226     SV *api_sv = newSV ( sizeof (*perl_multicore_api));
227     #endif
228 root 1.1 SvCUR_set (api_sv, sizeof (*perl_multicore_api));
229     SvPOK_only (api_sv);
230     perl_multicore_api = (struct perl_multicore_api *)SvPVX (api_sv);
231     perl_multicore_api->pmapi_release =
232     perl_multicore_api->pmapi_acquire = perl_multicore_nop;
233     *api_svp = api_sv;
234     }
235    
236     /* call the real (or dummy) implementation now */
237     perlinterp_release ();
238     }
239    
240 root 1.6 #define perlmulticore_advertise() \
241     sv_setiv (get_sv ( \
242     form ("%s::PERLMULTICORE_SUPPORT", HvNAME (GvSTASH (CvGV (cv)))), \
243     GV_ADD | GV_ADDMULTI), \
244     PERL_MULTICORE_MAJOR * 1000 + PERL_MULTICORE_MINOR); \
245    
246 root 1.2 END_EXTERN_C
247    
248 root 1.1 #endif
249    
250     #endif
251 root 1.5