package Event::Lib;
use 5.006;
use strict;
use warnings;
require Exporter;
require XSLoader;
our @ISA = qw(Exporter);
our $VERSION = '1.03';
XSLoader::load('Event::Lib', $VERSION);
eval q{
use constant _EVENT_LOG_NONE => &_EVENT_LOG_ERR + 1;
};
@Event::Lib::event::ISA = @Event::Lib::signal::ISA = @Event::Lib::timer::ISA = qw/Event::Lib::base/;
our %EXPORT_TAGS = ( 'all' => [ qw(
event_init
event_priority_init
event_log_level
event_register_except_handler
event_fork
event_mainloop
event_one_loop
event_one_nbloop
event_new
event_add
signal_new
timer_new
EV_PERSIST
EV_READ
EV_SIGNAL
EV_TIMEOUT
EV_WRITE
_EVENT_LOG_DEBUG
_EVENT_LOG_MSG
_EVENT_LOG_WARN
_EVENT_LOG_ERR
_EVENT_LOG_NONE
) ] );
our @EXPORT_OK = ( @{ $EXPORT_TAGS{'all'} } );
our @EXPORT = qw(
event_init
event_priority_init
event_log_level
event_register_except_handler
event_mainloop
event_one_loop
event_one_nbloop
event_new
signal_new
timer_new
event_add
EV_PERSIST
EV_READ
EV_SIGNAL
EV_TIMEOUT
EV_WRITE
_EVENT_LOG_DEBUG
_EVENT_LOG_MSG
_EVENT_LOG_WARN
_EVENT_LOG_ERR
_EVENT_LOG_NONE
);
*Event::Lib::base::add = \&event_add;
*Event::Lib::base::free = \&event_free;
sub AUTOLOAD {
# This AUTOLOAD is used to 'autoload' constants from the constant()
# XS function.
my $constname;
our $AUTOLOAD;
($constname = $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/.*:://;
if ($constname eq 'constant') {
require Carp;
Carp::croak("&Event::Lib::constant not defined");
}
my ($error, $val) = constant($constname);
if ($error) {
require Carp;
Carp::croak($error);
}
{
no strict 'refs';
*$AUTOLOAD = sub { $val };
}
goto &$AUTOLOAD;
}
1;
__END__
=head1 NAME
Event::Lib - Perl extentions for event-based programming
=head1 SYNOPSIS
use Event::Lib;
use POSIX qw/SIGINT/;
my $seconds;
sub timer {
my $event = shift;
print "\r", ++$seconds;
$event->add(1);
}
sub reader {
my $event = shift;
my $fh = $event->fh;
print <$fh>;
$event->add;
}
sub signal {
my $event = shift;
print "Caught SIGINT\n";
}
my $timer = timer_new(\&timer);
my $reader = event_new(\*STDIN, EV_READ, \&reader);
my $signal = signal_new(SIGINT, \&signal);
$timer->add(1); # triggered every second
$reader->add;
$signal->add;
event_mainloop;
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This module is a Perl wrapper around libevent(3) as available from
L<http://www.monkey.org/~provos/libevent/>. It allows to execute a function
whenever a given event on a filehandle happens, a timeout occurs or a signal is
received.
Under the hood, one of the available mechanisms for asynchronously dealing with
events is used. This could be C<select>, C<poll>, C<epoll>, C<devpoll> or
C<kqueue>. The idea is that you don't have to worry about those details and the
various interfaces they offer. I<Event::Lib> offers a unified interface to all
of them (but see L<"CONFIGURATION"> further below).
Once you've skimmed through the next two sections (or maybe even now), you
should have a look at L<"EXAMPLE: A SIMPLE TCP SERVER"> to get a feeling about
how it all fits together.
There's also a section briefly mentioning other event modules on the CPAN
and how they differ from I<Event::Lib> further below (L<"OTHER EVENT MODULES">).
=head1 INITIALIZATION
This happens via loading the module via use() or require():
use Event::Lib;
No further work is ever required.
Additionally, you may use the following two functions to retrieve some
information regarding the underlying libevent. These functions are neither
exported nor exportable so you have to call them fully package-qualified:
=head2 * Event::Lib::get_version()
This returns the version of libevent this module was compiled against.
=head2 * Event::Lib::get_method()
This returns the kernel notification method used by libevent. This will be one of
"select", "poll", "epoll", "devpoll" and "kqueue".
=head1 EVENTS
The standard procedure is to create a few events and afterwards enter the loop
(using event_mainloop()) to wait for and handle the pending events. This loop
is truely global and shared even between forked processes. The same is true for
events that you register. They will all be processed by the same loop, no matter
where or how you create them.
Each event has a Perl function associated with itself that gets triggered when
the event is due. Further event handling is delayed until the currently
executing event handler is done. If you want an event to be handled as soon as
it becomes imminent, it has to run in its own process so that it cannot be
disturbed by other event handlers. This is particularly important for
timer-based events when you expect those events to fire steadily every few
seconds.
There's one more little thing to be aware of: Sometimes it may apear that your
events aren't triggered because they produce no output in spite of your
precious print() statements you put in. If you see no output, then you're a
victim of buffering. The solution is to turn on autoflushing, so put
$| = 1;
at the top of your program if no output appears on your screen or filehandles.
I<Event::Lib> knows three different kind of events: a filehandle becomes
readable/writeable, timeouts and signals.
=head1 Watching filehandles
Most often you will have a set of filehandles that you want to watch and handle
simultaneously. Think of a webserver handling multiple client requests. Such an
event is created with event_new():
=head2 * event_new($fh, $flags, $function, [@args])
I<$fh> is the filehandle you want to watch. I<$flags> may be the bit-wise ORing
of C<EV_READ>, C<EV_WRITE> and C<EV_PERSIST>. C<EV_PERSIST> will make the event
persistent, that is: Once the event is triggered, it is not removed from the
event-loop. If you do not pass this flag, you have to re-schedule the event in
the event-handler I<$function>.
I<$function> is the callback that is executed when the given event happened.
This function is always called with at least two arguments, namely the event
object itself which was created by the above event_new() and an integer being
the event-type that occured (which could be C<EV_WRITE>, C<EV_READ> or
C<EV_TIMEOUT>). I<@args> is an optional list of additional arguments your
callback will receive.
B<NOTE>: I<$fh> really ought to be a socket or a pipe. Regular files can't be
handled by at least epoll(2). If, for some reason, you want to put an event on
a regular file, you have to make sure that a kernel notification method is used
that can deal with such file-handles. select(2) and poll(2) are good candidates
as they don't have this limitation. So in order to prevent this limitation, you
have to do:
BEGIN {
$ENV{ $_ } = 1 for qw/EVENT_NOEPOLL EVENT_NODEVPOLL EVENT_NOKQUEUE/;
}
use Event::Lib;
See L<"CONFIGURATION"> further below for more details.
The function returns an event object (the very object that is later passed to the
callback function).
Here's an example how to create a listening socket that can accept connections
from multiple clients:
use IO::Socket::INET;
use Event::Lib;
sub accept_connection {
my $event = shift;
my $sock = $event->fh;
my $client = $sock->accept;
...
}
my $server = IO::Socket::INET->new(
LocalAddr => 'localhost',
LocalPort => 9000,
Proto => 'tcp',
ReuseAddr => SO_REUSEADDR,
Listen => 1,
Blocking => 0,
) or die $@;
my $main = event_new($server, EV_READ|EV_PERSIST, \&accept_connection);
# add the event to the event loop
$main->add;
event_mainloop();
The above can be done without the C<EV_PERSIST> flag as well:
sub accept_connection {
my $event = shift;
my $sock = $event->fh;
my $client = $sock->accept;
...
# re-schedule event
$event->add;
}
...
my $main = event_new($server, EV_READ, \&accept_connection);
$main->add;
event_mainloop();
=head2 * $event-E<gt>add( [$timeout] )
Alias: I<event_add( $event, [$timeout] )>
This adds the event previously created with event_new() to the event-loop.
I<$timeout> is an optional argument specifying a timeout given as
floating-point number. It means that the event handler is triggered either when
the event happens or when I<$timeout> seconds have passed, whichever comes
first.
Consider this snippet:
use Event::Lib;
sub handler {
my ($ev, $type) = @_;
if ($type == EV_READ) {
...
}
elsif ($type == EV_TIMEOUT) {
...
}
}
# wait at most for 1.5 seconds
event_new(\*STDIN, EV_READ, \&handler)->add(1.5);
event_one_loop;
If C<STDIN> becomes readable within 1.5 seconds, handler() will be called with
I<$type> set to C<EV_READ>. If nothing happens within these 1.5 seconds, it'll
be called with I<$type> set to C<EV_TIMEOUT>.
When I<$timeout> is C<0> it behaves as if no timeout has been given, that is:
An infinite timeout is assumed. Any other timeout is taken literally, so C<0.0>
is not the same! In such a case, the event handler will be called immediately
with the event type set to C<EV_TIMEOUT>.
It's a fatal error to add the same event multiple times:
my $e = event_new(...);
$e->add;
$e->add; # this line will die
When an event couldn't be added for some other reason, the event's exception
handler is called. See L<"EXCEPTION HANDLING"> further below on how exceptions
raised by event_add() differ from other exceptions.
=head2 * $event-E<gt>fh
Returns the filehandle this I<$event> is supposed to watch. You will usually
call this in the event-handler.
=head2 * $event-E<gt>remove
This removes an event object from the event-loop. Note that the object itself
is not destroyed and freed. It is merely disabled and you can later re-enable
it by calling C<< $event->add >>.
=head1 Timer-based events
Sometimes you want events to happen periodically, regardless of any filehandles.
Such events are created with timer_new():
=head2 * timer_new( $function, [@args] )
This is very much the same as event_new(), only that it lacks its first two
parameters. I<$function> is a reference to a Perl function that should be
executed. As always, this function will receive the event object as returned by
timer_new() as first argument, the type of event (always EV_TIMEOUT) plus the
optional argumentlist I<@args>.
=head2 * $event-E<gt>add( [$timeout] )
Alias: I<event_add( $event, [$timeout] )>
Adds I<$event> to the event-loop. The event is scheduled to be triggered every
I<$timeout> seconds where I<$timeout> can be any floating-point value. If
I<$timeout> is omitted, a value of one second is assumed.
It will throw an exception if adding the given event failed. If you still want
your program to keep running, wrap this statement into an eval block:
my $e = event_new(...);
eval {
$e->add;
} or warn "Adding failed";
Note that timer-based events are not persistent so you have to call this
method/function again in the event-handler in order to re-schedule it.
It's a fatal error to add the same event multiple times:
my $e = timer_new(...);
$e->add;
$e->add; # this line will die
When an event couldn't be added for some other reason, the event's exception
handler is called. See L<"EXCEPTION HANDLING"> further below on how exceptions
raised by event_add() differ from other exceptions.
=head2 * $event-E<gt>remove
This removes the timer-event I<$event> from the event-loop. Again, I<$event>
remains intact and may later be re-scheduled with event_add().
=head1 Signal-based events
Your program can also respond to signals sent to it by other applications. To handle
signals, you create the corresponding event using signal_new().
Note that thusly created events take precedence over event-handlers defined in
C<%SIG>. That means the function you assigned to C<$SIG{ $SIGNAME }> will never be
executed if a C<Event::Lib>-handler for C<$SIGNAME> also exists.
=head2 * signal_new( $signal, $function, [@args] )
Sets up I<$function> as a handler for I<$signal>. I<$signal> has to be an
integer specifying which signal to intercept and handle. For example, C<15> is
C<SIGTERM> (on most platforms, anyway). You are advised to use the symbolic
names as exported by the POSIX module:
use Event::Lib;
use POSIX qw/SIGINT/;
my $signal = signal_new(SIGINT, sub { print "Someone hit ctrl-c" });
$signal->add;
event_mainloop();
As always, I<$function> receives the event object as first argument, the
event-type (always EV_SIGNAL) as second. I<@args> specifies an option list of
values that is to be passed to the handler.
=head2 * $event-E<gt>add( [$timeout] )
Alias: I<event_add( $event, [$timeout] )>
Adds the signal-event previously created with signal_new() to the event-loop.
I<$timeout> is an optional argument specifying a timeout given as
floating-point number. It means that the event handler is triggered either when
the event happens or when I<$timeout> seconds have passed, whichever comes
first.
I<$timeout> here has the exact same semantics as with filehandle-based events
described further above.
Note that signal-events are B<always persistent> unless I<$timeout> was given.
That means that you have to delete the event manually if you want it to happen
only once:
sub sigint {
my $event = shift;
print "Someone hit ctrl-c";
$event->remove;
}
my $signal = signal_new(SIGINT, \&sigint);
$signal->add;
event_mainloop();
Subsequently, a persistent and timeouted signal-handler would read thusly:
sub sigint {
my $event = shift;
print "Someone hit ctrl-c";
$event->add(2.5);
}
my $signal = signal_new(SIGINT, \&sigint);
$signal->add(2.5);
event_mainloop();
It's a fatal error to add the same event multiple times:
my $e = signal_new(...);
$e->add;
$e->add; # this line will die
When an event couldn't be added for some other reason, the event's exception
handler is called. See L<"EXCEPTION HANDLING"> further below on how exceptions
raised by event_add() differ from other exceptions.
=head2 * $event-E<gt>remove
The same as their counterparts for filehandle-events, so please see above.
=head1 COMMON METHODS
=head2 * $event-E<gt>pending
This will tell you whether I<$event> is still in the event-queue waiting to be
processed. More specifically, it returns a false value if I<$event> was
already handled (and was not either persistent or re-scheduled). In case
I<$event> is still in the queue it returns the amount of seconds as a
floating-point number until it is triggered again. If I<$event> has no attached
timeout, it returns C<0 but true>.
=head2 * $event-E<gt>args( [@args] )
When called with no arguments, it will in scalar context return the number of
additional arguments associated with I<$event>. In list context, it returns
those arguments as one list.
When I<@args> is given, the current list of arguments for I<$event> is replaced
with I<@args> and nothing is returned.
=head2 * $event-E<gt>args_del
This will remove all additional arguments from I<$event> so the next time the
event handler is called, the list of additional arguments passed to it will
be empty.
=head2 * $event-E<gt>callback
Returns the callback associated with this event as code-reference so that you
can call it manually in case you think you need that:
$event->callback->($event, $event->fh, @args);
=head2 * $event-E<gt>except_handler( $function )
You can associate an exception handler with each event which gets called in
case the callback for that event dies. I<$function> is a Perl code-reference
which will - when called - receive the event as first argument, the error
message with which the event handler died, the type of event and any additional
arguments associated with that event. That way you can inspect the
circumstances and provide your own error-handling.
Please see L<"EXCEPTION HANDLING"> for some background and more details.
=head1 ENTERING THE EVENT-LOOP
I<Event::Lib> offers three functions to process pending events.
=head2 * event_mainloop ()
This function will start the event-loop and never return, generally. More
precisely, it will return if either the program ran out of events in which case
event_mainloop() returns a true value. In case of an error during
event-processing, it will return a false value in which case you should check
C<$!>.
B<IMPORTANT>: When any of your events register new events they will be added to
the global queue of events and be handled in the same loop. You are therefore
not allowed to call event_mainloop() more than once in your program.
Attempting to do so will yield a warning and the operation is silently turned
into a no-op.
=head2 * event_one_loop( [$timeout] )
This function will do exactly one loop which means the next pending event is
handled. In case no event is currently ready for processing, it will block and wait
until one becomes processible.
If I<$timeout> is specified, it will wait at most I<$timeout> seconds and then
return.
=head2 * event_one_nbloop ()
This is the I<n>on-I<b>locking counterpart to event_one_loop(): It returns
immediately when no event is ready to be processed. Otherwise the next imminent
event is handled.
You want to use either event_one_loop() or event_one_nbloop() instead of
event_mainloop() if you want to write your own event-loop. The core of such a
program could look like this:
event_new(...)->add;
event_new(...)->add;
timer_new(...)->add;
...
while () {
event_one_nbloop();
...
select undef, undef, undef, 0.05; # sleep for 0.05 seconds
}
=head1 EVENT LIFECYCLE
It is important to understand the lifetime of events because concepts such as
scope and visibility have little meaning with respect to events.
When you add an event to the queue using event_add(), this event will remain
there until it is triggered, no matter what you do with the object returned by
event_new(), timer_new() and signal_new() respectively. Consider this code:
use Event::Lib;
$| = 1;
my $event = timer_new(sub { print "timer called\n" });
# schedule the timer to go off in ten seconds
$event->add(10);
undef $event;
event_mainloop;
This program will, regardless of the C<undef $event>, print "timer called". As
a consequence, there is only one true and correct way to cancel an event,
namely by calling remove() on it. Likewise:
use warnings;
use Event::Lib;
$| = 1;
my $event = timer_new(sub { print "Called after two seconds\n" });
$event->add(2);
$event = timer_new(sub { print "Called after three seconds\n" });
$event->add(3);
event_mainloop;
__END__
Explicit undef() of or reassignment to pending event at - line 8.
Called after two seconds
Called after three seconds
So even though you have only one Perl object container C<$event>, you have two
events!
As this can become hard to maintain in complex programs, Event::Lib will emmit
a warning if any of the above cases is detected and if you have warnings
enabled. If you don't want this warning turn it off temporarily. The above
program then becomes:
use warnings;
use Event::Lib;
$| = 1;
my $event = timer_new(sub { print "Called after two seconds\n" });
$event->add(2);
{
no warnings 'misc';
$event = timer_new(sub { print "Called after three seconds\n" });
$event->add(3);
}
event_mainloop;
Note that the line following the undef() or the reassignment has to be within
the C<no warnings 'misc'>-block because this is the line where this warning is
actually triggered and not the line with the undef() or reassignment itself.
=head1 EXCEPTION HANDLING
Some programs simply cannot afford to die. It is a possible that a callback is
triggered and finds itself in a situation where it just cannot proceed. Think
of a callback that is supposed to append to a file and in the meantime the disk
has filled so that no space is left on the device.
It is now possible to provide exception handlers for these cases. The idea is
that these exception handlers are called with the same arguments the callback
was previously triggered with (plus the error message as second argument) which
gives you the change to further investigate the cause of the failure and
possibly take counter-measures.
You can register exception handlers per event using the except_handler()
method. Furthermore, you can register one global exception handler that is
going to be used for all events that don't have their own handler:
=head2 * event_register_except_handler( $function )
I<$function> is a code-reference that will be called whenever the callback
of an event dies:
use Event::Lib;
sub handler {
my ($event, $exception, $type, @args) = @_;
# error handling here
...
}
event_register_except_handler(\&handler);
...
If you don't call event_register_except_handler() I<Event::Lib> will use its
own basic default handler. This handler simply dies with the original error
message.
=head2 Exceptions raised by event_add()
If the exception was raised by event_add(), then the event's exception handler
is called. This is either the one registered with except_handler() on a
per-event basis, the global one set via event_register_except_handler() or, if
both of these was not done, the default handler.
In any case, the exception handler called from event_add() is called with
slightly different arguments. This is in order to allow the handler to
distinguish between the case where an exception was raised by an event-handler
or where it was raised by event_add().
The first two arguments being the event in question and the error message are
the same for both kind of exceptions. What differs is the third argument,
I<$type>. It will always be negative when event_add() triggered this
exception.
In particular, the type of event I<$type> will be for a...
=over 4
=item ... filehandle-event:
The negated type-flags with which the event was created. This means that for
the following exception-handler and when C<< $e->add >> failed:
sub exception_handler {
my ($e, $err, $evtype, @args) = @_;
# ref($e) eq "Event::Lib::event"
# $err =~ /^Couldn't add event at/
# $evtype == -(EV_READ|EV_PERSIST)
# @args == (1, 2, 3)
# $! will contain the OS-level error
}
my $e = event_new(\*FH, EV_READ|EV_PERSIST, \&handler, 1 .. 3);
...
$e->add;
=back
=over 4
=item ... timer-event:
I<$type> will be -EV_TIMEOUT:
sub exception_handler {
my ($e, $err, $evtype, @args) = @_;
# ref($e) eq "Event::Lib::timer"
# $err =~ /^Couldn't add event at/
# $evtype == -EV_TIMEOUT
# @args == (1, 2, 3)
}
my $e = timer_new(\&handler, 1 .. 3);
...
$e->add;
=back
=over 4
=item ... signal-event:
I<$type> will be the negated signal number this event was supposed to handle:
sub exception_handler {
my ($e, $err, $evtype, @args);
# ref($e) eq "Event::Lib::signal"
# $err =~ /^Couldn't add event at/
# $evtype == -SIGTERM
# @args == (1, 2, 3)
}
my $e = signal_new(SIGTERM, \&handler, 1 .. 3);
...
$e->add;
=back
As a consequence, first have your exception-handler test the sign of $evtype.
If it was negative, use C<< ref($e) >> to extract the kind of event.
=head1 PRIORITIES
Events can be assigned a priority. The lower its assigned priority is, the
earlier this event is processed. Using prioritized events in your programs
requires two steps. The first one is to set the number of available priorities.
Setting those should happen once in your script and before calling
event_mainloop():
=head2 * event_priority_init( $priorities )
Sets the number of different events to I<$priorities>.
Assigning a priority to each event then happens thusly:
=head2 * $event-E<gt>set_priority( $priority )
Gives I<$event> (which can be any of the three type of events) the priority
I<$priority>. Remember that a lower priority means the event is processed
earlier!
B<Note:> If your installed version of libevent does not yet contain priorities
which happens for pre-1.0 versions, the above will become no-ops. Other than
that, your scripts will remain functional.
=head1 FUNCTIONS FOR DEBUGGING, TRACING ET AL.
There are some functions that will aid you in finding problems in your
program or even to assure you that your program is ok but there might be a bug
in I<Event::Lib>.
=head2 * event_log_level( $loglevel )
You can specify what kind of messages Event::Lib should dump to stderr by using
thid function.
I<$loglevel> is one of _EVENT_LOG_DEBUG, _EVENT_LOG_MSG, _EVENT_LOG_WARN,
_EVENT_LOG_ERR and _EVENT_LOG_NONE and will instruct I<Event::Lib> to only
output messages of at least that severity. C<_EVENT_LOG_NONE> will suppress any
messages. Not calling this function is equivalent to doing
event_log_level( _EVENT_LOG_ERR );
=head2 * $event-E<gt>trace
This turns on tracing for I<$event>. Tracing means that diagnostic messages
are written to STDERR whenever something happens to this I<$event>. This
includes implicit action such as the destruction of an event or explicit things
like calling add() or remove() or other methods on I<$event>.
Returns I<$event> so that you can easily plug it into your code:
event_new(...)->trace->add;
Once an event is traced, there is as of now no way to untrace it again.
=head2 * Event::Lib::Debug::get_pending_events()
This function is only available when you built I<Event::Lib> with
C<DEFINE=-DEVENT_LIB_DEBUG> (as an argument to perl
Makefile.PL). Additionally, you have to run your program with the
environment variable C<EVENT_LIB_DEBUG_PENDING> set in order to get
any output from this function. The environment has to be set before
C<use Event::Lib;>:
BEGIN {
$ENV{ EVENT_LIB_DEBUG_PENDING } = 1;
}
use Event::Lib;
or by setting it in your shell. For the bash, this looks like:
$ EVENT_LIB_DEBUG_PENDING=1 perl event_script.pl
This function will return a list of all currently still pending events. Each
element of this list is a reference to an array, where the first element is the
event object, the second the type of event (C<EV_TIMEOUT>, C<EV_SIGNAL>,
C<EV_READ> etc.) and the remaining elements the additional arguments this event
was constructed with.
=head2 * Event::Lib::Debug::dump_pending_events()
Similar to the above, only that it will dump all currently pending events to
STDERR with some additional information that might be of interest.
Again, this is only available when the module was build with
C<-DEVENT_LIB_DEBUG> and with the environment variable
C<EVENT_LIB_DEBUG_PENDING> set.
=head1 CONFIGURATION
I<Event::Lib> can be told which kernel notification method B<not> to use. This
happens via the use of environment variables (there is no other way due to
libevent). They have to be set in a BEGIN-block before you use()
I<Event::Lib>:
BEGIN {
$ENV{ $_ } = 1 for qw/EVENT_NOPOLL EVENT_NOEPOLL/;
}
use Event::Lib;
This will disable C<poll> and C<epoll> so it will use one of the remaining
methods, which could be either C<select>, C<devpoll> or C<kqueue>.
The variables that you may set are the following:
=over 4
=item * EVENT_NOPOLL
=item * EVENT_NOSELECT
=item * EVENT_NOEPOLL
=item * EVENT_NODEVPOLL
=item * EVENT_NOKQUEUE
=back
If you set all of the above variables, it is a fatal error and you'll receive
the message C<event_init: no event mechanism available>. There is one other
variable available:
=over 4
=item * EVENT_LOG_LEVEL
This is the environment-variable version of set_log_level() intended to conveniently
run your script more verbosely for debugging purpose. The lower this value is,
the more informational output libevent produces on STDERR. C<EVENT_LOG_LEVEL=0>
means maximum debugging output whereas C<EVENT_LOG_LEVEL=4> means no output at
all:
$ EVENT_LOG_LEVEL=0 perl your_script.pl
=back
=head1 EXAMPLE: A SIMPLE TCP SERVER
Here's a reasonably complete example how to use this library to create a simple
TCP server serving many clients at once. It makes use of all three kinds of events:
use POSIX qw/SIGHUP/;
use IO::Socket::INET;
use Event::Lib;
$| = 1;
# Invoked when a new client connects to us
sub handle_incoming {
my $e = shift;
my $h = $e->fh;
my $client = $h->accept or die "Should not happen";
$client->blocking(0);
# set up a new event that watches the client socket
my $event = event_new($client, EV_READ|EV_PERSIST, \&handle_client);
$event->add;
}
# Invoked when the client's socket becomes readable
sub handle_client {
my $e = shift;
my $h = $e->fh;
printf "Handling %s:%s\n", $h->peerhost, $h->peerport;
while (<$h>) {
print "\t$_";
if (/^quit$/) {
# this client says goodbye
close $h;
$e->remove;
last;
}
}
}
# This just prints the number of
# seconds elapsed
my $secs;
sub show_time {
my $e = shift;
print "\r", $secs++;
$e->add;
}
# Do something when receiving SIGHUP
sub sighup {
my $e = shift;
# a common thing to do would be
# re-reading a config-file or so
...
}
# Create a listening socket
my $server = IO::Socket::INET->new(
LocalAddr => 'localhost',
LocalPort => 9000,
Proto => 'tcp',
ReuseAddr => SO_REUSEADDR,
Listen => 1,
Blocking => 0,
) or die $@;
my $main = event_new($server, EV_READ|EV_PERSIST, \&handle_incoming);
my $timer = timer_new(\&show_time);
my $hup = signal_new(SIGHUP, \&sighup);
$_->add for $main, $timer, $hup;
event_mainloop;
__END__
You can test the above server with this little program of which you can start
a few several simultaneous instances:
use IO::Socket::INET;
my $server = IO::Socket::INET->new(
Proto => 'tcp',
PeerAddr => 'localhost',
PeerPort => 9000,
) or die $@;
print $server "HI!\n";
sleep 10;
print $server "quit\n";
__END__
=head1 OTHER EVENT MODULES
There are already a handful of similar modules on the CPAN. The two most prominent
ones are I<Event> and the venerable I<POE> framework.
=head2 Event
In its functionality it's quite close to I<Event::Lib> with some additional
features not present in this module (you can watch variables, for example).
Interface-wise, it's quite a bit heavier while I<Event::Lib> gets away with
just a handful of functions and methods. On the other hand, it has been around
for years and so you may expect I<Event> to be rock-stable.
The one main advantage of I<Event::Lib> appears to be in its innards. The
underlying I<libevent> is capable of employing not just the C<poll> and
C<select> notification mechanisms but also other and possibly better performing
ones such as C<kqueue>, C<devpoll> and C<epoll> where available.
=head2 POE
POE is definitely more than the above. It's really a threading environment in
disguise. Purely event-based techniques have limitations, most notably that an
event-handler blocks all other pending events until it is done with its work.
It's therefore not possible to write a parallel link-checker only with L<Event>
or L<Event::Lib>. You still need threads or C<fork(2)> for that.
That's where POE enters the scene. It is truely capable of running jobs in
parallel. Such jobs are usually encapsulated in C<POE::Component> objects of
which already quite a few premade ones exist on the CPAN.
This power comes at a price. I<POE> has a somewhat steep learning-curve and forces
you to think in POE concepts. For medium- and large-sized applications, this doesn't
have to be a bad thing. Once grokked, it's easy to add more components to your
project, so it's almost infinitely extensible.
=head2 Stem
Stem is a very close rival to POE and they are nose-to-nose when it comes to
features. However, Stem's design is a lot easier to understand and to adapt to
your need, mostly because it doesn't come up with its own methodology and
terminology. It is very well thought out without being over-designed.
It's easy and straight-forward to do simple event-looping (it currently comes
with its own well-conceived event loop; additionally it can make use of
I<Event> when available). So called Stem cells can be easily plugged together
to build big applications where these cells can run in parallel, both in an
asynchronous or synchronized fashion.
It's main drawback (as of now) is its lack of documentation. However, It's been
written in a clean way so its source can often serve as a drop-in replacement for
the lack of documentation.
=head2 Conclusion
Use the right tools for your job. I<Event::Lib> and I<Event> are good for writing
servers that serve many clients at once, or in general: Anything that requires you
to watch resources and do some work when something interesting happens with those
resources. Once the work needed to be carried out per event gets too complex, you
may still use C<fork>.
Or you use I<Stem> or I<POE>. You get the watching and notifying capabilities
alright, but also the power to do things in parallel without creating threads
or child processes manually.
=head1 EXPORT
This modules exports by default the following functions:
event_init
event_log_level
event_priority_init
event_register_except_handler
event_fork
event_new
timer_new
signal_new
event_add
event_mainloop
event_one_loop
event_one_nbloop
plus the following constants:
EV_PERSIST
EV_READ
EV_SIGNAL
EV_TIMEOUT
EV_WRITE
_EVENT_LOG_DEBUG
_EVENT_LOG_MSG
_EVENT_LOG_WARN
_EVENT_LOG_ERR
_EVENT_LOG_NONE
=head1 BUGS
This library is not thread-safe.
The module has turned out to be quite stable under stress-situations handling
many thousands simultaneous connections with a very decent performance which it
owes to the underlying libevent. However, event-based applications can reach a
stupendous complexity and it is not possible to foresee every kind of
conceivable scenario.
If you therefore find a bug (a crash, a memory leak, inconsistencies or
omissions in this documentation, or just about anything else), don't hesitate
to contact me. See L<"AUTHOR"> further below for details.
=head1 TO-DO
Thread-safety is high on the list. Recent libevent has thread-support which
will make this fairly easy.
Not all of libevent's public interface is implemented. The buffered events are still
missing. They will be added once I grok what they are for.
=head1 THANKS
This module wouldn't be in its current state without the patient and
professional help of MailChannels Corporation (http://www.mailchannels.com).
Over the course of five months, Stas Bekman, Ken Simpson and Mike Smith
exchanged hundreds of emails with me, pointing out the many glitches that were
in the module and coming up with test-cases that made it possible for me to fix
all these issues.
=head1 SEE ALSO
libevent's home can be found at L<http://www.monkey.org/~provos/libevent/>. It
contains further references to event-based techniques.
Also the manpage of event(3).
=head1 VERSION
This is version 1.03.
=head1 AUTHOR
Tassilo von Parseval, E<lt>tassilo.von.parseval@rwth-aachen.deE<gt>
=head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright (C) 2004-2007 by Tassilo von Parseval
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.8.4 or,
at your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may have available.
=cut