rework docs, finish embed implementation

master
Marc Alexander Lehmann 2007-12-22 11:49:17 +00:00
parent 868db42fe5
commit 9555017625
2 changed files with 51 additions and 74 deletions

76
ev.3
View File

@ -257,8 +257,8 @@ library in any way.
Returns the current time as libev would use it. Please note that the
\&\f(CW\*(C`ev_now\*(C'\fR function is usually faster and also often returns the timestamp
you actually want to know.
.IP "void ev_sleep (ev_tstamp interval)" 4
.IX Item "void ev_sleep (ev_tstamp interval)"
.IP "ev_sleep (ev_tstamp interval)" 4
.IX Item "ev_sleep (ev_tstamp interval)"
Sleep for the given interval: The current thread will be blocked until
either it is interrupted or the given time interval has passed. Basically
this is a subsecond-resolution \f(CW\*(C`sleep ()\*(C'\fR.
@ -486,20 +486,23 @@ need to use non-blocking I/O or other means to avoid blocking when no data
.el .IP "\f(CWEVBACKEND_KQUEUE\fR (value 8, most \s-1BSD\s0 clones)" 4
.IX Item "EVBACKEND_KQUEUE (value 8, most BSD clones)"
Kqueue deserves special mention, as at the time of this writing, it
was broken on \fIall\fR BSDs (usually it doesn't work with anything but
sockets and pipes, except on Darwin, where of course it's completely
useless. On NetBSD, it seems to work for all the \s-1FD\s0 types I tested, so it
is used by default there). For this reason it's not being \*(L"autodetected\*(R"
was broken on all BSDs except NetBSD (usually it doesn't work reliably
with anything but sockets and pipes, except on Darwin, where of course
it's completely useless). For this reason it's not being \*(L"autodetected\*(R"
unless you explicitly specify it explicitly in the flags (i.e. using
\&\f(CW\*(C`EVBACKEND_KQUEUE\*(C'\fR) or libev was compiled on a known-to-be-good (\-enough)
system like NetBSD.
.Sp
You still can embed kqueue into a normal poll or select backend and use it
only for sockets (after having made sure that sockets work with kqueue on
the target platform). See \f(CW\*(C`ev_embed\*(C'\fR watchers for more info.
.Sp
It scales in the same way as the epoll backend, but the interface to the
kernel is more efficient (which says nothing about its actual speed,
of course). While stopping, setting and starting an I/O watcher does
never cause an extra syscall as with epoll, it still adds up to two event
changes per incident, support for \f(CW\*(C`fork ()\*(C'\fR is very bad and it drops fds
silently in similarly hard-to-detetc cases.
kernel is more efficient (which says nothing about its actual speed, of
course). While stopping, setting and starting an I/O watcher does never
cause an extra syscall as with \f(CW\*(C`EVBACKEND_EPOLL\*(C'\fR, it still adds up to
two event changes per incident, support for \f(CW\*(C`fork ()\*(C'\fR is very bad and it
drops fds silently in similarly hard-to-detect cases.
.ie n .IP """EVBACKEND_DEVPOLL"" (value 16, Solaris 8)" 4
.el .IP "\f(CWEVBACKEND_DEVPOLL\fR (value 16, Solaris 8)" 4
.IX Item "EVBACKEND_DEVPOLL (value 16, Solaris 8)"
@ -731,11 +734,11 @@ Example: For some weird reason, unregister the above signal handler again.
\& ev_ref (loop);
\& ev_signal_stop (loop, &exitsig);
.Ve
.IP "ev_set_io_collect_interval (ev_tstamp interval)" 4
.IX Item "ev_set_io_collect_interval (ev_tstamp interval)"
.IP "ev_set_io_collect_interval (loop, ev_tstamp interval)" 4
.IX Item "ev_set_io_collect_interval (loop, ev_tstamp interval)"
.PD 0
.IP "ev_set_timeout_collect_interval (ev_tstamp interval)" 4
.IX Item "ev_set_timeout_collect_interval (ev_tstamp interval)"
.IP "ev_set_timeout_collect_interval (loop, ev_tstamp interval)" 4
.IX Item "ev_set_timeout_collect_interval (loop, ev_tstamp interval)"
.PD
These advanced functions influence the time that libev will spend waiting
for events. Both are by default \f(CW0\fR, meaning that libev will try to
@ -754,18 +757,20 @@ overhead for the actual polling but can deliver many events at once.
By setting a higher \fIio collect interval\fR you allow libev to spend more
time collecting I/O events, so you can handle more events per iteration,
at the cost of increasing latency. Timeouts (both \f(CW\*(C`ev_periodic\*(C'\fR and
\&\f(CW\*(C`ev_timer\*(C'\fR) will be not affected.
\&\f(CW\*(C`ev_timer\*(C'\fR) will be not affected. Setting this to a non-null bvalue will
introduce an additional \f(CW\*(C`ev_sleep ()\*(C'\fR call into most loop iterations.
.Sp
Likewise, by setting a higher \fItimeout collect interval\fR you allow libev
to spend more time collecting timeouts, at the expense of increased
latency (the watcher callback will be called later). \f(CW\*(C`ev_io\*(C'\fR watchers
will not be affected.
will not be affected. Setting this to a non-null value will not introduce
any overhead in libev.
.Sp
Many programs can usually benefit by setting the io collect interval to
a value near \f(CW0.1\fR or so, which is often enough for interactive servers
(of course not for games), likewise for timeouts. It usually doesn't make
much sense to set it to a lower value than \f(CW0.01\fR, as this approsaches
the timing granularity of most systems.
Many (busy) programs can usually benefit by setting the io collect
interval to a value near \f(CW0.1\fR or so, which is often enough for
interactive servers (of course not for games), likewise for timeouts. It
usually doesn't make much sense to set it to a lower value than \f(CW0.01\fR,
as this approsaches the timing granularity of most systems.
.SH "ANATOMY OF A WATCHER"
.IX Header "ANATOMY OF A WATCHER"
A watcher is a structure that you create and register to record your
@ -1784,11 +1789,11 @@ It is recommended to give \f(CW\*(C`ev_check\*(C'\fR watchers highest (\f(CW\*(C
priority, to ensure that they are being run before any other watchers
after the poll. Also, \f(CW\*(C`ev_check\*(C'\fR watchers (and \f(CW\*(C`ev_prepare\*(C'\fR watchers,
too) should not activate (\*(L"feed\*(R") events into libev. While libev fully
supports this, they will be called before other \f(CW\*(C`ev_check\*(C'\fR watchers did
their job. As \f(CW\*(C`ev_check\*(C'\fR watchers are often used to embed other event
loops those other event loops might be in an unusable state until their
\&\f(CW\*(C`ev_check\*(C'\fR watcher ran (always remind yourself to coexist peacefully with
others).
supports this, they will be called before other \f(CW\*(C`ev_check\*(C'\fR watchers
did their job. As \f(CW\*(C`ev_check\*(C'\fR watchers are often used to embed other
(non\-libev) event loops those other event loops might be in an unusable
state until their \f(CW\*(C`ev_check\*(C'\fR watcher ran (always remind yourself to
coexist peacefully with others).
.PP
\fIWatcher-Specific Functions and Data Members\fR
.IX Subsection "Watcher-Specific Functions and Data Members"
@ -1978,7 +1983,7 @@ this.
This is a rather advanced watcher type that lets you embed one event loop
into another (currently only \f(CW\*(C`ev_io\*(C'\fR events are supported in the embedded
loop, other types of watchers might be handled in a delayed or incorrect
fashion and must not be used). (See portability notes, below).
fashion and must not be used).
.PP
There are primarily two reasons you would want that: work around bugs and
prioritise I/O.
@ -2048,21 +2053,6 @@ create it, and if that fails, use the normal loop for everything:
\& else
\& loop_lo = loop_hi;
.Ve
.Sh "Portability notes"
.IX Subsection "Portability notes"
Kqueue is nominally embeddable, but this is broken on all BSDs that I
tried, in various ways. Usually the embedded event loop will simply never
receive events, sometimes it will only trigger a few times, sometimes in a
loop. Epoll is also nominally embeddable, but many Linux kernel versions
will always eport the epoll fd as ready, even when no events are pending.
.PP
While libev allows embedding these backends (they are contained in
\&\f(CW\*(C`ev_embeddable_backends ()\*(C'\fR), take extreme care that it will actually
work.
.PP
When in doubt, create a dynamic event loop forced to use sockets (this
usually works) and possibly another thread and a pipe or so to report to
your main event loop.
.PP
\fIWatcher-Specific Functions and Data Members\fR
.IX Subsection "Watcher-Specific Functions and Data Members"

49
ev.pod
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@ -341,20 +341,23 @@ need to use non-blocking I/O or other means to avoid blocking when no data
=item C<EVBACKEND_KQUEUE> (value 8, most BSD clones)
Kqueue deserves special mention, as at the time of this writing, it
was broken on I<all> BSDs (usually it doesn't work with anything but
sockets and pipes, except on Darwin, where of course it's completely
useless. On NetBSD, it seems to work for all the FD types I tested, so it
is used by default there). For this reason it's not being "autodetected"
was broken on all BSDs except NetBSD (usually it doesn't work reliably
with anything but sockets and pipes, except on Darwin, where of course
it's completely useless). For this reason it's not being "autodetected"
unless you explicitly specify it explicitly in the flags (i.e. using
C<EVBACKEND_KQUEUE>) or libev was compiled on a known-to-be-good (-enough)
system like NetBSD.
You still can embed kqueue into a normal poll or select backend and use it
only for sockets (after having made sure that sockets work with kqueue on
the target platform). See C<ev_embed> watchers for more info.
It scales in the same way as the epoll backend, but the interface to the
kernel is more efficient (which says nothing about its actual speed,
of course). While stopping, setting and starting an I/O watcher does
never cause an extra syscall as with epoll, it still adds up to two event
changes per incident, support for C<fork ()> is very bad and it drops fds
silently in similarly hard-to-detetc cases.
kernel is more efficient (which says nothing about its actual speed, of
course). While stopping, setting and starting an I/O watcher does never
cause an extra syscall as with C<EVBACKEND_EPOLL>, it still adds up to
two event changes per incident, support for C<fork ()> is very bad and it
drops fds silently in similarly hard-to-detect cases.
=item C<EVBACKEND_DEVPOLL> (value 16, Solaris 8)
@ -1625,11 +1628,11 @@ It is recommended to give C<ev_check> watchers highest (C<EV_MAXPRI>)
priority, to ensure that they are being run before any other watchers
after the poll. Also, C<ev_check> watchers (and C<ev_prepare> watchers,
too) should not activate ("feed") events into libev. While libev fully
supports this, they will be called before other C<ev_check> watchers did
their job. As C<ev_check> watchers are often used to embed other event
loops those other event loops might be in an unusable state until their
C<ev_check> watcher ran (always remind yourself to coexist peacefully with
others).
supports this, they will be called before other C<ev_check> watchers
did their job. As C<ev_check> watchers are often used to embed other
(non-libev) event loops those other event loops might be in an unusable
state until their C<ev_check> watcher ran (always remind yourself to
coexist peacefully with others).
=head3 Watcher-Specific Functions and Data Members
@ -1778,7 +1781,7 @@ this.
This is a rather advanced watcher type that lets you embed one event loop
into another (currently only C<ev_io> events are supported in the embedded
loop, other types of watchers might be handled in a delayed or incorrect
fashion and must not be used). (See portability notes, below).
fashion and must not be used).
There are primarily two reasons you would want that: work around bugs and
prioritise I/O.
@ -1843,22 +1846,6 @@ create it, and if that fails, use the normal loop for everything:
else
loop_lo = loop_hi;
=head2 Portability notes
Kqueue is nominally embeddable, but this is broken on all BSDs that I
tried, in various ways. Usually the embedded event loop will simply never
receive events, sometimes it will only trigger a few times, sometimes in a
loop. Epoll is also nominally embeddable, but many Linux kernel versions
will always eport the epoll fd as ready, even when no events are pending.
While libev allows embedding these backends (they are contained in
C<ev_embeddable_backends ()>), take extreme care that it will actually
work.
When in doubt, create a dynamic event loop forced to use sockets (this
usually works) and possibly another thread and a pipe or so to report to
your main event loop.
=head3 Watcher-Specific Functions and Data Members
=over 4