ev_io - is this file descriptor readable or writableev_timer - relative and optionally recurring timeoutsev_periodic - to cron or not to cronev_signal - signal me when a signal gets signalledev_child - wait for pid status changesev_idle - when you've got nothing better to doev_prepare and ev_check - customise your event loopev_embed - when one backend isn't enoughev_io - is this file descriptor readable or writable?ev_timer - relative and optionally repeating timeoutsev_periodic - to cron or not to cron?ev_signal - signal me when a signal gets signalled!ev_child - watch out for process status changesev_stat - did the file attributes just change?ev_idle - when you've got nothing better to do...ev_prepare and ev_check - customise your event loop!ev_embed - when one backend isn't enough...ev_fork - the audacity to resume the event loop after a forkev_tstamp, which is what you should use too. It usually alia
to the double type in C, and when you need to do any calculations on
it, you should treat it as such.
-
-
-
-
The pid specified in the ev_child watcher has received a status change.
EV_STATThe path specified in the ev_stat watcher changed its attributes somehow.
EV_IDLEThe ev_idle watcher has determined that you have nothing better to do.
ev_prepare watcher might start an idle watcher to keep
ev_loop from blocking).
+ EV_EMBEDThe embedded event loop specified in the ev_embed watcher needs attention.
EV_FORKThe event loop has been resumed in the child process after fork (see
+ev_fork).
EV_ERRORIn the following description, TYPE stands for the watcher type,
e.g. timer for ev_timer watchers and io for ev_io watchers.
ev_TYPE_init mac
which rolls both calls into one.
You can reinitialise a watcher at any time as long as it has been stopped (or never started) and there are no pending events outstanding.
-The callbakc is always of type The callback is always of type void (*)(ev_loop *loop, ev_TYPE *watcher,
+ void (*)(ev_loop *loop, ev_TYPE *watcher,
int revents).ev_TYPE_set (ev_TYPE *, [args])
This section describes each watcher in detail, but will not repeat -information given in the last section.
+information given in the last section. Any initialisation/set macros, +functions and members specific to the watcher type are explained. +Members are additionally marked with either [read-only], meaning that, +while the watcher is active, you can look at the member and expect some +sensible content, but you must not modify it (you can modify it while the +watcher is stopped to your hearts content), or [read-write], which +means you can expect it to have some sensible content while the watcher +is active, but you can also modify it. Modifying it may not do something +sensible or take immediate effect (or do anything at all), but libev will +not crash or malfunction in any way.
ev_io - is this file descriptor readable or writableev_io - is this file descriptor readable or writable?I/O watchers check whether a file descriptor is readable or writable -in each iteration of the event loop (This behaviour is called -level-triggering because you keep receiving events as long as the -condition persists. Remember you can stop the watcher if you don't want to -act on the event and neither want to receive future events).
+in each iteration of the event loop, or, more precisely, when reading +would not block the process and writing would at least be able to write +some data. This behaviour is called level-triggering because you keep +receiving events as long as the condition persists. Remember you can stop +the watcher if you don't want to act on the event and neither want to +receive future events.In general you can register as many read and/or write event watchers per fd as you want (as long as you don't confuse yourself). Setting all file descriptors to non-blocking mode is also usually a good idea (but not @@ -750,28 +778,39 @@ required if you know what you are doing).
You have to be careful with dup'ed file descriptors, though. Some backends (the linux epoll backend is a notable example) cannot handle dup'ed file descriptors correctly if you register interest in two or more fds pointing -to the same underlying file/socket etc. description (that is, they share +to the same underlying file/socket/etc. description (that is, they share the same underlying "file open").
If you must do this, then force the use of a known-to-be-good backend
(at the time of this writing, this includes only EVBACKEND_SELECT and
EVBACKEND_POLL).
Another thing you have to watch out for is that it is quite easy to
+receive "spurious" readyness notifications, that is your callback might
+be called with EV_READ but a subsequent read(2) will actually block
+because there is no data. Not only are some backends known to create a
+lot of those (for example solaris ports), it is very easy to get into
+this situation even with a relatively standard program structure. Thus
+it is best to always use non-blocking I/O: An extra read(2) returning
+EAGAIN is far preferable to a program hanging until some data arrives.
If you cannot run the fd in non-blocking mode (for example you should not +play around with an Xlib connection), then you have to seperately re-test +wether a file descriptor is really ready with a known-to-be good interface +such as poll (fortunately in our Xlib example, Xlib already does this on +its own, so its quite safe to use).
Configures an ev_io watcher. The fd is the file descriptor to rceeive
-events for and events is either EV_READ, EV_WRITE or EV_READ |
-EV_WRITE to receive the given events.
Please note that most of the more scalable backend mechanisms (for example
-epoll and solaris ports) can result in spurious readyness notifications
-for file descriptors, so you practically need to use non-blocking I/O (and
-treat callback invocation as hint only), or retest separately with a safe
-interface before doing I/O (XLib can do this), or force the use of either
-EVBACKEND_SELECT or EVBACKEND_POLL, which don't suffer from this
-problem. Also note that it is quite easy to have your callback invoked
-when the readyness condition is no longer valid even when employing
-typical ways of handling events, so its a good idea to use non-blocking
-I/O unconditionally.
Configures an ev_io watcher. The fd is the file descriptor to
+rceeive events for and events is either EV_READ, EV_WRITE or
+EV_READ | EV_WRITE to receive the given events.
The file descriptor being watched.
+The events being watched.
Example: call stdin_readable_cb when STDIN_FILENO has become, well
@@ -797,7 +836,7 @@ attempt to read a whole line in the callback:
ev_timer - relative and optionally recurring timeoutsev_timer - relative and optionally repeating timeoutsTimer watchers are simple relative timers that generate an event after a given time, and optionally repeating in regular intervals after that.
@@ -839,13 +878,34 @@ repeating. The exact semantics are:If the timer is repeating, either start it if necessary (with the repeat value), or reset the running timer to the repeat value.
This sounds a bit complicated, but here is a useful and typical
-example: Imagine you have a tcp connection and you want a so-called idle
-timeout, that is, you want to be called when there have been, say, 60
-seconds of inactivity on the socket. The easiest way to do this is to
-configure an ev_timer with after=repeat=60 and calling ev_timer_again each
-time you successfully read or write some data. If you go into an idle
-state where you do not expect data to travel on the socket, you can stop
-the timer, and again will automatically restart it if need be.
ev_timer with after=repeat=60 and calling
+ev_timer_again each time you successfully read or write some data. If
+you go into an idle state where you do not expect data to travel on the
+socket, you can stop the timer, and again will automatically restart it if
+need be.
+ You can also ignore the after value and ev_timer_start altogether
+and only ever use the repeat value:
ev_timer_init (timer, callback, 0., 5.); + ev_timer_again (loop, timer); + ... + timer->again = 17.; + ev_timer_again (loop, timer); + ... + timer->again = 10.; + ev_timer_again (loop, timer); + ++
This is more efficient then stopping/starting the timer eahc time you want +to modify its timeout value.
+ +The current repeat value. Will be used each time the watcher times out
+or ev_timer_again is called and determines the next timeout (if any),
+which is also when any modifications are taken into account.
Example: create a timer that fires after 60 seconds.
@@ -883,7 +943,7 @@ inactivity.ev_periodic - to cron or not to cronev_periodic - to cron or not to cron?Periodic watchers are also timers of a kind, but they are very versatile (and unfortunately a bit complex).
@@ -973,6 +1033,18 @@ when you changed some parameters or the reschedule callback would return a different time than the last time it was called (e.g. in a crond like program when the crontabs have changed). +The current interval value. Can be modified any time, but changes only
+take effect when the periodic timer fires or ev_periodic_again is being
+called.
The current reschedule callback, or 0, if this functionality is
+switched off. Can be changed any time, but changes only take effect when
+the periodic timer fires or ev_periodic_again is being called.
Example: call a callback every hour, or, more precisely, whenever the system clock is divisible by 3600. The callback invocation times have @@ -1012,7 +1084,7 @@ potentially a lot of jittering, but good long-term stability.
ev_signal - signal me when a signal gets signalledev_signal - signal me when a signal gets signalled!Signal watchers will trigger an event when the process receives a specific signal one or more times. Even though signals are very asynchronous, libev @@ -1031,6 +1103,10 @@ SIG_DFL (regardless of what it was set to before).
Configures the watcher to trigger on the given signal number (usually one
of the SIGxxx constants).
The signal the watcher watches out for.
+SIGxxx constants).
ev_child - wait for pid status changesev_child - watch out for process status changesChild watchers trigger when your process receives a SIGCHLD in response to some child status changes (most typically when a child of yours dies).
sys/wait.h and see your system
waitpid documentation). The rpid member contains the pid of the
process causing the status change.
+ The process id this watcher watches out for, or 0, meaning any process id.
The process id that detected a status change.
+The process exit/trace status caused by rpid (see your systems
+waitpid and sys/wait.h documentation for details).
Example: try to exit cleanly on SIGINT and SIGTERM.
static void @@ -1071,7 +1160,100 @@ process causing the status change.
ev_idle - when you've got nothing better to doev_stat - did the file attributes just change?This watches a filesystem path for attribute changes. That is, it calls
+stat regularly (or when the OS says it changed) and sees if it changed
+compared to the last time, invoking the callback if it did.
The path does not need to exist: changing from "path exists" to "path does
+not exist" is a status change like any other. The condition "path does
+not exist" is signified by the st_nlink field being zero (which is
+otherwise always forced to be at least one) and all the other fields of
+the stat buffer having unspecified contents.
Since there is no standard to do this, the portable implementation simply
+calls stat (2) regulalry on the path to see if it changed somehow. You
+can specify a recommended polling interval for this case. If you specify
+a polling interval of 0 (highly recommended!) then a suitable,
+unspecified default value will be used (which you can expect to be around
+five seconds, although this might change dynamically). Libev will also
+impose a minimum interval which is currently around 0.1, but thats
+usually overkill.
This watcher type is not meant for massive numbers of stat watchers, +as even with OS-supported change notifications, this can be +resource-intensive.
+At the time of this writing, no specific OS backends are implemented, but +if demand increases, at least a kqueue and inotify backend will be added.
+Configures the watcher to wait for status changes of the given
+path. The interval is a hint on how quickly a change is expected to
+be detected and should normally be specified as 0 to let libev choose
+a suitable value. The memory pointed to by path must point to the same
+path for as long as the watcher is active.
The callback will be receive EV_STAT when a change was detected,
+relative to the attributes at the time the watcher was started (or the
+last change was detected).
Updates the stat buffer immediately with new values. If you change the +watched path in your callback, you could call this fucntion to avoid +detecting this change (while introducing a race condition). Can also be +useful simply to find out the new values.
+The most-recently detected attributes of the file. Although the type is of
+ev_statdata, this is usually the (or one of the) struct stat types
+suitable for your system. If the st_nlink member is 0, then there
+was some error while stating the file.
The previous attributes of the file. The callback gets invoked whenever
+prev != attr.
The specified interval.
+The filesystem path that is being watched.
+Example: Watch /etc/passwd for attribute changes.
static void
+ passwd_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, ev_stat *w, int revents)
+ {
+ /* /etc/passwd changed in some way */
+ if (w->attr.st_nlink)
+ {
+ printf ("passwd current size %ld\n", (long)w->attr.st_size);
+ printf ("passwd current atime %ld\n", (long)w->attr.st_mtime);
+ printf ("passwd current mtime %ld\n", (long)w->attr.st_mtime);
+ }
+ else
+ /* you shalt not abuse printf for puts */
+ puts ("wow, /etc/passwd is not there, expect problems. "
+ "if this is windows, they already arrived\n");
+ }
+
+ ...
+ ev_stat passwd;
+
+ ev_stat_init (&passwd, passwd_cb, "/etc/passwd");
+ ev_stat_start (loop, &passwd);
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ev_idle - when you've got nothing better to do...Idle watchers trigger events when there are no other events are pending (prepare, check and other idle watchers do not count). That is, as long @@ -1114,15 +1296,25 @@ callback, free it. Alos, use no error checking, as usual.
ev_prepare and ev_check - customise your event loopev_prepare and ev_check - customise your event loop!Prepare and check watchers are usually (but not always) used in tandem: prepare watchers get invoked before the process blocks and check watchers afterwards.
+You must not call ev_loop or similar functions that enter
+the current event loop from either ev_prepare or ev_check
+watchers. Other loops than the current one are fine, however. The
+rationale behind this is that you do not need to check for recursion in
+those watchers, i.e. the sequence will always be ev_prepare, blocking,
+ev_check so if you have one watcher of each kind they will always be
+called in pairs bracketing the blocking call.
Their main purpose is to integrate other event mechanisms into libev and their use is somewhat advanced. This could be used, for example, to track variable changes, implement your own watchers, integrate net-snmp or a -coroutine library and lots more.
+coroutine library and lots more. They are also occasionally useful if +you cache some data and want to flush it before blocking (for example, +in X programs you might want to do anXFlush () in an ev_prepare
+watcher).
This is done by examining in each prepare call which file descriptors need
to be watched by the other library, registering ev_io watchers for
them and starting an ev_timer watcher for any timeouts (many libraries
@@ -1148,14 +1340,67 @@ parameters of any kind. There are ev_prepare_set and ev_check
macros, but using them is utterly, utterly and completely pointless.
Example: *TODO*.
+Example: To include a library such as adns, you would add IO watchers +and a timeout watcher in a prepare handler, as required by libadns, and +in a check watcher, destroy them and call into libadns. What follows is +pseudo-code only of course:
+ static ev_io iow [nfd];
+ static ev_timer tw;
+
+ static void
+ io_cb (ev_loop *loop, ev_io *w, int revents)
+ {
+ // set the relevant poll flags
+ // could also call adns_processreadable etc. here
+ struct pollfd *fd = (struct pollfd *)w->data;
+ if (revents & EV_READ ) fd->revents |= fd->events & POLLIN;
+ if (revents & EV_WRITE) fd->revents |= fd->events & POLLOUT;
+ }
+ // create io watchers for each fd and a timer before blocking
+ static void
+ adns_prepare_cb (ev_loop *loop, ev_prepare *w, int revents)
+ {
+ int timeout = 3600000;truct pollfd fds [nfd];
+ // actual code will need to loop here and realloc etc.
+ adns_beforepoll (ads, fds, &nfd, &timeout, timeval_from (ev_time ()));
+
+ /* the callback is illegal, but won't be called as we stop during check */
+ ev_timer_init (&tw, 0, timeout * 1e-3);
+ ev_timer_start (loop, &tw);
+
+ // create on ev_io per pollfd
+ for (int i = 0; i < nfd; ++i)
+ {
+ ev_io_init (iow + i, io_cb, fds [i].fd,
+ ((fds [i].events & POLLIN ? EV_READ : 0)
+ | (fds [i].events & POLLOUT ? EV_WRITE : 0)));
+
+ fds [i].revents = 0;
+ iow [i].data = fds + i;
+ ev_io_start (loop, iow + i);
+ }
+ }
+ // stop all watchers after blocking
+ static void
+ adns_check_cb (ev_loop *loop, ev_check *w, int revents)
+ {
+ ev_timer_stop (loop, &tw);
+
+ for (int i = 0; i < nfd; ++i)
+ ev_io_stop (loop, iow + i);
+
+ adns_afterpoll (adns, fds, nfd, timeval_from (ev_now (loop));
+ }
+
+
+
ev_embed - when one backend isn't enoughev_embed - when one backend isn't enough...This is a rather advanced watcher type that lets you embed one event loop
into another (currently only ev_io events are supported in the embedded
@@ -1233,6 +1478,33 @@ if you do not want thta, you need to temporarily stop the embed watcher).
ev_loop (embedded_loop, EVLOOP_NONBLOCK), but in the most
apropriate way for embedded loops.
+ The embedded event loop.
+ev_fork - the audacity to resume the event loop after a forkFork watchers are called when a fork () was detected (usually because
+whoever is a good citizen cared to tell libev about it by calling
+ev_default_fork or ev_loop_fork). The invocation is done before the
+event loop blocks next and before ev_check watchers are being called,
+and only in the child after the fork. If whoever good citizen calling
+ev_default_fork cheats and calls it in the wrong process, the fork
+handlers will be invoked, too, of course.
Initialises and configures the fork watcher - it has no parameters of any
+kind. There is a ev_fork_set macro, but using it is utterly pointless,
+believe me.
Invokes ev_embed_sweep.
ev::stat onlyInvokes ev_stat_stat.
Libev can be compiled with a variety of options, the most fundemantal is
+EV_MULTIPLICITY. This option determines wether (most) functions and
+callbacks have an initial struct ev_loop * argument.
To make it easier to write programs that cope with either variant, the +following macros are defined:
+EV_A, EV_A_This provides the loop argument for functions, if one is required ("ev
+loop argument"). The EV_A form is used when this is the sole argument,
+EV_A_ is used when other arguments are following. Example:
ev_unref (EV_A); + ev_timer_add (EV_A_ watcher); + ev_loop (EV_A_ 0); + ++
It assumes the variable loop of type struct ev_loop * is in scope,
+which is often provided by the following macro.
EV_P, EV_P_This provides the loop parameter for functions, if one is required ("ev
+loop parameter"). The EV_P form is used when this is the sole parameter,
+EV_P_ is used when other parameters are following. Example:
// this is how ev_unref is being declared + static void ev_unref (EV_P); + + // this is how you can declare your typical callback + static void cb (EV_P_ ev_timer *w, int revents) + ++
It declares a parameter loop of type struct ev_loop *, quite
+suitable for use with EV_A.
EV_DEFAULT, EV_DEFAULT_Similar to the other two macros, this gives you the value of the default +loop, if multiple loops are supported ("ev loop default").
+Example: Declare and initialise a check watcher, working regardless of +wether multiple loops are supported or not.
+ static void
+ check_cb (EV_P_ ev_timer *w, int revents)
+ {
+ ev_check_stop (EV_A_ w);
+ }
+
+ ev_check check;
+ ev_check_init (&check, check_cb);
+ ev_check_start (EV_DEFAULT_ &check);
+ ev_loop (EV_DEFAULT_ 0);
+
+
+
+
ev.c includes the backend files directly when enabled, so you only need -to compile a single file.
+to compile this single file.Instead of using EV_STANDALONE=1 and providing your config in
whatever way you want, you can also m4_include([libev.m4]) in your
-configure.ac and leave EV_STANDALONE off. ev.c will then include
-config.h and configure itself accordingly.
EV_STANDALONE undefined. ev.c will then
+include config.h and configure itself accordingly.
For this of course you need the m4 file:
libev.m4 @@ -1585,7 +1925,7 @@ backend for BSD and BSD-like systems, although on most BSDs kqueue only supports some types of fds correctly (the only platform we found that supports ptys for example was NetBSD), so kqueue might be compiled in, but not be used unless explicitly requested. The best way to use it is to find -out wether kqueue supports your type of fd properly and use an embedded +out whether kqueue supports your type of fd properly and use an embedded kqueue loop.
If undefined or defined to be 1, then periodic timers are supported. If
+defined to be 0, then they are not. Disabling them saves a few kB of
+code.
If undefined or defined to be 1, then periodic timers are supported,
-otherwise not. This saves a few kb of code.
If undefined or defined to be 1, then embed watchers are supported. If
+defined to be 0, then they are not.
If undefined or defined to be 1, then stat watchers are supported. If
+defined to be 0, then they are not.
If undefined or defined to be 1, then fork watchers are supported. If
+defined to be 0, then they are not.
If you need to shave off some kilobytes of code at the expense of some
+speed, define this symbol to 1. Currently only used for gcc to override
+some inlining decisions, saves roughly 30% codesize of amd64.
Can be used to change the callback member declaration in each watcher, and the way callbacks are invoked and set. Must expand to a struct member definition and a statement, respectively. See the ev.v header file for their default definitions. One possible use for overriding these is to -avoid the ev_loop pointer as first argument in all cases, or to use method -calls instead of plain function calls in C++.
+avoid thestruct ev_loop * as first argument in all cases, or to use
+method calls instead of plain function calls in C++.
The usage in rxvt-unicode is simpler. It has a ev_cpp.h header file that everybody includes and which overrides some autoconf choices:
-#define EV_USE_POLL 0 - #define EV_MULTIPLICITY 0 - #define EV_PERIODICS 0 - #define EV_CONFIG_H <config.h> +#define EV_USE_POLL 0 + #define EV_MULTIPLICITY 0 + #define EV_PERIODICS 0 + #define EV_CONFIG_H <config.h> - #include "ev++.h" + #include "ev++.h"And a ev_cpp.C implementation file that contains libev proper and is compiled:
-#include "rxvttoolkit.h" +#include "ev_cpp.h" + #include "ev.c" + + - /* darwin has problems with its header files in C++, requiring this namespace juggling */ - using namespace ev; - #include "ev.c" ++ +
In this section the complexities of (many of) the algorithms used inside
+libev will be explained. For complexity discussions about backends see the
+documentation for ev_default_init.
+