libev - a high performance full-featured event loop written in C

  #include <ev.h>
+
+  ev_io stdin_watcher;
+  ev_timer timeout_watcher;
+
+  /* called when data readable on stdin */
+  static void
+  stdin_cb (EV_P_ struct ev_io *w, int revents)
+  {
+    /* puts ("stdin ready"); */
+    ev_io_stop (EV_A_ w); /* just a syntax example */
+    ev_unloop (EV_A_ EVUNLOOP_ALL); /* leave all loop calls */
+  }
+
+  static void
+  timeout_cb (EV_P_ struct ev_timer *w, int revents)
+  {
+    /* puts ("timeout"); */
+    ev_unloop (EV_A_ EVUNLOOP_ONE); /* leave one loop call */
+  }
+
+  int
+  main (void)
+  {
+    struct ev_loop *loop = ev_default_loop (0);
+
+    /* initialise an io watcher, then start it */
+    ev_io_init (&stdin_watcher, stdin_cb, /*STDIN_FILENO*/ 0, EV_READ);
+    ev_io_start (loop, &stdin_watcher);
+
+    /* simple non-repeating 5.5 second timeout */
+    ev_timer_init (&timeout_watcher, timeout_cb, 5.5, 0.);
+    ev_timer_start (loop, &timeout_watcher);
+
+    /* loop till timeout or data ready */
+    ev_loop (loop, 0);
+
+    return 0;
+  }
+
+

+ +

Libev is an event loop: you register interest in certain events (such as a file descriptor being readable or a timeout occuring), and it will manage @@ -87,29 +133,34 @@ details of the event, and then hand it over to libev by starting the watcher.

Libev supports select, poll, the linux-specific epoll and the bsd-specific -kqueue mechanisms for file descriptor events, relative timers, absolute -timers with customised rescheduling, signal events, process status change -events (related to SIGCHLD), and event watchers dealing with the event -loop mechanism itself (idle, prepare and check watchers). It also is quite -fast (see this benchmark comparing -it to libevent for example).

Libev supports select, poll, the Linux-specific epoll, the +BSD-specific kqueue and the Solaris-specific event port mechanisms +for file descriptor events (ev_io), the Linux inotify interface +(for ev_stat), relative timers (ev_timer), absolute timers +with customised rescheduling (ev_periodic), synchronous signals +(ev_signal), process status change events (ev_child), and event +watchers dealing with the event loop mechanism itself (ev_idle, +ev_embed, ev_prepare and ev_check watchers) as well as +file watchers (ev_stat) and even limited support for fork events +(ev_fork).

It also is quite fast (see this +benchmark comparing it to libevent +for example).

Libev is very configurable. In this manual the default configuration -will be described, which supports multiple event loops. For more info -about various configuration options please have a look at the file -README.embed in the libev distribution. If libev was configured without -support for multiple event loops, then all functions taking an initial -argument of name loop (which is always of type struct ev_loop *) -will not have this argument.

Libev is very configurable. In this manual the default configuration will +be described, which supports multiple event loops. For more info about +various configuration options please have a look at EMBED section in +this manual. If libev was configured without support for multiple event +loops, then all functions taking an initial argument of name loop +(which is always of type struct ev_loop *) will not have this argument.

Libev represents time as a single floating point number, representing the (fractional) number of seconds since the (POSIX) epoch (somewhere near @@ -119,7 +170,7 @@ to the double type in C, and when you need to do any calculations o it, you should treat it as such.

These functions can be called anytime, even before initialising the library in any way.

@@ -142,8 +193,8 @@ version of the library your program was compiled against.

as this indicates an incompatible change. Minor versions are usually compatible to older versions, so a larger minor version alone is usually not a problem.

Example: make sure we haven't accidentally been linked against the wrong -version:

Example: Make sure we haven't accidentally been linked against the wrong +version.

  assert (("libev version mismatch",
            ev_version_major () == EV_VERSION_MAJOR
            && ev_version_minor () >= EV_VERSION_MINOR));
@@ -183,18 +234,19 @@ recommended ones.
 	
 	ev_set_allocator (void *(*cb)(void *ptr, long size))
 	
-		Sets the allocation function to use (the prototype is similar to the
-realloc C function, the semantics are identical). It is used to allocate
-and free memory (no surprises here). If it returns zero when memory
-needs to be allocated, the library might abort or take some potentially
-destructive action. The default is your system realloc function.
+		Sets the allocation function to use (the prototype is similar - the
+semantics is identical - to the realloc C function). It is used to
+allocate and free memory (no surprises here). If it returns zero when
+memory needs to be allocated, the library might abort or take some
+potentially destructive action. The default is your system realloc
+function.
 		You could override this function in high-availability programs to, say,
 free some memory if it cannot allocate memory, to use a special allocator,
 or even to sleep a while and retry until some memory is available.
-		Example: replace the libev allocator with one that waits a bit and then
-retries: better than mine).
+		Example: Replace the libev allocator with one that waits a bit and then
+retries).
    static void *
-   persistent_realloc (void *ptr, long size)
+   persistent_realloc (void *ptr, size_t size)
    {
      for (;;)
        {
@@ -221,7 +273,7 @@ callback is set, then libev will expect it to remedy the sitution, no
 matter what, when it returns. That is, libev will generally retry the
 requested operation, or, if the condition doesn't go away, do bad stuff
 (such as abort).
-		Example: do the same thing as libev does internally:
+		Example: This is basically the same thing that libev does internally, too.
    static void
    fatal_error (const char *msg)
    {
@@ -237,7 +289,7 @@ requested operation, or, if the condition doesn't go away, do bad stuff

An event loop is described by a struct ev_loop *. The library knows two types of such loops, the default loop, which supports signals and child @@ -275,6 +327,23 @@ or setgid) then libev will not look at the environment variable override the flags completely if it is found in the environment. This is useful to try out specific backends to test their performance, or to work around bugs.

+ +

EVFLAG_FORKCHECK

Instead of calling ev_default_fork or ev_loop_fork manually after +a fork, you can also make libev check for a fork in each iteration by +enabling this flag.

This works by calling getpid () on every iteration of the loop, +and thus this might slow down your event loop if you do a lot of loop +iterations and little real work, but is usually not noticable (on my +Linux system for example, getpid is actually a simple 5-insn sequence +without a syscall and thus very fast, but my Linux system also has +pthread_atfork which is even faster).

The big advantage of this flag is that you can forget about fork (and +forget about forgetting to tell libev about forking) when you use this +flag.

This flag setting cannot be overriden or specified in the LIBEV_FLAGS +environment variable.

EVBACKEND_SELECT (value 1, portable select backend)

@@ -367,7 +436,7 @@ event loop and only if you know the OS supports your types of fds):

always distinct from the default loop. Unlike the default loop, it cannot handle signal and child watchers, and attempts to do so will be greeted by undefined behaviour (or a failed assertion if assertions are enabled).

Example: try to create a event loop that uses epoll and nothing else.

Example: Try to create a event loop that uses epoll and nothing else.

  struct ev_loop *epoller = ev_loop_new (EVBACKEND_EPOLL | EVFLAG_NOENV);
   if (!epoller)
     fatal ("no epoll found here, maybe it hides under your chair");
@@ -470,7 +539,7 @@ usually a better approach for this kind of thing.
      were used, return, otherwise continue with step *.

Example: queue some jobs and then loop until no events are outsanding +

Example: Queue some jobs and then loop until no events are outsanding anymore.

   ... queue jobs here, make sure they register event watchers as long
    ... as they still have work to do (even an idle watcher will do..)
@@ -499,17 +568,17 @@ visible to the libev user and should not keep ev_loop from exiting
 no event watchers registered by it are active. It is also an excellent
 way to do this for generic recurring timers or from within third-party
 libraries. Just remember to unref after start and ref before stop.
-		Example: create a signal watcher, but keep it from keeping ev_loop
+		
Example: Create a signal watcher, but keep it from keeping ev_loop
 running when nothing else is active.
-  struct dv_signal exitsig;
+  struct ev_signal exitsig;
   ev_signal_init (&exitsig, sig_cb, SIGINT);
-  ev_signal_start (myloop, &exitsig);
-  evf_unref (myloop);
+  ev_signal_start (loop, &exitsig);
+  evf_unref (loop);
 
 
-		Example: for some weird reason, unregister the above signal handler again.
-  ev_ref (myloop);
-  ev_signal_stop (myloop, &exitsig);
+		Example: For some weird reason, unregister the above signal handler again.
+  ev_ref (loop);
+  ev_signal_stop (loop, &exitsig);

@@ -520,7 +589,7 @@ running when nothing else is active.

A watcher is a structure that you create and register to record your interest in some event. For instance, if you want to wait for STDIN to @@ -693,7 +762,7 @@ is pending (but not active) you must not call an init function on it (but ev_TYPE_set is safe) and you must make sure the watcher is available to libev (e.g. you cnanot free () it).

callback = ev_cb (ev_TYPE *watcher)

callback ev_cb (ev_TYPE *watcher)

Returns the callback currently set on the watcher.

@@ -735,15 +804,43 @@ can cast it back to your own type:

} -

More interesting and less C-conformant ways of catsing your callback type -have been omitted....

More interesting and less C-conformant ways of casting your callback type +instead have been omitted.

Another common scenario is having some data structure with multiple +watchers:

  struct my_biggy
+  {
+    int some_data;
+    ev_timer t1;
+    ev_timer t2;
+  }
+
+

In this case getting the pointer to my_biggy is a bit more complicated, +you need to use offsetof:

  #include <stddef.h>
+
+  static void
+  t1_cb (EV_P_ struct ev_timer *w, int revents)
+  {
+    struct my_biggy big = (struct my_biggy *
+      (((char *)w) - offsetof (struct my_biggy, t1));
+  }
 
+  static void
+  t2_cb (EV_P_ struct ev_timer *w, int revents)
+  {
+    struct my_biggy big = (struct my_biggy *
+      (((char *)w) - offsetof (struct my_biggy, t2));
+  }
 
 
 
 
+

This section describes each watcher in detail, but will not repeat information given in the last section. Any initialisation/set macros, @@ -813,9 +910,9 @@ rceeive events for and events is either EV_READ, EV_WRITEThe events being watched.


 	
 
-Example: call stdin_readable_cb when STDIN_FILENO has become, well
+
Example: Call stdin_readable_cb when STDIN_FILENO has become, well
 readable, but only once. Since it is likely line-buffered, you could
-attempt to read a whole line in the callback:
+attempt to read a whole line in the callback.
   static void
   stdin_readable_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_io *w, int revents)
   {
@@ -874,20 +971,21 @@ timer will not fire more than once per event loop iteration.
 	
 		This will act as if the timer timed out and restart it again if it is
 repeating. The exact semantics are:
-		If the timer is started but nonrepeating, stop it.
-		If the timer is repeating, either start it if necessary (with the repeat
-value), or reset the running timer to the repeat value.
+		If the timer is pending, its pending status is cleared.
+		If the timer is started but nonrepeating, stop it (as if it timed out).
+		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
+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 a repeat value of 60 and then call
 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:
+socket, you can ev_timer_stop the timer, and ev_timer_again will
+automatically restart it if need be.
+		That means you can ignore the after value and ev_timer_start
+altogether and only ever use the repeat value and ev_timer_again:
    ev_timer_init (timer, callback, 0., 5.);
    ev_timer_again (loop, timer);
    ...
@@ -898,8 +996,8 @@ and only ever use the repeat value:
    ev_timer_again (loop, timer);
 
 
-		This is more efficient then stopping/starting the timer eahc time you want
-to modify its timeout value.
+		This is more slightly efficient then stopping/starting the timer each time
+you want to modify its timeout value.
 	
 	ev_tstamp repeat [read-write]
 	
@@ -908,7 +1006,7 @@ 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.
+Example: Create a timer that fires after 60 seconds.
   static void
   one_minute_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_timer *w, int revents)
   {
@@ -920,7 +1018,7 @@ which is also when any modifications are taken into account.
   ev_timer_start (loop, &mytimer);
 
 
-Example: create a timeout timer that times out after 10 seconds of
+
Example: Create a timeout timer that times out after 10 seconds of
 inactivity.
   static void
   timeout_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_timer *w, int revents)
@@ -1046,7 +1144,7 @@ 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
+
Example: Call a callback every hour, or, more precisely, whenever the
 system clock is divisible by 3600. The callback invocation times have
 potentially a lot of jittering, but good long-term stability.
   static void
@@ -1060,7 +1158,7 @@ potentially a lot of jittering, but good long-term stability.
   ev_periodic_start (loop, &hourly_tick);
 
 
-Example: the same as above, but use a reschedule callback to do it:
+Example: The same as above, but use a reschedule callback to do it:
   #include <math.h>
 
   static ev_tstamp
@@ -1072,7 +1170,7 @@ potentially a lot of jittering, but good long-term stability.
   ev_periodic_init (&hourly_tick, clock_cb, 0., 0., my_scheduler_cb);
 
 
-Example: call a callback every hour, starting now:
+Example: Call a callback every hour, starting now:
   struct ev_periodic hourly_tick;
   ev_periodic_init (&hourly_tick, clock_cb,
                     fmod (ev_now (loop), 3600.), 3600., 0);
@@ -1143,7 +1241,7 @@ process causing the status change.
 waitpid and sys/wait.h documentation for details).
 	
 
-Example: try to exit cleanly on SIGINT and SIGTERM.
+Example: Try to exit cleanly on SIGINT and SIGTERM.
   static void
   sigint_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_signal *w, int revents)
   {
@@ -1170,8 +1268,10 @@ 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.
+The path should be absolute and must not end in a slash. If it is
+relative and your working directory changes, the behaviour is undefined.
 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
+calls stat (2) regularly 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
@@ -1181,8 +1281,13 @@ 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.
+At the time of this writing, only the Linux inotify interface is
+implemented (implementing kqueue support is left as an exercise for the
+reader). Inotify will be used to give hints only and should not change the
+semantics of ev_stat watchers, which means that libev sometimes needs
+to fall back to regular polling again even with inotify, but changes are
+usually detected immediately, and if the file exists there will be no
+polling.
 
 	ev_stat_init (ev_stat *, callback, const char *path, ev_tstamp interval)
 	ev_stat_set (ev_stat *, const char *path, ev_tstamp interval)
@@ -1276,8 +1381,8 @@ kind. There is a ev_idle_set macro, but using it is utterly pointle
 believe me.
 	
 
-Example: dynamically allocate an ev_idle, start it, and in the
-callback, free it. Alos, use no error checking, as usual.
+Example: Dynamically allocate an ev_idle watcher, start it, and in the
+callback, free it. Also, use no error checking, as usual.
   static void
   idle_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_idle *w, int revents)
   {
@@ -1512,7 +1617,7 @@ believe me.

There are some other functions of possible interest. Described. Here. Now.

@@ -1569,7 +1674,7 @@ loop!).

Libev offers a compatibility emulation layer for libevent. It cannot emulate the internals of libevent, so here are some usage hints:

@@ -1589,7 +1694,7 @@ to use the libev header file and library.

Libev comes with some simplistic wrapper classes for C++ that mainly allow you to use some convinience methods to start/stop watchers and also change @@ -1694,7 +1799,7 @@ the constructor.

Libev can be compiled with a variety of options, the most fundemantal is EV_MULTIPLICITY. This option determines wether (most) functions and @@ -1736,8 +1841,9 @@ suitable for use with EV_A.

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.

Example: Declare and initialise a check watcher, utilising the above +macros so it will work regardless of wether multiple loops are supported +or not.

  static void
   check_cb (EV_P_ ev_timer *w, int revents)
   {
@@ -1749,13 +1855,10 @@ wether multiple loops are supported or not.
   ev_check_start (EV_DEFAULT_ &check);
   ev_loop (EV_DEFAULT_ 0);
 
-
-
-

Libev can (and often is) directly embedded into host applications. Examples of applications that embed it include the Deliantra @@ -1802,7 +1905,7 @@ in your include path (e.g. in libev/ when using -Ilibev):

ev_win32.c required on win32 platforms only - ev_select.c only when select backend is enabled (which is by default) + ev_select.c only when select backend is enabled (which is enabled by default) ev_poll.c only when poll backend is enabled (disabled by default) ev_epoll.c only when the epoll backend is enabled (disabled by default) ev_kqueue.c only when the kqueue backend is enabled (disabled by default) @@ -1939,6 +2042,12 @@ backend for Solaris 10 systems.

reserved for future expansion, works like the USE symbols above.

EV_USE_INOTIFY

If defined to be 1, libev will compile in support for the Linux inotify +interface to speed up ev_stat watchers. Its actual availability will +be detected at runtime.

EV_H

The name of the ev.h header file used to include it. The default if @@ -1997,6 +2106,21 @@ 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.

EV_PID_HASHSIZE

ev_child watchers use a small hash table to distribute workload by +pid. The default size is 16 (or 1 with EV_MINIMAL), usually more +than enough. If you need to manage thousands of children you might want to +increase this value (must be a power of two).

EV_INOTIFY_HASHSIZE

ev_staz watchers use a small hash table to distribute workload by +inotify watch id. The default size is 16 (or 1 with EV_MINIMAL), +usually more than enough. If you need to manage thousands of ev_stat +watchers you might want to increase this value (must be a power of +two).

EV_COMMON

@@ -2033,11 +2157,16 @@ interface) and EV.xs (implementation) files. Only the EV.xs

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
+that everybody includes and which overrides some configure choices:
+  #define EV_MINIMAL 1
+  #define EV_USE_POLL 0
   #define EV_MULTIPLICITY 0
-  #define EV_PERIODICS 0
+  #define EV_PERIODIC_ENABLE 0
+  #define EV_STAT_ENABLE 0
+  #define EV_FORK_ENABLE 0
   #define EV_CONFIG_H <config.h>
+  #define EV_MINPRI 0
+  #define EV_MAXPRI 0
 
   #include "ev++.h"
 
@@ -2052,7 +2181,7 @@ that everybody includes and which overrides some autoconf choices:

In this section the complexities of (many of) the algorithms used inside libev will be explained. For complexity discussions about backends see the @@ -2063,7 +2192,7 @@ documentation for ev_default_init.

Changing timer/periodic watchers (by autorepeat, again): O(log skipped_other_timers)

Starting io/check/prepare/idle/signal/child watchers: O(1)

Stopping check/prepare/idle watchers: O(1)

Stopping an io/signal/child watcher: O(number_of_watchers_for_this_(fd/signal/pid % 16))

Stopping an io/signal/child watcher: O(number_of_watchers_for_this_(fd/signal/pid % EV_PID_HASHSIZE))

Finding the next timer per loop iteration: O(1)

Each change on a file descriptor per loop iteration: O(number_of_watchers_for_this_fd)

Activating one watcher: O(1)

@@ -2075,7 +2204,7 @@ documentation for ev_default_init.

Marc Lehmann <libev@schmorp.de>.

NAME

NAME

SYNOPSIS

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

EXAMPLE PROGRAM

DESCRIPTION

FEATURES

FEATURES

CONVENTIONS

CONVENTIONS

TIME REPRESENTATION

TIME REPRESENTATION

GLOBAL FUNCTIONS

GLOBAL FUNCTIONS

FUNCTIONS CONTROLLING THE EVENT LOOP

FUNCTIONS CONTROLLING THE EVENT LOOP

ANATOMY OF A WATCHER

ANATOMY OF A WATCHER

WATCHER TYPES

WATCHER TYPES

OTHER FUNCTIONS

OTHER FUNCTIONS

LIBEVENT EMULATION

LIBEVENT EMULATION

C++ SUPPORT

C++ SUPPORT

MACRO MAGIC

MACRO MAGIC

EMBEDDING

EMBEDDING

COMPLEXITIES

COMPLEXITIES

AUTHOR

AUTHOR