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

This will initialise the default event loop if it hasn't been initialised yet and return it. If the default loop could not be initialised, returns false. If it already was initialised it simply returns it (and ignores the -flags).

If you don't know what event loop to use, use the one returned from this function.

The flags argument can be used to specify special behaviour or specific -backends to use, and is usually specified as 0 (or EVFLAG_AUTO).

Restrict libev to the select and poll backends, and do not allow +environment settings to be taken into account:

Use whatever libev has to offer, but make sure that kqueue is used if +available (warning, breaks stuff, best use only with your own private +event loop and only if you know the OS supports your types of fds):

Example: create a signal watcher, but keep it from keeping ev_loop +running when nothing else is active.

ev_<type>_start (loop, watch corresponding stop function (ev_<type>_stop (loop, watcher *).

As long as your watcher is active (has been started but not stopped) you must not touch the values stored in it. Most specifically you must never -reinitialise it or call its set method.

You can check whether an event is active by calling the ev_is_active -(watcher *) macro. To see whether an event is outstanding (but the -callback for it has not been called yet) you can use the ev_is_pending -(watcher *) macro.

+reinitialise it or call its set macro.

Each and every callback receives the event loop pointer as first, the registered watcher structure as second, and a bitset of received events as third argument.

@@ -463,6 +602,84 @@ programs, though, so beware.

+ +

SUMMARY OF GENERIC WATCHER FUNCTIONS

In the following description, TYPE stands for the watcher type, +e.g. timer for ev_timer watchers and io for ev_io watchers.

ev_init (ev_TYPE *watcher, callback)

This macro initialises the generic portion of a watcher. The contents +of the watcher object can be arbitrary (so malloc will do). Only +the generic parts of the watcher are initialised, you need to call +the type-specific ev_TYPE_set macro afterwards to initialise the +type-specific parts. For each type there is also a ev_TYPE_init macro +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 void (*)(ev_loop *loop, ev_TYPE *watcher, +int revents).

ev_TYPE_set (ev_TYPE *, [args])

This macro initialises the type-specific parts of a watcher. You need to +call ev_init at least once before you call this macro, but you can +call ev_TYPE_set any number of times. You must not, however, call this +macro on a watcher that is active (it can be pending, however, which is a +difference to the ev_init macro).

Although some watcher types do not have type-specific arguments +(e.g. ev_prepare) you still need to call its set macro.

ev_TYPE_init (ev_TYPE *watcher, callback, [args])

This convinience macro rolls both ev_init and ev_TYPE_set macro +calls into a single call. This is the most convinient method to initialise +a watcher. The same limitations apply, of course.

ev_TYPE_start (loop *, ev_TYPE *watcher)

Starts (activates) the given watcher. Only active watchers will receive +events. If the watcher is already active nothing will happen.

ev_TYPE_stop (loop *, ev_TYPE *watcher)

Stops the given watcher again (if active) and clears the pending +status. It is possible that stopped watchers are pending (for example, +non-repeating timers are being stopped when they become pending), but +ev_TYPE_stop ensures that the watcher is neither active nor pending. If +you want to free or reuse the memory used by the watcher it is therefore a +good idea to always call its ev_TYPE_stop function.

bool ev_is_active (ev_TYPE *watcher)

Returns a true value iff the watcher is active (i.e. it has been started +and not yet been stopped). As long as a watcher is active you must not modify +it.

bool ev_is_pending (ev_TYPE *watcher)

Returns a true value iff the watcher is pending, (i.e. it has outstanding +events but its callback has not yet been invoked). As long as a watcher +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)

Returns the callback currently set on the watcher.

ev_cb_set (ev_TYPE *watcher, callback)

Change the callback. You can change the callback at virtually any time +(modulo threads).

+ + + + +

ASSOCIATING CUSTOM DATA WITH A WATCHER

@@ -503,6 +720,10 @@ have been omitted....

This section describes each watcher in detail, but will not repeat information given in the last section.

+ + + +

`ev_io` - is this file descriptor readable or writable

@@ -521,8 +742,8 @@ descriptors correctly if you register interest in two or more fds pointing 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 EVMETHOD_SELECT and -EVMETHOD_POLL).

+(at the time of this writing, this includes only EVBACKEND_SELECT and +EVBACKEND_POLL).

ev_io_init (ev_io *, callback, int fd, int events)
ev_io_set (ev_io *, int fd, int events)

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:

  static void
+  stdin_readable_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_io *w, int revents)
+  {
+     ev_io_stop (loop, w);
+    .. read from stdin here (or from w->fd) and haqndle any I/O errors
+  }
+
+  ...
+  struct ev_loop *loop = ev_default_init (0);
+  struct ev_io stdin_readable;
+  ev_io_init (&stdin_readable, stdin_readable_cb, STDIN_FILENO, EV_READ);
+  ev_io_start (loop, &stdin_readable);
+  ev_loop (loop, 0);
+
+
+
+
+

`ev_timer` - relative and optionally recurring timeouts

@@ -585,6 +837,39 @@ 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.

Example: create a timer that fires after 60 seconds.

  static void
+  one_minute_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_timer *w, int revents)
+  {
+    .. one minute over, w is actually stopped right here
+  }
+
+  struct ev_timer mytimer;
+  ev_timer_init (&mytimer, one_minute_cb, 60., 0.);
+  ev_timer_start (loop, &mytimer);
+
+

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)
+  {
+    .. ten seconds without any activity
+  }
+
+  struct ev_timer mytimer;
+  ev_timer_init (&mytimer, timeout_cb, 0., 10.); /* note, only repeat used */
+  ev_timer_again (&mytimer); /* start timer */
+  ev_loop (loop, 0);
+
+  // and in some piece of code that gets executed on any "activity":
+  // reset the timeout to start ticking again at 10 seconds
+  ev_timer_again (&mytimer);
+
+
+
+
+

`ev_periodic` - to cron or not to cron

@@ -594,8 +879,8 @@ the timer, and again will automatically restart it if need be.

Unlike ev_timer's, they are not based on real time (or relative time) but on wallclock time (absolute time). You can tell a periodic watcher to trigger "at" some specific point in time. For example, if you tell a -periodic watcher to trigger in 10 seconds (by specifiying e.g. c<ev_now () -+ 10.>) and then reset your system clock to the last year, then it will +periodic watcher to trigger in 10 seconds (by specifiying e.g. ev_now () ++ 10.) and then reset your system clock to the last year, then it will take a year to trigger the event (unlike an ev_timer, which would trigger roughly 10 seconds later and of course not if you reset your system time again).

@@ -678,6 +963,42 @@ a different time than the last time it was called (e.g. in a crond like program when the crontabs have changed).

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
+  clock_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_io *w, int revents)
+  {
+    ... its now a full hour (UTC, or TAI or whatever your clock follows)
+  }
+
+  struct ev_periodic hourly_tick;
+  ev_periodic_init (&hourly_tick, clock_cb, 0., 3600., 0);
+  ev_periodic_start (loop, &hourly_tick);
+
+

Example: the same as above, but use a reschedule callback to do it:

  #include <math.h>
+
+  static ev_tstamp
+  my_scheduler_cb (struct ev_periodic *w, ev_tstamp now)
+  {
+    return fmod (now, 3600.) + 3600.;
+  }
+
+  ev_periodic_init (&hourly_tick, clock_cb, 0., 0., my_scheduler_cb);
+
+

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);
+  ev_periodic_start (loop, &hourly_tick);
+
+
+
+
+

`ev_signal` - signal me when a signal gets signalled

@@ -701,6 +1022,10 @@ of the SIGxxx constants).

+ + + +

`ev_child` - wait for pid status changes

@@ -718,6 +1043,21 @@ the status word (use the macros from sys/wait.h and see your system process causing the status change.

Example: try to exit cleanly on SIGINT and SIGTERM.

  static void
+  sigint_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_signal *w, int revents)
+  {
+    ev_unloop (loop, EVUNLOOP_ALL);
+  }
+
+  struct ev_signal signal_watcher;
+  ev_signal_init (&signal_watcher, sigint_cb, SIGINT);
+  ev_signal_start (loop, &sigint_cb);
+
+
+
+
+

`ev_idle` - when you've got nothing better to do

@@ -743,6 +1083,24 @@ 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.

  static void
+  idle_cb (struct ev_loop *loop, struct ev_idle *w, int revents)
+  {
+    free (w);
+    // now do something you wanted to do when the program has
+    // no longer asnything immediate to do.
+  }
+
+  struct ev_idle *idle_watcher = malloc (sizeof (struct ev_idle));
+  ev_idle_init (idle_watcher, idle_cb);
+  ev_idle_start (loop, idle_cb);
+
+
+
+
+

`ev_prepare` and `ev_check` - customise your event loop

@@ -750,9 +1108,10 @@ believe me.

Prepare and check watchers are usually (but not always) used in tandem: prepare watchers get invoked before the process blocks and check watchers afterwards.

Their main purpose is to integrate other event mechanisms into libev. This -could be used, for example, to track variable changes, implement your own -watchers, integrate net-snmp or a coroutine library and lots more.

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.

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 @@ -778,6 +1137,96 @@ parameters of any kind. There are ev_prepare_set and ev_check macros, but using them is utterly, utterly and completely pointless.


 	
 
+Example: *TODO*.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ev_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
+loop, other types of watchers might be handled in a delayed or incorrect
+fashion and must not be used).
+There are primarily two reasons you would want that: work around bugs and
+prioritise I/O.
+As an example for a bug workaround, the kqueue backend might only support
+sockets on some platform, so it is unusable as generic backend, but you
+still want to make use of it because you have many sockets and it scales
+so nicely. In this case, you would create a kqueue-based loop and embed it
+into your default loop (which might use e.g. poll). Overall operation will
+be a bit slower because first libev has to poll and then call kevent, but
+at least you can use both at what they are best.
+As for prioritising I/O: rarely you have the case where some fds have
+to be watched and handled very quickly (with low latency), and even
+priorities and idle watchers might have too much overhead. In this case
+you would put all the high priority stuff in one loop and all the rest in
+a second one, and embed the second one in the first.
+As long as the watcher is active, the callback will be invoked every time
+there might be events pending in the embedded loop. The callback must then
+call ev_embed_sweep (mainloop, watcher) to make a single sweep and invoke
+their callbacks (you could also start an idle watcher to give the embedded
+loop strictly lower priority for example). You can also set the callback
+to 0, in which case the embed watcher will automatically execute the
+embedded loop sweep.
+As long as the watcher is started it will automatically handle events. The
+callback will be invoked whenever some events have been handled. You can
+set the callback to 0 to avoid having to specify one if you are not
+interested in that.
+Also, there have not currently been made special provisions for forking:
+when you fork, you not only have to call ev_loop_fork on both loops,
+but you will also have to stop and restart any ev_embed watchers
+yourself.
+Unfortunately, not all backends are embeddable, only the ones returned by
+ev_embeddable_backends are, which, unfortunately, does not include any
+portable one.
+So when you want to use this feature you will always have to be prepared
+that you cannot get an embeddable loop. The recommended way to get around
+this is to have a separate variables for your embeddable loop, try to
+create it, and if that fails, use the normal loop for everything:
+  struct ev_loop *loop_hi = ev_default_init (0);
+  struct ev_loop *loop_lo = 0;
+  struct ev_embed embed;
+
+  // see if there is a chance of getting one that works
+  // (remember that a flags value of 0 means autodetection)
+  loop_lo = ev_embeddable_backends () & ev_recommended_backends ()
+    ? ev_loop_new (ev_embeddable_backends () & ev_recommended_backends ())
+    : 0;
+
+  // if we got one, then embed it, otherwise default to loop_hi
+  if (loop_lo)
+    {
+      ev_embed_init (&embed, 0, loop_lo);
+      ev_embed_start (loop_hi, &embed);
+    }
+  else
+    loop_lo = loop_hi;
+
+
+
+	ev_embed_init (ev_embed *, callback, struct ev_loop *embedded_loop)
+	ev_embed_set (ev_embed *, callback, struct ev_loop *embedded_loop)
+	
+		Configures the watcher to embed the given loop, which must be
+embeddable. If the callback is 0, then ev_embed_sweep will be
+invoked automatically, otherwise it is the responsibility of the callback
+to invoke it (it will continue to be called until the sweep has been done,
+if you do not want thta, you need to temporarily stop the embed watcher).
+	
+	ev_embed_sweep (loop, ev_embed *)
+	
+		Make a single, non-blocking sweep over the embedded loop. This works
+similarly to ev_loop (embedded_loop, EVLOOP_NONBLOCK), but in the most
+apropriate way for embedded loops.
+	
+
+
+
+
+
 
 
 OTHER FUNCTIONS
Top
@@ -814,23 +1263,28 @@ value passed to ev_once:
 
 
 	
-	ev_feed_event (loop, watcher, int events)
+	ev_feed_event (ev_loop *, watcher *, int revents)
 	
 		Feeds the given event set into the event loop, as if the specified event
 had happened for the specified watcher (which must be a pointer to an
 initialised but not necessarily started event watcher).
 	
-	ev_feed_fd_event (loop, int fd, int revents)
+	ev_feed_fd_event (ev_loop *, int fd, int revents)
 	
 		Feed an event on the given fd, as if a file descriptor backend detected
 the given events it.
 	
-	ev_feed_signal_event (loop, int signum)
+	ev_feed_signal_event (ev_loop *loop, int signum)
 	
-		Feed an event as if the given signal occured (loop must be the default loop!).
+		Feed an event as if the given signal occured (loop must be the default
+loop!).
 	
 
 
+
+
+
+
 
 LIBEVENT EMULATION
Top
 
@@ -854,7 +1308,100 @@ to use the libev header file and library.
 
 C++ SUPPORT
Top
 
-TBD.
+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
+the callback model to a model using method callbacks on objects.
+To use it,
+  #include <ev++.h>
+
+
+(it is not installed by default). This automatically includes ev.h
+and puts all of its definitions (many of them macros) into the global
+namespace. All C++ specific things are put into the ev namespace.
+It should support all the same embedding options as ev.h, most notably
+EV_MULTIPLICITY.
+Here is a list of things available in the ev namespace:
+
+	ev::READ, ev::WRITE etc.
+	
+		These are just enum values with the same values as the EV_READ etc.
+macros from ev.h.
+	
+	ev::tstamp, ev::now
+	
+		Aliases to the same types/functions as with the ev_ prefix.
+	
+	ev::io, ev::timer, ev::periodic, ev::idle, ev::sig etc.
+	
+		For each ev_TYPE watcher in ev.h there is a corresponding class of
+the same name in the ev namespace, with the exception of ev_signal
+which is called ev::sig to avoid clashes with the signal macro
+defines by many implementations.
+		All of those classes have these methods:
+		
+			

+				ev::TYPE::TYPE (object *, object::method *)
+				ev::TYPE::TYPE (object *, object::method *, struct ev_loop *)
+				ev::TYPE::~TYPE
+				
+					The constructor takes a pointer to an object and a method pointer to
+the event handler callback to call in this class. The constructor calls
+ev_init for you, which means you have to call the set method
+before starting it. If you do not specify a loop then the constructor
+automatically associates the default loop with this watcher.
+					The destructor automatically stops the watcher if it is active.
+				
+				w->set (struct ev_loop *)
+				
+					Associates a different struct ev_loop with this watcher. You can only
+do this when the watcher is inactive (and not pending either).
+				
+				w->set ([args])
+				
+					Basically the same as ev_TYPE_set, with the same args. Must be
+called at least once.  Unlike the C counterpart, an active watcher gets
+automatically stopped and restarted.
+				
+				w->start ()
+				
+					Starts the watcher. Note that there is no loop argument as the
+constructor already takes the loop.
+				
+				w->stop ()
+				
+					Stops the watcher if it is active. Again, no loop argument.
+				
+				w->again ()       ev::timer, ev::periodic only
+				
+					For ev::timer and ev::periodic, this invokes the corresponding
+ev_TYPE_again function.
+				
+				w->sweep ()       ev::embed only
+				
+					Invokes ev_embed_sweep.
+				
+			
+		
+	
+
+Example: Define a class with an IO and idle watcher, start one of them in
+the constructor.
+  class myclass
+  {
+    ev_io   io;   void io_cb   (ev::io   &w, int revents);
+    ev_idle idle  void idle_cb (ev::idle &w, int revents);
+
+    myclass ();
+  }
+
+  myclass::myclass (int fd)
+  : io   (this, &myclass::io_cb),
+    idle (this, &myclass::idle_cb)
+  {
+    io.start (fd, ev::READ);
+  }
+
+
 
 
 AUTHOR
Top

GLOBAL FUNCTIONS

SUMMARY OF GENERIC WATCHER FUNCTIONS

ASSOCIATING CUSTOM DATA WITH A WATCHER

`ev_io` - is this file descriptor readable or writable

`ev_timer` - relative and optionally recurring timeouts

`ev_periodic` - to cron or not to cron

`ev_signal` - signal me when a signal gets signalled

`ev_child` - wait for pid status changes

`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

OTHER FUNCTIONS

LIBEVENT EMULATION

C++ SUPPORT

AUTHOR

GLOBAL FUNCTIONS

SUMMARY OF GENERIC WATCHER FUNCTIONS

ASSOCIATING CUSTOM DATA WITH A WATCHER

ev_io - is this file descriptor readable or writable

ev_timer - relative and optionally recurring timeouts

ev_periodic - to cron or not to cron

ev_signal - signal me when a signal gets signalled

ev_child - wait for pid status changes

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

OTHER FUNCTIONS

LIBEVENT EMULATION

C++ SUPPORT

AUTHOR

`ev_io` - is this file descriptor readable or writable

`ev_timer` - relative and optionally recurring timeouts

`ev_periodic` - to cron or not to cron

`ev_signal` - signal me when a signal gets signalled

`ev_child` - wait for pid status changes

`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