NAME

Sys::AlarmCall - A package to handle the logic in timing out calls with alarm() and an ALRM handler, allowing nested calls as well.

SYNOPSIS

use Sys::AlarmCall;

$result = alarm_call($timeout1,$func1,@args1);
@result = alarm_call($timeout2,$func2,@args2);

DESCRIPTION

Sys::AlarmCall provides a straightforward function call to use the alarm handler. It also handles the logic which allows nested time out calls if timeout calls are run thorugh the alarm_call() functions.

The main advantages of Sys::AlarmCall are that:

1. simple calls, e.g.

@result = &func(@args); #Normal function call with '&'
$result = func(@args);; #Normal function call
@result = &$code_reference(@args);
@result = $obj->func(@args); #Object method call

become simple calls:

@result = alarm_call($timeout,'&func',@args);
$result = alarm_call($timeout,'func',@args);
@result = alarm_call($timeout,$code_reference,@args);
@result = alarm_call($timeout,'->func',$obj,@args);

no need to futz around with alarms and handlers and worrying about where to intercept the timer or set globals or whatever; and

2. No need to worry if some subroutines within the call also set a timeout - all that is handled logically by the Sys::AlarmCall package (as long as the subroutines also use the alarm_call function of course. But if they don't you're up the same creek anyway).

Sys::AlarmCall exports one function,

alarm_call TIMEOUT,FUNCTION,ARGS

Where TIMEOUT is a positive number (a fatal error occurs if TIMEOUT is not at least one);

FUNCTION is a string giving the function name (and the '&' if wanted, or preceded by '->', e.g. '->func', if using that, in which case the calling object should be the first argument in ARGS); and ARGS is the list of arguments to that function.

NOTE: As a side effect, normally fatal errors in the FUNCTION call are caught and reported in the return.

In a scalar context, returns as follows:

If the FUNCTION produces any sort of error (including fatal 'die's which are trapped), returns the error as a string, prepended by the value given by the variable $Sys::AlarmCall::SCALAR_ERROR (default is 'ERROR ').

If the FUNCTION times out (i.e. doesn't return before TIMEOUT - 1), returns the value given by the variable $Sys::AlarmCall::TIMEOUT (default is 'TIMEOUT').

Otherwise, returns the scalar that the FUNCTION returns.

In an array context, returns as follows:

If the FUNCTION produces any sort of error (including fatal 'die's which are trapped), returns a two element array, the first element being the value given by the variable $Sys::AlarmCall::ARRAY_ERROR (default is 'ERROR'), and the second element the error string produced.

If the FUNCTION times out (i.e. doesn't return before TIMEOUT - 1), returns a one element array consisting of the value given by the variable $Sys::AlarmCall::TIMEOUT (default is 'TIMEOUT').

Otherwise, returns the array that the FUNCTION returns.

Specific support for the -> construct has been added to alarm_call, so that calling

alarm_call($timeout,'->func',$obj,@args);

means that alarm_call will translate this to

$obj->func(@args);

Specific support for code references (e.g. $ref = sub {warn "this\n"}) has been added to alarm_call, so that calling

alarm_call($timeout,$ref,@args);

means that alarm_call will translate this to

&{$ref}(@args);

Timers have resolutions of one second, but remember that a timeout value of 15 will cause a timeout to occur at some point more than 14 seconds in the future. (see alarm() function in perl man page). Also, nested calls decrease the resolution (make the uncertain interval larger) by one second per nesting depth. This is because an alarm call returns the time left rounded up to the next second.

EXAMPLES

EXAMPLE1

use Sys::AlarmCall;
alarm_call(3,'select',undef,undef,undef,10);

makes the select() system call which should just block for ten seconds, but times it out after three seconds.

EXAMPLE2

use Sys::AlarmCall;
alarm_call(4,'read',STDIN,$r,5);
print $r;

makes the read() system call which would block until some characters are ready to be read from STDIN (after a return), and then should try to read up to 5 characters. However, the timeout for 4 seconds means that this call will return after 4 seconds if nothing is read by then.

EXAMPLE3

   use Sys::AlarmCall;
   sub do1 {
	print "Hi, this is do1\n";
	select(undef,undef,undef,10);
	print "Bye from do1\n"
   }
   sub do2 {
	print "Hi, this is do2\n";
	alarm_call(5,'do1');
	print "Bye from do2\n"
   }
   sub do3 {
	print "Hi, this is do3\n";
	alarm_call(3,'do2');
	print "Bye from do3\n"
   }
   sub do4 {
	print "Hi, this is do4\n";
	alarm_call(8,'do2');
	print "Bye from do4\n"
   }
   
   foreach $test (('do1','do2','do3','do4')) {
       print "\n$test\n";
       $time = time;
       &$test;
       print "$test completed after ", 
	   time - $time ," seconds.\n";
   }

Explanation of EXAMPLE3:

Where interrupts occur, you will see the 'Hi' statement without the corresponding 'Bye' statement.

The 'do1' is a simple test that select() works correctly, delaying for 10 seconds. The 'do2' is a simple test of the alarm_call, testing that the select() is interrupted after 5 seconds. The third and fourth 'do's are tests of nested calls to alarm_call. 'do3' should timeout after three seconds, interrupting the call to 'do2' (so we should see no 'bye' statement from 'do2'). 'do4' on the other hand, has a timeout of 8 seconds, so 'do2', which it calls and which is set to timeout and return after 5 seconds, will complete, printing out its 'bye' statement.

WARNING - using calls to alarm() in nested calls other than through the Sys::AlarmCall module may lead to inconsistencies. Calls to alarm BETWEEN calls to alarm_call should be no problem. Any alarms pending will be reset after a call to alarm_call to the previous setting minus elapsed time (approx.). The alarm handler is also reset to the previous one.

BUGS: Some perl core calls (like read, sysread) don't cope when fed their args as an array. alarm_call explicitly states up to six arguments so that the perl compiler reads these correctly, but any core functions which take more than six arguments as minimum is not accepted as valid by the compiler even if the correct number of arguments are passed. So consequently, if you want to time out on these specifically, you may need to wrap them in a subroutine.

AUTHOR

Jack Shirazi <js@biu.icnet.uk> Date: 28 July 1995

Copyright (c) 1995 Jack Shirazi. All rights reserved.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

cpanm Sys::AlarmCall

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Sys::AlarmCall