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_TYPE_set (ev_TYPE *, [args])


-ev_io - is this file descriptor readable or writable
+ev_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 +756,31 @@ 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).
 
 	ev_io_init (ev_io *, callback, int fd, int events)
 	ev_io_set (ev_io *, int fd, int events)
 	
-		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.
 	
 
 Example: call stdin_readable_cb when STDIN_FILENO has become, well
@@ -797,7 +806,7 @@ attempt to read a whole line in the callback:
 
 
 
-ev_timer - relative and optionally recurring timeouts
+ev_timer - relative and optionally repeating timeouts
 
 Timer watchers are simple relative timers that generate an event after a
 given time, and optionally repeating in regular intervals after that.
@@ -883,7 +892,7 @@ inactivity.
 
 
 
-ev_periodic - to cron or not to cron
+ev_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).
@@ -1012,7 +1021,7 @@ potentially a lot of jittering, but good long-term stability.
 
 
 
-ev_signal - signal me when a signal gets signalled
+ev_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
@@ -1038,8 +1047,8 @@ of the SIGxxx constants).
 
 
 
-ev_child - wait for pid status changes
-
+ev_child - watch out for process status changes
+
 Child watchers trigger when your process receives a SIGCHLD in response to
 some child status changes (most typically when a child of yours dies).
 
@@ -1071,7 +1080,7 @@ process causing the status change.
 
 
 
-ev_idle - when you've got nothing better to do
+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
@@ -1114,7 +1123,7 @@ callback, free it. Alos, use no error checking, as usual.
 
 
 
-ev_prepare and ev_check - customise your event loop
+ev_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
@@ -1155,7 +1164,7 @@ macros, but using them is utterly, utterly and completely pointless.
 
 
 
-ev_embed - when one backend isn't enough
+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
-- 
cgit v1.2.3

ANATOMY OF A WATCHER

SUMMARY OF GENERIC WATCHER FUNCTIONS

GENERIC WATCHER FUNCTIONS

`ev_io` - is this file descriptor readable or writable

`ev_io` - is this file descriptor readable or writable?

`ev_timer` - relative and optionally recurring timeouts

`ev_timer` - relative and optionally repeating timeouts

`ev_periodic` - to cron or not to cron

`ev_periodic` - to cron or not to cron?

`ev_signal` - signal me when a signal gets signalled

`ev_signal` - signal me when a signal gets signalled!

`ev_child` - wait for pid status changes

`ev_child` - watch out for process status changes

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

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

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

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

`ev_embed` - when one backend isn't enough

`ev_embed` - when one backend isn't enough...