** PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS A DEVELOPMENTAL RELEASE **
SYNOPSIS
the Slave class forks a process and starts a drb server in the child
using
any object as the server. the process is detached so it is not
required
(nor possible) to wait on the child pid. a Heartbeat is set up
between the
parent and child processes so that the child will exit of the parent
exits
for any reason - preventing orphaned slaves from running
indefinitely. the
purpose of Slaves is to be able to easily set up a collection of
objects
communicating via drb protocols instead of having to use IPC.
typical usage:
obj = AnyClass::new
slave = Slave::new 'object' => obj
p slave.object # handle on drb object
p slave.uri # uri of the drb object
p slave.socket # unix domain socket path for drb
object
p slave.psname # title shown in ps/top
slaves may be configured via the environment, the Slave class, or via
the
ctor for object itself. attributes which may be configured include
* socket_creation_attempts
* pulse_rate
* psname
* debug
* dumped
URIS
http://rubyforge.org/projects/codeforpeople/
http://codeforpeople.com/lib/ruby/slave
HISTORY
THIS RELEASE IS !! NOT !! BACKWARD COMPATIBLE. NOTE NEW CTOR SYNTAX.
1.0.0:
- detach method also sets up at_exit handler. extra protection
from
zombies.
- ezra zygmuntowicz asked for a feature whereby a parent could be
notified
when a child exited. obviously such a mechanism should be both
async
and sync. to accomplish this the wait method was extended to
support a
callback with is either sync or async
slave = Server.new{ Server.new }
slave.wait and puts 'this is sync!'
slave.wait(:non_block=>true){ 'this is async!' }
- patch to getval from skaar<[email protected]>. the impl dropped
opts
delgating to the class method from the instance one.
SAMPLES
<========< samples/a.rb >========>
~ > cat samples/a.rb
require 'slave'
#
# simple usage is simply to stand up a server object as a slave.
you do not
# need to wait for the server, join it, etc. it will die when the
parent
# process dies - even under ‘kill -9’ conditions
#
class Server
def add_two n
n + 2
end
end
slave = Slave.new :object => Server.new
server = slave.object
p server.add_two(40) #=> 42
~ > ruby samples/a.rb
42
<========< samples/b.rb >========>
~ > cat samples/b.rb
require 'slave'
#
# if certain operations need to take place in the child only a
block can be
# used
#
class Server
def connect_to_db
“we only want to do this in the child process!”
@connection = :postgresql
end
attr :connection
end
slave = Slave.new('object' => Server.new){|s| s.connect_to_db}
server = slave.object
p server.connection #=> :postgresql
#
# errors in the child are detected and raised in the parent
#
slave = Slave.new('object' => Server.new){|s| s.typo} #=> raises
an error!
~ > ruby samples/b.rb
:postgresql
./lib/slave.rb:276:in `initialize': undefined method `typo' for
#Server:0xb7573350 (NoMethodError)
from samples/b.rb:22:in `new’
from samples/b.rb:22
<========< samples/c.rb >========>
~ > cat samples/c.rb
require 'slave'
#
# if no slave object is given the block itself is used to contruct
it
#
class Server
def initialize
“this is run only in the child”
@pid = Process.pid
end
attr ‘pid’
end
slave = Slave.new{ Server.new }
server = slave.object
p Process.pid
p server.pid # not going to be the same as parents!
#
# errors are still detected though
#
slave = Slave.new{ fubar } # raises error in parent
~ > ruby samples/c.rb
12244
12245
./lib/slave.rb:276:in `initialize': undefined local variable or
method fubar' for main:Object (NameError) from samples/c.rb:21:in new’
from samples/c.rb:21
<========< samples/d.rb >========>
~ > cat samples/d.rb
require 'slave'
#
# at_exit hanlders are handled correctly in both child and parent
#
at_exit{ p 'parent' }
slave = Slave.new{ at_exit{ p 'child' }; 'the server is this
string’ }
#
# this will print ‘child’, then ‘parent’
#
~ > ruby samples/d.rb
"child"
"parent"
<========< samples/e.rb >========>
~ > cat samples/e.rb
require 'slave'
#
# slaves never outlive their parent. if the parent exits, even
under kill -9,
# the child will die.
#
slave = Slave.new{ at_exit{ p ‘child’ }; ‘the server is this
string’ }
Process.kill brutal=9, the_parent_pid=Process.pid
#
# even though parent dies a nasty death the child will still print
‘child’
#
~ > ruby samples/e.rb
"child"
enjoy.
-a