[ANN] slave-1.0.0

[ara.t.howard]

** 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.waitnon_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 bject => 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 = ostgresql
end
attr :connection
end

slave = Slave.new('object' => Server.new){|s| s.connect_to_db}

server = slave.object

p server.connection #=> ostgresql
#
# 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

ostgresql
./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

 

[Ezra Zygmuntowicz]

Hi Ara-

<snip>

- 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.waitnon_block=>true){ 'this is async!' }

Awesome thanks Ara!

<========< 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 = ostgresql
end
attr :connection
end

slave = Slave.new('object' => Server.new){|s| s.connect_to_db}

server = slave.object

p server.connection #=> ostgresql

This part if killer too. Very nice to be able to run the block in
the child! I am getting a ton of use out of Slave. Thanks for the
killer library.

Cheers-
-Ezra

 

[ara.t.howard]

Awesome thanks Ara!

no prob - it was a good idea

This part if killer too. Very nice to be able to run the block in the
child! I am getting a ton of use out of Slave. Thanks for the killer library.

great! test this one out though - i made quite few small changes, and you
know how that goes!

let me know what you find...

have a good weekend.

-a