Provided by: libipc-run-perl_0.92-1_all bug

NAME

       IPC::Run::Timer -- Timer channels for IPC::Run.

SYNOPSIS

          use IPC::Run qw( run  timer timeout );
          ## or IPC::Run::Timer ( timer timeout );
          ## or IPC::Run::Timer ( :all );

          ## A non-fatal timer:
          $t = timer( 5 ); # or...
          $t = IO::Run::Timer->new( 5 );
          run $t, ...;

          ## A timeout (which is a timer that dies on expiry):
          $t = timeout( 5 ); # or...
          $t = IO::Run::Timer->new( 5, exception => "harness timed out" );

DESCRIPTION

       This class and module allows timers and timeouts to be created for use by IPC::Run.  A
       timer simply expires when it's time is up.  A timeout is a timer that throws an exception
       when it expires.

       Timeouts are usually a bit simpler to use  than timers: they throw an exception on
       expiration so you don't need to check them:

          ## Give @cmd 10 seconds to get started, then 5 seconds to respond
          my $t = timeout( 10 );
          $h = start(
             \@cmd, \$in, \$out,
             $t,
          );
          pump $h until $out =~ /prompt/;

          $in = "some stimulus";
          $out = '';
          $t->time( 5 )
          pump $h until $out =~ /expected response/;

       You do need to check timers:

          ## Give @cmd 10 seconds to get started, then 5 seconds to respond
          my $t = timer( 10 );
          $h = start(
             \@cmd, \$in, \$out,
             $t,
          );
          pump $h until $t->is_expired || $out =~ /prompt/;

          $in = "some stimulus";
          $out = '';
          $t->time( 5 )
          pump $h until $out =~ /expected response/ || $t->is_expired;

       Timers and timeouts that are reset get started by start() and pump().  Timers change state
       only in pump().  Since run() and finish() both call pump(), they act like pump() with
       repect to timers.

       Timers and timeouts have three states: reset, running, and expired.  Setting the timeout
       value resets the timer, as does calling the reset() method.  The start() method starts (or
       restarts) a timer with the most recently set time value, no matter what state it's in.

   Time values
       All time values are in seconds.  Times may be specified as integer or floating point
       seconds, optionally preceded by puncuation-separated days, hours, and minutes.\

       Examples:

          1           1 second
          1.1         1.1 seconds
          60          60 seconds
          1:0         1 minute
          1:1         1 minute, 1 second
          1:90        2 minutes, 30 seconds
          1:2:3:4.5   1 day, 2 hours, 3 minutes, 4.5 seconds

       Absolute date/time strings are *not* accepted: year, month and day-of-month parsing is not
       available (patches welcome :-).

   Interval fudging
       When calculating an end time from a start time and an interval, IPC::Run::Timer instances
       add a little fudge factor.  This is to ensure that no time will expire before the interval
       is up.

       First a little background.  Time is sampled in discrete increments.  We'll call the exact
       moment that the reported time increments from one interval to the next a tick, and the
       interval between ticks as the time period.  Here's a diagram of three ticks and the
       periods between them:

           -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2-...
           ^                   ^                   ^
           |<--- period 0 ---->|<--- period 1 ---->|
           |                   |                   |
         tick 0              tick 1              tick 2

       To see why the fudge factor is necessary, consider what would happen when a timer with an
       interval of 1 second is started right at the end of period 0:

           -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2-...
           ^                ^  ^                   ^
           |                |  |                   |
           |                |  |                   |
         tick 0             |tick 1              tick 2
                            |
                        start $t

       Assuming that check() is called many times per period, then the timer is likely to expire
       just after tick 1, since the time reported will have lept from the value '0' to the value
       '1':

           -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2-...
           ^                ^  ^   ^               ^
           |                |  |   |               |
           |                |  |   |               |
         tick 0             |tick 1|             tick 2
                            |      |
                        start $t   |
                                   |
                               check $t

       Adding a fudge of '1' in this example means that the timer is guaranteed not to expire
       before tick 2.

       The fudge is not added to an interval of '0'.

       This means that intervals guarantee a minimum interval.  Given that the process running
       perl may be suspended for some period of time, or that it gets busy doing something time-
       consuming, there are no other guarantees on how long it will take a timer to expire.

SUBCLASSING

       INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE: Due to the awkwardness introduced by ripping pseudohashes out of
       Perl, this class no longer uses the fields pragma.

FUNCTIONS & METHODS

       timer
           A constructor function (not method) of IPC::Run::Timer instances:

              $t = timer( 5 );
              $t = timer( 5, name => 'stall timer', debug => 1 );

              $t = timer;
              $t->interval( 5 );

              run ..., $t;
              run ..., $t = timer( 5 );

           This convenience function is a shortened spelling of

              IPC::Run::Timer->new( ... );

           .  It returns a timer in the reset state with a given interval.

           If an exception is provided, it will be thrown when the timer notices that it has
           expired (in check()).  The name is for debugging usage, if you plan on having multiple
           timers around.  If no name is provided, a name like "timer #1" will be provided.

       timeout
           A constructor function (not method) of IPC::Run::Timer instances:

              $t = timeout( 5 );
              $t = timeout( 5, exception => "kablooey" );
              $t = timeout( 5, name => "stall", exception => "kablooey" );

              $t = timeout;
              $t->interval( 5 );

              run ..., $t;
              run ..., $t = timeout( 5 );

           A This convenience function is a shortened spelling of

              IPC::Run::Timer->new( exception => "IPC::Run: timeout ...", ... );

           .  It returns a timer in the reset state that will throw an exception when it expires.

           Takes the same parameters as "timer", any exception passed in overrides the default
           exception.

       new
              IPC::Run::Timer->new()  ;
              IPC::Run::Timer->new( 5 )  ;
              IPC::Run::Timer->new( 5, exception => 'kablooey' )  ;

           Constructor.  See "timer" for details.

       check
              check $t;
              check $t, $now;
              $t->check;

           Checks to see if a timer has expired since the last check.  Has no effect on non-
           running timers.  This will throw an exception if one is defined.

           IPC::Run::pump() calls this routine for any timers in the harness.

           You may pass in a version of now, which is useful in case you have it lying around or
           you want to check several timers with a consistent concept of the current time.

           Returns the time left before end_time or 0 if end_time is no longer in the future or
           the timer is not running (unless, of course, check() expire()s the timer and this
           results in an exception being thrown).

           Returns undef if the timer is not running on entry, 0 if check() expires it, and the
           time left if it's left running.

       debug
           Sets/gets the current setting of the debugging flag for this timer.  This has no
           effect if debugging is not enabled for the current harness.

       end_time
              $et = $t->end_time;
              $et = end_time $t;

              $t->end_time( time + 10 );

           Returns the time when this timer will or did expire.  Even if this time is in the
           past, the timer may not be expired, since check() may not have been called yet.

           Note that this end_time is not start_time($t) + interval($t), since some small extra
           amount of time is added to make sure that the timer does not expire before interval()
           elapses.  If this were not so, then

           Changing end_time() while a timer is running will set the expiration time.  Changing
           it while it is expired has no affect, since reset()ing a timer always clears the
           end_time().

       exception
              $x = $t->exception;
              $t->exception( $x );
              $t->exception( undef );

           Sets/gets the exception to throw, if any.  'undef' means that no exception will be
           thrown.  Exception does not need to be a scalar: you may ask that references be
           thrown.

       interval
              $i = interval $t;
              $i = $t->interval;
              $t->interval( $i );

           Sets the interval.  Sets the end time based on the start_time() and the interval (and
           a little fudge) if the timer is running.

       expire
              expire $t;
              $t->expire;

           Sets the state to expired (undef).  Will throw an exception if one is defined and the
           timer was not already expired.  You can expire a reset timer without starting it.

       is_running
       is_reset
       is_expired
       name
           Sets/gets this timer's name.  The name is only used for debugging purposes so you can
           tell which freakin' timer is doing what.

       reset
              reset $t;
              $t->reset;

           Resets the timer to the non-running, non-expired state and clears the end_time().

       start
              start $t;
              $t->start;
              start $t, $interval;
              start $t, $interval, $now;

           Starts or restarts a timer.  This always sets the start_time.  It sets the end_time
           based on the interval if the timer is running or if no end time has been set.

           You may pass an optional interval or current time value.

           Not passing a defined interval causes the previous interval setting to be re-used
           unless the timer is reset and an end_time has been set (an exception is thrown if no
           interval has been set).

           Not passing a defined current time value causes the current time to be used.

           Passing a current time value is useful if you happen to have a time value lying around
           or if you want to make sure that several timers are started with the same concept of
           start time.  You might even need to lie to an IPC::Run::Timer, occasionally.

       start_time
           Sets/gets the start time, in seconds since the epoch.  Setting this manually is a bad
           idea, it's better to call "start"() at the correct time.

       state
              $s = state $t;
              $t->state( $s );

           Get/Set the current state.  Only use this if you really need to transfer the state
           to/from some variable.  Use "expire", "start", "reset", "is_expired", "is_running",
           "is_reset".

           Note:  Setting the state to 'undef' to expire a timer will not throw an exception.

TODO

       use Time::HiRes; if it's present.

       Add detection and parsing of [[[HH:]MM:]SS formatted times and intervals.

AUTHOR

       Barrie Slaymaker <barries@slaysys.com>