NAME `Net::LibAsyncNS' - a Perl wrapper around libasyncns SYNOPSIS use Net::LibAsyncNS; use Socket qw( SOCK_RAW ); my $asyncns = Net::LibAsyncNS->new( 1 ); # By specifying this socktype hint, we only get one result per address family my %hints = ( socktype => SOCK_RAW ); my $query = $asyncns->getaddrinfo( "localhost", undef, \%hints ); while( $asyncns->getnqueries ) { $asyncns->wait( 1 ); if( $query->isdone ) { my ( $err, @res ) = $asyncns->getaddrinfo_done( $query ); die "getaddrinfo - $err" if $err; foreach my $res ( @res ) { printf "family=%d, addr=%v02x\n", $res->{family}, $res->{addr}; } } } DESCRIPTION The name resolver functions `getaddrinfo' and `getnameinfo' as provided by most C libraries are blocking functions; they will perform their work and return an answer when it is ready. This makes it hard to use these name resolvers in asynchronous or non-blocking code. The libasyncns library provides a way to invoke these library functions from within an asynchronous or non-blocking program. Individual resolver queries are made by calling a function which returns an object representing an outstanding query (a kind of future). A filehandle is provided by the resolver to watch for readability; when it is readable, a function should be called to collect completed queries. The example in the SYNOPSIS above does not demonstrate this; see the EXAMPLES section below for one that does. CONSTRUCTOR $asyncns = Net::LibAsyncNS->new( $n_proc ) Construct a new `Net::LibAsyncNS' object. It will be initialised with `$n_proc' processes or threads to handle nameserver lookups. METHODS $fd = $asyncns->fd Returns a file descriptor number to poll for readability on. $handle = $asyncns->new_handle_for_fd Returns a new `IO::Handle' object wrapping the underlying file descriptor. Note that the handle is *not* cached; a new object is created each time this method is called. For well-behaved results, this should only be called once. $success = $asyncns->wait( $block ) Wait for more queries to be ready. If `$block' is true, this method will block until at least one query is ready, if false it will process any pending IO without blocking. It returns true if the operation was successful or false if an IO error happened; `$!' will be set in this case. $n = $asyncns->getnqueries Return the number of outstanding queries. $q = $asyncns->getaddrinfo( $host, $service, $hints ) Starts an asynchronous `getaddrinfo' resolution on the given `$host' and `$service' names. If provided, `$hints' should be a HASH reference where the following keys are recognised: flags => INT family => INT socktype => INT protocol => INT ( $err, @res ) = $asyncns->getaddrinfo_done( $q ) Finishes a `getaddrinfo' resolution, returning an error code, and a list of results. Each result will be a HASH reference containing the following keys: family => INT socktype => INT protocol => INT Socket type values to pass to `socket' addr => STRING Address to pass to `connect' canonname => STRING If requested, the canonical hostname for this address $q = $asyncns->getnameinfo( $addr, $flags, $wanthost, $wantserv ) Starts an asynchronous `getnameinfo' resolution on the given address. The `$wanthost' and `$wantserv' booleans indicate if the hostname or service name are required. ( $err, $host, $service ) = $asyncns->getnameinfo_done( $q ) Finishes a `getnameinfo' resolution, returning an error code, the hostname and service name, if requested. $q = $asyncns->res_query( $dname, $class, $type ) $q = $asyncns->res_search( $dname, $class, $type ) Starts an asynchronous `res_query' or `res_search' resolution on the given domain name, class and type. $answer = $asyncns->res_done( $q ) Finishes a `res_query' or `res_search' resolution, returning the answer in a packed string, or `undef' if it fails. If it fails `$!' will contain the error details. $done = $asyncns->isdone( $q ) Returns true if the given query is ready. $q = $asyncns->getnext Returns the next query object that is completed, or `undef' if none are ready yet. This will only yet be valid after calling the `wait' method at least once. $asyncns->cancel( $q ) Cancels a currently outstanding query. After this is called, the query in `$q' should not be further accessed, as memory associated with it will have been reclaimed. $asyncns->setuserdata( $q, $data ) Stores an arbitrary Perl scalar with the query. It can later be retrieved using `getuserdata'. $data = $asyncns->getuserdata( $q ) Returns the Perl scalar previously stored with the query, or `undef' if no value has yet been set. CONSTANTS The following constants are provided by Net::LibAsyncNS::Constants. Flags for `getaddrinfo': AI_PASSIVE AI_CANONNAME AI_NUMERICHOST AI_NUMERICSERV Error values: EAI_BADFLAGS EAI_NONAME EAI_AGAIN EAI_FAIL EAI_NODATA EAI_FAMILY EAI_SERVICE EAI_SOCKTYPE EAI_ADDRFAMILY EAI_MEMORY Flags for `getnameinfo': NI_NUMERICHOST NI_NUMERICSERV NI_NAMEREQD NI_DGRAM QUERY OBJECTS The following methods are available on query objects, returned by `getaddrinfo' and `getnameinfo'. $asyncns = $query->asyncns Returns the underlying `Net::LibAsyncNS' object backing the query $done = $query->isdone $query->setuserdata( $data ) $data = $query->getuserdata Shortcuts to the equivalent method on the underlying `Net::LibAsyncNS' object EXAMPLES Multiple Queries The SYNOPSIS example only has one outstanding query. To wait for multiple queries to complete, the `getnext' method can be used. Per-query context data can be stored in the query itself by using the `setuserdata' and `getuserdata' accessors. use Net::LibAsyncNS; use Socket qw( SOCK_RAW ); my $asyncns = Net::LibAsyncNS->new( 1 ); my %hints = ( socktype => SOCK_RAW ); my @hosts = qw( some hostnames here ); foreach my $host ( @hosts ) { my $query = $asyncns->getaddrinfo( $host, undef, \%hints ); $query->setuserdata( $host ); } while( $asyncns->getnqueries ) { $asyncns->wait( 1 ) or die "asyncns_wait: $!"; while( my $query = $asyncns->getnext ) { my ( $err, @res ) = $asyncns->getaddrinfo_done( $query ); my $host = $query->getuserdata; print "$host - $err\n" and next if $err; foreach my $res ( @res ) { printf "%s is: family=%d, addr=%v02x\n", $host, $res->{family}, $res->{addr}; } } } In this example, the per-query data stored by `setuserdata' is just the hostname, but any Perl scalar may be stored, such as a HASH ref containing many keys, or CODE ref to a callback function of some kind. Non-blocking IO The examples above wait synchronously for the query/queries to complete, in the `wait' method. However, most of the point of this library is to allow asynchronous resolver calls to mix with other asynchronous and non-blocking code. This is achieved by the containing program waiting for a filehandle to become readable, and to call `$asyncns->wait( 0 )' when it is. The following example shows integration with a simple `IO::Poll'-based program. use IO::Poll; use Net::LibAsyncNS; use Socket qw( SOCK_RAW ); my $asyncns = Net::LibAsyncNS->new( 1 ); my %hints = ( socktype => SOCK_RAW ); my @hosts = qw( some hostnames here ); foreach my $host ( @hosts ) { my $query = $asyncns->getaddrinfo( $host, undef, \%hints ); $query->setuserdata( $host ); } my $asyncns_handle = $asyncns->new_handle_for_fd; my $poll = IO::Poll->new; $poll->mask( $asyncns_handle => POLLIN ); while( $asyncns->getnqueries ) { defined $poll->poll or die "poll() - $!"; if( $poll->events( $asyncns_handle ) ) { while( my $query = $asyncns->getnext ) { my ( $err, @res ) = $asyncns->getaddrinfo_done( $query ); my $host = $query->getuserdata; print "$host - $err\n" and next if $err; foreach my $res ( @res ) { printf "%s is: family=%d, addr=%v02x\n", $host, $res->{family}, $res->{addr}; } } } } SEE ALSO * http://0pointer.de/lennart/projects/libasyncns is a C library for Linux/Unix for executing name service queries asynchronously. It is an asynchronous wrapper around getaddrinfo(3), getnameinfo(3), res_query(3) and res_search(3) from libc and libresolv. AUTHOR Paul Evans