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authorErik Faye-Lund <kusmabite@gmail.com>2010-02-05 20:57:38 (GMT)
committerJunio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>2010-02-06 04:57:22 (GMT)
commitae6a5609c025d9ac79e54a3a052704e25d885314 (patch)
treec74d50beebc5c7bfe2f5ca9e335c45c534243af7 /Documentation
parent4f41b611481bad08319966f7787fc7c4c7bfaa52 (diff)
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run-command: support custom fd-set in async
This patch adds the possibility to supply a set of non-0 file descriptors for async process communication instead of the default-created pipe. Additionally, we now support bi-directional communiction with the async procedure, by giving the async function both read and write file descriptors. To retain compatiblity and similar "API feel" with start_command, we require start_async callers to set .out = -1 to get a readable file descriptor. If either of .in or .out is 0, we supply no file descriptor to the async process. [sp: Note: Erik started this patch, and a huge bulk of it is his work. All bugs were introduced later by Shawn.] Signed-off-by: Erik Faye-Lund <kusmabite@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: Shawn O. Pearce <spearce@spearce.org> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/technical/api-run-command.txt50
1 files changed, 40 insertions, 10 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/technical/api-run-command.txt b/Documentation/technical/api-run-command.txt
index a1280dd..8994859 100644
--- a/Documentation/technical/api-run-command.txt
+++ b/Documentation/technical/api-run-command.txt
@@ -64,8 +64,8 @@ The functions above do the following:
`start_async`::
Run a function asynchronously. Takes a pointer to a `struct
- async` that specifies the details and returns a pipe FD
- from which the caller reads. See below for details.
+ async` that specifies the details and returns a set of pipe FDs
+ for communication with the function. See below for details.
`finish_async`::
@@ -180,17 +180,47 @@ The caller:
struct async variable;
2. initializes .proc and .data;
3. calls start_async();
-4. processes the data by reading from the fd in .out;
-5. closes .out;
+4. processes communicates with proc through .in and .out;
+5. closes .in and .out;
6. calls finish_async().
+The members .in, .out are used to provide a set of fd's for
+communication between the caller and the callee as follows:
+
+. Specify 0 to have no file descriptor passed. The callee will
+ receive -1 in the corresponding argument.
+
+. Specify < 0 to have a pipe allocated; start_async() replaces
+ with the pipe FD in the following way:
+
+ .in: Returns the writable pipe end into which the caller
+ writes; the readable end of the pipe becomes the function's
+ in argument.
+
+ .out: Returns the readable pipe end from which the caller
+ reads; the writable end of the pipe becomes the function's
+ out argument.
+
+ The caller of start_async() must close the returned FDs after it
+ has completed reading from/writing from them.
+
+. Specify a file descriptor > 0 to be used by the function:
+
+ .in: The FD must be readable; it becomes the function's in.
+ .out: The FD must be writable; it becomes the function's out.
+
+ The specified FD is closed by start_async(), even if it fails to
+ run the function.
+
The function pointer in .proc has the following signature:
- int proc(int fd, void *data);
+ int proc(int in, int out, void *data);
-. fd specifies a writable file descriptor to which the function must
- write the data that it produces. The function *must* close this
- descriptor before it returns.
+. in, out specifies a set of file descriptors to which the function
+ must read/write the data that it needs/produces. The function
+ *must* close these descriptors before it returns. A descriptor
+ may be -1 if the caller did not configure a descriptor for that
+ direction.
. data is the value that the caller has specified in the .data member
of struct async.
@@ -205,8 +235,8 @@ because this facility is implemented by a pipe to a forked process on
UNIX, but by a thread in the same address space on Windows:
. It cannot change the program's state (global variables, environment,
- etc.) in a way that the caller notices; in other words, .out is the
- only communication channel to the caller.
+ etc.) in a way that the caller notices; in other words, .in and .out
+ are the only communication channels to the caller.
. It must not change the program's state that the caller of the
facility also uses.