Apache::SharedMem - Share data between Apache children processes through the shared memory

    use Apache::SharedMem qw(:lock :status);

    my $share = new Apache::SharedMem || die($Apache::SharedMem::ERROR);

    $share->set(key => 'some data');

    # ...maybe in another apache child
    my $var = $share->get(key);

    $share->delete(key);

    # delete all keys if the total size is larger than $max_size
    $share->clear if($share->size > $max_size);

    # using an exclusive blocking lock, but with a timeout
    my $lock_timeout = 40; # seconds
    if($share->lock(LOCK_EX, $lock_timeout))
    {
        my $data =...
        ...some traitement...

        $share->set(key => $data); # the implicite lock is not overrided
        warn('failed to store data in shared memory') if($share->status & FAILURE);

        $share->unlock;
    }

    $share->release;

This module make it easier to share data between Apache children processes through shared memory. This module internal functionment is much inspired from IPC::SharedCache, but without any cache management. The share memory segment key is automatically deduced by the caller package, which means that 2 modules can use same keys without being concerned about namespace clash. An additionnal namespace is used per application, which means that the same module, with the same namespace used in two applications doesn't clash too. Application distinction is made on two things : the process' UID and DOCUMENT_ROOT (for http applications) or current working directory.

This module handles all shared memory interaction via the IPC::SharedLite and all data serialization with Storable. See IPC::ShareLite and Storable for details.

If you are running under mod_perl, you should put this line in your httpd.conf:

    # must be a valid path
    PerlAddVar PROJECT_DOCUMENT_ROOT /path/to/your/projects/root

and in your startup.pl:

    use Apache::SharedMem;

This allow Apache::SharedMem to determine a unique rootkey for all virtual hosts, and to cleanup this rootkey on Apache stop. PROJECT_DOCUMENT_ROOT is used instead of a per virtal host's DOCUMENT_ROOT for rootkey's generation.

You can also provide a PROJECT_ID, it's the server's uid by default. This value have to be numeric:

    PerlAddVar PROJECT_ID 10

• rootkey optional, integer
  
  Changes the root segment key. It must be an unsigned integer. Don't use this option unless you really know what you are doing.
  
  This key allows Apache::SharedMem to find the root map of all namespaces (see below) owned by your application.
  
  The rootkey is automatically generated using the ftok provided by IPC::SysV. Process' UID and DOCUMENT_ROOT (or current working directory) are given to ftok so as to guarantee an unique key as far as possible.
  
  Note, if you are using mod_perl, and you'v load mod_perl via startup.pl (see USAGE section for more details), the rootkey is generated once at the apache start, based on the supplied PROJECT_DOCUMENT_ROOT and Apache's uid.
• namespace optional, string
  
  Setup manually the namespace. To share same datas, your program must use the same namespace. This namespace is set by default to the caller's package name. In most cases the default value is a good choice. But you may setup manually this value if, for example, you want to share the same datas between two or more modules.
• ipc_mode optional, octal
  
  Setup manually the segment mode (see IPC::ShareLite) for more details (default: 0600). Warning: this value _must_ be octal, see chmod documentation in perlfunc manpage for more details.
• ipc_segment_size optional, integer
  
  Setup manually the segment size (see IPC::ShareLite) for more details (default: 65_536).
• debug optional, boolean
  
  Turn on/off the debug mode (default: 0)

In most case, you don't need to give any arguments to the constructor.

ipc_mode and ipc_segment_size are used only on the first namespace initialisation. Using different values on an existing key (in shared memory) has no effect.

Note that ipc_segment_size is default value of IPC::ShareLite, see IPC::ShareLite

On succes return an Apache::SharedMem object, on error, return undef(). You can get error string via $Apache::SharedMem::ERROR.

my $var = $object->get('mykey', WAIT, 50); if($object->status & FAILURE) { die("can't get key 'mykey´: " . $object->error); }

• key required, string
  
  This is the name of elemenet that you want get from the shared namespace. It can be any string that perl support for hash's key.
• wait optional
  
  Defined the locking status of the request. If you must get the value, and can't continue without it, set this argument to constant WAIT, unless you can set it to NOWAIT.
  
  If the key is locked when you are tring to get the value, NOWAIT return status FAILURE, and WAIT hangup until the value is unlocked. An alternative is to setup a WAIT timeout, see below.
  
  NOTE: you needs :wait tag import:
  
  

      use Apache::SharedMem qw(:wait)
  
  

  
  
  timeout (optional) integer:
  
  if WAIT is on, timeout setup the number of seconds to wait for a blocking lock, usefull for preventing dead locks.

Following status can be set (needs :status tag import):

SUCCESS FAILURE

On error, method return undef(), but undef() is also a valid answer, so don't test the method status by this way, use ($obj->status & SUCCESS) instead.

my $rv = $object->set('mykey' => 'somevalue'); if($object->status eq FAILURE) { die("can't set key 'mykey´: " . $object->error); }

Try to set element key to value from the shared segment.

• key required
  
  name of place where to store the value
• value required
  
  data to store
• wait optional
  
  WAIT or NOWAIT (default WAIT) make or not a blocking shared lock (need :wait tag import).
• timeout optional
  
  if WAIT is on, timeout setup the number of seconds to wait for a blocking lock (usefull for preventing dead locks)

return status: SUCCESS FAILURE

return 0 on error

Release share memory space taken by the given namespace or object's namespace. Root map will be release too if empty.

Destroy all namespace found in the root map, and root map itself.

Debug method, return the list of all namespace in the root map. (devel only)

get a lock on the share segment. It returns undef() if failed, 1 if successed.

• lock_type optional
  
  type of lock (LOCK_EX, LOCK_SH, LOCK_NB, LOCK_UN)
• timeout optional
  
  time to wait for an exclusive lock before aborting

return status: FAILURE SUCCESS

freeing a lock

return the last error message that happened.

Return the last called method status. This status should be used with bitmask operators &, ^, ~ and | like this :

    # is last method failed ?
    if($object->status & FAILURE) {something to do on failure}

    # is last method don't succed ?
    if($object->status ^ SUCCESS) {something to do on failure}

It's not recommended to use equality operator (== and !=) or (eq and ne), they may don't work in future versions.

To import status' constants, you have to use the :status import tag, like below :

    use Apache::SharedMem qw(:status);

None.

Following constant is available for exports : LOCK_EX LOCK_SH LOCK_UN LOCK_NB WAIT NOWAIT SUCCESS FAILURE

The tag ":all" will get all of the above exports. Following tags are also available :

:status

Contents: SUCCESS FAILURE

This tag is really recommended to the importation all the time.

:lock

Contents: LOCK_EX LOCK_SH LOCK_UN LOCK_NB

:wait

WAIT NOWAIT

Olivier Poitrey <rs@rhapsodyk.net>

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with the program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc. :

59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307

Copyright (C) 2001 - Olivier Poitrey

Apache::SharedMem needs IPC::ShareLite, Storable both available from the CPAN.

IPC::ShareLite, shmget, ftok

$Log: SharedMem.pm,v $ Revision 1.61 2001/10/04 12:15:22 rs Very major bugfix that made module unable to work correctly under mod_perl ! New version 0.09 to CPAN immediatly

Revision 1.60 2001/10/02 09:40:32 rs Bugfix in _get_rootkey private method: trap empty docroot or no read access to docroot error.

Revision 1.59 2001/09/24 08:19:40 rs status now return bitmask values

Revision 1.58 2001/09/21 14:45:30 rs little doc fixes

Revision 1.57 2001/09/21 12:43:41 rs Change copyright

Revision 1.56 2001/09/20 12:45:03 rs Documentation update: adding an EXPORTS section

Revision 1.55 2001/09/19 14:19:41 rs made a trace more verbose

Revision 1.54 2001/09/18 08:46:32 rs Documentation upgrade

Revision 1.53 2001/09/17 14:56:41 rs Suppression of ROOTKEYS global hash, obsolete. Documentation update: USAGE => PROJECT_ID

Revision 1.52 2001/08/29 15:54:01 rs little bug fix in _get_rootkey

Revision 1.51 2001/08/29 14:28:08 rs add warning on no existing document_root in _get_rootkey

Revision 1.50 2001/08/29 12:59:02 rs some documentation update. get method now return undef() if value is undefined.

Revision 1.49 2001/08/29 08:30:32 rs syntax bugfix

Revision 1.48 2001/08/29 08:27:13 rs doc fix

Revision 1.47 2001/08/29 08:24:23 rs meny documentation updates

Revision 1.46 2001/08/28 16:42:14 rs adding better support of mod_perl with a cleanup method handled to Apache's registry_cleanup.

Revision 1.45 2001/08/28 10:17:00 rs little documentation fix

Revision 1.44 2001/08/28 08:45:12 rs stop using autouse for Data::Dumper, mod_perl don't like it add auto unlock on DESTROY, seem to work under mod_perl with Apache::Registry TODO test with mod_perl handlers

Revision 1.43 2001/08/27 15:42:02 rs bugfix in release method, on root map cleanup, ipc_mode must be defined bugfix in _init_namespace method, if object was create without any "set" called, the empty namespace won't be allocated.

Revision 1.42 2001/08/24 16:11:25 rs - Implement a more efficient IPC key generation for the root segment, using the system ftok() function provied by IPC::SysV module - Pod documentation - Default IPC mode is now 0600 - We now keep ipc_mode and ipc_segment_size in the root map for calling IPC::ShareLite with same values. - Add "readonly" parameter to constructor - Feature enhancement, add "dump" and "dump_map" methods - Data::Dumper is now autoused - Feature enhancement, release method now release root map when it go empty - Feature enhancement, add a "destroy" method, that call "release" method on all root-map's namespaces. Usefull for cleaning shared memory on Apache shutdown. - Misc bugfixes

Revision 1.41 2001/08/23 08:37:03 rs major bug, _get_rootkey was call mod_perl method on a wrong object

Revision 1.40 2001/08/23 08:08:18 rs little documentation update

Revision 1.39 2001/08/23 00:56:32 rs vocabulary correction in POD documentation

Revision 1.38 2001/08/22 16:10:15 rs - Pod documentation - Default IPC mode is now 0600 - We now keep ipc_mode and ipc_segment_size in the root map for calling IPC::ShareLite with same values. - Bugfix, release now really clean segments (seem to be an IPC::ShareLite bug)

Revision 1.37 2001/08/21 13:17:35 rs switch to version O.07

Revision 1.36 2001/08/21 13:17:02 rs add method _get_rootkey. this method allow constructor to determine a more uniq ipc key. key is generated with IPC::SysV::ftok() function, based on ducument_root and user id.

Revision 1.35 2001/08/17 13:28:18 rs make precedence more readable in "_set_status" method some pod corrections

Revision 1.34 2001/08/08 14:15:07 rs forcing default lock to LOCK_EX

Revision 1.33 2001/08/08 14:01:45 rs grrr syntax error second part, it's not my day.

Revision 1.32 2001/08/08 13:59:01 rs syntax error introdius with the last fix

Revision 1.31 2001/08/08 13:56:35 rs Starting version 0.06 fixing an "undefined value" bug in lock methode

Revision 1.30 2001/07/04 08:41:11 rs major documentation corrections

Revision 1.29 2001/07/03 15:24:19 rs fix doc

Revision 1.28 2001/07/03 14:53:02 rs make a real changes log