sharelite(3)

NAME

IPC::ShareLite - Light-weight interface to shared memory

SYNOPSIS

use IPC::ShareLite;
$share = new IPC::ShareLite( -key     => 1971,
                             -create  => 'yes',
                             -destroy => 'no' )  or  die
$!;
$share->store("This is stored in shared memory");
$str = $share->fetch;

DESCRIPTION

IPC::ShareLite provides a simple interface to shared mem
ory, allowing data to be efficiently communicated between
processes. Your operating system must support SysV IPC
(shared memory and semaphores) in order to use this mod
ule.

IPC::ShareLite provides an abstraction of the shared mem
ory and semaphore facilities of SysV IPC, allowing the
storage of arbitrarily large data; the module automati
cally acquires and removes shared memory segments as
needed. Storage and retrieval of data is atomic, and
locking functions are provided for higher-level synchro
nization.

In many respects, this module is similar to IPC::Share
able. However, IPC::ShareLite does not provide a tied
interface, does not (automatically) allow the storage of
variables, and is written in C for additional speed.

Construct an IPC::ShareLite object by calling its con
structor:
$share = new IPC::ShareLite( -key => 1971,
-create => 'yes',
-destroy => 'no' ) or
die $!;
Once an instance has been created, data can be written to
shared memory by calling the store() method:

$share->store("This is going in shared memory");
Retrieve the data by calling the fetch() method:

$str = $share->fetch();
The store() and fetch() methods are atomic; any processes attempting to read or write to the memory are blocked
until these calls finish. However, in certain situations,
you'll want to perform multiple operations atomically.
Advisory locking methods are available for this purpose.
An exclusive lock is obtained by calling the lock()
method:

$share->lock();
Happily, the lock() method also accepts all of the flags
recognized by the flock() system call. So, for example, you can obtain a shared lock like this:

$share->lock( LOCK_SH );
Or, you can make either type of lock non-blocking:

$share->lock( LOCK_EX|LOCK_NB );
Release the lock by calling the unlock() method:

$share->unlock;

METHODS

new($key, $create, $destroy, $exclusive, $mode, $flags,
$size)
This is the constructor for IPC::ShareLite. It
accepts both the positional and named parameter call
ing styles.
$key is an integer value used to associate data
between processes. All processes wishing to communi
cate should use the same $key value. $key may also be
specified as a four character string, in which case it
will be converted to an integer value automatically.
If $key is undefined, the shared memory will not be
accessible from other processes.
$create specifies whether the shared memory segment
should be created if it does not already exist.
Acceptable values are 1, 'yes', 0, or 'no'.
$destroy indicates whether the shared memory segments
and semaphores should be removed from the system once
the object is destroyed. Acceptable values are 1,
'yes', 0, or 'no'.
If $exclusive is true, instantiation will fail if the
shared memory segment already exists. Acceptable val
ues are 1, 'yes', 0, or 'no'.
$mode specifies the permissions for the shared memory
and semaphores. The default value is 0666.
$flags specifies the exact shared memory and semaphore
flags to use. The constants IPC_CREAT, IPC_EXCL, and
IPC_PRIVATE are available for import.
$size specifies the shared memory segment size, in
bytes. The default size is 65,536 bytes, which is
fairly portable. Linux, as an example, supports seg
ment sizes of 4 megabytes.
The constructor returns the undefined value on error.
store( $scalar )
This method stores $scalar into shared memory.
$scalar may be arbitrarily long. Shared memory seg
ments are acquired and released automatically as the
data length changes. The only limits on the amount of
data are the system-wide limits on shared memory pages
(SHMALL) and segments (SHMMNI) as compiled into the
kernel.
Note that unlike IPC::Shareable, this module does not
automatically allow variables to be stored. Serializ
ing all data is expensive, and is not always
necessary. If you need to store a variable, you
should employ the Storable module yourself. For exam
ple:

use Storable qw( freeze thaw );
...
$hash = { red => 1, white => 1, blue => 1 };
$share->store( freeze( $hash ) );
...
$hash = thaw( $share->fetch );
The method raises an exception on error.
fetch()
This method returns the data that was previously
stored in shared memory. The empty string is returned
if no data was previously stored.
The method raises an exception on error.
lock( $type )
Obtains a lock on the shared memory. $type specifies
the type of lock to acquire. If $type is not speci
fied, an exclusive read/write lock is obtained.
Acceptable values for $type are the same as for the
flock() system call. The method returns true on suc cess, and undef on error. For non-blocking calls (see
below), the method returns 0 if it would have blocked.
Obtain an exclusive lock like this:

$share->lock( LOCK_EX ); # same as default
Only one process can hold an exclusive lock on the
shared memory at a given time.
Obtain a shared lock this this:

$share->lock( LOCK_SH );
Multiple processes can hold a shared lock at a given
time. If a process attempts to obtain an exclusive
lock while one or more processes hold shared locks, it
will be blocked until they have all finished.
Either of the locks may be specified as non-blocking:

$share->lock( LOCK_EX|LOCK_NB );
$share->lock( LOCK_SH|LOCK_NB );
A non-blocking lock request will return 0 if it would
have had to wait to obtain the lock.
Note that these locks are advisory (just like flock),
meaning that all cooperating processes must coordinate
their accesses to shared memory using these calls in
order for locking to work. See the flock() call for details.
Locks are inherited through forks, which means that
two processes actually can possess an exclusive lock
at the same time. Don't do that.
The constants LOCK_EX, LOCK_SH, LOCK_NB, and LOCK_UN
are available for import:

use IPC::ShareLite qw( :lock );
Or, just use the flock constants available in the
Fcntl module.
unlock()
Releases any locks. This is actually equivalent to:

$share->lock( LOCK_UN );
The method returns true on success and undef on error.

PERFORMANCE

For a rough idea of the performance you can expect, here
are some benchmarks. The tests were performed using the
Benchmark module on a Cyrix PR166+ running RedHat Linux
5.2 with the 2.0.36 kernel, perl 5.005_02 using perl's
malloc, and the default shared memory segment size. Each
test was run 5000 times.
DATA SIZE (bytes) TIME (seconds) Op/Sec
store 16384 2 2500
fetch 16384 2 2500
store 32768 3 1666
fetch 32768 3 1666
store 65536 6 833
fetch 65536 5 1000
store 131072 12 416
fetch 131072 12 416
store 262144 28 178
fetch 262144 27 185
store 524288 63 79
fetch 524288 61 81
Most of the time appears to be due to memory copying.
Suggestions for speed improvements are welcome.

PORTABILITY

The module should compile on any system with SysV IPC and
an ANSI C compiler, and should compile cleanly with the
-pedantic and -Wall flags.

The module has been tested under Solaris, FreeBSD, and
Linux. Testing on other platforms is needed.

If you encounter a compilation error due to the definition
of the semun union, edit the top of sharelite.c and unde
fine the semun definition. And then please tell me about
it.

I've heard rumors that a SysV IPC interface has been con
structed for Win32 systems. Support for it may be added
to this module.

IPC::ShareLite does not understand the shared memory data
format used by IPC::Shareable.

AUTHOR

Copyright (C) 1998, Maurice Aubrey <maurice@hevanet.com>.
All rights reserved.

This module is free software; you may redistribute it
and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

CREDITS

Special thanks to Benjamin Sugars for developing the
IPC::Shareable module.

See the Changes file for other contributors.

SEE ALSO

IPC::Shareable, ipc(2), shmget(2), semget(2), perl.
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