symbian-qemu-0.9.1-12/python-2.6.1/Doc/library/select.rst
changeset 1 2fb8b9db1c86
--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/symbian-qemu-0.9.1-12/python-2.6.1/Doc/library/select.rst	Fri Jul 31 15:01:17 2009 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1,439 @@
+
+:mod:`select` --- Waiting for I/O completion
+============================================
+
+.. module:: select
+   :synopsis: Wait for I/O completion on multiple streams.
+
+
+This module provides access to the :cfunc:`select` and :cfunc:`poll` functions
+available in most operating systems, :cfunc:`epoll` available on Linux 2.5+ and
+:cfunc:`kqueue` available on most BSD.
+Note that on Windows, it only works for sockets; on other operating systems,
+it also works for other file types (in particular, on Unix, it works on pipes).
+It cannot be used on regular files to determine whether a file has grown since
+it was last read.
+
+The module defines the following:
+
+
+.. exception:: error
+
+   The exception raised when an error occurs.  The accompanying value is a pair
+   containing the numeric error code from :cdata:`errno` and the corresponding
+   string, as would be printed by the C function :cfunc:`perror`.
+
+
+.. function:: epoll([sizehint=-1])
+
+   (Only supported on Linux 2.5.44 and newer.)  Returns an edge polling object,
+   which can be used as Edge or Level Triggered interface for I/O events; see
+   section :ref:`epoll-objects` below for the methods supported by epolling
+   objects.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 2.6
+
+
+.. function:: poll()
+
+   (Not supported by all operating systems.)  Returns a polling object, which
+   supports registering and unregistering file descriptors, and then polling them
+   for I/O events; see section :ref:`poll-objects` below for the methods supported
+   by polling objects.
+
+
+.. function:: kqueue()
+
+   (Only supported on BSD.)  Returns a kernel queue object object; see section
+   :ref:`kqueue-objects` below for the methods supported by kqueue objects.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 2.6
+
+
+.. function:: kevent(ident, filter=KQ_FILTER_READ, flags=KQ_ADD, fflags=0, data=0, udata=0)
+
+   (Only supported on BSD.)  Returns a kernel event object object; see section
+   :ref:`kevent-objects` below for the methods supported by kqueue objects.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 2.6
+
+
+.. function:: select(rlist, wlist, xlist[, timeout])
+
+   This is a straightforward interface to the Unix :cfunc:`select` system call.
+   The first three arguments are sequences of 'waitable objects': either
+   integers representing file descriptors or objects with a parameterless method
+   named :meth:`fileno` returning such an integer:
+
+   * *rlist*: wait until ready for reading
+   * *wlist*: wait until ready for writing
+   * *xlist*: wait for an "exceptional condition" (see the manual page for what
+     your system considers such a condition)
+
+   Empty sequences are allowed, but acceptance of three empty sequences is
+   platform-dependent. (It is known to work on Unix but not on Windows.)  The
+   optional *timeout* argument specifies a time-out as a floating point number
+   in seconds.  When the *timeout* argument is omitted the function blocks until
+   at least one file descriptor is ready.  A time-out value of zero specifies a
+   poll and never blocks.
+
+   The return value is a triple of lists of objects that are ready: subsets of the
+   first three arguments.  When the time-out is reached without a file descriptor
+   becoming ready, three empty lists are returned.
+
+   .. index::
+      single: socket() (in module socket)
+      single: popen() (in module os)
+
+   Among the acceptable object types in the sequences are Python file objects (e.g.
+   ``sys.stdin``, or objects returned by :func:`open` or :func:`os.popen`), socket
+   objects returned by :func:`socket.socket`.  You may also define a :dfn:`wrapper`
+   class yourself, as long as it has an appropriate :meth:`fileno` method (that
+   really returns a file descriptor, not just a random integer).
+
+   .. note::
+
+      .. index:: single: WinSock
+
+      File objects on Windows are not acceptable, but sockets are.  On Windows,
+      the underlying :cfunc:`select` function is provided by the WinSock
+      library, and does not handle file descriptors that don't originate from
+      WinSock.
+
+
+.. _epoll-objects:
+
+Edge and Level Trigger Polling (epoll) Objects
+----------------------------------------------
+
+   http://linux.die.net/man/4/epoll
+
+   *eventmask*
+
+   +-----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
+   | Constant              | Meaning                                       |
+   +=======================+===============================================+
+   | :const:`EPOLLIN`      | Available for read                            |
+   +-----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`EPOLLOUT`     | Available for write                           |
+   +-----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`EPOLLPRI`     | Urgent data for read                          |
+   +-----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`EPOLLERR`     | Error condition happened on the assoc. fd     |
+   +-----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`EPOLLHUP`     | Hang up happened on the assoc. fd             |
+   +-----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`EPOLLET`      | Set Edge Trigger behavior, the default is     |
+   |                       | Level Trigger behavior                        |
+   +-----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`EPOLLONESHOT` | Set one-shot behavior. After one event is     |
+   |                       | pulled out, the fd is internally disabled     |
+   +-----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`EPOLLRDNORM`  | ???                                           |
+   +-----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`EPOLLRDBAND`  | ???                                           |
+   +-----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`EPOLLWRNORM`  | ???                                           |
+   +-----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`EPOLLWRBAND`  | ???                                           |
+   +-----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`EPOLLMSG`     | ???                                           |
+   +-----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
+
+
+.. method:: epoll.close()
+
+   Close the control file descriptor of the epoll object.
+
+
+.. method:: epoll.fileno()
+
+   Return the file descriptor number of the control fd.
+
+
+.. method:: epoll.fromfd(fd)
+
+   Create an epoll object from a given file descriptor.
+
+
+.. method:: epoll.register(fd[, eventmask])
+
+   Register a fd descriptor with the epoll object.
+
+
+.. method:: epoll.modify(fd, eventmask)
+
+   Modify a register file descriptor.
+
+
+.. method:: epoll.unregister(fd)
+
+   Remove a registered file descriptor from the epoll object.
+
+
+.. method:: epoll.poll([timeout=-1[, maxevents=-1]])
+
+   Wait for events. timeout in seconds (float)
+
+
+.. _poll-objects:
+
+Polling Objects
+---------------
+
+The :cfunc:`poll` system call, supported on most Unix systems, provides better
+scalability for network servers that service many, many clients at the same
+time. :cfunc:`poll` scales better because the system call only requires listing
+the file descriptors of interest, while :cfunc:`select` builds a bitmap, turns
+on bits for the fds of interest, and then afterward the whole bitmap has to be
+linearly scanned again. :cfunc:`select` is O(highest file descriptor), while
+:cfunc:`poll` is O(number of file descriptors).
+
+
+.. method:: poll.register(fd[, eventmask])
+
+   Register a file descriptor with the polling object.  Future calls to the
+   :meth:`poll` method will then check whether the file descriptor has any pending
+   I/O events.  *fd* can be either an integer, or an object with a :meth:`fileno`
+   method that returns an integer.  File objects implement :meth:`fileno`, so they
+   can also be used as the argument.
+
+   *eventmask* is an optional bitmask describing the type of events you want to
+   check for, and can be a combination of the constants :const:`POLLIN`,
+   :const:`POLLPRI`, and :const:`POLLOUT`, described in the table below.  If not
+   specified, the default value used will check for all 3 types of events.
+
+   +-------------------+------------------------------------------+
+   | Constant          | Meaning                                  |
+   +===================+==========================================+
+   | :const:`POLLIN`   | There is data to read                    |
+   +-------------------+------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`POLLPRI`  | There is urgent data to read             |
+   +-------------------+------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`POLLOUT`  | Ready for output: writing will not block |
+   +-------------------+------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`POLLERR`  | Error condition of some sort             |
+   +-------------------+------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`POLLHUP`  | Hung up                                  |
+   +-------------------+------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`POLLNVAL` | Invalid request: descriptor not open     |
+   +-------------------+------------------------------------------+
+
+   Registering a file descriptor that's already registered is not an error, and has
+   the same effect as registering the descriptor exactly once.
+
+
+.. method:: poll.modify(fd, eventmask)
+
+   Modifies an already registered fd. This has the same effect as
+   :meth:`register(fd, eventmask)`.  Attempting to modify a file descriptor
+   that was never registered causes an :exc:`IOError` exception with errno
+   :const:`ENOENT` to be raised.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 2.6
+
+
+.. method:: poll.unregister(fd)
+
+   Remove a file descriptor being tracked by a polling object.  Just like the
+   :meth:`register` method, *fd* can be an integer or an object with a
+   :meth:`fileno` method that returns an integer.
+
+   Attempting to remove a file descriptor that was never registered causes a
+   :exc:`KeyError` exception to be raised.
+
+
+.. method:: poll.poll([timeout])
+
+   Polls the set of registered file descriptors, and returns a possibly-empty list
+   containing ``(fd, event)`` 2-tuples for the descriptors that have events or
+   errors to report. *fd* is the file descriptor, and *event* is a bitmask with
+   bits set for the reported events for that descriptor --- :const:`POLLIN` for
+   waiting input, :const:`POLLOUT` to indicate that the descriptor can be written
+   to, and so forth. An empty list indicates that the call timed out and no file
+   descriptors had any events to report. If *timeout* is given, it specifies the
+   length of time in milliseconds which the system will wait for events before
+   returning. If *timeout* is omitted, negative, or :const:`None`, the call will
+   block until there is an event for this poll object.
+
+
+.. _kqueue-objects:
+
+Kqueue Objects
+--------------
+
+.. method:: kqueue.close()
+
+   Close the control file descriptor of the kqueue object.
+
+
+.. method:: kqueue.fileno()
+
+   Return the file descriptor number of the control fd.
+
+
+.. method:: kqueue.fromfd(fd)
+
+   Create a kqueue object from a given file descriptor.
+
+
+.. method:: kqueue.control(changelist, max_events[, timeout=None]) -> eventlist
+
+   Low level interface to kevent
+
+   - changelist must be an iterable of kevent object or None
+   - max_events must be 0 or a positive integer
+   - timeout in seconds (floats possible)
+
+
+.. _kevent-objects:
+
+Kevent Objects
+--------------
+
+http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=kqueue&sektion=2
+
+.. attribute:: kevent.ident
+
+   Value used to identify the event. The interpretation depends on the filter
+   but it's usually the file descriptor. In the constructor ident can either
+   be an int or an object with a fileno() function. kevent stores the integer
+   internally.
+
+.. attribute:: kevent.filter
+
+   Name of the kernel filter
+
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+   | Constant                  | Meaning                                     |
+   +===========================+=============================================+
+   | :const:`KQ_FILTER_READ`   | Takes a descriptor and returns whenever     |
+   |                           | there is data available to read             |
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_FILTER_WRITE`  | Takes a descriptor and returns whenever     |
+   |                           | there is data available to read             |
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_FILTER_AIO`    | AIO requests                                |
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_FILTER_VNODE`  | Returns when one or more of the requested   |
+   |                           | events watched in *fflag* occurs            |
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_FILTER_PROC`   | Watch for events on a process id            |
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_FILTER_NETDEV` | Watch for events on a network device        |
+   |                           | [not available on Mac OS X]                 |
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_FILTER_SIGNAL` | Returns whenever the watched signal is      |
+   |                           | delivered to the process                    |
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_FILTER_TIMER`  | Establishes an arbitrary timer              |
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+
+.. attribute:: kevent.flags
+
+   Filter action
+
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+   | Constant                  | Meaning                                     |
+   +===========================+=============================================+
+   | :const:`KQ_EV_ADD`        | Adds or modifies an event                   |
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_EV_DELETE`     | Removes an event from the queue             |
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_EV_ENABLE`     | Permitscontrol() to returns the event       |
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_EV_DISABLE`    | Disablesevent                               |
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_EV_ONESHOT`    | Removes event after first occurrence        |
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_EV_CLEAR`      | Reset the state after an event is retrieved |
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_EV_SYSFLAGS`   | internal event                              |
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_EV_FLAG1`      | internal event                              |
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_EV_EOF`        | Filter specific EOF condition               |
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_EV_ERROR`      | See return values                           |
+   +---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
+
+
+.. attribute:: kevent.fflags
+
+   Filter specific flags
+
+
+   :const:`KQ_FILTER_READ` and  :const:`KQ_FILTER_WRITE` filter flags
+
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+   | Constant                   | Meaning                                    |
+   +============================+============================================+
+   | :const:`KQ_NOTE_LOWAT`     | low water mark of a socket buffer          |
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+
+
+   :const:`KQ_FILTER_VNODE` filter flags
+
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+   | Constant                   | Meaning                                    |
+   +============================+============================================+
+   | :const:`KQ_NOTE_DELETE`    | *unlink()* was called                      |
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_NOTE_WRITE`     | a write occurred                           |
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_NOTE_EXTEND`    | the file was extended                      |
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_NOTE_ATTRIB`    | an attribute was changed                   |
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_NOTE_LINK`      | the link count has changed                 |
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_NOTE_RENAME`    | the file was renamed                       |
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_NOTE_REVOKE`    | access to the file was revoked             |
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+
+
+   :const:`KQ_FILTER_PROC` filter flags
+
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+   | Constant                   | Meaning                                    |
+   +============================+============================================+
+   | :const:`KQ_NOTE_EXIT`      | the process has exited                     |
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_NOTE_FORK`      | the process has called *fork()*            |
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_NOTE_EXEC`      | the process has executed a new process     |
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_NOTE_PCTRLMASK` | internal filter flag                       |
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_NOTE_PDATAMASK` | internal filter flag                       |
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_NOTE_TRACK`     | follow a process across *fork()*           |
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_NOTE_CHILD`     | returned on the child process for          |
+   |                            | *NOTE_TRACK*                               |
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_NOTE_TRACKERR`  | unable to attach to a child                |
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+
+   :const:`KQ_FILTER_NETDEV` filter flags [not available on Mac OS X]
+
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+   | Constant                   | Meaning                                    |
+   +============================+============================================+
+   | :const:`KQ_NOTE_LINKUP`    | link is up                                 |
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_NOTE_LINKDOWN`  | link is down                               |
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+   | :const:`KQ_NOTE_LINKINV`   | link state is invalid                      |
+   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
+
+
+.. attribute:: kevent.data
+
+   Filter specific data
+
+
+.. attribute:: kevent.udata
+
+   User defined value