`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`::
.in: The FD must be readable; it becomes child's stdin.
.out: The FD must be writable; it becomes child's stdout.
- .err > 0 is not supported.
+ .err: The FD must be writable; it becomes child's stderr.
The specified FD is closed by start_command(), even if it fails to
run the sub-process!
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.
There are serious restrictions on what the asynchronous function can do
-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:
+because this facility is implemented by a thread in the same address
+space on most platforms (when pthreads is available), but by a pipe to
+a forked process otherwise:
. 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.