Ocamlnet 4 Reference Manual : Netshm

# Module Netshm

    module Netshm: sig .. end

Shared memory for O'Caml programs using multi-processing

## Shared Memory Descriptors

    type shm_descr

A shared memory descriptor refers to a shared memory object. Such a descriptor must only be opened once for every process.

    type shm_type = [ `File | `POSIX ]

    val supported_types : shm_type list

The types supported for this OS

    type shm_name = [ `File of string | `POSIX of string * string ]

A `shm_name` is a name for a shared memory object.

    val shm_type_of_name : shm_name -> shm_type

    val open_shm : ?unique:bool ->
           shm_name -> Unix.open_flag list -> int -> shm_descr

Opens the shared memory object.

For `POSIX_shm` not all open flags can be specified. The flags are limited to `O_RDONLY`, `O_RDWR`, `O_CREAT`, `O_EXCL` and `O_TRUNC`.

`unique`: Unique file generation as in `create_unique_shm`.

    val create_unique_shm : shm_name -> int -> shm_descr

Create a shared memory object under a name that is derived from the passed `shm_name`. The actual name can be queried with `name_of_shm` (below).

For `POSIX` and `File` names, deriving works by replacing the 'X' letters in the file name by random digits and letters. For example, if the name is `File "/my/directory/ocaml.XXXXXX"` six random characters are generated and replace the 'X' letters such that the file is unique.

The integer is the file permission.

    val name_of_shm : shm_descr -> shm_name

Returns the name of an object

    val close_shm : shm_descr -> unit

Closes the object. The object remains existent and can be opened again.

    val unlink_shm : shm_name -> unit

Removes the name permanently from the system

    val chmod_shm : shm_descr -> int -> unit

    val chown_shm : shm_descr -> int -> int -> unit

Set file permission bits, user and group ownership of the object

    type locking_method = [ `No_locking | `Record_locking ]

The locking method is used to ensure that parallel read and write operations to the memory object do not interfer with each other. If `No_locking` is selected, such protection is not done - this is ok if only read accesses occur or if the user can ensure that never a write access is done in parallel with another access. The locking method must be compatible with the type of shared memory.

    val best_locking_method : shm_type -> locking_method

Return the best locking method other than `No_locking`

## Shared Memory Tables

This is a quite basic data structure implemented for shared memory: hash tables with `int32` as key and one-dimensional `int32` bigarray as values.

The semantics resembles the `Hashtbl` of stdlib

    type shm_table

    type int32_array = (int32, Bigarray.int32_elt, Bigarray.c_layout) Bigarray.Array1.t

    exception Corrupt_file of string

Raised when a violation of the object format is detected

    exception Deadlock

Raised when a deadlock situation was detected. Deadlocks can occur when the `group` function is used

    val manage : ?pagesize:int ->
           ?init:int -> locking_method -> shm_descr -> shm_table

Starts managing an open shared memory object as `shm_table`. If the object is empty, it is automatically enlarged to the minimum size and initialized. If the object is non-empty it is expected that it already contains a valid `shm_table` structure.

The object automatically grows in size when new elements are added to the object. By removing elements, however, the object is never shrinked. Unused memory is held back for later reallocation by the same `shm_table`.

By default, the table uses a page size of 256 bytes. The page size is the unit of memory allocation. The parameter `pagesize` overrides this default. The page size must be at least 160 and divisible by 4. The page size must be the same when the table was created.

By passing `init` it is enforced that the table is re-initialized (deleted and again created). The argument of `init` is a hint for the number of elements the table will contain. The data structure is then created such that this many elements can be added without needing expensive data reorganization.

Special note for using `shm_table` with multiple processes: Every process must create its own `shm_descr`, and every process must call `manage` to manage it. It is not sufficient to just fork a new process, and to keep using the already existing `shm_descr` or `shm_table` in the subprocess. (This doesn't work because the underlying file descriptor would be shared.)

    val group : shm_table -> ('a -> 'b) -> 'a -> 'b

Execute a sequence of operations in a group:

     let r =
        group table
          (fun arg ->
             operation1; operation2; ...)
          arg

Operations can be any reading or writing functions from below. The effect is that the locking requirements of the operations are merged, so that no operation of another process can interfer with the grouped sequence. Note, however, that this gives no real atomicity as there is no way to roll back half-executed sequences.

Groups can be nested.

An example of `group` is to set a binding depending on the previous value of the binding. Here, we add 1:

     let add_one table =
        group table
          (fun key ->
            let ba =
              try find table key
              with Not_found ->
                Bigarray.Array1.create Bigarray.int32 Bigarray.c_layout 1 in
            ba.{ 0 } <- Int32.succ ba.{ 0 };
            replace table key ba
          )

Grouping protects the update from modifications done by other processes at the same time. In particular, without grouping it can happen that another process also modifies the same value between `find` and `replace`.

    val add : shm_table -> int32 -> int32_array -> unit

`add tbl key value`: Adds the binding of `key` to `value` to the table. Previous bindings are not removed, but simply hidden.

    val find : shm_table -> int32 -> int32_array

`find tbl key`: Finds the current binding of `key` in `tbl` or raises `Not_found` if no such binding exists.

    val find_all : shm_table -> int32 -> int32_array list

`find_all tbl key` returns the list of all data associated with `key` in `tbl`. The current binding is returned first, then the previous bindings, in reverse order of introduction in the table.

    val mem : shm_table -> int32 -> bool

`mem tbl key` checks if `key` is bound in `tbl`.

    val remove : shm_table -> int32 -> unit

`remove tbl key` removes the current binding of `key` in `tbl`, restoring the previous binding if it exists. It does nothing if `key` is not bound in `tbl`.

    val replace : shm_table -> int32 -> int32_array -> unit

`replace tbl key value` replaces the current binding of `key` in `tbl` by a binding of `key` to `value`. If `key` is unbound in `tbl`, a binding of `key` to `value` is added to `tbl`.

    val iter : (int32 -> int32_array -> unit) -> shm_table -> unit

`iter f tbl` applies `f` to all bindings in table `tbl`. `f` receives the key as first argument, and the associated value as second argument. Each binding is presented exactly once to `f`. The order in which the bindings are passed to `f` is unspecified. However, if the table contains several bindings for the same key, they are passed to `f` in reverse order of introduction, that is, the most recent binding is passed first.

While the iteration is in progress, the table is read-locked. That means you cannot modify it during the iteration.

    val iter_keys : (int32 -> unit) -> shm_table -> unit

`iter_keys f tbl` applies `f` to all keys in table `tbl`. If there are several bindings for a key, `f` is only called once.

While the iteration is in progress, the table is locked. That means you cannot modify it during the iteration.

    val fold : (int32 -> int32_array -> 'a -> 'a) -> shm_table -> 'a -> 'a

`fold f tbl init` computes `(f kN dN ... (f k1 d1 init)...)`, where `k1 ... kN` are the keys of all bindings in `tbl`, and `d1 ... dN` are the associated values. Each binding is presented exactly once to `f`. The order in which the bindings are passed to `f` is unspecified. However, if the table contains several bindings for the same key, they are passed to `f` in reverse order of introduction, that is, the most recent binding is passed first.

While the iteration is in progress, the table is locked. That means you cannot modify it during the iteration.

    val length : shm_table -> int

`length tbl` returns the number of bindings in `tbl`. Multiple bindings are counted multiply, so `length` gives the number of times `iter` calls its first argument.

## Enhanced API to shared memory tables

    exception Next

    exception Break

    val read_blocks : shm_table -> int32 -> (int32_array option -> unit) -> unit

`find_blocks tbl key f`: The values may be stored in several disk blocks. This interface allows one to access the values block by block. As `find_all`, all bindings for `key` in `tbl` are determined in reverse order, i.e. the newest binding first, the oldest last. For every binding `value`, the function `f` is invoked in a sequence `f (Some v1)`, `f (Some v2)`, ..., `f (Some vN)`, `f None` where `value` is the array concatenation of `v1`, `v2`, ..., `vN`. The function `f` may raise the exception `Next` to go directly to the start of the next binding of `key`. The exception `Break` stops the iteration immediately.

Note that the `int32_array` fragments `vK` point to shared memory. Any assignment would modify the shared memory object directly! The binding is at that time, however, only read-locked, so this should be avoided.

    type write_op = [ `Remove_binding ]

    type ctrl_op = [ `Nop | `Remove_binding ]

    val write_blocks : shm_table ->
           write_op list ->
           int32 -> (int32_array option -> ctrl_op) -> unit

`write_blocks tbl ops key f`: Like `read_blocks` this function iterates over the blocks of all bindings for `key`. For every binding `value`, the function `f` is invoked in a sequence `f (Some v1)`, `f (Some v2)`, ..., `f (Some vN)`, `f None`. Unlike `read_blocks` the function `f` returns a value. The last non-``Nop` result value in this sequence determines the modification to carry out for the binding:

- ``Remove_binding`: The whole binding is removed from the table.

If all invocations of `f` just return ``Nop`, no further modification is done.

The modifications must be announced in the `ops` argument. It is not allowed that `f` returns a value not being a member of `ops` (except ``Nop`).

It is possible to raise the special exceptions `Next` and `Break` just as for `read_blocks`.

Note that the `int32_array` fragments `vK` point to shared memory. Any assignment will modify the shared memory object directly! The binding is at that time write-locked, so such assignments are protected against concurrent writes.

    val dump : shm_table -> unit

    val bigarray : int array -> int32_array

    val memory : shm_table ->
           (int32, Bigarray.int32_elt, Bigarray.c_layout) Bigarray.Array2.t