POE::Pipe::OneWay(3)

NAME
POE::Pipe::OneWay - a portable API for one-way pipes

SYNOPSIS
  my ($read, $write) = POE::Pipe::OneWay->new();
  die "couldn't create a pipe: $!" unless defined $read;

DESCRIPTION
The right way to create an anonymous pipe varies from one operating system to the next. Some operating systems support "pipe()". Others require "socketpair()". And a few operating systems support neither, so a plain old socket must be created.

POE::Pipe::OneWay will attempt to create a unidirectional pipe using "pipe()", "socketpair()", and IO::Socket::INET, in that order. Exceptions are hardcoded for operating systems with broken or nonstandard behaviors.

The upshot of all this is that an application can portably create a one-way pipe by instantiating POE::Pipe::OneWay. The work of deciding how to create the pipe and opening the handles will be taken care of internally.

POE::Pipe::OneWay may be used outside of POE, as it doesn't use POE internally.

PUBLIC METHODS

  new [TYPE]
Create a new one-way pipe, optionally constraining it to a particular TYPE of pipe. One-way pipes have two ends: a "read" end and a "write" end. On success, new() returns two handles: one for the "read" end and one for the "write" end. Returns nothing on failure, and sets $! to explain why the constructor failed.

  my ($read, $write) = POE::Pipe::OneWay->new();
  die $! unless defined $read;

TYPE may be one of "pipe", "socketpair", or "inet". When set, POE::Pipe::OneWay will constrain its search to either "pipe()", a UNIX-domain "socketpair()", or plain old sockets, respectively. Otherwise new() will try each method in order, or a particular method predetermined to be the best one for the current operating environment.

BUGS
POE::Pipe::OneWay may block up to one second on some systems if failure occurs while trying to create "inet" sockets.

SEE ALSO
POE::Pipe, POE::Pipe::TwoWay.

AUTHOR & COPYRIGHT
POE::Pipe::OneWay is copyright 2000-2008 by Rocco Caputo. All rights reserved. POE::Pipe::OneWay is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.