URIS

http://rubyforge.org/projects/codeforpeople/
http://www.codeforpeople.com/lib/ruby/

SYNOPSIS

open child process with handles on pid, stdin, stdout, and stderr: manage
child processes and their io handles easily.

INSTALL

~> gem install open4

SAMPLES

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
simple usage
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  harp: > cat sample/simple.rb
  require "open4"

  pid, stdin, stdout, stderr = Open4::popen4 "sh"

  stdin.puts "echo 42.out"
  stdin.puts "echo 42.err 1>&2"
  stdin.close

  ignored, status = Process::waitpid2 pid

  puts "pid        : #{ pid }"
  puts "stdout     : #{ stdout.read.strip }"
  puts "stderr     : #{ stderr.read.strip }"
  puts "status     : #{ status.inspect }"
  puts "exitstatus : #{ status.exitstatus }"

  harp: > ruby sample/simple.rb
  pid        : 17273
  stdout     : 42.out
  stderr     : 42.err
  status     : #<Process::Status: pid=17273,exited(0)>
  exitstatus : 0

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
in block form - the child process is automatically waited for
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  harp: > cat sample/block.rb
  require 'open4'

  status =
    Open4::popen4("sh") do |pid, stdin, stdout, stderr|
      stdin.puts "echo 42.out"
      stdin.puts "echo 42.err 1>&2"
      stdin.close

      puts "pid        : #{ pid }"
      puts "stdout     : #{ stdout.read.strip }"
      puts "stderr     : #{ stderr.read.strip }"
    end

      puts "status     : #{ status.inspect }"
      puts "exitstatus : #{ status.exitstatus }"

  harp: > ruby sample/block.rb
  pid        : 17295
  stdout     : 42.out
  stderr     : 42.err
  status     : #<Process::Status: pid=17295,exited(0)>
  exitstatus : 0

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
exceptions are marshaled from child to parent if fork/exec fails
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  harp: > cat sample/exception.rb
  require "open4"
  Open4::popen4 "noexist"

  harp: > ruby sample/exception.rb
  /dmsp/reference/ruby-1.8.1//lib/ruby/site_ruby/open4.rb:100:in `popen4': No such file or directory - noexist (Errno::ENOENT)
          from sample/exception.rb:3

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
the spawn method provides and even more convenient method of running a
process, allowing any object that supports 'each', 'read', or 'to_s' to be
given as stdin and any objects that support '<<' to be given as
stdout/stderr.  an exception is thrown if the exec'd cmd fails (nonzero
exitstatus) unless the option 'raise'=>false is given
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  harp: > cat sample/spawn.rb
  require 'open4'
  include Open4

  cat = '  ruby -e"  ARGF.each{|line| STDOUT << line}  "  '

  stdout, stderr = '', ''
  status = spawn cat, 'stdin' => '42', 'stdout' => stdout, 'stderr' => stderr
  p status
  p stdout
  p stderr

  stdout, stderr = '', ''
  status = spawn cat, 0=>'42', 1=>stdout, 2=>stderr
  p status
  p stdout
  p stderr

  harp: > RUBYLIB=lib ruby sample/spawn.rb
  0
  "42"
  ""
  0
  "42"
  ""

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
the bg/background method is similar to spawn, but the process is
automatically set running in a thread.  the returned thread has several
methods added dynamically which return the pid and blocking calls to the
exitstatus.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  harp: > cat sample/bg.rb
  require 'yaml'
  require 'open4'
  include Open4

  stdin = '42'
  stdout = ''
  stderr = ''

  t = bg 'ruby -e"sleep 4; puts ARGF.read"', 0=>stdin, 1=>stdout, 2=>stderr

  waiter = Thread.new{ y t.pid => t.exitstatus } # t.exitstatus is a blocking call!

  while((status = t.status))
    y "status" => status
    sleep 1
  end

  waiter.join

  y "stdout" => stdout

  harp: > ruby sample/bg.rb
  ---
  status: run
  ---
  status: sleep
  ---
  status: sleep
  ---
  status: sleep
  ---
  21357: 0
  ---
  stdout: "42\n"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
the timeout methods can be used to ensure execution is preceding at the
desired interval.  note also how to setup a 'pipeline'
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  harp: > cat sample/stdin_timeout.rb
  require 'open4'

  producer = 'ruby -e" STDOUT.sync = true; loop{sleep(rand+rand) and puts 42} "'

  consumer = 'ruby -e" STDOUT.sync = true; STDIN.each{|line| puts line} "'

  open4(producer) do |pid, i, o, e|

    open4.spawn consumer, :stdin=>o, :stdout=>STDOUT, :stdin_timeout => 1.4

  end

  harp: > ruby sample/stdin_timeout.rb
  42
  42
  42
  42
  42
  /dmsp/reference/ruby-1.8.1//lib/ruby/1.8/timeout.rb:42:in `relay': execution expired (Timeout::Error)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
pfork4 is similar to popen4, but instead of executing a command, it runs
ruby code in a child process. if the child process raises an exception, it
propagates to the parent.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  harp: > cat sample/pfork4.rb
  require 'open4'

  echo = lambda do
    $stdout.write $stdin.read
    raise 'finish implementing me'
  end

  org_message = "hello, world!"
  got_message = nil
  exception   = nil

  begin
    Open4.pfork4(echo) do |cid, stdin, stdout, stderr|
      stdin.write org_message
      stdin.close
      got_message = stdout.read
    end
  rescue RuntimeError => e
    exception = e.to_s
  end

  puts "org_message: #{org_message}"
  puts "got_message: #{got_message}"
  puts "exception  : #{exception}"

  harp: > ruby sample/pfork4.rb
  org_message: hello, world!
  got_message: hello, world!
  exception  : finish implementing me

HISTORY

1.0.0
  - added ability for spawn to take a proc (respond_to?(:call))

    cmd = ' ruby -e" 42.times{ puts 0b101010 } " '
    include Open4
    spawn cmd, :stdout => lambda{|buf| puts buf} 

0.9.5:
  - another patch from Corey Jewett, this time dealing with ruby's handling
    of chdir and threads.  basically the 'cwd' keyword to open4 cannot work
    with multiple threads (aka background) because ruby cannot cause green
    threads to have an actuall different working dir.  the moral is that the
    :cwd/'cwd' keyword to spawn will work with 0 or 1 threads in effect.

0.9.4:
  - patch to #background from Corey Jewett

0.9.3:
  - removed some debugging output accidentally left in 0.9.2.  arggh!

0.9.2:
  - fixed a descriptor leak.  thanks Andre Nathan.

0.9.1:
  - fixed warning with '-w' : @cid not initialized.  thanks blaise tarr.

0.9.0:
  - added the ability for open4.spawn to take either an array of arguments
    or multiple arguments in order to specify the argv for the command run.
    for example

      open4.spawn ['touch', 'difficult to "quote"'], :stdout=>STDOUT

    same thing

      open4.spawn 'touch', 'difficult to "quote"', :stdout=>STDOUT

    thanks to jordan breeding for this suggestion

  - added 'cwd'/:cwd keyword.  usage is pretty obivous

      open4.spawn 'pwd', 1=>STDOUT, :cwd=>'/tmp'   #=> /tmp

    this one also from jordan

0.8.0:

  - fixed a critical bug whereby a process producing tons of stdout, but for
    which the stdout was not handled, would cause the child process to
    become blocked/hung writing to the pipe.  eg, this command would cause a
    hang

      include Open4

      spawn 'ruby -e"  puts Array.new(65536){ 42 }  "'

    whereas this one would not

      include Open4

      spawn 'ruby -e"  puts Array.new(65536){ 42 }  "', :stdout=>StringIO.new

    this version handles the former by spawning a 'null' thread which reads,
    but does not process stdout/stderr.  that way commands which generate
    tons of output will never become blocked.

0.7.0:
  - merged functionality of exitstatus/status keywords:

      include Open4

      spawn 'ruby -e "exit 42"'                 # raises 
      spawn 'ruby -e "exit 42"', :status=>true  # ok, returns status
      spawn 'ruby -e "exit 42"', :status=>42    # raises if status != 42
      spawn 'ruby -e "exit 42"', :status=>0,42  # raises if status != 0||42

  - the 0.6.0 was broken on rubyforge... this release fixes that (somehow!?)

0.6.0:
  - added feature for exitstatus to be list of acceptable exit statuses

      Open4.spawn 'ruby -e "exit 42"'                      # raises
      Open4.spawn 'ruby -e "exit 42"', :exitstatus=>[0,42] # ok

  - added :status switch, which will always simply return the status (no
    error thrown for failure)

      Open4.spawn 'ruby -e "exit 42"'                          # raises 
      status = Open4.spawn 'ruby -e "exit 42"', :status=>true  # ok 

    note, however, that any SpawnError does in fact contain the failed
    status so, even when they are thrown, error status can be retrieved:

      include Open4

      status =
        begin
          spawn 'ruby -e "exit 42"'
        rescue SpawnError => e
          warn{ e }
          e.status
        end

0.5.1:
  - fixes a __critical__ but in ThreadEnsemble class that had a race
    condition that could cause thread deadlock.  sorry bout that folks.

0.5.0:
  - on the suggestion of tim pease (thanks tim!), i added timeout features
    to open4.  the command run may have an overall timeout and individual
    timeouts set for each of the io handles.  for example

      cmd = 'command_that_produce_out_at_one_second_intervals'

      open4.spawn cmd, :stdout_timeout => 2 

    or 

      cmd = 'command_that_should_complete_in_about_one_minute'

      open4.spawn cmd, :timeout => 60

    or

      cmd = 'consumes_input_at_one_line_per_second_rate'

      input = %w( 42 forty-two 42.0 )

      open4.spawn cmd, :stdin=>input, :stdin_timeout=>1

  - added 'open4' alias so one can write

      open4.spawn  vs Open4.spawn

    or even

      open4(cmd) do |pid,i,o,e|
      end

  - added signal info to SpawnError

0.4.0:
  - improved error handling contributed by jordan breeding.
  - introduction of background/bg method

0.3.0 :
  - bug fix from jordan breeding.  general clean up.  added spawn method.

0.2.0 :
  - added exception marshaled from child -> parent when exec fails.  thanks
    to jordan breeding for a patch (yay!) and paul brannan for this most
    excellent idea.

0.1.0 :
  - fixed docs to correctly show return value of popen4 (pid first not last).
    thanks Stefanie Tellex <[email protected]> for catching this. 
0.0.0 :
  - initial version

AUTHOR

ara.t.howard@gmail.com

LICENSE

ruby's