path: root/lib/stdlib/doc/src/proc_lib.xml

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  <header>
    <copyright>
      <year>1996</year><year>2016</year>
      <holder>Ericsson AB. All Rights Reserved.</holder>
    </copyright>
    <legalnotice>
      Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
      you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
      You may obtain a copy of the License at
 
          http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

      Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
      distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
      WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
      See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
      limitations under the License.
    
    </legalnotice>

    <title>proc_lib</title>
    <prepared></prepared>
    <docno></docno>
    <date></date>
    <rev></rev>
  </header>
  <module>proc_lib</module>
  <modulesummary>Functions for asynchronous and synchronous start of processes
    adhering to the OTP design principles.</modulesummary>
  <description>
    <p>This module is used to start processes adhering to
      the <seealso marker="doc/design_principles:des_princ">
      OTP Design Principles</seealso>. Specifically, the functions in this
      module are used by the OTP standard behaviors (for example,
      <c>gen_server</c>, <c>gen_fsm</c>, and <c>gen_statem</c>)
      when starting new processes. The functions
      can also be used to start <em>special processes</em>, user-defined
      processes that comply to the OTP design principles. For an example,
      see section <seealso marker="doc/design_principles:spec_proc">
      sys and proc_lib</seealso> in OTP Design Principles.</p>


    <p>Some useful information is initialized when a process starts.
      The registered names, or the process identifiers, of the parent
      process, and the parent ancestors, are stored together with
      information about the function initially called in the process.</p>

    <p>While in "plain Erlang", a process is said to terminate normally
      only for exit reason <c>normal</c>, a process started
      using <c>proc_lib</c> is also said to terminate normally if it
      exits with reason <c>shutdown</c> or <c>{shutdown,Term}</c>.
      <c>shutdown</c> is the reason used when
      an application (supervision tree) is stopped.</p>

    <p>When a process that is started using <c>proc_lib</c> terminates
      abnormally (that is, with another exit reason than <c>normal</c>,
      <c>shutdown</c>, or <c>{shutdown,Term}</c>), a <em>crash report</em>
      is generated, which is written to terminal by the default <c>SASL</c>
      event handler. That is, the crash report is normally only visible
      if the <c>SASL</c> application is started; see
      <seealso marker="sasl:sasl_app"><c>sasl(6)</c></seealso> and section
      <seealso marker="sasl:error_logging">SASL Error Logging</seealso>
      in the SASL User's Guide.</p>

    <p>The crash report contains the previously stored information, such
      as ancestors and initial function, the termination reason, and
      information about other processes that terminate as a result
      of this process terminating.</p>
  </description>

  <datatypes>
    <datatype>
      <name name="spawn_option"/>
      <desc>
        <p>See <seealso marker="erts:erlang#spawn_opt/4">
          <c>erlang:spawn_opt/2,3,4,5</c></seealso>.</p>
      </desc>
    </datatype>
    <datatype>
      <name name="priority_level"/>
    </datatype>
    <datatype>
      <name name="max_heap_size"/>
      <desc>
        <p>See <seealso marker="erts:erlang#process_flag_max_heap_size">
          erlang:process_flag(max_heap_size, MaxHeapSize)</seealso>.</p>
      </desc>
    </datatype>
    <datatype>
      <name name="dict_or_pid"/>
    </datatype>
  </datatypes>

  <funcs>
    <func>
      <name name="format" arity="1"/>
      <fsummary>Format a crash report.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Equivalent to <seealso marker="#format/2">
          <c>format(<anno>CrashReport</anno>, latin1)</c></seealso>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="format" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Format a crash report.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>This function can be used by a user-defined event handler to
          format a crash report. The crash report is sent using
          <seealso marker="kernel:error_logger#error_report/2">
          <c>error_logger:error_report(crash_report,
          <anno>CrashReport</anno>)</c></seealso>.
          That is, the event to be handled is of the format
          <c>{error_report, GL, {Pid, crash_report,
          <anno>CrashReport</anno>}}</c>,
          where <c>GL</c> is the group leader pid of process
          <c>Pid</c> that sent the crash report.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="format" arity="3"/>
      <fsummary>Format a crash report.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>This function can be used by a user-defined event handler to
          format a crash report. When <anno>Depth</anno> is specified as a
          positive integer, it is used in the format string to
          limit the output as follows: <c>io_lib:format("~P",
          [Term,<anno>Depth</anno>])</c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="hibernate" arity="3"/>
      <fsummary>Hibernate a process until a message is sent to it.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>This function does the same as (and does call) the
          <seealso marker="erts:erlang#erlang:hibernate/3">
          <c>hibernate/3</c></seealso> BIF,
          but ensures that exception handling and logging continues to
          work as expected when the process wakes up.</p>
        <p>Always use this function instead of the BIF for processes started
          using <c>proc_lib</c> functions.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="init_ack" arity="1"/>
      <name name="init_ack" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Used by a process when it has started.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>This function must be used by a process that has been started by
          a <seealso marker="#start/3"><c>start[_link]/3,4,5</c></seealso>
          function. It tells <c><anno>Parent</anno></c> that the process has
          initialized itself, has started, or has failed to initialize
          itself.</p>
        <p>Function <c>init_ack/1</c> uses the parent value
          previously stored by the start function used.</p>
        <p>If this function is not called, the start function
          returns an error tuple (if a link and/or a time-out is used) or
          hang otherwise.</p>
        <p>The following example illustrates how this function and
          <c>proc_lib:start_link/3</c> are used:</p>
        <code type="none">
-module(my_proc).
-export([start_link/0]).
-export([init/1]).

start_link() ->
    proc_lib:start_link(my_proc, init, [self()]).

init(Parent) ->
    case do_initialization() of
        ok ->
            proc_lib:init_ack(Parent, {ok, self()});
        {error, Reason} ->
            exit(Reason)
    end,
    loop().

...</code>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="initial_call" arity="1"/>
      <fsummary>Extract the initial call of a <c>proc_lib</c>spawned process.
      </fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Extracts the initial call of a process that was started
          using one of the spawn or start functions in this module.
          <c><anno>Process</anno></c> can either be a pid, an integer tuple
          (from which a pid can be created), or the process information of a
          process <c>Pid</c> fetched through an
          <c>erlang:process_info(Pid)</c> function call.</p>
        <note>
          <p>The list <c><anno>Args</anno></c> no longer contains the
            arguments, but the same number of atoms as the number of arguments;
            the first atom is <c>'Argument__1'</c>, the second
            <c>'Argument__2'</c>, and so on. The reason is that the argument
            list could waste a significant amount of memory, and if the
            argument list contained funs, it could be impossible to upgrade the
            code for the module.</p>
          <p>If the process was spawned using a fun, <c>initial_call/1</c> no
            longer returns the fun, but the module, function for the
            local function implementing the fun, and the arity, for example,
            <c>{some_module,-work/3-fun-0-,0}</c> (meaning that the fun was
            created in function <c>some_module:work/3</c>). The reason is that
            keeping the fun would prevent code upgrade for the module, and that
            a significant amount of memory could be wasted.</p>
        </note>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="spawn" arity="1"/>
      <name name="spawn" arity="2"/>
      <name name="spawn" arity="3"/>
      <name name="spawn" arity="4"/>
      <fsummary>Spawn a new process.</fsummary>
      <type variable="Node"/>
      <type variable="Fun" name_i="1"/>
      <type variable="Module"/>
      <type variable="Function"/>
      <type variable="Args"/>
      <desc>
        <p>Spawns a new process and initializes it as described in the
          beginning of this manual page. The process is spawned using the
          <seealso marker="erts:erlang#spawn/1"><c>spawn</c></seealso> BIFs.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="spawn_link" arity="1"/>
      <name name="spawn_link" arity="2"/>
      <name name="spawn_link" arity="3"/>
      <name name="spawn_link" arity="4"/>
      <fsummary>Spawn and link to a new process.</fsummary>
      <type variable="Node"/>
      <type variable="Fun" name_i="1"/>
      <type variable="Module"/>
      <type variable="Function"/>
      <type variable="Args"/>
      <desc>
        <p>Spawns a new process and initializes it as described in the
          beginning of this manual page. The process is spawned using the
          <seealso marker="erts:erlang#spawn_link/1"><c>spawn_link</c></seealso>
          BIFs.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="spawn_opt" arity="2"/>
      <name name="spawn_opt" arity="3"/>
      <name name="spawn_opt" arity="4"/>
      <name name="spawn_opt" arity="5"/>
      <fsummary>Spawn a new process with specified options.</fsummary>
      <type variable="Node"/>
      <type variable="Fun" name_i="1"/>
      <type variable="Module"/>
      <type variable="Function"/>
      <type variable="Args"/>
      <type variable="SpawnOpts"/>
      <desc>
        <p>Spawns a new process and initializes it as described in the
          beginning of this manual page. The process is spawned using the
          <seealso marker="erts:erlang#spawn_opt/2"><c>spawn_opt</c></seealso>
          BIFs.</p>
        <note>
          <p>Using spawn option <c>monitor</c> is not
            allowed. It causes the function to fail with reason
            <c>badarg</c>.</p>
        </note>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="start" arity="3"/>
      <name name="start" arity="4"/>
      <name name="start" arity="5"/>
      <name name="start_link" arity="3"/>
      <name name="start_link" arity="4"/>
      <name name="start_link" arity="5"/>
      <fsummary>Start a new process synchronously.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Starts a new process synchronously. Spawns the process and
          waits for it to start. When the process has started, it
          <em>must</em> call
          <seealso marker="#init_ack/2"><c>init_ack(Parent, Ret)</c></seealso>
          or <seealso marker="#init_ack/1"><c>init_ack(Ret)</c></seealso>,
          where <c>Parent</c> is the process that evaluates this
          function. At this time, <c>Ret</c> is returned.</p>
        <p>If function <c>start_link/3,4,5</c> is used and
          the process crashes before it has called <c>init_ack/1,2</c>,
          <c>{error, <anno>Reason</anno>}</c> is returned if the calling
          process traps exits.</p>
        <p>If <c><anno>Time</anno></c> is specified as an integer, this
          function waits for <c><anno>Time</anno></c> milliseconds for the
          new process to call <c>init_ack</c>, or <c>{error, timeout}</c> is
          returned, and the process is killed.</p>
        <p>Argument <c><anno>SpawnOpts</anno></c>, if specified, is passed
          as the last argument to the <seealso marker="erts:erlang#spawn_opt/2">
          <c>spawn_opt/2,3,4,5</c></seealso> BIF.</p>
        <note>
          <p>Using spawn option <c>monitor</c> is not
            allowed. It causes the function to fail with reason
            <c>badarg</c>.</p>
        </note>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="stop" arity="1"/>
      <fsummary>Terminate a process synchronously.</fsummary>
      <type variable="Process"/>
      <desc>
        <p>Equivalent to <seealso marker="#stop/3">
          <c>stop(Process, normal, infinity)</c></seealso>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="stop" arity="3"/>
      <fsummary>Terminate a process synchronously.</fsummary>
      <type variable="Process"/>
      <type variable="Reason"/>
      <type variable="Timeout"/>
      <desc>
        <p>Orders the process to exit with the specified <c>Reason</c> and
          waits for it to terminate.</p>
        <p>Returns <c>ok</c> if the process exits with
          the specified <c>Reason</c> within <c>Timeout</c> milliseconds.</p>
        <p>If the call times out, a <c>timeout</c> exception is raised.</p>
        <p>If the process does not exist, a <c>noproc</c>
          exception is raised.</p>
        <p>The implementation of this function is based on the
          <c>terminate</c> system message, and requires that the
          process handles system messages correctly.
          For information about system messages, see
          <seealso marker="sys"><c>sys(3)</c></seealso> and section
          <seealso marker="doc/design_principles:spec_proc">
          sys and proc_lib</seealso> in OTP Design Principles.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="translate_initial_call" arity="1"/>
      <fsummary>Extract and translate the initial call of a
        <c>proc_lib</c>spawned process.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>This function is used by functions
          <seealso marker="c#i/0"><c>c:i/0</c></seealso> and
          <seealso marker="c#regs/0"><c>c:regs/0</c></seealso>
          to present process information.</p>
        <p>This function extracts the initial call of a process that was
          started using one of the spawn or start functions in this module,
          and translates it to more useful information.
          <c><anno>Process</anno></c>
          can either be a pid, an integer tuple (from which a pid can
          be created), or the process information of a process
          <c>Pid</c> fetched through an <c>erlang:process_info(Pid)</c>
          function call.</p>
        <p>If the initial call is to one of the system-defined behaviors
          such as <c>gen_server</c> or <c>gen_event</c>, it is
          translated to more useful information. If a <c>gen_server</c>
          is spawned, the returned <c><anno>Module</anno></c> is the name of
          the callback module and <c><anno>Function</anno></c> is <c>init</c>
          (the function that initiates the new server).</p>
        <p>A <c>supervisor</c> and a <c>supervisor_bridge</c> are also
          <c>gen_server</c> processes. To return information
          that this process is a supervisor and the name of the
          callback module, <c><anno>Module</anno></c> is <c>supervisor</c> and
          <c><anno>Function</anno></c> is the name of the supervisor callback
          module. <c><anno>Arity</anno></c> is <c>1</c>, as the <c>init/1</c>
          function is called initially in the callback module.</p>
        <p>By default, <c>{proc_lib,init_p,5}</c> is returned if no
          information about the initial call can be found. It is
          assumed that the caller knows that the process has been
          spawned with the <c>proc_lib</c> module.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
  </funcs>

  <section>
    <title>See Also</title>
    <p><seealso marker="kernel:error_logger">
      <c>error_logger(3)</c></seealso></p>
  </section>
</erlref>