child_process.spawnNode

For making easy worker processes.

doc/api/child_processes.markdown

@@ -179,6 +179,39 @@ amount of data allowed on stdout or stderr - if this value is exceeded then
 the child process is killed.
 
 
+### child_process.spawnNode(modulePath, arguments, options)
+
+This is a special case of the `spawn()` functionality for spawning Node
+processes. In addition to having all the methods in a normal ChildProcess
+instance, the returned object, has a communication channel built-in. The
+channel is written to with `child.send(message)` and messages are recieved
+by a `'message'` event on the child.
+
+For example:
+
+    var n = spawnNode(__dirname + '/sub.js');
+
+    n.on('message', function(m) {
+      console.log('PARENT got message:', m);
+    });
+
+    n.send({ hello: 'world' });
+
+And then the child script, `'sub.js'` would might look like this:
+
+    process.on('message', function(m) {
+      console.log('CHILD got message:', m);
+    });
+
+    process.send({ foo: 'bar' });
+
+In the child the `process` object will have a `send()` method, and `process`
+will emit objects each time it receives a message on its channel.
+
+By default the spawned Node process will have the stdin, stdout, stderr associated
+with the parent's. This can be overridden by using the `customFds` option.
+
+
 ### child.kill(signal='SIGTERM')
 
 Send a signal to the child process. If no argument is given, the process will

lib/child_process.js

@@ -32,6 +32,60 @@ var spawn = exports.spawn = function(path, args /*, options, customFds */) {
   return child;
 };
 
+
+function setupChannel(target, fd) {
+  target._channel = new Stream(fd);
+  target._channel.writable = true;
+  target._channel.readable = true;
+
+  target._channel.resume();
+  target._channel.setEncoding('ascii');
+
+  var buffer = '';
+  target._channel.on('data', function(d) {
+    buffer += d;
+    var i;
+    while ((i = buffer.indexOf('\n')) >= 0) {
+      var json = buffer.slice(0, i);
+      buffer = buffer.slice(i + 1);
+      var m = JSON.parse(json);
+      target.emit('message', m);
+    }
+  });
+
+  target.send = function(m) {
+    target._channel.write(JSON.stringify(m) + '\n');
+  };
+}
+
+
+exports.spawnNode = function(modulePath, args, options) {
+  if (!options) options = {};
+  options.wantChannel = true;
+
+  if (!args) args = [];
+  args.unshift(modulePath);
+
+  // Unless they gave up customFds, just use the parent process
+  if (!options.customFds) options.customFds = [0, 1, 2];
+
+  var child = spawn(process.execPath, args, options);
+
+  setupChannel(child, child.fds[3]);
+
+  child.on('exit', function() {
+    child._channel.destroy();
+  });
+
+  return child;
+};
+
+
+exports._spawnNodeChild = function(fd) {
+  setupChannel(process, fd);
+};
+
+
 exports.exec = function(command /*, options, callback */) {
   var _slice = Array.prototype.slice;
   var args = ['/bin/sh', ['-c', command]].concat(_slice.call(arguments, 1));
@@ -240,6 +294,12 @@ ChildProcess.prototype.spawn = function(path, args, options, customFds) {
     envPairs.push(key + '=' + env[key]);
   }
 
+  if (options && options.wantChannel) {
+    // The FILLMEIN will be replaced in C land with an integer!
+    // AWFUL! :D
+    envPairs.push('NODE_CHANNEL_FD=FILLMEIN');
+  }
+
   var fds = this._internal.spawn(path,
                                  args,
                                  cwd,

src/node.js

@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@
     startup.processKillAndExit();
     startup.processSignalHandlers();
 
+    startup.processChannel();
+
     startup.removedMethods();
 
     startup.resolveArgv0();
@@ -307,6 +309,19 @@
     };
   };
 
+
+  startup.processChannel = function() {
+    // If we were spawned with env NODE_CHANNEL_FD then load that up and
+    // start parsing data from that stream.
+    if (process.env.NODE_CHANNEL_FD) {
+      var fd = parseInt(process.env.NODE_CHANNEL_FD);
+      assert(fd >= 0);
+      var cp = NativeModule.require('child_process');
+      cp._spawnNodeChild(fd);
+      assert(process.send);
+    }
+  }
+
   startup._removedProcessMethods = {
     'assert': 'process.assert() use require("assert").ok() instead',
     'debug': 'process.debug() use console.error() instead',

src/node_child_process.cc

@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@
 #include <sys/wait.h>
 #endif
 
+#include <sys/socket.h> /* socketpair */
+#include <sys/un.h>
+
 # ifdef __APPLE__
 # include <crt_externs.h>
 # define environ (*_NSGetEnviron())
@@ -206,7 +209,7 @@ Handle<Value> ChildProcess::Spawn(const Arguments& args) {
       String::New("setgid argument must be a number or a string")));
   }
 
-
+  int channel_fd = -1;
 
   int r = child->Spawn(argv[0],
                        argv,
@@ -218,7 +221,8 @@ Handle<Value> ChildProcess::Spawn(const Arguments& args) {
                        custom_uid,
                        custom_uname,
                        custom_gid,
-                       custom_gname);
+                       custom_gname,
+                       &channel_fd);
 
   if (custom_uname != NULL) free(custom_uname);
   if (custom_gname != NULL) free(custom_gname);
@@ -235,7 +239,8 @@ Handle<Value> ChildProcess::Spawn(const Arguments& args) {
     return ThrowException(Exception::Error(String::New("Error spawning")));
   }
 
-  Local<Array> a = Array::New(3);
+
+  Local<Array> a = Array::New(channel_fd >= 0 ? 4 : 3);
 
   assert(fds[0] >= 0);
   a->Set(0, Integer::New(fds[0])); // stdin
@@ -244,6 +249,10 @@ Handle<Value> ChildProcess::Spawn(const Arguments& args) {
   assert(fds[2] >= 0);
   a->Set(2, Integer::New(fds[2])); // stderr
 
+  if (channel_fd >= 0) {
+    a->Set(3, Integer::New(channel_fd));
+  }
+
   return scope.Close(a);
 }
 
@@ -291,6 +300,8 @@ void ChildProcess::Stop() {
 // Note that args[0] must be the same as the "file" param.  This is an
 // execvp() requirement.
 //
+// TODO: The arguments are rediculously long. Needs to be put into a struct.
+//
 int ChildProcess::Spawn(const char *file,
                         char *const args[],
                         const char *cwd,
@@ -301,7 +312,8 @@ int ChildProcess::Spawn(const char *file,
                         int custom_uid,
                         char *custom_uname,
                         int custom_gid,
-                        char *custom_gname) {
+                        char *custom_gname,
+                        int* channel) {
   HandleScope scope;
   assert(pid_ == -1);
   assert(!ev_is_active(&child_watcher_));
@@ -332,11 +344,37 @@ int ChildProcess::Spawn(const char *file,
     SetCloseOnExec(stderr_pipe[1]);
   }
 
+
+  // The channel will be used by spawnNode() for a little JSON channel.
+  // The pointer is used to pass one end of the socket pair back to the
+  // parent.
+  // channel_fds[0] is for the parent
+  // channel_fds[1] is for the child
+  int channel_fds[2] = { -1, -1 };
+
+#define NODE_CHANNEL_FD "NODE_CHANNEL_FD"
+
+  for (int i = 0; env[i]; i++) {
+    if (!strncmp(env[i], NODE_CHANNEL_FD, sizeof NODE_CHANNEL_FD - 1)) {
+      if (socketpair(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM, 0, channel_fds)) {
+        perror("socketpair()");
+        return -1;
+      }
+
+      assert(channel_fds[0] >= 0 && channel_fds[1] >= 0);
+
+      SetNonBlocking(channel_fds[0]);
+      SetNonBlocking(channel_fds[1]);
+      // Write over the FILLMEIN :D
+      sprintf(env[i], NODE_CHANNEL_FD "=%d", channel_fds[1]);
+    }
+  }
+
   // Save environ in the case that we get it clobbered
   // by the child process.
   char **save_our_env = environ;
 
-  switch (pid_ = vfork()) {
+  switch (pid_ = fork()) {
     case -1:  // Error.
       Stop();
       return -4;
@@ -429,7 +467,11 @@ int ChildProcess::Spawn(const char *file,
         _exit(127);
       }
 
-
+      // Close the parent's end of the channel.
+      if (channel_fds[0] >= 0) {
+        close(channel_fds[0]);
+        channel_fds[0] = -1;
+      }
 
       environ = env;
 
@@ -472,6 +514,17 @@ int ChildProcess::Spawn(const char *file,
     stdio_fds[2] = custom_fds[2];
   }
 
+  // Close the child's end of the channel.
+  if (channel_fds[1] >= 0) {
+    close(channel_fds[1]);
+    channel_fds[1] = -1;
+    assert(channel_fds[0] >= 0);
+    assert(channel);
+    *channel = channel_fds[0];
+  } else {
+    *channel = -1;
+  }
+
   return 0;
 }
 

src/node_child_process.h

@@ -89,7 +89,8 @@ class ChildProcess : ObjectWrap {
             int custom_uid,
             char *custom_uname,
             int custom_gid,
-            char *custom_gname);
+            char *custom_gname,
+            int* channel);
 
   // Simple syscall wrapper. Does not disable the watcher. onexit will be
   // called still.

test/fixtures/child-process-channel.js

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+var assert = require('assert');
+
+console.log("NODE_CHANNEL_FD", process.env.NODE_CHANNEL_FD);
+assert.ok(process.env.NODE_CHANNEL_FD);
+
+var fd = parseInt(process.env.NODE_CHANNEL_FD);
+assert.ok(fd >= 0);
+
+process.exit(0);

test/fixtures/child-process-spawn-node.js

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+var assert = require('assert');
+
+process.on('message', function(m) {
+  console.log('CHILD got message:', m);
+  assert.ok(m.hello);
+  // Note that we have to force exit.
+  process.exit();
+});
+
+process.send({ foo: 'bar' });

test/simple/test-child-process-channel.js

@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+var assert = require('assert');
+var spawn = require('child_process').spawn;
+var common = require('../common');
+
+var sub = common.fixturesDir + '/child-process-channel.js';
+
+var child = spawn(process.execPath, [ sub ], {
+  customFds: [0, 1, 2],
+  wantChannel: true
+});
+
+console.log("fds", child.fds);
+
+assert.ok(child.fds.length == 4);
+assert.ok(child.fds[3] >= 0);
+
+var childExitCode = -1;
+
+child.on('exit', function(code) {
+  childExitCode = code;
+});
+
+process.on('exit', function() {
+  assert.ok(childExitCode == 0);
+});

test/simple/test-child-process-spawn-node.js

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+var assert = require('assert');
+var common = require('../common');
+var spawnNode = require('child_process').spawnNode;
+
+var n = spawnNode(common.fixturesDir + '/child-process-spawn-node.js');
+
+var messageCount = 0;
+
+n.on('message', function(m) {
+  console.log('PARENT got message:', m);
+  assert.ok(m.foo);
+  messageCount++;
+});
+
+n.send({ hello: 'world' });
+
+var childExitCode = -1;
+n.on('exit', function(c) {
+  childExitCode = c;
+});
+
+process.on('exit', function() {
+  assert.ok(childExitCode == 0);
+});