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Task.Supervisor
A task supervisor.
This module defines a supervisor which can be used to dynamically supervise tasks.
A task supervisor is started with no children, often under a supervisor and a name:
children = [
{Task.Supervisor, name: MyApp.TaskSupervisor}
]
Supervisor.start_link(children, strategy: :one_for_one)
The options given in the child specification are documented in start_link/1
.
Once started, you can start tasks directly under the supervisor, for example:
task = Task.Supervisor.async(MyApp.TaskSupervisor, fn ->
:do_some_work
end)
See the Task
module for more examples.
Scalability and partitioning
The Task.Supervisor
is a single process responsible for starting other processes. In some applications, the Task.Supervisor
may become a bottleneck. To address this, you can start multiple instances of the Task.Supervisor
and then pick a random instance to start the task on.
Instead of:
children = [
{Task.Supervisor, name: MyApp.TaskSupervisor}
]
and:
Task.Supervisor.async(MyApp.TaskSupervisor, fn -> :do_some_work end)
You can do this:
children = [
{PartitionSupervisor,
child_spec: Task.Supervisor,
name: MyApp.TaskSupervisors}
]
and then:
Task.Supervisor.async(
{:via, PartitionSupervisor, {MyApp.TaskSupervisors, self()}},
fn -> :do_some_work end
)
In the code above, we start a partition supervisor that will by default start a dynamic supervisor for each core in your machine. Then, instead of calling the Task.Supervisor
by name, you call it through the partition supervisor using the {:via, PartitionSupervisor, {name, key}}
format, where name
is the name of the partition supervisor and key
is the routing key. We picked self()
as the routing key, which means each process will be assigned one of the existing task supervisors. Read the PartitionSupervisor
docs for more information.
Name registration
A Task.Supervisor
is bound to the same name registration rules as a GenServer
. Read more about them in the GenServer
docs.
Types
- option()
-
Option values used by
start_link
Functions
- async(supervisor, fun, options \\ [])
-
Starts a task that can be awaited on.
- async(supervisor, module, fun, args, options \\ [])
-
Starts a task that can be awaited on.
- async_nolink(supervisor, fun, options \\ [])
-
Starts a task that can be awaited on.
- async_nolink(supervisor, module, fun, args, options \\ [])
-
Starts a task that can be awaited on.
- async_stream(supervisor, enumerable, fun, options \\ [])
-
Returns a stream that runs the given function
fun
concurrently on each element inenumerable
. - async_stream(supervisor, enumerable, module, function, args, options \\ [])
-
Returns a stream where the given function (
module
andfunction
) is mapped concurrently on each element inenumerable
. - async_stream_nolink(supervisor, enumerable, fun, options \\ [])
-
Returns a stream that runs the given
function
concurrently on each element inenumerable
. - async_stream_nolink(supervisor, enumerable, module, function, args, options \\ [])
-
Returns a stream where the given function (
module
andfunction
) is mapped concurrently on each element inenumerable
. - children(supervisor)
-
Returns all children PIDs except those that are restarting.
- start_child(supervisor, fun, options \\ [])
-
Starts a task as a child of the given
supervisor
. - start_child(supervisor, module, fun, args, options \\ [])
-
Starts a task as a child of the given
supervisor
. - start_link(options \\ [])
-
Starts a new supervisor.
- terminate_child(supervisor, pid)
-
Terminates the child with the given
pid
.
option()Source
@type option() :: DynamicSupervisor.option() | DynamicSupervisor.init_option()
Option values used by start_link
async(supervisor, fun, options \\ [])Source
@spec async(Supervisor.supervisor(), (-> any()), Keyword.t()) :: Task.t()
Starts a task that can be awaited on.
The supervisor
must be a reference as defined in Supervisor
. The task will still be linked to the caller, see Task.async/3
for more information and async_nolink/3
for a non-linked variant.
Raises an error if supervisor
has reached the maximum number of children.
Options
:shutdown
-:brutal_kill
if the tasks must be killed directly on shutdown or an integer indicating the timeout value, defaults to 5000 milliseconds.
async(supervisor, module, fun, args, options \\ [])Source
@spec async(Supervisor.supervisor(), module(), atom(), [term()], Keyword.t()) ::
Task.t()
Starts a task that can be awaited on.
The supervisor
must be a reference as defined in Supervisor
. The task will still be linked to the caller, see Task.async/3
for more information and async_nolink/3
for a non-linked variant.
Raises an error if supervisor
has reached the maximum number of children.
Options
:shutdown
-:brutal_kill
if the tasks must be killed directly on shutdown or an integer indicating the timeout value, defaults to 5000 milliseconds.
async_nolink(supervisor, fun, options \\ [])Source
@spec async_nolink(Supervisor.supervisor(), (-> any()), Keyword.t()) :: Task.t()
Starts a task that can be awaited on.
The supervisor
must be a reference as defined in Supervisor
. The task won't be linked to the caller, see Task.async/3
for more information.
Raises an error if supervisor
has reached the maximum number of children.
Note this function requires the task supervisor to have :temporary
as the :restart
option (the default), as async_nolink/3
keeps a direct reference to the task which is lost if the task is restarted.
Options
:shutdown
-:brutal_kill
if the tasks must be killed directly on shutdown or an integer indicating the timeout value, defaults to 5000 milliseconds.
Compatibility with OTP behaviours
If you create a task using async_nolink
inside an OTP behaviour like GenServer
, you should match on the message coming from the task inside your GenServer.handle_info/2
callback.
The reply sent by the task will be in the format {ref, result}
, where ref
is the monitor reference held by the task struct and result
is the return value of the task function.
Keep in mind that, regardless of how the task created with async_nolink
terminates, the caller's process will always receive a :DOWN
message with the same ref
value that is held by the task struct. If the task terminates normally, the reason in the :DOWN
message will be :normal
.
Examples
Typically, you use async_nolink/3
when there is a reasonable expectation that the task may fail, and you don't want it to take down the caller. Let's see an example where a GenServer
is meant to run a single task and track its status:
defmodule MyApp.Server do
use GenServer
# ...
def start_task do
GenServer.call(__MODULE__, :start_task)
end
# In this case the task is already running, so we just return :ok.
def handle_call(:start_task, _from, %{ref: ref} = state) when is_reference(ref) do
{:reply, :ok, state}
end
# The task is not running yet, so let's start it.
def handle_call(:start_task, _from, %{ref: nil} = state) do
task =
Task.Supervisor.async_nolink(MyApp.TaskSupervisor, fn ->
...
end)
# We return :ok and the server will continue running
{:reply, :ok, %{state | ref: task.ref}}
end
# The task completed successfully
def handle_info({ref, answer}, %{ref: ref} = state) do
# We don't care about the DOWN message now, so let's demonitor and flush it
Process.demonitor(ref, [:flush])
# Do something with the result and then return
{:noreply, %{state | ref: nil}}
end
# The task failed
def handle_info({:DOWN, ref, :process, _pid, _reason}, %{ref: ref} = state) do
# Log and possibly restart the task...
{:noreply, %{state | ref: nil}}
end
end
async_nolink(supervisor, module, fun, args, options \\ [])Source
@spec async_nolink(Supervisor.supervisor(), module(), atom(), [term()], Keyword.t()) ::
Task.t()
Starts a task that can be awaited on.
The supervisor
must be a reference as defined in Supervisor
. The task won't be linked to the caller, see Task.async/3
for more information.
Raises an error if supervisor
has reached the maximum number of children.
Note this function requires the task supervisor to have :temporary
as the :restart
option (the default), as async_nolink/5
keeps a direct reference to the task which is lost if the task is restarted.
async_stream(supervisor, enumerable, fun, options \\ [])Source
@spec async_stream(
Supervisor.supervisor(),
Enumerable.t(),
(term() -> term()),
keyword()
) ::
Enumerable.t()
Returns a stream that runs the given function fun
concurrently on each element in enumerable
.
Each element in enumerable
is passed as argument to the given function fun
and processed by its own task. The tasks will be spawned under the given supervisor
and linked to the caller process, similarly to async/3
.
See async_stream/6
for discussion, options, and examples.
async_stream(supervisor, enumerable, module, function, args, options \\ [])Source
@spec async_stream(
Supervisor.supervisor(),
Enumerable.t(),
module(),
atom(),
[term()],
keyword()
) ::
Enumerable.t()
Returns a stream where the given function (module
and function
) is mapped concurrently on each element in enumerable
.
Each element will be prepended to the given args
and processed by its own task. The tasks will be spawned under the given supervisor
and linked to the caller process, similarly to async/5
.
When streamed, each task will emit {:ok, value}
upon successful completion or {:exit, reason}
if the caller is trapping exits. The order of results depends on the value of the :ordered
option.
The level of concurrency and the time tasks are allowed to run can be controlled via options (see the "Options" section below).
If you find yourself trapping exits to handle exits inside the async stream, consider using async_stream_nolink/6
to start tasks that are not linked to the calling process.
Options
:max_concurrency
- sets the maximum number of tasks to run at the same time. Defaults toSystem.schedulers_online/0
.:ordered
- whether the results should be returned in the same order as the input stream. This option is useful when you have large streams and don't want to buffer results before they are delivered. This is also useful when you're using the tasks for side effects. Defaults totrue
.:timeout
- the maximum amount of time to wait (in milliseconds) without receiving a task reply (across all running tasks). Defaults to5000
.:on_timeout
- what do to when a task times out. The possible values are::exit
(default) - the process that spawned the tasks exits.:kill_task
- the task that timed out is killed. The value emitted for that task is{:exit, :timeout}
.
:shutdown
-:brutal_kill
if the tasks must be killed directly on shutdown or an integer indicating the timeout value. Defaults to5000
milliseconds.
Examples
Let's build a stream and then enumerate it:
stream = Task.Supervisor.async_stream(MySupervisor, collection, Mod, :expensive_fun, [])
Enum.to_list(stream)
async_stream_nolink(supervisor, enumerable, fun, options \\ [])Source
@spec async_stream_nolink(
Supervisor.supervisor(),
Enumerable.t(),
(term() -> term()),
keyword()
) ::
Enumerable.t()
Returns a stream that runs the given function
concurrently on each element in enumerable
.
Each element in enumerable
is passed as argument to the given function fun
and processed by its own task. The tasks will be spawned under the given supervisor
and will not be linked to the caller process, similarly to async_nolink/3
.
See async_stream/6
for discussion and examples.
async_stream_nolink(supervisor, enumerable, module, function, args, options \\ [])Source
@spec async_stream_nolink(
Supervisor.supervisor(),
Enumerable.t(),
module(),
atom(),
[term()],
keyword()
) :: Enumerable.t()
Returns a stream where the given function (module
and function
) is mapped concurrently on each element in enumerable
.
Each element in enumerable
will be prepended to the given args
and processed by its own task. The tasks will be spawned under the given supervisor
and will not be linked to the caller process, similarly to async_nolink/5
.
See async_stream/6
for discussion, options, and examples.
children(supervisor)Source
@spec children(Supervisor.supervisor()) :: [pid()]
Returns all children PIDs except those that are restarting.
Note that calling this function when supervising a large number of children under low memory conditions can cause an out of memory exception.
start_child(supervisor, fun, options \\ [])Source
@spec start_child(Supervisor.supervisor(), (-> any()), keyword()) ::
DynamicSupervisor.on_start_child()
Starts a task as a child of the given supervisor
.
Task.Supervisor.start_child(MyTaskSupervisor, fn ->
IO.puts "I am running in a task"
end)
Note that the spawned process is not linked to the caller, but only to the supervisor. This command is useful in case the task needs to perform side-effects (like I/O) and you have no interest in its results nor if it completes successfully.
Options
:restart
- the restart strategy, may be:temporary
(the default),:transient
or:permanent
.:temporary
means the task is never restarted,:transient
means it is restarted if the exit is not:normal
,:shutdown
or{:shutdown, reason}
. A:permanent
restart strategy means it is always restarted.:shutdown
-:brutal_kill
if the task must be killed directly on shutdown or an integer indicating the timeout value, defaults to 5000 milliseconds.
start_child(supervisor, module, fun, args, options \\ [])Source
@spec start_child(Supervisor.supervisor(), module(), atom(), [term()], keyword()) ::
DynamicSupervisor.on_start_child()
Starts a task as a child of the given supervisor
.
Similar to start_child/3
except the task is specified by the given module
, fun
and args
.
start_link(options \\ [])Source
@spec start_link([option()]) :: Supervisor.on_start()
Starts a new supervisor.
Examples
A task supervisor is typically started under a supervision tree using the tuple format:
{Task.Supervisor, name: MyApp.TaskSupervisor}
You can also start it by calling start_link/1
directly:
Task.Supervisor.start_link(name: MyApp.TaskSupervisor)
But this is recommended only for scripting and should be avoided in production code. Generally speaking, processes should always be started inside supervision trees.
Options
:name
- used to register a supervisor name, the supported values are described under theName Registration
section in theGenServer
module docs;:max_restarts
,:max_seconds
, and:max_children
- as specified inDynamicSupervisor
;
This function could also receive :restart
and :shutdown
as options but those two options have been deprecated and it is now preferred to give them directly to start_child
.
terminate_child(supervisor, pid)Source
@spec terminate_child(Supervisor.supervisor(), pid()) :: :ok | {:error, :not_found}
Terminates the child with the given pid
.
© 2012 Plataformatec
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.
https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/1.15.4/Task.Supervisor.html