issue #415: replace default Poller with select.poll()

30% latency reduction for IPC.

docs/changelog.rst

@@ -153,6 +153,11 @@ Enhancements
   ``mitogen_host_pinned`` strategy wraps the ``host_pinned`` strategy
   introduced in Ansible 2.7.
 
+* `#415 <https://github.com/dw/mitogen/issues/415>`_: the interface employed for
+  in-process queues was changed from Kqueue/epoll() to poll(), which requires
+  no setup or teardown, yielding a 30% latency reduction for inter-thread
+  communication. This may manifest as a runtime improvement in many-host runs.
+
 
 Fixes
 ^^^^^

mitogen/core.py

@@ -1690,7 +1690,7 @@ class Poller(object):
     A poller manages OS file descriptors the user is waiting to become
     available for IO. The :meth:`poll` method blocks the calling thread
     until one or more become ready. The default implementation is based on
-    :func:`select.select`.
+    :func:`select.poll`.
 
     Each descriptor has an associated `data` element, which is unique for each
     readiness type, and defaults to being the same as the file descriptor. The
@@ -1713,6 +1713,15 @@ class Poller(object):
 
     Pollers may only be used by one thread at a time.
     """
+    # This changed from select() to poll() in Mitogen 0.2.4. Since poll() has
+    # no upper FD limit, it is suitable for use with Latch, which must handle
+    # FDs larger than select's limit during many-host runs. We want this
+    # because poll() requires no setup and teardown: just a single system call,
+    # which is important because Latch.get() creates a Poller on each
+    # invocation. In a microbenchmark, poll() vs. epoll_ctl() is 30% faster in
+    # this scenario. If select() must return in future, it is important
+    # Latch.poller_class is set from parent.py to point to the industrial
+    # strength poller for the OS, otherwise Latch will fail randomly.
 
     #: Increments on every poll(). Used to version _rfds and _wfds.
     _generation = 1
@@ -1720,6 +1729,7 @@ class Poller(object):
     def __init__(self):
         self._rfds = {}
         self._wfds = {}
+        self._pollobj = select.poll()
 
     def __repr__(self):
         return '%s(%#x)' % (type(self).__name__, id(self))
@@ -1746,11 +1756,23 @@ class Poller(object):
         """
         pass
 
+    def _update(self, fd):
+        mask = (((fd in self._rfds) and select.POLLIN) |
+                ((fd in self._wfds) and select.POLLOUT))
+        if mask:
+            self._pollobj.register(fd, mask)
+        else:
+            try:
+                self._pollobj.unregister(fd)
+            except KeyError:
+                pass
+
     def start_receive(self, fd, data=None):
         """
         Cause :meth:`poll` to yield `data` when `fd` is readable.
         """
         self._rfds[fd] = (data or fd, self._generation)
+        self._update(fd)
 
     def stop_receive(self, fd):
         """
@@ -1760,12 +1782,14 @@ class Poller(object):
         change in future.
         """
         self._rfds.pop(fd, None)
+        self._update(fd)
 
     def start_transmit(self, fd, data=None):
         """
         Cause :meth:`poll` to yield `data` when `fd` is writeable.
         """
         self._wfds[fd] = (data or fd, self._generation)
+        self._update(fd)
 
     def stop_transmit(self, fd):
         """
@@ -1775,25 +1799,24 @@ class Poller(object):
         change in future.
         """
         self._wfds.pop(fd, None)
+        self._update(fd)
 
     def _poll(self, timeout):
-        (rfds, wfds, _), _ = io_op(select.select,
+        if timeout:
-            self._rfds,
+            timeout *= 1000
-            self._wfds,
+
-            (), timeout
+        events, _ = io_op(self._pollobj.poll, timeout)
-        )
+        for fd, event in events:
-
+            if event & select.POLLIN:
-        for fd in rfds:
+                _vv and IOLOG.debug('%r: POLLIN for %r', self, fd)
-            _vv and IOLOG.debug('%r: POLLIN for %r', self, fd)
+                data, gen = self._rfds.get(fd, (None, None))
-            data, gen = self._rfds.get(fd, (None, None))
+                if gen and gen < self._generation:
-            if gen and gen < self._generation:
+                    yield data
-                yield data
+            if event & select.POLLOUT:
-
+                _vv and IOLOG.debug('%r: POLLOUT for %r', self, fd)
-        for fd in wfds:
+                data, gen = self._wfds.get(fd, (None, None))
-            _vv and IOLOG.debug('%r: POLLOUT for %r', self, fd)
+                if gen and gen < self._generation:
-            data, gen = self._wfds.get(fd, (None, None))
+                    yield data
-            if gen and gen < self._generation:
-                yield data
 
     def poll(self, timeout=None):
         """

mitogen/parent.py

@@ -942,11 +942,6 @@ PREFERRED_POLLER = POLLER_BY_SYSNAME.get(
     mitogen.core.Poller,
 )
 
-# For apps that start threads dynamically, it's possible Latch will also get
-# very high-numbered wait fds when there are many connections, and so select()
-# becomes useless there too. So swap in our favourite poller.
-mitogen.core.Latch.poller_class = PREFERRED_POLLER
-
 
 class DiagLogStream(mitogen.core.BasicStream):
     """