uloop: add support for interval timers

So far, the only way to implement periodic interval timers was to use
one-shot uloop_timeout timers which are rearmed within their completion
callback immediately on expiration.

While simple, this approach is not very precise and interval lengths will
slowly drift over time, due to callback execution overhead, scheduling
granularity etc.

In order to make uloop provide stable and precise interval timer
capabilities, this commit introduces a new `uloop_interval` structure
along with the new related `uloop_interval_set()`, `uloop_interval_cancel()`
and `uloop_interval_remaining()` api functions.

Periodic timers are implemented using the timerfd facility an Linux and
kqueue EVFILT_TIMER events on macOS/BSD.

The Lua binding has been updated to include support for the new timer type
as well.

Signed-off-by: Jo-Philipp Wich <jo@mein.io>

1 files changed, 17 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/examples/uloop-example.lua b/examples/uloop-example.lua
index 511b9ea..f3aef60 100755
--- a/examples/uloop-example.lua
+++ b/examples/uloop-example.lua
@@ -24,6 +24,23 @@ uloop.timer(function() print("2000 ms timer run"); end, 2000)
 -- timer example 3 (will never run)
 uloop.timer(function() print("3000 ms timer run"); end, 3000):cancel()
 
+-- periodic interval timer
+local intv
+intv = uloop.interval(function()
+	print(string.format("Interval expiration #%d - %dms until next expiration",
+		intv:expirations(), intv:remaining()))
+
+	-- after 5 expirations, lower interval to 500ms
+	if intv:expirations() >= 5 then
+		intv:set(500)
+	end
+
+	-- cancel after 10 expirations
+	if intv:expirations() >= 10 then
+		intv:cancel()
+	end
+end, 1000)
+
 -- process
 function p1(r)
 	print("Process 1 completed")