1 // Copyright 2009 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
2 // Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
3 // license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
6 Package rpc provides access to the exported methods of an object across a
7 network or other I/O connection. A server registers an object, making it visible
8 as a service with the name of the type of the object. After registration, exported
9 methods of the object will be accessible remotely. A server may register multiple
10 objects (services) of different types but it is an error to register multiple
11 objects of the same type.
13 Only methods that satisfy these criteria will be made available for remote access;
14 other methods will be ignored:
16 - the method is exported.
17 - the method has two arguments, both exported (or builtin) types.
18 - the method's second argument is a pointer.
19 - the method has return type error.
21 In effect, the method must look schematically like
23 func (t *T) MethodName(argType T1, replyType *T2) error
25 where T, T1 and T2 can be marshaled by encoding/gob.
26 These requirements apply even if a different codec is used.
27 (In the future, these requirements may soften for custom codecs.)
29 The method's first argument represents the arguments provided by the caller; the
30 second argument represents the result parameters to be returned to the caller.
31 The method's return value, if non-nil, is passed back as a string that the client
32 sees as if created by errors.New. If an error is returned, the reply parameter
33 will not be sent back to the client.
35 The server may handle requests on a single connection by calling ServeConn. More
36 typically it will create a network listener and call Accept or, for an HTTP
37 listener, HandleHTTP and http.Serve.
39 A client wishing to use the service establishes a connection and then invokes
40 NewClient on the connection. The convenience function Dial (DialHTTP) performs
41 both steps for a raw network connection (an HTTP connection). The resulting
42 Client object has two methods, Call and Go, that specify the service and method to
43 call, a pointer containing the arguments, and a pointer to receive the result
46 The Call method waits for the remote call to complete while the Go method
47 launches the call asynchronously and signals completion using the Call
48 structure's Done channel.
50 Unless an explicit codec is set up, package encoding/gob is used to
53 Here is a simple example. A server wishes to export an object of type Arith:
61 type Quotient struct {
67 func (t *Arith) Multiply(args *Args, reply *int) error {
68 *reply = args.A * args.B
72 func (t *Arith) Divide(args *Args, quo *Quotient) error {
74 return errors.New("divide by zero")
76 quo.Quo = args.A / args.B
77 quo.Rem = args.A % args.B
81 The server calls (for HTTP service):
86 l, e := net.Listen("tcp", ":1234")
88 log.Fatal("listen error:", e)
92 At this point, clients can see a service "Arith" with methods "Arith.Multiply" and
93 "Arith.Divide". To invoke one, a client first dials the server:
95 client, err := rpc.DialHTTP("tcp", serverAddress + ":1234")
97 log.Fatal("dialing:", err)
100 Then it can make a remote call:
103 args := &server.Args{7,8}
105 err = client.Call("Arith.Multiply", args, &reply)
107 log.Fatal("arith error:", err)
109 fmt.Printf("Arith: %d*%d=%d", args.A, args.B, reply)
114 quotient := new(Quotient)
115 divCall := client.Go("Arith.Divide", args, quotient, nil)
116 replyCall := <-divCall.Done // will be equal to divCall
117 // check errors, print, etc.
119 A server implementation will often provide a simple, type-safe wrapper for the
140 // Defaults used by HandleHTTP
141 DefaultRPCPath
= "/_goRPC_"
142 DefaultDebugPath
= "/debug/rpc"
145 // Precompute the reflect type for error. Can't use error directly
146 // because Typeof takes an empty interface value. This is annoying.
147 var typeOfError
= reflect
.TypeOf((*error
)(nil)).Elem()
149 type methodType
struct {
150 sync
.Mutex
// protects counters
151 method reflect
.Method
153 ReplyType reflect
.Type
157 type service
struct {
158 name
string // name of service
159 rcvr reflect
.Value
// receiver of methods for the service
160 typ reflect
.Type
// type of the receiver
161 method
map[string]*methodType
// registered methods
164 // Request is a header written before every RPC call. It is used internally
165 // but documented here as an aid to debugging, such as when analyzing
167 type Request
struct {
168 ServiceMethod
string // format: "Service.Method"
169 Seq
uint64 // sequence number chosen by client
170 next
*Request
// for free list in Server
173 // Response is a header written before every RPC return. It is used internally
174 // but documented here as an aid to debugging, such as when analyzing
176 type Response
struct {
177 ServiceMethod
string // echoes that of the Request
178 Seq
uint64 // echoes that of the request
179 Error
string // error, if any.
180 next
*Response
// for free list in Server
183 // Server represents an RPC Server.
185 mu sync
.RWMutex
// protects the serviceMap
186 serviceMap
map[string]*service
187 reqLock sync
.Mutex
// protects freeReq
189 respLock sync
.Mutex
// protects freeResp
193 // NewServer returns a new Server.
194 func NewServer() *Server
{
195 return &Server
{serviceMap
: make(map[string]*service
)}
198 // DefaultServer is the default instance of *Server.
199 var DefaultServer
= NewServer()
201 // Is this an exported - upper case - name?
202 func isExported(name
string) bool {
203 rune
, _
:= utf8
.DecodeRuneInString(name
)
204 return unicode
.IsUpper(rune
)
207 // Is this type exported or a builtin?
208 func isExportedOrBuiltinType(t reflect
.Type
) bool {
209 for t
.Kind() == reflect
.Ptr
{
212 // PkgPath will be non-empty even for an exported type,
213 // so we need to check the type name as well.
214 return isExported(t
.Name()) || t
.PkgPath() == ""
217 // Register publishes in the server the set of methods of the
218 // receiver value that satisfy the following conditions:
220 // - two arguments, both of exported type
221 // - the second argument is a pointer
222 // - one return value, of type error
223 // It returns an error if the receiver is not an exported type or has
224 // no suitable methods. It also logs the error using package log.
225 // The client accesses each method using a string of the form "Type.Method",
226 // where Type is the receiver's concrete type.
227 func (server
*Server
) Register(rcvr
interface{}) error
{
228 return server
.register(rcvr
, "", false)
231 // RegisterName is like Register but uses the provided name for the type
232 // instead of the receiver's concrete type.
233 func (server
*Server
) RegisterName(name
string, rcvr
interface{}) error
{
234 return server
.register(rcvr
, name
, true)
237 func (server
*Server
) register(rcvr
interface{}, name
string, useName
bool) error
{
239 defer server
.mu
.Unlock()
240 if server
.serviceMap
== nil {
241 server
.serviceMap
= make(map[string]*service
)
244 s
.typ
= reflect
.TypeOf(rcvr
)
245 s
.rcvr
= reflect
.ValueOf(rcvr
)
246 sname
:= reflect
.Indirect(s
.rcvr
).Type().Name()
251 s
:= "rpc.Register: no service name for type " + s
.typ
.String()
255 if !isExported(sname
) && !useName
{
256 s
:= "rpc.Register: type " + sname
+ " is not exported"
260 if _
, present
:= server
.serviceMap
[sname
]; present
{
261 return errors
.New("rpc: service already defined: " + sname
)
265 // Install the methods
266 s
.method
= suitableMethods(s
.typ
, true)
268 if len(s
.method
) == 0 {
271 // To help the user, see if a pointer receiver would work.
272 method
:= suitableMethods(reflect
.PtrTo(s
.typ
), false)
273 if len(method
) != 0 {
274 str
= "rpc.Register: type " + sname
+ " has no exported methods of suitable type (hint: pass a pointer to value of that type)"
276 str
= "rpc.Register: type " + sname
+ " has no exported methods of suitable type"
279 return errors
.New(str
)
281 server
.serviceMap
[s
.name
] = s
285 // suitableMethods returns suitable Rpc methods of typ, it will report
286 // error using log if reportErr is true.
287 func suitableMethods(typ reflect
.Type
, reportErr
bool) map[string]*methodType
{
288 methods
:= make(map[string]*methodType
)
289 for m
:= 0; m
< typ
.NumMethod(); m
++ {
290 method
:= typ
.Method(m
)
293 // Method must be exported.
294 if method
.PkgPath
!= "" {
297 // Method needs three ins: receiver, *args, *reply.
298 if mtype
.NumIn() != 3 {
300 log
.Println("method", mname
, "has wrong number of ins:", mtype
.NumIn())
304 // First arg need not be a pointer.
305 argType
:= mtype
.In(1)
306 if !isExportedOrBuiltinType(argType
) {
308 log
.Println(mname
, "argument type not exported:", argType
)
312 // Second arg must be a pointer.
313 replyType
:= mtype
.In(2)
314 if replyType
.Kind() != reflect
.Ptr
{
316 log
.Println("method", mname
, "reply type not a pointer:", replyType
)
320 // Reply type must be exported.
321 if !isExportedOrBuiltinType(replyType
) {
323 log
.Println("method", mname
, "reply type not exported:", replyType
)
327 // Method needs one out.
328 if mtype
.NumOut() != 1 {
330 log
.Println("method", mname
, "has wrong number of outs:", mtype
.NumOut())
334 // The return type of the method must be error.
335 if returnType
:= mtype
.Out(0); returnType
!= typeOfError
{
337 log
.Println("method", mname
, "returns", returnType
.String(), "not error")
341 methods
[mname
] = &methodType
{method
: method
, ArgType
: argType
, ReplyType
: replyType
}
346 // A value sent as a placeholder for the server's response value when the server
347 // receives an invalid request. It is never decoded by the client since the Response
348 // contains an error when it is used.
349 var invalidRequest
= struct{}{}
351 func (server
*Server
) sendResponse(sending
*sync
.Mutex
, req
*Request
, reply
interface{}, codec ServerCodec
, errmsg
string) {
352 resp
:= server
.getResponse()
353 // Encode the response header
354 resp
.ServiceMethod
= req
.ServiceMethod
357 reply
= invalidRequest
361 err
:= codec
.WriteResponse(resp
, reply
)
362 if debugLog
&& err
!= nil {
363 log
.Println("rpc: writing response:", err
)
366 server
.freeResponse(resp
)
369 func (m
*methodType
) NumCalls() (n
uint) {
376 func (s
*service
) call(server
*Server
, sending
*sync
.Mutex
, mtype
*methodType
, req
*Request
, argv
, replyv reflect
.Value
, codec ServerCodec
) {
380 function
:= mtype
.method
.Func
381 // Invoke the method, providing a new value for the reply.
382 returnValues
:= function
.Call([]reflect
.Value
{s
.rcvr
, argv
, replyv
})
383 // The return value for the method is an error.
384 errInter
:= returnValues
[0].Interface()
387 errmsg
= errInter
.(error
).Error()
389 server
.sendResponse(sending
, req
, replyv
.Interface(), codec
, errmsg
)
390 server
.freeRequest(req
)
393 type gobServerCodec
struct {
394 rwc io
.ReadWriteCloser
400 func (c
*gobServerCodec
) ReadRequestHeader(r
*Request
) error
{
401 return c
.dec
.Decode(r
)
404 func (c
*gobServerCodec
) ReadRequestBody(body
interface{}) error
{
405 return c
.dec
.Decode(body
)
408 func (c
*gobServerCodec
) WriteResponse(r
*Response
, body
interface{}) (err error
) {
409 if err
= c
.enc
.Encode(r
); err
!= nil {
412 if err
= c
.enc
.Encode(body
); err
!= nil {
415 return c
.encBuf
.Flush()
418 func (c
*gobServerCodec
) Close() error
{
422 // ServeConn runs the server on a single connection.
423 // ServeConn blocks, serving the connection until the client hangs up.
424 // The caller typically invokes ServeConn in a go statement.
425 // ServeConn uses the gob wire format (see package gob) on the
426 // connection. To use an alternate codec, use ServeCodec.
427 func (server
*Server
) ServeConn(conn io
.ReadWriteCloser
) {
428 buf
:= bufio
.NewWriter(conn
)
429 srv
:= &gobServerCodec
{conn
, gob
.NewDecoder(conn
), gob
.NewEncoder(buf
), buf
}
430 server
.ServeCodec(srv
)
433 // ServeCodec is like ServeConn but uses the specified codec to
434 // decode requests and encode responses.
435 func (server
*Server
) ServeCodec(codec ServerCodec
) {
436 sending
:= new(sync
.Mutex
)
438 service
, mtype
, req
, argv
, replyv
, keepReading
, err
:= server
.readRequest(codec
)
440 if debugLog
&& err
!= io
.EOF
{
441 log
.Println("rpc:", err
)
446 // send a response if we actually managed to read a header.
448 server
.sendResponse(sending
, req
, invalidRequest
, codec
, err
.Error())
449 server
.freeRequest(req
)
453 go service
.call(server
, sending
, mtype
, req
, argv
, replyv
, codec
)
458 // ServeRequest is like ServeCodec but synchronously serves a single request.
459 // It does not close the codec upon completion.
460 func (server
*Server
) ServeRequest(codec ServerCodec
) error
{
461 sending
:= new(sync
.Mutex
)
462 service
, mtype
, req
, argv
, replyv
, keepReading
, err
:= server
.readRequest(codec
)
467 // send a response if we actually managed to read a header.
469 server
.sendResponse(sending
, req
, invalidRequest
, codec
, err
.Error())
470 server
.freeRequest(req
)
474 service
.call(server
, sending
, mtype
, req
, argv
, replyv
, codec
)
478 func (server
*Server
) getRequest() *Request
{
479 server
.reqLock
.Lock()
480 req
:= server
.freeReq
484 server
.freeReq
= req
.next
487 server
.reqLock
.Unlock()
491 func (server
*Server
) freeRequest(req
*Request
) {
492 server
.reqLock
.Lock()
493 req
.next
= server
.freeReq
495 server
.reqLock
.Unlock()
498 func (server
*Server
) getResponse() *Response
{
499 server
.respLock
.Lock()
500 resp
:= server
.freeResp
504 server
.freeResp
= resp
.next
507 server
.respLock
.Unlock()
511 func (server
*Server
) freeResponse(resp
*Response
) {
512 server
.respLock
.Lock()
513 resp
.next
= server
.freeResp
514 server
.freeResp
= resp
515 server
.respLock
.Unlock()
518 func (server
*Server
) readRequest(codec ServerCodec
) (service
*service
, mtype
*methodType
, req
*Request
, argv
, replyv reflect
.Value
, keepReading
bool, err error
) {
519 service
, mtype
, req
, keepReading
, err
= server
.readRequestHeader(codec
)
525 codec
.ReadRequestBody(nil)
529 // Decode the argument value.
530 argIsValue
:= false // if true, need to indirect before calling.
531 if mtype
.ArgType
.Kind() == reflect
.Ptr
{
532 argv
= reflect
.New(mtype
.ArgType
.Elem())
534 argv
= reflect
.New(mtype
.ArgType
)
537 // argv guaranteed to be a pointer now.
538 if err
= codec
.ReadRequestBody(argv
.Interface()); err
!= nil {
545 replyv
= reflect
.New(mtype
.ReplyType
.Elem())
549 func (server
*Server
) readRequestHeader(codec ServerCodec
) (service
*service
, mtype
*methodType
, req
*Request
, keepReading
bool, err error
) {
550 // Grab the request header.
551 req
= server
.getRequest()
552 err
= codec
.ReadRequestHeader(req
)
555 if err
== io
.EOF || err
== io
.ErrUnexpectedEOF
{
558 err
= errors
.New("rpc: server cannot decode request: " + err
.Error())
562 // We read the header successfully. If we see an error now,
563 // we can still recover and move on to the next request.
566 dot
:= strings
.LastIndex(req
.ServiceMethod
, ".")
568 err
= errors
.New("rpc: service/method request ill-formed: " + req
.ServiceMethod
)
571 serviceName
:= req
.ServiceMethod
[:dot
]
572 methodName
:= req
.ServiceMethod
[dot
+1:]
574 // Look up the request.
576 service
= server
.serviceMap
[serviceName
]
579 err
= errors
.New("rpc: can't find service " + req
.ServiceMethod
)
582 mtype
= service
.method
[methodName
]
584 err
= errors
.New("rpc: can't find method " + req
.ServiceMethod
)
589 // Accept accepts connections on the listener and serves requests
590 // for each incoming connection. Accept blocks; the caller typically
591 // invokes it in a go statement.
592 func (server
*Server
) Accept(lis net
.Listener
) {
594 conn
, err
:= lis
.Accept()
596 log
.Fatal("rpc.Serve: accept:", err
.Error()) // TODO(r): exit?
598 go server
.ServeConn(conn
)
602 // Register publishes the receiver's methods in the DefaultServer.
603 func Register(rcvr
interface{}) error
{ return DefaultServer
.Register(rcvr
) }
605 // RegisterName is like Register but uses the provided name for the type
606 // instead of the receiver's concrete type.
607 func RegisterName(name
string, rcvr
interface{}) error
{
608 return DefaultServer
.RegisterName(name
, rcvr
)
611 // A ServerCodec implements reading of RPC requests and writing of
612 // RPC responses for the server side of an RPC session.
613 // The server calls ReadRequestHeader and ReadRequestBody in pairs
614 // to read requests from the connection, and it calls WriteResponse to
615 // write a response back. The server calls Close when finished with the
616 // connection. ReadRequestBody may be called with a nil
617 // argument to force the body of the request to be read and discarded.
618 type ServerCodec
interface {
619 ReadRequestHeader(*Request
) error
620 ReadRequestBody(interface{}) error
621 // WriteResponse must be safe for concurrent use by multiple goroutines.
622 WriteResponse(*Response
, interface{}) error
627 // ServeConn runs the DefaultServer on a single connection.
628 // ServeConn blocks, serving the connection until the client hangs up.
629 // The caller typically invokes ServeConn in a go statement.
630 // ServeConn uses the gob wire format (see package gob) on the
631 // connection. To use an alternate codec, use ServeCodec.
632 func ServeConn(conn io
.ReadWriteCloser
) {
633 DefaultServer
.ServeConn(conn
)
636 // ServeCodec is like ServeConn but uses the specified codec to
637 // decode requests and encode responses.
638 func ServeCodec(codec ServerCodec
) {
639 DefaultServer
.ServeCodec(codec
)
642 // ServeRequest is like ServeCodec but synchronously serves a single request.
643 // It does not close the codec upon completion.
644 func ServeRequest(codec ServerCodec
) error
{
645 return DefaultServer
.ServeRequest(codec
)
648 // Accept accepts connections on the listener and serves requests
649 // to DefaultServer for each incoming connection.
650 // Accept blocks; the caller typically invokes it in a go statement.
651 func Accept(lis net
.Listener
) { DefaultServer
.Accept(lis
) }
653 // Can connect to RPC service using HTTP CONNECT to rpcPath.
654 var connected
= "200 Connected to Go RPC"
656 // ServeHTTP implements an http.Handler that answers RPC requests.
657 func (server
*Server
) ServeHTTP(w http
.ResponseWriter
, req
*http
.Request
) {
658 if req
.Method
!= "CONNECT" {
659 w
.Header().Set("Content-Type", "text/plain; charset=utf-8")
660 w
.WriteHeader(http
.StatusMethodNotAllowed
)
661 io
.WriteString(w
, "405 must CONNECT\n")
664 conn
, _
, err
:= w
.(http
.Hijacker
).Hijack()
666 log
.Print("rpc hijacking ", req
.RemoteAddr
, ": ", err
.Error())
669 io
.WriteString(conn
, "HTTP/1.0 "+connected
+"\n\n")
670 server
.ServeConn(conn
)
673 // HandleHTTP registers an HTTP handler for RPC messages on rpcPath,
674 // and a debugging handler on debugPath.
675 // It is still necessary to invoke http.Serve(), typically in a go statement.
676 func (server
*Server
) HandleHTTP(rpcPath
, debugPath
string) {
677 http
.Handle(rpcPath
, server
)
678 http
.Handle(debugPath
, debugHTTP
{server
})
681 // HandleHTTP registers an HTTP handler for RPC messages to DefaultServer
682 // on DefaultRPCPath and a debugging handler on DefaultDebugPath.
683 // It is still necessary to invoke http.Serve(), typically in a go statement.
685 DefaultServer
.HandleHTTP(DefaultRPCPath
, DefaultDebugPath
)