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Module Lwt_pool

module Lwt_pool : sig..end

External resource pools.

This module provides an abstraction for managing collections of resources. One example use case is for managing a pool of database connections, where instead of establishing a new connection each time you need one (which is expensive), you can keep a pool of opened connections and reuse ones that are free.

It also provides the capability of:

  • specifying the maximum number of resources that the pool can manage simultaneously,
  • checking whether a resource is still valid before/after use, and
  • performing cleanup logic before dropping a resource.

The following example illustrates how it is used with an imaginary Db module:

let uri = "postgresql://localhost:5432"

(* Create a database connection pool with max size of 10. *)
let pool =
  Lwt_pool.create 10
    ~dispose:(fun connection -> Db.close connection |> Lwt.return)
    (fun () -> Db.connect uri |> Lwt.return)

(* Use the pool in queries. *)
let create_user name =
  Lwt_pool.use pool (fun connection ->
      connection
      |> Db.insert "users" [("name", name)]
      |> Lwt.return
    )

Note that this is not intended to keep a pool of system threads. If you want to have such pool, consider using Lwt_preemptive.


type 'a t

A pool containing elements of type 'a.

val create : 
  int ->
  ?validate:('a -> bool Lwt.t) ->
  ?check:('a -> (bool -> unit) -> unit) ->
  ?dispose:('a -> unit Lwt.t) -> (unit -> 'a Lwt.t) -> 'a t

create n ?check ?validate ?dispose f creates a new pool with at most n elements. f is used to create a new pool element. Elements are created on demand and re-used until disposed of.

validate : is called each time a pool element is accessed by Lwt_pool.use, before the element is provided to Lwt_pool.use's callback. If validate element resolves to true the element is considered valid and is passed to the callback for use as-is. If validate element resolves to false the tested pool element is passed to dispose then dropped, with a new one is created to take element's place in the pool. validate is available since Lwt 3.2.0.

check : is called after the resolution of Lwt_pool.use's callback when the resolution is a failed promise. check element is_ok must call is_ok exactly once with true if element is still valid and false otherwise. If check calls is_ok false then dispose will be run on element and the element will not be returned to the pool.

dispose : is used as described above and by Lwt_pool.clear to dispose of all elements in a pool. dispose is not guaranteed to be called on the elements in a pool when the pool is garbage collected. Lwt_pool.clear should be used if the elements of the pool need to be explicitly disposed of.

val use : 'a t -> ('a -> 'b Lwt.t) -> 'b Lwt.t

use p f requests one free element of the pool p and gives it to the function f. The element is put back into the pool after the promise created by f completes.

In the case that p is exhausted and the maximum number of elements is reached, use will wait until one becomes free.

val clear : 'a t -> unit Lwt.t

clear p will clear all elements in p, calling the dispose function associated with p on each of the cleared elements. Any elements from p which are currently in use will be disposed of once they are released.

The next call to use p after clear p guarantees a freshly created pool element.

Disposals are performed sequentially in an undefined order. Since 3.2.0

val wait_queue_length : 'a t -> int

wait_queue_length p returns the number of Lwt_pool.use requests currently waiting for an element of the pool p to become available. Since 3.2.0