package lwt

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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.

  • parameter validate

    is called each time a pool element is accessed by use, before the element is provided to 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.

  • parameter check

    is called after the resolution of 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.

  • parameter dispose

    is used as described above and by 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. 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 : _ t -> int

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

  • since 3.2.0