Question

I have application, that periodically (by timer) check some data storage.
Like this:

#include <iostream>
#include <cerrno>
#include <cstring>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <sys/fcntl.h>
#include <unistd.h>

// EPOLL & TIMER
#include <sys/epoll.h>
#include <sys/timerfd.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    /* epoll instance */
    int efd = epoll_create1(EPOLL_CLOEXEC);

    if (efd < 0)
    {
        std::cerr << "epoll_create error: " << strerror(errno) << std::endl;
        return EXIT_FAILURE;
    }

    struct epoll_event ev;
    struct epoll_event events[128];

    /* timer instance */
    int tfd = timerfd_create(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, TFD_CLOEXEC);

    struct timespec ts;
    // first expiration in 3. seconds after program start
    ts.tv_sec = 3;
    ts.tv_nsec = 0;

    struct itimerspec new_timeout;
    struct itimerspec old_timeout;

    bzero(&new_timeout, sizeof(new_timeout));
    bzero(&old_timeout, sizeof(old_timeout));

    // value
    new_timeout.it_value = ts;

    // no interval;
    // timer will be armed in epoll_wait event trigger
    new_timeout.it_interval.tv_sec =
    new_timeout.it_interval.tv_nsec = 0;

    // Add the timer descriptor to epoll.
    if (tfd != -1)
    {
        ev.events = EPOLLIN | EPOLLERR /*| EPOLLET*/;
        ev.data.ptr = &tfd;
        epoll_ctl(efd, EPOLL_CTL_ADD, tfd, &ev);
    }

    int flags = 0;
    if (timerfd_settime(tfd, flags, &new_timeout, &old_timeout) < 0)
    {
       std::cerr << "timerfd_settime error: " << strerror(errno) << std::endl;
    }

    int numEvents = 0;
    int timeout = 0;
    bool checkTimer = false;
    while (1)
    {
        checkTimer = false;
        numEvents = epoll_wait(efd, events, 128, timeout);
        if (numEvents > 0)
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < numEvents; ++i)
            {
                if (events[i].data.ptr == &tfd)
                {
                    std::cout << "timeout" << std::endl;
                    checkTimer = true;
                }
            }
        }
        else if(numEvents == 0)
        {
            continue;
        }
        else
        {
            std::cerr << "An error occured: " << strerror(errno) << std::endl;
        }

        if (checkTimer)
        {
            /* Check data storage */
            uint64_t value;
            ssize_t readBytes;
            //while ( (readBytes = read(tfd, &value, 8)) > 0)
            //{
            //    std::cout << "\tread: '" << value << "'" << std::endl;
            //}
            itimerspec new_timeout;
            itimerspec old_timeout;
            new_timeout.it_value.tv_sec = rand() % 3 + 1;
            new_timeout.it_value.tv_nsec = 0;
            new_timeout.it_interval.tv_sec =
            new_timeout.it_interval.tv_nsec = 0;
            timerfd_settime(tfd, flags, &new_timeout, &old_timeout);
        }
    }

    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

This is simple description of my app.
After each timeout timer need to be rearmed by some value different in each timeout.

Questions are:

1. Is it necessary to add timerfd to epoll (epoll_ctl) with EPOLLET flag?
2. Is it necessary to read timerfd after each timeout?
3. Is it necessary to epoll_wait infinitely (timeout = -1)?

Answer 1

You can do this in one of two modes, edge triggered or level triggered. If you choose the edge triggered route then you must pass EPOLLET and do not need to read the timerfd after each wakeup. The fact that you receive an event from epoll means one or more time outs have fired. Optionally you may read the timerfd and it will return the number of time outs that have fired since you last read it.

If you choose the level triggered route then you don’t need to pass EPOLLET, but you must read the timerfd after each wakeup. If you do not then you will immediately be woken up again until you consume the time out.

You should either pass -1 to epoll as the time out or some positive value. If you pass 0, like you do in the example, then you will never go to sleep, you’ll just spin waiting for the time out to fire. That’s almost certainly undesirable behaviour.