# Releases

## v2.37.0

  - Introduce `Async::Loop` for robust, time-aligned loops.

## v2.36.0

  - Introduce `Task#wait_all` which recursively waits for all children and self, excepting the current task.
  - Introduce `Task#join` as an alias for `Task#wait` for compatibility with `Thread#join` and similar interfaces.

## v2.35.3

  - `Async::Clock` now implements `#as_json` and `#to_json` for nicer log formatting.

## v2.35.2

  - Improved handling of `Process.fork` on Ruby 4+.
  - Improve `@promise` state handling in `Task#initialize`, preventing incomplete instances being visible to the scheduler.

## v2.35.1

  - Fix incorrect handling of spurious wakeups in `Async::Promise#wait`, which could lead to premature (incorrect) resolution of the promise.

## v2.35.0

  - `Process.fork` is now properly handled by the Async fiber scheduler, ensuring that the scheduler state is correctly reset in the child process after a fork. This prevents issues where the child process inherits the scheduler state from the parent, which could lead to unexpected behavior.

## v2.34.0

### `Kernel::Barrier` Convenience Interface

Starting multiple concurrent tasks and waiting for them to finish is a common pattern. This change introduces a small ergonomic helper, `Barrier`, defined in `Kernel`, that encapsulates this behavior: it creates an `Async::Barrier`, yields it to a block, waits for completion (using `Sync` to run a reactor if needed), and ensures remaining tasks are stopped on exit.

``` ruby
require "async"

Barrier do |barrier|
	3.times do |i|
		barrier.async do |task|
			sleep(rand * 0.1)  # Simulate work
			puts "Task #{i} completed"
		end
	end
end

# All tasks are guaranteed to complete or be stopped when the block exits.
```

If an exception is raised by a task, it will be propagated to the caller, and any remaining tasks will be stopped. The `parent:` parameter can be used to specify a parent task for the barrier, otherwise it will use the current task if available, or create a new reactor if not.

## v2.33.0

  - Introduce `Async::Promise.fulfill` for optional promise resolution.

## v2.32.1

  - Fix typo in documentation.

## v2.32.0

  - Introduce `Queue#waiting_count` and `PriorityQueue#waiting_count`. Generally for statistics/testing purposes only.

## v2.31.0

  - Introduce `Async::Deadline` for precise timeout management in compound operations.

## v2.30.0

  - Add timeout support to `Async::Queue#dequeue` and `Async::Queue#pop` methods.
  - Add timeout support to `Async::PriorityQueue#dequeue` and `Async::PriorityQueue#pop` methods.
  - Add `closed?` method to `Async::PriorityQueue` for full queue interface compatibility.
  - Support non-blocking operations using `timeout: 0` parameter.

## v2.29.0

This release introduces thread-safety as a core concept of Async. Many core classes now have thread-safe guarantees, allowing them to be used safely across multiple threads.

  - Thread-safe `Async::Condition` and `Async::Notification`, implemented using `Thread::Queue`.
  - Thread-safe `Async::Queue` and `Async::LimitedQueue`, implemented using `Thread::Queue` and `Thread::LimitedQueue` respectively.
  - `Async::Variable` is deprecated in favor of `Async::Promise`.

### Introduce `Async::Promise`

This release introduces the new `Async::Promise` class and refactors `Async::Task` to use promises for state management internally. This architectural improvement achieves the design goal that "a task should be a promise with attached computation and cancellation handling."

  - **Thread-safe promise implementation** with immutable state transitions.
  - **Consistent state management** using symbols: `:completed`, `:failed`, `:cancelled`.
  - **Promise cancellation** with `cancel()` method and `Cancel` exception class.
  - **Comprehensive test coverage** with 47 new test cases covering all edge cases.

<!-- end list -->

``` ruby
require "async/promise"

# Basic promise usage - works independently of Async framework
promise = Async::Promise.new

# In another thread or fiber, resolve the promise
Thread.new do
	sleep(1)  # Simulate some work
	promise.resolve("Hello, World!")
end

# Wait for the result
result = promise.wait
puts result  # => "Hello, World!"

# Check promise state
puts promise.resolved?   # => true
puts promise.completed?  # => true
```

Promises bridge Thread and Fiber concurrency models - a promise resolved in one thread can be awaited in a fiber, and vice versa.

### Introduce `Async::PriorityQueue`

The new `Async::PriorityQueue` provides a thread-safe, fiber-aware queue where consumers can specify priority levels. Higher priority consumers are served first when items become available, with FIFO ordering maintained for equal priorities. This is useful for implementing priority-based task processing systems where critical operations need to be handled before lower priority work.

``` ruby
require "async"
require "async/priority_queue"

Async do
	queue = Async::PriorityQueue.new
	
		# Start consumers with different priorities
	low_priority = async do
		puts "Low priority consumer got: #{queue.dequeue(priority: 1)}"
	end
	
	medium_priority = async do
		puts "Medium priority consumer got: #{queue.dequeue(priority: 5)}"
	end
	
	high_priority = async do
		puts "High priority consumer got: #{queue.dequeue(priority: 10)}"
	end
	
		# Add items to the queue
	queue.push("first item")
	queue.push("second item")
	queue.push("third item")
	
		# Output:
		# High priority consumer got: first item
		# Medium priority consumer got: second item  
		# Low priority consumer got: third item
end
```

## v2.28.1

  - Fix race condition between `Async::Barrier#stop` and finish signalling.

## v2.28.0

  - Use `Traces.current_context` and `Traces.with_context` for better integration with OpenTelemetry.

## v2.27.4

  - Suppress excessive warning in `Async::Scheduler#async`.

## v2.27.3

  - Ensure trace attributes are strings, fixes integration with OpenTelemetry.

## v2.27.2

  - Fix `context/index.yaml` schema.

## v2.27.1

  - Updated documentation and agent context.

## v2.27.0

  - `Async::Task#stop` supports an optional `cause:` argument (that defaults to `$!`), which allows you to specify the cause (exception) for stopping the task.
  - Add thread-safety agent context.

## v2.26.0

  - `Async::Notification#signal` now returns `true` if a task was signaled, `false` otherwise, providing better feedback for notification operations.
  - `require "async/limited_queue"` is required to use `Async::LimitedQueue` without a deprecation warning. `Async::LimitedQueue` is not deprecated, but it's usage via `async/queue` is deprecated.
  - `Async::Task#sleep` is deprecated with no replacement.
  - `Async::Task.yield` is deprecated with no replacement.
  - `Async::Scheduler#async` is deprecated, use `Async{}`, `Sync{}` or `Async::Task#async` instead.
  - Agent context is now available, via the [`agent-context` gem](https://github.com/ioquatix/agent-context).

### `Async::Barrier` Improvements

`Async::Barrier` now provides more flexible and predictable behavior for waiting on task completion:

  - **Completion-order waiting**: `barrier.wait` now processes tasks in the order they complete rather than the order they were created. This provides more predictable behavior when tasks have different execution times.
  - **Block-based waiting**: `barrier.wait` now accepts an optional block that yields each task as it completes, allowing for custom handling of individual tasks:

<!-- end list -->

``` ruby
barrier = Async::Barrier.new

# Start several tasks
3.times do |i|
	barrier.async do |task|
		sleep(rand * 0.1)  # Random completion time
		"result_#{i}"
	end
end

# Wait for all tasks, processing them as they complete
barrier.wait do |task|
	result = task.wait
	puts "Task completed with: #{result}"
end
```

  - **Partial completion support**: The new block-based interface allows you to wait for only the first N tasks to complete:

<!-- end list -->

``` ruby
# Wait for only the first 3 tasks to complete
count = 0
barrier.wait do |task|
	task.wait
	count += 1
	break if count >= 3
end
```

This makes `Async::Barrier` a superset of `Async::Waiter` functionality, providing more flexible task coordination patterns, and therrefore, `Async::Waiter` is now deprecated.

### Introduce `Async::Queue#close`

`Async::Queue` and `Async::LimitedQueue` can now be closed, which provides better resource management and error handling:

  - **New `close` method**: Both queue types now have a `close` method that prevents further items from being added and signals any waiting tasks.
  - **Consistent error handling**: All queue modification methods (`push`, `enqueue`, `<<`) now raise `Async::Queue::ClosedError` when called on a closed queue.
  - **Waiting task signaling**: When a queue is closed, any tasks waiting on `dequeue` (for regular queues) or `enqueue` (for limited queues) are properly signaled and can complete.

<!-- end list -->

``` ruby
queue = Async::Queue.new

# Start a task waiting for items:
waiting_task = Async do
	queue.dequeue
end

# Close the queue - this signals the waiting task
queue.close

# These will raise Async::Queue::ClosedError
queue.push(:item)      # => raises ClosedError
queue.enqueue(:item)   # => raises ClosedError
queue << :item         # => raises ClosedError

# Dequeue returns nil when closed and empty
queue.dequeue          # => nil
```

## v2.25.0

  - Added support for `io_select` hook in the fiber scheduler, allowing non-blocking `IO.select` operations. This enables better integration with code that uses `IO.select` for multiplexing IO operations.

### Use `IO::Event::WorkerPool` for Blocking Operations

The `Async::WorkerPool` implementation has been removed in favor of using `IO::Event::WorkerPool` directly. This change simplifies the codebase by delegating worker pool functionality to the `io-event` gem, which provides a more efficient and well-tested implementation.

To enable the worker pool, you can set the `ASYNC_SCHEDULER_WORKER_POOL` environment variable to `true`. This will allow the scheduler to use a worker pool for blocking operations, which can help improve performance in applications that perform a lot of CPU-bound operations (e.g. `rb_nogvl`).

### Better handling of `IO#close` using `fiber_interrupt`

`IO#close` interrupts fibers that are waiting on the IO using the new `fiber_interrupt` hook introduced in Ruby 3.5/4.0. This means that if you close an IO while a fiber is waiting on it, the fiber will be interrupted and will raise an `IOError`. This is a change from previous versions of Ruby, where closing an IO would not interrupt fibers waiting on it, and would instead interrupt the entire event loop (essentially a bug).

``` ruby
r, w = IO.pipe

Async do
	child = Async do
		r.gets
	end
	
	r.close # This will interrupt the child fiber.
	child.wait # This will raise an `IOError` because the IO was closed.
end
```

## v2.24.0

  - Ruby v3.1 support is dropped.
  - `Async::Wrapper` which was previously deprecated, is now removed.

### Flexible Timeouts

When `Async::Scheduler#with_timeout` is invoked with a block, it can receive a `Async::Timeout` instance. This allows you to adjust or cancel the timeout while the block is executing. This is useful for long-running tasks that may need to adjust their timeout based on external factors.

``` ruby
Async do
	Async::Scheduler.with_timeout(5) do |timeout|
		# Do some work that may take a while...
		
		if some_condition
			timeout.cancel! # Cancel the timeout
		else
			# Add 10 seconds to the current timeout:
			timeout.adjust(10)
			
			# Reduce the timeout by 10 seconds:
			timeout.adjust(-10)
			
			# Set the timeout to 10 seconds from now:
			timeout.duration = 10
			
			# Increase the current duration:
			timeout.duration += 10
		end
	end
end
```

## v2.23.0

  - Rename `ASYNC_SCHEDULER_DEFAULT_WORKER_POOL` to `ASYNC_SCHEDULER_WORKER_POOL`.

### Fiber Stall Profiler

After several iterations of experimentation, we are officially introducing the fiber stall profiler, implemented using the optional `fiber-profiler` gem. This gem is not included by default, but can be added to your project:

``` bash
$ bundle add fiber-profiler
```

After adding the gem, you can enable the fiber stall profiler by setting the `FIBER_PROFILER_CAPTURE=true` environment variable:

``` bash
$ FIBER_PROFILER_CAPTURE=true bundle exec ruby -rasync -e 'Async{Fiber.blocking{sleep 0.1}}'
Fiber stalled for 0.105 seconds
-e:1 in c-call '#<Class:Fiber>#blocking' (0.105s)
	-e:1 in c-call 'Kernel#sleep' (0.105s)
Skipped 1 calls that were too short to be meaningful.
```

The fiber profiler will help you find problems with your code that cause the event loop to stall, which can be a common source of performance issues in asynchronous code.

## v2.21.1

### Worker Pool

Ruby 3.4 will feature a new fiber scheduler hook, `blocking_operation_wait` which allows the scheduler to redirect the work given to `rb_nogvl` to a worker pool.

The Async scheduler optionally supports this feature using a worker pool, by using the following environment variable:

    ASYNC_SCHEDULER_WORKER_POOL=true

This will cause the scheduler to use a worker pool for general blocking operations, rather than blocking the event loop.

It should be noted that this isn't a net win, as the overhead of using a worker pool can be significant compared to the `rb_nogvl` work. As such, it is recommended to benchmark your application with and without the worker pool to determine if it is beneficial.

## v2.20.0

### Traces and Metrics Providers

Async now has [traces](https://github.com/socketry/traces) and [metrics](https://github.com/socketry/metrics) providers for various core classes. This allows you to emit traces and metrics to a suitable backend (including DataDog, New Relic, OpenTelemetry, etc.) for monitoring and debugging purposes.

To take advantage of this feature, you will need to introduce your own `config/traces.rb` and `config/metrics.rb`. Async's own repository includes these files for testing purposes, you could copy them into your own project and modify them as needed.

## v2.19.0

### `Async::Scheduler` Debugging

Occasionally on issues, I encounter people asking for help and I need more information. Pressing Ctrl-C to exit a hung program is common, but it usually doesn't provide enough information to diagnose the problem. Setting the `CONSOLE_LEVEL=debug` environment variable will now print additional information about the scheduler when you interrupt it, including a backtrace of the current tasks.

    > CONSOLE_LEVEL=debug bundle exec ruby ./test.rb
    ^C  0.0s    debug: Async::Reactor [oid=0x974] [ec=0x988] [pid=9116] [2024-11-08 14:12:03 +1300]
                   | Scheduler interrupted: Interrupt
                   | #<Async::Reactor:0x0000000000000974 1 children (running)>
                   | 	#<Async::Task:0x000000000000099c /Users/samuel/Developer/socketry/async/lib/async/scheduler.rb:185:in `transfer' (running)>
                   | 	→ /Users/samuel/Developer/socketry/async/lib/async/scheduler.rb:185:in `transfer'
                   | 	  /Users/samuel/Developer/socketry/async/lib/async/scheduler.rb:185:in `block'
                   | 	  /Users/samuel/Developer/socketry/async/lib/async/scheduler.rb:207:in `kernel_sleep'
                   | 	  /Users/samuel/Developer/socketry/async/test.rb:7:in `sleep'
                   | 	  /Users/samuel/Developer/socketry/async/test.rb:7:in `sleepy'
                   | 	  /Users/samuel/Developer/socketry/async/test.rb:12:in `block in <top (required)>'
                   | 	  /Users/samuel/Developer/socketry/async/lib/async/task.rb:197:in `block in run'
                   | 	  /Users/samuel/Developer/socketry/async/lib/async/task.rb:420:in `block in schedule'
    /Users/samuel/Developer/socketry/async/lib/async/scheduler.rb:317:in `select': Interrupt
    ... (backtrace continues) ...

This gives better visibility into what the scheduler is doing, and should help diagnose issues.

### Console Shims

The `async` gem depends on `console` gem, because my goal was to have good logging by default without thinking about it too much. However, some users prefer to avoid using the `console` gem for logging, so I've added an experimental set of shims which should allow you to bypass the `console` gem entirely.

``` ruby
require "async/console"
require "async"

Async {raise "Boom"}
```

Will now use `Kernel#warn` to print the task failure warning:

    #<Async::Task:0x00000000000012d4 /home/samuel/Developer/socketry/async/lib/async/task.rb:104:in `backtrace' (running)>
    Task may have ended with unhandled exception.
    (irb):4:in `block in <top (required)>': Boom (RuntimeError)
    	from /home/samuel/Developer/socketry/async/lib/async/task.rb:197:in `block in run'
    	from /home/samuel/Developer/socketry/async/lib/async/task.rb:420:in `block in schedule'

## v2.18.0

  - Add support for `Sync(annotation:)`, so that you can annotate the block with a description of what it does, even if it doesn't create a new task.

## v2.17.0

  - Introduce `Async::Queue#push` and `Async::Queue#pop` for compatibility with `::Queue`.

## v2.16.0

### Better Handling of Async and Sync in Nested Fibers

Interleaving bare fibers within `Async` and `Sync` blocks should not cause problems, but it presents a number of issues in the current implementation. Tracking the parent-child relationship between tasks, when they are interleaved with bare fibers, is difficult. The current implementation assumes that if there is no parent task, then it should create a new reactor. This is not always the case, as the parent task might not be visible due to nested Fibers. As a result, `Async` will create a new reactor, trying to stop the existing one, causing major internal consistency issues.

I encountered this issue when trying to use `Async` within a streaming response in Rails. The `protocol-rack` [uses a normal fiber to wrap streaming responses](https://github.com/socketry/protocol-rack/blob/cb1ca44e9deadb9369bdb2ea03416556aa927c5c/lib/protocol/rack/body/streaming.rb#L24-L28), and if you try to use `Async` within it, it will create a new reactor, causing the server to lock up.

Ideally, `Async` and `Sync` helpers should work when any `Fiber.scheduler` is defined. Right now, it's unrealistic to expect `Async::Task` to work in any scheduler, but at the very least, the following should work:

``` ruby
reactor = Async::Reactor.new # internally calls Fiber.set_scheduler

# This should run in the above reactor, rather than creating a new one.
Async do
	puts "Hello World"
end
```

In order to do this, bare `Async` and `Sync` blocks should use `Fiber.scheduler` as a parent if possible.

See <https://github.com/socketry/async/pull/340> for more details.
