Posix library ,Concurrent Haskell and Haskell IO sub-system

[Rafael Martinez Torres]

I use the Posix library since I have to communicate via a pipe with
another UNIX process.

Therefore I have to use

fdRead :: Fd -> ByteCount -> IO (String,ByteCount)

The problem is that "fdRead" , as a non Haskell-IO sub-system function,
seems
to block the entire STG system. The rest of the other threads are blocked
too.

BTW, "String" stands for non-printable bytes I can be sent for a system,
'\0' included ?

Alternatives:

1 .- Polling. Sleep and ask.
================================
 You have to use the setFdOption fd NonblockingRead True


fdReadNonBlockingSTG :: Fd -> Int -> IO (String,ByteCount)
fdReadNonBlockingSTG mypipe nobytes =
	do
	  (string,nobytesread) -> fdRead mypipe nobytes
	  if (nobytesread == -1)
	    then
		do
		  threadDelay 10000
		  fdReadNonBlockingSTG mypipe nobytes
	    else return (string,nobytesread)

myprogram :: IO ()
	  ...
	  setFdOption mypipe NonBlockingRead True
	  (a,b) <- fdReadNonBlockingSTG mypipe 2
	  ...


Problem: As you see, "1000" es an arbitrary constant maybe too short, may
be too long and this affects throughput.

2.- Desired approach
=======================

Ideally I would like to use the

threadWaitRead :: Int -> IO()

from Concurrent Haskell

as
	  ...
	  -- setFdOption mypipe NonBlockingRead True -- should be called?
	  threadWaitRead (fdToInt mypipe)
	  (string,nobytes) <- fdRead mypipe 2
	  ...
But...

QUESTIONS
==========
A ) is the GHC-RTS ready to dispatch the signal send by the O.S on a
"Posix Fd" and make "threadWaitRead" to run as expected ?

The Posix library doc warns:

	intToFd :: Int -> Fd  -- use with care
	fdToInt :: Fd -> Int  -- ditto

B) Other approaches, like Handles... Is it possible to convert a Fd into a
Handle or bypassing it to the RTS another way ?...