[slightly OT] non-blocking rpc-like thing?

[Ben Johnson <ben blarg net>]

hey.

I'm using an embedded perl interpreter in my app right now.  This is
source of some inconviniences, so I'm thinking about moving the perl
piece into a seperate process.  In order to make this worthwhile I'll
need an interface that can work with the gtk main loop (i.e. something
that uses file descriptors for communication) and a function set (an
API) that has support for a non-blocking interaction.

Basically, in addition to basic rpc-like functionality, I want the API to:
- handle the EAGAIN return value properly
- provide a way for the calling app to initiate multiple reads or writes
  for each interaction (for each procedure call), and inform the app
  when the io is complete.

preferably there are already both C and perl interfaces to this lib.  I
haven't found anything that matches too closely so far.  Anyone else
know of something?  How difficult do you think it would be to make an
existing rpc lib non-blocking?

Thanks
- Ben