Not sending file correctly. Sockets. C - c

Question

I am writing a program that a client can ask for files to a server. Then the server will send them in chunks of 512 bytes. The problem is that when the client read the file:
*Sometimes the first 512 bytes are different from the original file. The total read file also has a different size (and obviously it also ends different from the original file) and therefore the client loop that writes to the new file does never end.
*Sometimes it works perfectly and i don't know why.
Server:
/* Check if file exists */
if(access(retrFileName, F_OK) == 0){
/* Open file */
fd = open(retrFileName, O_RDONLY);
lseek(fd, 0, SEEK_SET);
if (fd == -1){
fprintf(stderr, "Error opening file --> %s", strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
/* Get file stats */
if (fstat(fd, &fileStat) < 0){
fprintf(stderr, "Error fstat --> %s", strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
sprintf(fileSize, "%li", fileStat.st_size);
/* Sending file data */
offset = 0;
remainData = fileStat.st_size;
while (((sentBytes = sendfile(clientSock, fd, &offset, 512)) == 512) && (remainData > 0)) {
remainData -= sentBytes;
fprintf(stdout, "Server envio %d bytes del file, offset ahora vale: %li y quedan = %d bytes\n", sentBytes, offset, remainData);
}
remainData -= sentBytes;
fprintf(stdout, "Server envio %d bytes del file, offset ahora vale: %li y quedan = %d bytes\n", sentBytes, offset, remainData);//do while
close(fd);////////////////////////
send(clientSock, NICETRANSFER, sizeof(NICETRANSFER), 0); //LO METE AL ARCHIVO
printf("send\n");
//close(clientSock);///////////
}
else{
send(clientSock, FILEERROR, sizeof(FILEERROR), 0);
printf("send\n");
}
}
Client:
/* Open file */
receivedFile = fopen("r.txt", "wb");
if (receivedFile == NULL){
fprintf(stderr, "Failed to open file --> %s\n", strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
/* Write to the file */
int contador = 0;
int remainData = fileSize;
do{
if(remainData < 512)
bytesLeidos = recv(clientSock, readingBuffer, remainData, 0);
else
bytesLeidos = recv(clientSock, readingBuffer, 512, 0);
fwrite(readingBuffer, bytesLeidos, 1, receivedFile);
remainData -= 512;
contador += 512;
printf("bytesleidos: %li, contador: %d:\n%s\n\n", bytesLeidos, contador, readingBuffer);
}while(contador < fileSize);
fclose(receivedFile);

Answer 1

Golden rule of socket programming: Always check the return value from recv. It's not always what you think it will be.
Even though you "send" 512 bytes at a time, you are in no way guaranteed that TCP will deliver the same number of bytes at a time to the receiver. TCP segmentation, IP fragmentation, and general Internet weirdness will cause the recv side to get an arbitrary number of bytes at a time.
Hence, your hardcoded assumption that recv will always return 512 is incorrect:
remainData -= 512;
contador += 512;
Instead, you should be saying:
remainData -= bytesLeidos;
contador += bytesLeidos;
An you need to check for errors and socket closing too.
This is an improved main loop for your client code:
while (remainData > 0)
{
size_t recvSize = (remainData >= 512) ? 512 : remainData;
bytesLeidos = recv(clientSock, readingBuffer, recvSize, 0);
if (bytesLeidos > 0)
{
fwrite(readingBuffer, bytesLeidos, 1, receivedFile);
remainData -= bytesLeidos;
contador += bytesLeidos;
/* null terminate readingBuffer so garbage isn't printed.*/
/* Make sure readingBuffer is allocated to be at least */
/* N+1 bytes (513) to account for this character being appended. */
readingBuffer[bytesLeidos] = '\0';
printf("bytesleidos: %li, contador: %d:\n%s\n\n", bytesLeidos, contador, readingBuffer);
}
else if (bytesLeidos == 0)
{
/* remote side closed connection */
printf("Remote side exited connection\n");
break;
}
else if (bytesLeidos < 0)
{
/* connection error */
printf("Connection error\n");
break;
}
}

Answer 2

I solved my problem!! I needed to sync both client and server. To do so, the server send the size of the file and waits for an answer for the client with recv. When the client recieve the file size, it send a "" message.
I don't know if this is the correct solution, but this way you can sync server and client.
After sync, the server send the respective file normally with sendfile