Using select() for non-blocking sockets - c

Question

I am trying to use the select function to have non-blocking i/o between a server and 1 client (no more) where the communication flows nicely (can send at any time and the other will receive without waiting to send). I found a tutorial with some code and tried to adapt it to mine. This is what I have -
Server
#define PORT "4950"
#define STDIN 0
struct sockaddr name;
void set_nonblock(int socket) {
int flags;
flags = fcntl(socket,F_GETFL,0);
assert(flags != -1);
fcntl(socket, F_SETFL, flags | O_NONBLOCK);
}
// get sockaddr, IPv4 or IPv6:
void *get_in_addr(struct sockaddr *sa) {
if (sa->sa_family == AF_INET)
return &(((struct sockaddr_in*)sa)->sin_addr);
return &(((struct sockaddr_in6*)sa)->sin6_addr);
}
int main(int agrc, char** argv) {
int status, sock, adrlen, new_sd;
struct addrinfo hints;
struct addrinfo *servinfo; //will point to the results
//store the connecting address and size
struct sockaddr_storage their_addr;
socklen_t their_addr_size;
fd_set read_flags,write_flags; // the flag sets to be used
struct timeval waitd; // the max wait time for an event
int sel; // holds return value for select();
//socket infoS
memset(&hints, 0, sizeof hints); //make sure the struct is empty
hints.ai_family = AF_INET;
hints.ai_socktype = SOCK_STREAM; //tcp
hints.ai_flags = AI_PASSIVE; //use local-host address
//get server info, put into servinfo
if ((status = getaddrinfo("127.0.0.1", PORT, &hints, &servinfo)) != 0) {
fprintf(stderr, "getaddrinfo error: %s\n", gai_strerror(status));
exit(1);
}
//make socket
sock = socket(servinfo->ai_family, servinfo->ai_socktype, servinfo->ai_protocol);
if (sock < 0) {
printf("\nserver socket failure %m", errno);
exit(1);
}
//allow reuse of port
int yes=1;
if (setsockopt(sock,SOL_SOCKET,SO_REUSEADDR,&yes,sizeof(int)) == -1) {
perror("setsockopt");
exit(1);
}
//unlink and bind
unlink("127.0.0.1");
if(bind (sock, servinfo->ai_addr, servinfo->ai_addrlen) < 0) {
printf("\nBind error %m", errno);
exit(1);
}
freeaddrinfo(servinfo);
//listen
if(listen(sock, 5) < 0) {
printf("\nListen error %m", errno);
exit(1);
}
their_addr_size = sizeof(their_addr);
//accept
new_sd = accept(sock, (struct sockaddr*)&their_addr, &their_addr_size);
if( new_sd < 0) {
printf("\nAccept error %m", errno);
exit(1);
}
set_nonblock(new_sd);
cout<<"\nSuccessful Connection!";
char* in = new char[255];
char* out = new char[255];
int numSent;
int numRead;
while(1) {
waitd.tv_sec = 10;
FD_ZERO(&read_flags);
FD_ZERO(&write_flags);
FD_SET(new_sd, &read_flags);
if(strlen(out) != 0)
FD_SET(new_sd, &write_flags);
sel = select(new_sd+1, &read_flags, &write_flags, (fd_set*)0, &waitd);
if(sel < 0)
continue;
//socket ready for reading
if(FD_ISSET(new_sd, &read_flags)) {
FD_CLR(new_sd, &read_flags);
memset(&in, 0, sizeof(in));
if(recv(new_sd, in, sizeof(in), 0) <= 0) {
close(new_sd);
break;
}
else
cout<<"\n"<<in;
} //end if ready for read
//socket ready for writing
if(FD_ISSET(new_sd, &write_flags)) {
FD_CLR(new_sd, &write_flags);
send(new_sd, out, strlen(out), 0);
memset(&out, 0, sizeof(out));
}
} //end while
cout<<"\n\nExiting normally\n";
return 0;
}
Client (basically the same just minus an accept call) -
#define PORT "4950"
struct sockaddr name;
void set_nonblock(int socket) {
int flags;
flags = fcntl(socket,F_GETFL,0);
assert(flags != -1);
fcntl(socket, F_SETFL, flags | O_NONBLOCK);
}
// get sockaddr, IPv4 or IPv6:
void *get_in_addr(struct sockaddr *sa) {
if (sa->sa_family == AF_INET)
return &(((struct sockaddr_in*)sa)->sin_addr);
return &(((struct sockaddr_in6*)sa)->sin6_addr);
}
int main(int agrc, char** argv) {
int status, sock, adrlen;
struct addrinfo hints;
struct addrinfo *servinfo; //will point to the results
fd_set read_flags,write_flags; // the flag sets to be used
struct timeval waitd; // the max wait time for an event
int sel; // holds return value for select();
memset(&hints, 0, sizeof hints); //make sure the struct is empty
hints.ai_family = AF_INET;
hints.ai_socktype = SOCK_STREAM; //tcp
hints.ai_flags = AI_PASSIVE; //use local-host address
//get server info, put into servinfo
if ((status = getaddrinfo("127.0.0.1", PORT, &hints, &servinfo)) != 0) {
fprintf(stderr, "getaddrinfo error: %s\n", gai_strerror(status));
exit(1);
}
//make socket
sock = socket(servinfo->ai_family, servinfo->ai_socktype, servinfo->ai_protocol);
if (sock < 0) {
printf("\nserver socket failure %m", errno);
exit(1);
}
if(connect(sock, servinfo->ai_addr, servinfo->ai_addrlen) < 0) {
printf("\nclient connection failure %m", errno);
exit(1);
}
cout<<"\nSuccessful connection!";
set_nonblock(sock);
char* out = new char[255];
char* in = new char[255];
int numRead;
int numSent;
while(1) {
waitd.tv_sec = 10;
FD_ZERO(&read_flags);
FD_ZERO(&write_flags);
FD_SET(sock, &read_flags);
if(strlen(out) != 0)
FD_SET(sock, &write_flags);
sel = select(sock+1, &read_flags, &write_flags, (fd_set*)0, &waitd);
if(sel < 0)
continue;
//socket ready for reading
if(FD_ISSET(sock, &read_flags)) {
FD_CLR(sock, &read_flags);
memset(&in, 0, sizeof(in));
if(recv(sock, in, sizeof(in), 0) <= 0) {
close(sock);
break;
}
else
cout<<"\n"<<in;
} //end if ready for read
//socket ready for writing
if(FD_ISSET(sock, &write_flags)) {
FD_CLR(sock, &write_flags);
send(sock, out, strlen(out), 0);
memset(&out, 0, sizeof(out));
}
} //end while
cout<<"\n\nExiting normally\n";
return 0;
}
The problem is that when I run them, nothing happens. I can type into one and hit enter and nothing shows up on the other screen (and vice versa). Thats not a whole of information for me to debug and this is my first real attempt at using select so I thought maybe I am just unaware of something simple. If anything can be spotted as wrong or weird please point it out, any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

The problem is that when I run them, nothing happens.
The real problem is that people have been pasting stuff from Beej for years without understanding it. That's why I don't really like that guide; it gives large blocks of code without really explaining them in detail.
You're not reading anything and not sending anything; no fgets, scanf, cin, etc. Here's what I would do:
FD_SET(sock, &read_flags);
FD_SET(STDIN_FILENO, &read_flags);
/* .. snip .. */
if(FD_ISSET(STDIN_FILENO, &read_flags)) {
fgets(out, len, stdin);
}
This will monitor stdin and read from it when input is available; then, when the socket is writeable (FD_ISSET(sock, &write_flags)), it will send the buffer.

Answer 2

I have the program working correctly now.
server -
#define PORT "4950"
#define STDIN 0
struct sockaddr name;
void set_nonblock(int socket) {
int flags;
flags = fcntl(socket,F_GETFL,0);
assert(flags != -1);
fcntl(socket, F_SETFL, flags | O_NONBLOCK);
}
// get sockaddr, IPv4 or IPv6:
void *get_in_addr(struct sockaddr *sa) {
if (sa->sa_family == AF_INET)
return &(((struct sockaddr_in*)sa)->sin_addr);
return &(((struct sockaddr_in6*)sa)->sin6_addr);
}
int main(int agrc, char** argv) {
int status, sock, adrlen, new_sd;
struct addrinfo hints;
struct addrinfo *servinfo; //will point to the results
//store the connecting address and size
struct sockaddr_storage their_addr;
socklen_t their_addr_size;
fd_set read_flags,write_flags; // the flag sets to be used
struct timeval waitd = {10, 0}; // the max wait time for an event
int sel; // holds return value for select();
//socket infoS
memset(&hints, 0, sizeof hints); //make sure the struct is empty
hints.ai_family = AF_INET;
hints.ai_socktype = SOCK_STREAM; //tcp
hints.ai_flags = AI_PASSIVE; //use local-host address
//get server info, put into servinfo
if ((status = getaddrinfo("127.0.0.1", PORT, &hints, &servinfo)) != 0) {
fprintf(stderr, "getaddrinfo error: %s\n", gai_strerror(status));
exit(1);
}
//make socket
sock = socket(servinfo->ai_family, servinfo->ai_socktype, servinfo->ai_protocol);
if (sock < 0) {
printf("\nserver socket failure %m", errno);
exit(1);
}
//allow reuse of port
int yes=1;
if (setsockopt(sock,SOL_SOCKET,SO_REUSEADDR,&yes,sizeof(int)) == -1) {
perror("setsockopt");
exit(1);
}
//unlink and bind
unlink("127.0.0.1");
if(bind (sock, servinfo->ai_addr, servinfo->ai_addrlen) < 0) {
printf("\nBind error %m", errno);
exit(1);
}
freeaddrinfo(servinfo);
//listen
if(listen(sock, 5) < 0) {
printf("\nListen error %m", errno);
exit(1);
}
their_addr_size = sizeof(their_addr);
//accept
new_sd = accept(sock, (struct sockaddr*)&their_addr, &their_addr_size);
if( new_sd < 0) {
printf("\nAccept error %m", errno);
exit(1);
}
//set non blocking
set_nonblock(new_sd);
cout<<"\nSuccessful Connection!\n";
char in[255];
char out[255];
memset(&in, 0, 255);
memset(&out, 0, 255);
int numSent;
int numRead;
while(1) {
FD_ZERO(&read_flags);
FD_ZERO(&write_flags);
FD_SET(new_sd, &read_flags);
FD_SET(new_sd, &write_flags);
FD_SET(STDIN_FILENO, &read_flags);
FD_SET(STDIN_FILENO, &write_flags);
sel = select(new_sd+1, &read_flags, &write_flags, (fd_set*)0, &waitd);
//if an error with select
if(sel < 0)
continue;
//socket ready for reading
if(FD_ISSET(new_sd, &read_flags)) {
//clear set
FD_CLR(new_sd, &read_flags);
memset(&in, 0, 255);
numRead = recv(new_sd, in, 255, 0);
if(numRead <= 0) {
printf("\nClosing socket");
close(new_sd);
break;
}
else if(in[0] != '\0')
cout<<"\nClient: "<<in;
} //end if ready for read
//if stdin is ready to be read
if(FD_ISSET(STDIN_FILENO, &read_flags))
fgets(out, 255, stdin);
//socket ready for writing
if(FD_ISSET(new_sd, &write_flags)) {
//printf("\nSocket ready for write");
FD_CLR(new_sd, &write_flags);
send(new_sd, out, 255, 0);
memset(&out, 0, 255);
} //end if
} //end while
cout<<"\n\nExiting normally\n";
return 0;
}
The client is basically the same...only difference really is the lack of listen and accept.

Answer 3

I just want to add that above example may not work as expected on Linux. On Linux waitd may be modified by select. So for Linux, waitd should be rewritten before select.
See the "timeout" section in the man page for select.