[Python-Dev] asyncore fixes in Python 2.6 broke Zope's version of medusa

[Hrvoje Niksic]

Greg Ewing wrote:
>> Even if you don't agree that using O_NONBLOCK with select/poll is the 
>> best approach to non-blocking, I think there is enough existing practice 
>> of doing this to warrant separate consideration of non-blocking sockets 
>> (in the OS sense) and select/poll.
> 
> I'm not saying there isn't merit in having support for
> non-blocking file descriptors, only that it's not in
> any sense a prerequisite or first step towards a
> select/poll wrapper. They're orthogonal issues, even
> if you might sometimes want to use them together.

In that case we are in agreement.  Looking back, I was somewhat confused 
by this paragraph:

     So I don't think it makes sense to talk about having a
     non-blocking API as a separate thing from a select/poll
     wrapper. The select/poll wrapper *is* the non-blocking
     API.

If they're orthogonal, then it does make sense to talk about having a 
separate non-blocking socket API and poll API, even if the latter can be 
used to implement non-blocking *functionality* (hypothetical Linux 
issues aside).