Select hangs after some reads

[Jon Ribbens]

In article <mailman.6761.1149790756.27775.python-list at python.org>, Steve Holden wrote:
>> I don't think that's right. You are confusing the PSH flag (which is
>> basically unused in Unix networking I think) and the URG flag (which
>> is extremely rarely used, but is indeed used by FTP to get abort
>> requests to 'jump the queue' as it were).
> 
> Nope.

I'm sorry, but you're definitely mistaken.

> The URG flag indicates that a packet contains out-of-band data, 
> whihc is what you describe above.

"out-of-band" is just way the sockets interface slightly mis-describes
it. Either way, it causes (in Unix) the FTP server process to receive
a SIGURG; the signal handler sets a flag and the data-transfer loop
stops.

> The PSH flag indicates that the data stream must be flushed right 
> through to the other end.

That's sort-of true, but irrelevant. The PSH flag, when received,
means that the networking layer should unbuffer any data and ensure it
is released to the receiving application. *However*, BSD sockets never
wait before allowing the application to receive incoming data, so the
incoming PSH flag is unnecessary and ignored.

In addition, the sockets interface simply doesn't provide a method
for applications to set the PSH flag on output. The networking system
simply sets the PSH flag by default whenever the output buffer
empties.

> This is essential for interactive protocols such as FTP: without it
> the server has no way to know that the client has sent a complete
> command, and vice versa.

I'm afraid that's completely wrong. The FTP server knows it has
received a complete command because it sees the CRLF sequence
in the data stream.

I must admit it's refreshingly unusual to find someone who is more
familiar with TCP/IP as described theoretically in the 1981 RFCs than
the realities of the sockets interface ;-)