Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!bloom-beacon!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!hpfcdc!hpfclp!diamant
From: diamant@hpfclp.SDE.HP.COM (John Diamant)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: Why does X not use SO_KEEPALIVE?
Message-ID: <9740091@hpfclp.SDE.HP.COM>
Date: 1 Jun 89 16:17:06 GMT
References: <8905241247.AA00833@expire.lcs.mit.edu>
Organization: HP SESD, Fort Collins, CO
Lines: 18

> I definitely think that this is a case where keepalives are warranted.
> I'm getting sick of having to hunt down all my xterms whenever my
> server crashes.

I'm told that KEEPALIVE wouldn't solve your problem here anyway.  It only
solves the problem on remote connections when the server machine actually
crashes (panic, powerfail, whatever, or is disconnected from the network).  If
the server dies and the machine continues to run, the operating system will
close all open file descriptors (including sockets).  The problem must be a
lack of handling of the socket closure in the client that causes the hung
processes, not the fact that it remained open (it may be that the process
doesn't notice that the socket is closed until it tries to write to it).


John Diamant
Software Engineering Systems Division
Hewlett-Packard Co.		ARPA Internet: diamant@hpfclp.sde.hp.com
Fort Collins, CO		UUCP:  {hplabs,hpfcla}!hpfclp!diamant