psember@lynx.trl.OZ.AU (P Sember SNR) (06/05/91)
If I am sending long files down a socket is it best to split the file into
packets. What size and why for a sun4?
Thank you
Peter Sember p.sember@trl.oz.au
Telecom Research Labs. Phone: +61 3 541 6127
P.O. 249 Clayton,
Victoria 3168
Australiamouse@thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu (der Mouse) (06/06/91)
In article <1991Jun5.055501.6003@trl.oz.au>, psember@lynx.trl.OZ.AU (P Sember SNR) writes: > If I am sending long files down a socket is it best to split the file > into packets. Is that a statement or a question? (Usually when people phrase a sentence as a question and end it with a period it's clear; in this case it's not so clear - if you switch "is it" to "it is" it's no longer phrased as a question.) > What size and why for a sun4? You don't say what system, you don't say what sort of socket, and you don't say what's on the other end of the socket. So I have to guess. If the socket is a SOCK_STREAM (which is probably true in your case), it generally doesn't matter; the implementation will break it up for you. There's no point in trying to second-guess it, because it has access to information you don't that can affect the best way to break it up. The only case where you *need* to break it up is if you're speaking to a daemon of some sort which sends stuff back every so often; in this case you need to read the stuff being sent back or there may be danger of deadlock. If the socket is a SOCK_DGRAM, your attempt to write will generally fail unless the amount of stuff you're writing is small enough. If you're using datagram sockets, though, you should already know that and have a protocol design in hand which deals with all the hair necessary to use the things and make them work. If the socket is some other sort, I haven't a clue what's up. The only other sort of socket I can recall offhand is SOCK_RAW, and if you have to ask questions like this you have no business messing with SOCK_RAW. der Mouse old: mcgill-vision!mouse new: mouse@larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu