[Python-Dev] timeoutsocket.py

[Steve Holden]

Guido wrote:
> > [Bernard Yue]
> > > > What is the status of integrating timeoutsocket.py into standard
> > > > library?  Are there any body responsible for it currently?  If not I
> > > > would like to give it a shot.
> >
> > [Guido]
> > > Isn't one of the problems that the timeout is global?
> > >
> [Me]
> > While there *is* a global timeout, it can be changed locally before
> > calling the library modsule that creates a given socket. The normal
> > mode of usage, of course, is to set a timeout after explicitly
> > creating each timeoutsocket.  Clearly this is no use with opaque
> > code that creates sockets.
> >
> > > Also, I'd expect that if you did this as a standard feature, the
> > > implementation would be completely different (e.g. integrate it in the
> > > C socket code).
> > >
> > Hmm. That would increase the complexity of the code, given that
> > socket.c has nested "#ifdef"s and many platform dependencies that
> > timeoutsocket.py does without. I wouldn't presume to comment on the
> > difficulty level - it would certainly scare me away, but then I've
> > avoided C for the past few years as a matter of choice.
>
> Yeah, but the shim layer added by timeoutsocket.py is *also* something
> I could do without (especially since there's already a shim layer
> added by socket.py).

That's something I hadn't thought of. Perhaps Bernard could integrate the
timeoutsocket.py code into socket.py? This would need less work than a C
rewrite, even with a redesign.

> > > I think it would be great if timeouts were added to sockets (and
> > > *maybe* the global timeout is even a good thing).  But I'd like to see
> > > a design first rather than code.
> > >
> > It could certainly be helpful to network newbies if it were more
> > difficult to write a program that hangs indefinitely.
>
> But do network newbies really care?  They can just ^C their program.
> I'd have thought that this is mostly useful for the gurus who want to
> write long-running programs that never get stuck.
>
I guess the newbies only care when they don't understand *why* they have to
^C. A timeoutsocket error message might provide a helpful explanation.
Certainly the main value is for production code.

> (Anyway, I'd rather see this discussion on python-dev, where Bernard
> Yue can see it and others can chime in.)
>
Sorry, my bad for not replying to the list.

regards
 Steve