Re: [9fans] devip connect error state

[Charles Forsyth <forsyth@terzarima.net>]

> The result being if the connect fails, the state remains Connecting,
> and subsequent writes of 'connect' commands fail because Econinuse.
> 
> In Plan 9/Inferno, this doesn't really matter much because if dial(2)
> fails we close the fd to the ctl file.
> 
> Now in the Libra library OS stuff that I've been working on, we are
> using a slight different (more socket-ish) semantic.  There's nothing
> in the devip man pages that say that I can't issue new commands to the
> ctl file after a failed command.

i imagine that on at least one of the platforms on which the code runs,
``socket-ish semantics'' are not as well-defined as you think, and the
underlying fd goes into a peculiar state when the connect fails.
it's not in fact hung up, but you can't connect again. i think
the code's choosing an existing state (i suppose it ought to have
added a new state Buggered, except that sets off the spam filters) that
blocks further connection requests but allows some interaction with
the fd.  (i don't know why, yet.)