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authorseonah moon <seonah1.moon@samsung.com>2016-04-06 19:31:17 -0700
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+ _ _ ____ _
+ ___| | | | _ \| |
+ / __| | | | |_) | |
+ | (__| |_| | _ <| |___
+ \___|\___/|_| \_\_____|
+
+Structs in libcurl
+
+This document should cover 7.32.0 pretty accurately, but will make sense even
+for older and later versions as things don't change drastically that often.
+
+ 1. The main structs in libcurl
+ 1.1 SessionHandle
+ 1.2 connectdata
+ 1.3 Curl_multi
+ 1.4 Curl_handler
+ 1.5 conncache
+ 1.6 Curl_share
+ 1.7 CookieInfo
+
+==============================================================================
+
+1. The main structs in libcurl
+
+ 1.1 SessionHandle
+
+ The SessionHandle handle struct is the one returned to the outside in the
+ external API as a "CURL *". This is usually known as an easy handle in API
+ documentations and examples.
+
+ Information and state that is related to the actual connection is in the
+ 'connectdata' struct. When a transfer is about to be made, libcurl will
+ either create a new connection or re-use an existing one. The particular
+ connectdata that is used by this handle is pointed out by
+ SessionHandle->easy_conn.
+
+ Data and information that regard this particular single transfer is put in
+ the SingleRequest sub-struct.
+
+ When the SessionHandle struct is added to a multi handle, as it must be in
+ order to do any transfer, the ->multi member will point to the Curl_multi
+ struct it belongs to. The ->prev and ->next members will then be used by the
+ multi code to keep a linked list of SessionHandle structs that are added to
+ that same multi handle. libcurl always uses multi so ->multi *will* point to
+ a Curl_multi when a transfer is in progress.
+
+ ->mstate is the multi state of this particular SessionHandle. When
+ multi_runsingle() is called, it will act on this handle according to which
+ state it is in. The mstate is also what tells which sockets to return for a
+ specific SessionHandle when curl_multi_fdset() is called etc.
+
+ The libcurl source code generally use the name 'data' for the variable that
+ points to the SessionHandle.
+
+
+ 1.2 connectdata
+
+ A general idea in libcurl is to keep connections around in a connection
+ "cache" after they have been used in case they will be used again and then
+ re-use an existing one instead of creating a new as it creates a significant
+ performance boost.
+
+ Each 'connectdata' identifies a single physical connection to a server. If
+ the connection can't be kept alive, the connection will be closed after use
+ and then this struct can be removed from the cache and freed.
+
+ Thus, the same SessionHandle can be used multiple times and each time select
+ another connectdata struct to use for the connection. Keep this in mind, as
+ it is then important to consider if options or choices are based on the
+ connection or the SessionHandle.
+
+ Functions in libcurl will assume that connectdata->data points to the
+ SessionHandle that uses this connection.
+
+ As a special complexity, some protocols supported by libcurl require a
+ special disconnect procedure that is more than just shutting down the
+ socket. It can involve sending one or more commands to the server before
+ doing so. Since connections are kept in the connection cache after use, the
+ original SessionHandle may no longer be around when the time comes to shut
+ down a particular connection. For this purpose, libcurl holds a special
+ dummy 'closure_handle' SessionHandle in the Curl_multi struct to
+
+ FTP uses two TCP connections for a typical transfer but it keeps both in
+ this single struct and thus can be considered a single connection for most
+ internal concerns.
+
+ The libcurl source code generally use the name 'conn' for the variable that
+ points to the connectdata.
+
+
+ 1.3 Curl_multi
+
+ Internally, the easy interface is implemented as a wrapper around multi
+ interface functions. This makes everything multi interface.
+
+ Curl_multi is the multi handle struct exposed as "CURLM *" in external APIs.
+
+ This struct holds a list of SessionHandle structs that have been added to
+ this handle with curl_multi_add_handle(). The start of the list is ->easyp
+ and ->num_easy is a counter of added SessionHandles.
+
+ ->msglist is a linked list of messages to send back when
+ curl_multi_info_read() is called. Basically a node is added to that list
+ when an individual SessionHandle's transfer has completed.
+
+ ->hostcache points to the name cache. It is a hash table for looking up name
+ to IP. The nodes have a limited life time in there and this cache is meant
+ to reduce the time for when the same name is wanted within a short period of
+ time.
+
+ ->timetree points to a tree of SessionHandles, sorted by the remaining time
+ until it should be checked - normally some sort of timeout. Each
+ SessionHandle has one node in the tree.
+
+ ->sockhash is a hash table to allow fast lookups of socket descriptor to
+ which SessionHandle that uses that descriptor. This is necessary for the
+ multi_socket API.
+
+ ->conn_cache points to the connection cache. It keeps track of all
+ connections that are kept after use. The cache has a maximum size.
+
+ ->closure_handle is described in the 'connectdata' section.
+
+ The libcurl source code generally use the name 'multi' for the variable that
+ points to the Curl_multi struct.
+
+
+ 1.4 Curl_handler
+
+ Each unique protocol that is supported by libcurl needs to provide at least
+ one Curl_handler struct. It defines what the protocol is called and what
+ functions the main code should call to deal with protocol specific issues.
+ In general, there's a source file named [protocol].c in which there's a
+ "struct Curl_handler Curl_handler_[protocol]" declared. In url.c there's
+ then the main array with all individual Curl_handler structs pointed to from
+ a single array which is scanned through when a URL is given to libcurl to
+ work with.
+
+ ->scheme is the URL scheme name, usually spelled out in uppercase. That's
+ "HTTP" or "FTP" etc. SSL versions of the protcol need its own Curl_handler
+ setup so HTTPS separate from HTTP.
+
+ ->setup_connection is called to allow the protocol code to allocate protocol
+ specific data that then gets associated with that SessionHandle for the rest
+ of this transfer. It gets freed again at the end of the transfer. It will be
+ called before the 'connectdata' for the transfer has been selected/created.
+ Most protocols will allocate its private 'struct [PROTOCOL]' here and assign
+ SessionHandle->req.protop to point to it.
+
+ ->connect_it allows a protocol to do some specific actions after the TCP
+ connect is done, that can still be considered part of the connection phase.
+
+ Some protocols will alter the connectdata->recv[] and connectdata->send[]
+ function pointers in this function.
+
+ ->connecting is similarly a function that keeps getting called as long as the
+ protocol considers itself still in the connecting phase.
+
+ ->do_it is the function called to issue the transfer request. What we call
+ the DO action internally. If the DO is not enough and things need to be kept
+ getting done for the entire DO sequence to complete, ->doing is then usually
+ also provided. Each protocol that needs to do multiple commands or similar
+ for do/doing need to implement their own state machines (see SCP, SFTP,
+ FTP). Some protocols (only FTP and only due to historical reasons) has a
+ separate piece of the DO state called DO_MORE.
+
+ ->doing keeps getting called while issuing the transfer request command(s)
+
+ ->done gets called when the transfer is complete and DONE. That's after the
+ main data has been transferred.
+
+ ->do_more gets called during the DO_MORE state. The FTP protocol uses this
+ state when setting up the second connection.
+
+ ->proto_getsock
+ ->doing_getsock
+ ->domore_getsock
+ ->perform_getsock
+ Functions that return socket information. Which socket(s) to wait for which
+ action(s) during the particular multi state.
+
+ ->disconnect is called immediately before the TCP connection is shutdown.
+
+ ->readwrite gets called during transfer to allow the protocol to do extra
+ reads/writes
+
+ ->defport is the default report TCP or UDP port this protocol uses
+
+ ->protocol is one or more bits in the CURLPROTO_* set. The SSL versions have
+ their "base" protocol set and then the SSL variation. Like "HTTP|HTTPS".
+
+ ->flags is a bitmask with additional information about the protocol that will
+ make it get treated differently by the generic engine:
+
+ PROTOPT_SSL - will make it connect and negotiate SSL
+
+ PROTOPT_DUAL - this protocol uses two connections
+
+ PROTOPT_CLOSEACTION - this protocol has actions to do before closing the
+ connection. This flag is no longer used by code, yet still set for a bunch
+ protocol handlers.
+
+ PROTOPT_DIRLOCK - "direction lock". The SSH protocols set this bit to
+ limit which "direction" of socket actions that the main engine will
+ concern itself about.
+
+ PROTOPT_NONETWORK - a protocol that doesn't use network (read file:)
+
+ PROTOPT_NEEDSPWD - this protocol needs a password and will use a default
+ one unless one is provided
+
+ PROTOPT_NOURLQUERY - this protocol can't handle a query part on the URL
+ (?foo=bar)
+
+
+ 1.5 conncache
+
+ Is a hash table with connections for later re-use. Each SessionHandle has
+ a pointer to its connection cache. Each multi handle sets up a connection
+ cache that all added SessionHandles share by default.
+
+
+ 1.6 Curl_share
+
+ The libcurl share API allocates a Curl_share struct, exposed to the external
+ API as "CURLSH *".
+
+ The idea is that the struct can have a set of own versions of caches and
+ pools and then by providing this struct in the CURLOPT_SHARE option, those
+ specific SessionHandles will use the caches/pools that this share handle
+ holds.
+
+ Then individual SessionHandle structs can be made to share specific things
+ that they otherwise wouldn't, such as cookies.
+
+ The Curl_share struct can currently hold cookies, DNS cache and the SSL
+ session cache.
+
+
+ 1.7 CookieInfo
+
+ This is the main cookie struct. It holds all known cookies and related
+ information. Each SessionHandle has its own private CookieInfo even when
+ they are added to a multi handle. They can be made to share cookies by using
+ the share API.