Provided by: libssl-doc_1.0.1f-1ubuntu2.27_all bug

NAME

       BIO_should_retry, BIO_should_read, BIO_should_write, BIO_should_io_special,
       BIO_retry_type, BIO_should_retry, BIO_get_retry_BIO, BIO_get_retry_reason - BIO retry
       functions

SYNOPSIS

        #include <openssl/bio.h>

        #define BIO_should_read(a)             ((a)->flags & BIO_FLAGS_READ)
        #define BIO_should_write(a)            ((a)->flags & BIO_FLAGS_WRITE)
        #define BIO_should_io_special(a)       ((a)->flags & BIO_FLAGS_IO_SPECIAL)
        #define BIO_retry_type(a)              ((a)->flags & BIO_FLAGS_RWS)
        #define BIO_should_retry(a)            ((a)->flags & BIO_FLAGS_SHOULD_RETRY)

        #define BIO_FLAGS_READ         0x01
        #define BIO_FLAGS_WRITE        0x02
        #define BIO_FLAGS_IO_SPECIAL   0x04
        #define BIO_FLAGS_RWS (BIO_FLAGS_READ|BIO_FLAGS_WRITE|BIO_FLAGS_IO_SPECIAL)
        #define BIO_FLAGS_SHOULD_RETRY 0x08

        BIO *  BIO_get_retry_BIO(BIO *bio, int *reason);
        int    BIO_get_retry_reason(BIO *bio);

DESCRIPTION

       These functions determine why a BIO is not able to read or write data.  They will
       typically be called after a failed BIO_read() or BIO_write() call.

       BIO_should_retry() is true if the call that produced this condition should then be retried
       at a later time.

       If BIO_should_retry() is false then the cause is an error condition.

       BIO_should_read() is true if the cause of the condition is that a BIO needs to read data.

       BIO_should_write() is true if the cause of the condition is that a BIO needs to read data.

       BIO_should_io_special() is true if some "special" condition, that is a reason other than
       reading or writing is the cause of the condition.

       BIO_retry_type() returns a mask of the cause of a retry condition consisting of the values
       BIO_FLAGS_READ, BIO_FLAGS_WRITE, BIO_FLAGS_IO_SPECIAL though current BIO types will only
       set one of these.

       BIO_get_retry_BIO() determines the precise reason for the special condition, it returns
       the BIO that caused this condition and if reason is not NULL it contains the reason code.
       The meaning of the reason code and the action that should be taken depends on the type of
       BIO that resulted in this condition.

       BIO_get_retry_reason() returns the reason for a special condition if passed the relevant
       BIO, for example as returned by BIO_get_retry_BIO().

NOTES

       If BIO_should_retry() returns false then the precise "error condition" depends on the BIO
       type that caused it and the return code of the BIO operation. For example if a call to
       BIO_read() on a socket BIO returns 0 and BIO_should_retry() is false then the cause will
       be that the connection closed. A similar condition on a file BIO will mean that it has
       reached EOF. Some BIO types may place additional information on the error queue. For more
       details see the individual BIO type manual pages.

       If the underlying I/O structure is in a blocking mode almost all current BIO types will
       not request a retry, because the underlying I/O calls will not. If the application knows
       that the BIO type will never signal a retry then it need not call BIO_should_retry() after
       a failed BIO I/O call. This is typically done with file BIOs.

       SSL BIOs are the only current exception to this rule: they can request a retry even if the
       underlying I/O structure is blocking, if a handshake occurs during a call to BIO_read().
       An application can retry the failed call immediately or avoid this situation by setting
       SSL_MODE_AUTO_RETRY on the underlying SSL structure.

       While an application may retry a failed non blocking call immediately this is likely to be
       very inefficient because the call will fail repeatedly until data can be processed or is
       available. An application will normally wait until the necessary condition is satisfied.
       How this is done depends on the underlying I/O structure.

       For example if the cause is ultimately a socket and BIO_should_read() is true then a call
       to select() may be made to wait until data is available and then retry the BIO operation.
       By combining the retry conditions of several non blocking BIOs in a single select() call
       it is possible to service several BIOs in a single thread, though the performance may be
       poor if SSL BIOs are present because long delays can occur during the initial handshake
       process.

       It is possible for a BIO to block indefinitely if the underlying I/O structure cannot
       process or return any data. This depends on the behaviour of the platforms I/O functions.
       This is often not desirable: one solution is to use non blocking I/O and use a timeout on
       the select() (or equivalent) call.

BUGS

       The OpenSSL ASN1 functions cannot gracefully deal with non blocking I/O: that is they
       cannot retry after a partial read or write. This is usually worked around by only passing
       the relevant data to ASN1 functions when the entire structure can be read or written.

SEE ALSO

       TBA