LIBCURL-STRUCTS: new document

This is the first version of this new document, detailing the seven
perhaps most important internal structs in libcurl source code:

  1.1 SessionHandle
  1.2 connectdata
  1.3 Curl_multi
  1.4 Curl_handler
  1.5 conncache
  1.6 Curl_share
  1.7 CookieInfo

docs/INTERNALS

@@ -111,6 +111,9 @@ Windows vs Unix
 Library
 =======
 
+ (See LIBCURL-STRUCTS for a separate document describing all major internal
+ structs and their purposes.)
+
  There are plenty of entry points to the library, namely each publicly defined
  function that libcurl offers to applications. All of those functions are
  rather small and easy-to-follow. All the ones prefixed with 'curl_easy' are
@@ -135,16 +138,18 @@ Library
  options is documented in the man page. This function mainly sets things in
  the 'SessionHandle' struct.
 
- curl_easy_perform() does a whole lot of things:
+ curl_easy_perform() is just a wrapper function that makes use of the multi
+ API.  It basically curl_multi_init(), curl_multi_add_handle(),
+ curl_multi_wait(), and curl_multi_perform() until the transfer is done and
+ then returns.
 
- It starts off in the lib/easy.c file by calling Curl_perform() and the main
+ Some of the most important key functions in url.c are called from multi.c
- work then continues in lib/url.c. The flow continues with a call to
+ when certain key steps are to be made in the transfer operation.
- Curl_connect() to connect to the remote site.
 
  o Curl_connect()
 
-   ... analyzes the URL, it separates the different components and connects to
+   Analyzes the URL, it separates the different components and connects to the
-   the remote host. This may involve using a proxy and/or using SSL. The
+   remote host. This may involve using a proxy and/or using SSL. The
    Curl_resolv() function in lib/hostip.c is used for looking up host names
    (it does then use the proper underlying method, which may vary between
    platforms and builds).
@@ -160,10 +165,7 @@ Library
  o Curl_do()
 
    Curl_do() makes sure the proper protocol-specific function is called. The
-   functions are named after the protocols they handle. Curl_ftp(),
+   functions are named after the protocols they handle.
-   Curl_http(), Curl_dict(), etc. They all reside in their respective files
-   (ftp.c, http.c and dict.c). HTTPS is handled by Curl_http() and FTPS by
-   Curl_ftp().
 
    The protocol-specific functions of course deal with protocol-specific
    negotiations and setup. They have access to the Curl_sendf() (from
@@ -182,10 +184,9 @@ Library
    be called with some basic info about the upcoming transfer: what socket(s)
    to read/write and the expected file transfer sizes (if known).
 
- o Transfer()
+ o Curl_readwrite()
 
-   Curl_perform() then calls Transfer() in lib/transfer.c that performs the
+   Called during the transfer of the actual protocol payload.
-   entire file transfer.
 
    During transfer, the progress functions in lib/progress.c are called at a
    frequent interval (or at the user's choice, a specified callback might get
@@ -207,33 +208,11 @@ Library
    used. This function is only used when we are certain that no more transfers
    is going to be made on the connection. It can be also closed by force, or
    it can be called to make sure that libcurl doesn't keep too many
-   connections alive at the same time (there's a default amount of 5 but that
+   connections alive at the same time.
-   can be changed with the CURLOPT_MAXCONNECTS option).
 
    This function cleans up all resources that are associated with a single
    connection.
 
- Curl_perform() is the function that does the main "connect - do - transfer -
- done" loop. It loops if there's a Location: to follow.
-
- When completed, the curl_easy_cleanup() should be called to free up used
- resources. It runs Curl_disconnect() on all open connections.
-
- A quick roundup on internal function sequences (many of these call
- protocol-specific function-pointers):
-
-  Curl_connect - connects to a remote site and does initial connect fluff
-   This also checks for an existing connection to the requested site and uses
-   that one if it is possible.
-
-   Curl_do - starts a transfer
-    Curl_handler::do_it() - transfers data
-   Curl_done - ends a transfer
-
-  Curl_disconnect - disconnects from a remote site. This is called when the
-   disconnect is really requested, which doesn't necessarily have to be
-   exactly after curl_done in case we want to keep the connection open for
-   a while.
 
  HTTP(S)
 
@@ -316,48 +295,38 @@ Persistent Connections
    hold connection-oriented data. It is meant to hold the root data as well as
    all the options etc that the library-user may choose.
  o The 'SessionHandle' struct holds the "connection cache" (an array of
-   pointers to 'connectdata' structs). There's one connectdata struct
+   pointers to 'connectdata' structs).
-   allocated for each connection that libcurl knows about. Note that when you
-   use the multi interface, the multi handle will hold the connection cache
-   and not the particular easy handle. This of course to allow all easy handles
-   in a multi stack to be able to share and re-use connections.
  o This enables the 'curl handle' to be reused on subsequent transfers.
- o When we are about to perform a transfer with curl_easy_perform(), we first
+ o When libcurl is told to perform a transfer, it first checks for an already
-   check for an already existing connection in the cache that we can use,
+   existing connection in the cache that we can use. Otherwise it creates a
-   otherwise we create a new one and add to the cache. If the cache is full
+   new one and adds that the cache. If the cache is full already when a new
-   already when we add a new connection, we close one of the present ones. We
+   conncetion is added added, it will first close the oldest unused one.
-   select which one to close dependent on the close policy that may have been
+ o When the transfer operation is complete, the connection is left
-   previously set.
+   open. Particular options may tell libcurl not to, and protocols may signal
- o When the transfer operation is complete, we try to leave the connection
+   closure on connections and then they won't be kept open of course.
-   open. Particular options may tell us not to, and protocols may signal
-   closure on connections and then we don't keep it open of course.
  o When curl_easy_cleanup() is called, we close all still opened connections,
    unless of course the multi interface "owns" the connections.
 
- You do realize that the curl handle must be re-used in order for the
+ The curl handle must be re-used in order for the persistent connections to
- persistent connections to work.
+ work.
 
 multi interface/non-blocking
 ============================
 
- We make an effort to provide a non-blocking interface to the library, the
+ The multi interface is a non-blocking interface to the library. To make that
- multi interface. To make that interface work as good as possible, no
+ interface work as good as possible, no low-level functions within libcurl
- low-level functions within libcurl must be written to work in a blocking
+ must be written to work in a blocking manner. (There are still a few spots
- manner.
+ violating this rule.)
 
  One of the primary reasons we introduced c-ares support was to allow the name
  resolve phase to be perfectly non-blocking as well.
 
- The ultimate goal is to provide the easy interface simply by wrapping the
+ The FTP and the SFTP/SCP protocols are examples of how we adapt and adjust
- multi interface functions and thus treat everything internally as the multi
+ the code to allow non-blocking operations even on multi-stage command-
- interface is the single interface we have.
+ response protocols. They are built around state machines that return when
-
+ they would otherwise block waiting for data.  The DICT, LDAP and TELNET
- The FTP and the SFTP/SCP protocols are thus perfect examples of how we adapt
+ protocols are crappy examples and they are subject for rewrite in the future
- and adjust the code to allow non-blocking operations even on multi-stage
+ to better fit the libcurl protocol family.
- protocols. They are built around state machines that return when they could
- block waiting for data.  The DICT, LDAP and TELNET protocols are crappy
- examples and they are subject for rewrite in the future to better fit the
- libcurl protocol family.
 
 SSL libraries
 =============
@@ -408,12 +377,12 @@ API/ABI
 Client
 ======
 
- main() resides in src/main.c together with most of the client code.
+ main() resides in src/tool_main.c.
 
  src/tool_hugehelp.c is automatically generated by the mkhelp.pl perl script
- to display the complete "manual" and the src/urlglob.c file holds the
+ to display the complete "manual" and the src/tool_urlglob.c file holds the
- functions used for the URL-"globbing" support. Globbing in the sense that
+ functions used for the URL-"globbing" support. Globbing in the sense that the
- the {} and [] expansion stuff is there.
+ {} and [] expansion stuff is there.
 
  The client mostly messes around to setup its 'config' struct properly, then
  it calls the curl_easy_*() functions of the library and when it gets back
@@ -425,8 +394,8 @@ Client
  curl_easy_getinfo() function to extract useful information from the curl
  session.
 
- Recent versions may loop and do all this several times if many URLs were
+ It may loop and do all this several times if many URLs were specified on the
- specified on the command line or config file.
+ command line or config file.
 
 Memory Debugging
 ================

docs/LIBCURL-STRUCTS

@@ -0,0 +1,245 @@
+                                  _   _ ____  _
+                              ___| | | |  _ \| |
+                             / __| | | | |_) | |
+                            | (__| |_| |  _ <| |___
+                             \___|\___/|_| \_\_____|
+
+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
+  speicific 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 conncetion 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 entier 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 issudeing 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 doring 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.

docs/Makefile.am

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 #                            | (__| |_| |  _ <| |___
 #                             \___|\___/|_| \_\_____|
 #
-# Copyright (C) 1998 - 2012, Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.
+# Copyright (C) 1998 - 2013, Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.
 #
 # This software is licensed as described in the file COPYING, which
 # you should have received as part of this distribution. The terms
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ EXTRA_DIST = MANUAL BUGS CONTRIBUTE FAQ FEATURES INTERNALS SSLCERTS	 \
  README.win32 RESOURCES TODO TheArtOfHttpScripting THANKS VERSIONS	 \
  KNOWN_BUGS BINDINGS $(man_MANS) $(HTMLPAGES) HISTORY INSTALL		 \
  $(PDFPAGES) LICENSE-MIXING README.netware DISTRO-DILEMMA INSTALL.devcpp \
- MAIL-ETIQUETTE HTTP-COOKIES
+ MAIL-ETIQUETTE HTTP-COOKIES LIBCURL-STRUCTS
 
 MAN2HTML= roffit < $< >$@