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

1 files changed, 245 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/docs/LIBCURL-STRUCTS b/docs/LIBCURL-STRUCTS
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..20f2d3410
--- /dev/null
+++ b/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.