[erlang-questions] strange behaviour of gen_tcp:connect

[Gamoto]

Hi,
I constated the same with "infinity". We must wait for experts in order to have clarifications ...
>Hi,
>
>If the port really is free, then you will get a econnrefused, unless you
>have a firewall blocking connection attempts.
>
>Not that I have a windows server 2003 machine, but I'm still seeing at
>least one interesting thing here:
>
>First I start a listening socket on port 6666:
>~% netcat -l -p 6666
>
>Then I configure my iptables to trop all packets on the local interface
>to that port:
># iptables -A INPUT -i lo -p tcp --dport 6666 -j DROP
>
>Then, I start an erlang shell and try to connect to port 6666:
>~% erl
>Erlang (BEAM) emulator version 5.6.5 [source] [64-bit] [smp:2]
>[async-threads:0] [hipe] [ker
>
>Eshell V5.6.5  (abort with ^G)
>1> gen_tcp:connect({127,0,0,1}, 6666, [binary, {packet, 0}]).
>{error,etimedout}
>
>Ok, wait here now a second, etimedout? This is from the gen_tcp manual:
>connect(Address, Port, Options) -> {ok, Socket} | {error, Reason}
>connect(Address, Port, Options, Timeout) -> {ok, Socket} | {error, Reason}
>...
>Timeout = int() | infinity
>...
>The optional Timeout parameter specifies a timeout in milliseconds. The
>default value is infinity.
>
>So, shouldn't we wait for infinity?
>3> timer:tc(gen_tcp, connect, [{127,0,0,1}, 6666, [binary, {packet, 0}]]).
>{189001895,{error,etimedout}}
>5> 189001895 / 1000000 / 60.
>3.150031583333333
>
>It seems the definition of infinity here is 3.15 minutes?
>
>Even when I specify the timeout explicitly I get the same result.
>6> timer:tc(gen_tcp, connect, [{127,0,0,1}, 6666, [binary, {packet, 0}],
>infinity]).
>{188997939,{error,etimedout}}
>7> 188997939 / 1000000 / 60.
>3.14996565
>
>Connecting to a different port, which I haven't firewalled I get the
>following:
>8> gen_tcp:connect({127,0,0,1}, 6667, [binary, {packet,
>0}]).                      
>{error,econnrefused}
>
>Removing the firewall I get:
># iptables -D INPUT -i lo -p tcp --dport 6666 -j DROP
>9> timer:tc(gen_tcp, connect, [{127,0,0,1}, 6666, [binary, {packet, 0}],
>infinity]).
>{527,{ok,#Port<0.434>}}
>
>Why is infinity so short?
>
>Gamoto wrote:
>> I an windows server 2003. I don't understand why gen_tcp:connect returns ALWAYS an error.
>> "connect" should be blocking, the port is free, I didn't precise a timeout.  I also tried with "localhost".
>> Another strange effect: error returned is "econnrefused" or, when another emacs is opened with erlang code inside, the returned error is "timeout" !!!
>> Is it "normal" with Erlang ?
>>
>> John
>>
>> start()->
>>     case gen_tcp:connect("127.0.0.1",1688,[binary, {packet, 0}]) of
>>         {ok,Socket}->	
>> 	    io:format("Socket established~n"),
>> 	    loop(Socket);
>> 	{error,Reason}->
>> 	    io:format("Error on connect: ~s~n",[Reason])
>>     end.
>>
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>
>Best regards
>
>-- 
>Oscar Hellström, oscar@REDACTED
>Office: +44 20 7655 0337
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>