[erlang-questions] Erlang get_tcp:recv data length

[Andrew Thompson]

On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 03:46:38PM +0000, Alexander Kuleshov wrote:
> >Alexander didn't say how many packets he could receive, the separator
> 
> 
> I don't know how many packets i must receive. I receive smtp must data message
> Data
> bla bla bla
> .
> Separator  dot - .\r\n
> 
Actually, you need to check for \r\n.\r\n, just .\r\n by itself isn't
guranteed to be the end of data.

I receive the message body in gen_smtp by spawning a new process and
looping doing a recv until the buffer contains "\r\n.\r\n", then I
return the resulting binary and any trailing data back to the original
process. I do it in a subprocess to help the garbage collector be able
to clean all the mess up when the subprocess exits.

https://github.com/Vagabond/gen_smtp/blob/master/src/gen_smtp_server_session.erl#L701

The recv size adjustment is kinda ugly, but it seems to work pretty
well.

Also, you can use the SMTP SIZE extension to get a vague idea of how
much data you're going to get. Just don't trust it, its only a
guideline.

Andrew