BIO_s_bio.pod revision 306195
1=pod
2
3=head1 NAME
4
5BIO_s_bio, BIO_make_bio_pair, BIO_destroy_bio_pair, BIO_shutdown_wr, 
6BIO_set_write_buf_size, BIO_get_write_buf_size, BIO_new_bio_pair,
7BIO_get_write_guarantee, BIO_ctrl_get_write_guarantee, BIO_get_read_request,
8BIO_ctrl_get_read_request, BIO_ctrl_reset_read_request - BIO pair BIO
9
10=head1 SYNOPSIS
11
12 #include <openssl/bio.h>
13
14 BIO_METHOD *BIO_s_bio(void);
15
16 #define BIO_make_bio_pair(b1,b2)   (int)BIO_ctrl(b1,BIO_C_MAKE_BIO_PAIR,0,b2)
17 #define BIO_destroy_bio_pair(b)    (int)BIO_ctrl(b,BIO_C_DESTROY_BIO_PAIR,0,NULL)
18
19 #define BIO_shutdown_wr(b) (int)BIO_ctrl(b, BIO_C_SHUTDOWN_WR, 0, NULL)
20
21 #define BIO_set_write_buf_size(b,size) (int)BIO_ctrl(b,BIO_C_SET_WRITE_BUF_SIZE,size,NULL)
22 #define BIO_get_write_buf_size(b,size) (size_t)BIO_ctrl(b,BIO_C_GET_WRITE_BUF_SIZE,size,NULL)
23
24 int BIO_new_bio_pair(BIO **bio1, size_t writebuf1, BIO **bio2, size_t writebuf2);
25
26 #define BIO_get_write_guarantee(b) (int)BIO_ctrl(b,BIO_C_GET_WRITE_GUARANTEE,0,NULL)
27 size_t BIO_ctrl_get_write_guarantee(BIO *b);
28
29 #define BIO_get_read_request(b)    (int)BIO_ctrl(b,BIO_C_GET_READ_REQUEST,0,NULL)
30 size_t BIO_ctrl_get_read_request(BIO *b);
31
32 int BIO_ctrl_reset_read_request(BIO *b);
33
34=head1 DESCRIPTION
35
36BIO_s_bio() returns the method for a BIO pair. A BIO pair is a pair of source/sink
37BIOs where data written to either half of the pair is buffered and can be read from
38the other half. Both halves must usually by handled by the same application thread
39since no locking is done on the internal data structures.
40
41Since BIO chains typically end in a source/sink BIO it is possible to make this
42one half of a BIO pair and have all the data processed by the chain under application
43control.
44
45One typical use of BIO pairs is to place TLS/SSL I/O under application control, this
46can be used when the application wishes to use a non standard transport for
47TLS/SSL or the normal socket routines are inappropriate.
48
49Calls to BIO_read() will read data from the buffer or request a retry if no
50data is available.
51
52Calls to BIO_write() will place data in the buffer or request a retry if the
53buffer is full.
54
55The standard calls BIO_ctrl_pending() and BIO_ctrl_wpending() can be used to
56determine the amount of pending data in the read or write buffer.
57
58BIO_reset() clears any data in the write buffer.
59
60BIO_make_bio_pair() joins two separate BIOs into a connected pair.
61
62BIO_destroy_pair() destroys the association between two connected BIOs. Freeing
63up any half of the pair will automatically destroy the association.
64
65BIO_shutdown_wr() is used to close down a BIO B<b>. After this call no further
66writes on BIO B<b> are allowed (they will return an error). Reads on the other
67half of the pair will return any pending data or EOF when all pending data has
68been read. 
69
70BIO_set_write_buf_size() sets the write buffer size of BIO B<b> to B<size>.
71If the size is not initialized a default value is used. This is currently
7217K, sufficient for a maximum size TLS record.
73
74BIO_get_write_buf_size() returns the size of the write buffer.
75
76BIO_new_bio_pair() combines the calls to BIO_new(), BIO_make_bio_pair() and
77BIO_set_write_buf_size() to create a connected pair of BIOs B<bio1>, B<bio2>
78with write buffer sizes B<writebuf1> and B<writebuf2>. If either size is
79zero then the default size is used.  BIO_new_bio_pair() does not check whether
80B<bio1> or B<bio2> do point to some other BIO, the values are overwritten,
81BIO_free() is not called.
82
83BIO_get_write_guarantee() and BIO_ctrl_get_write_guarantee() return the maximum
84length of data that can be currently written to the BIO. Writes larger than this
85value will return a value from BIO_write() less than the amount requested or if the
86buffer is full request a retry. BIO_ctrl_get_write_guarantee() is a function
87whereas BIO_get_write_guarantee() is a macro.
88
89BIO_get_read_request() and BIO_ctrl_get_read_request() return the
90amount of data requested, or the buffer size if it is less, if the
91last read attempt at the other half of the BIO pair failed due to an
92empty buffer.  This can be used to determine how much data should be
93written to the BIO so the next read will succeed: this is most useful
94in TLS/SSL applications where the amount of data read is usually
95meaningful rather than just a buffer size. After a successful read
96this call will return zero.  It also will return zero once new data
97has been written satisfying the read request or part of it.
98Note that BIO_get_read_request() never returns an amount larger
99than that returned by BIO_get_write_guarantee().
100
101BIO_ctrl_reset_read_request() can also be used to reset the value returned by
102BIO_get_read_request() to zero.
103
104=head1 NOTES
105
106Both halves of a BIO pair should be freed. That is even if one half is implicit
107freed due to a BIO_free_all() or SSL_free() call the other half needs to be freed.
108
109When used in bidirectional applications (such as TLS/SSL) care should be taken to
110flush any data in the write buffer. This can be done by calling BIO_pending()
111on the other half of the pair and, if any data is pending, reading it and sending
112it to the underlying transport. This must be done before any normal processing
113(such as calling select() ) due to a request and BIO_should_read() being true.
114
115To see why this is important consider a case where a request is sent using
116BIO_write() and a response read with BIO_read(), this can occur during an
117TLS/SSL handshake for example. BIO_write() will succeed and place data in the write
118buffer. BIO_read() will initially fail and BIO_should_read() will be true. If
119the application then waits for data to be available on the underlying transport
120before flushing the write buffer it will never succeed because the request was
121never sent!
122
123BIO_eof() is true if no data is in the peer BIO and the peer BIO has been
124shutdown.
125
126=head1 RETURN VALUES
127
128BIO_new_bio_pair() returns 1 on success, with the new BIOs available in
129B<bio1> and B<bio2>, or 0 on failure, with NULL pointers stored into the
130locations for B<bio1> and B<bio2>. Check the error stack for more information.
131
132[XXXXX: More return values need to be added here]
133
134=head1 EXAMPLE
135
136The BIO pair can be used to have full control over the network access of an
137application. The application can call select() on the socket as required
138without having to go through the SSL-interface.
139
140 BIO *internal_bio, *network_bio;
141 ...
142 BIO_new_bio_pair(internal_bio, 0, network_bio, 0);
143 SSL_set_bio(ssl, internal_bio, internal_bio);
144 SSL_operations();
145 ...
146
147 application |   TLS-engine
148    |        |
149    +----------> SSL_operations()
150             |     /\    ||
151             |     ||    \/
152             |   BIO-pair (internal_bio)
153    +----------< BIO-pair (network_bio)
154    |        |
155  socket     |
156
157  ...
158  SSL_free(ssl);		/* implicitly frees internal_bio */
159  BIO_free(network_bio);
160  ...
161
162As the BIO pair will only buffer the data and never directly access the
163connection, it behaves non-blocking and will return as soon as the write
164buffer is full or the read buffer is drained. Then the application has to
165flush the write buffer and/or fill the read buffer.
166
167Use the BIO_ctrl_pending(), to find out whether data is buffered in the BIO
168and must be transfered to the network. Use BIO_ctrl_get_read_request() to
169find out, how many bytes must be written into the buffer before the
170SSL_operation() can successfully be continued.
171
172=head1 WARNING
173
174As the data is buffered, SSL_operation() may return with a ERROR_SSL_WANT_READ
175condition, but there is still data in the write buffer. An application must
176not rely on the error value of SSL_operation() but must assure that the
177write buffer is always flushed first. Otherwise a deadlock may occur as
178the peer might be waiting for the data before being able to continue.
179
180=head1 SEE ALSO
181
182L<SSL_set_bio(3)|SSL_set_bio(3)>, L<ssl(3)|ssl(3)>, L<bio(3)|bio(3)>,
183L<BIO_should_retry(3)|BIO_should_retry(3)>, L<BIO_read(3)|BIO_read(3)>
184
185=cut
186