class TCPSocket

TCPSocket represents a TCP/IP client socket.

A simple client may look like:

require 'socket'

s = TCPSocket.new 'localhost', 2000

while line = s.gets # Read lines from socket
  puts line         # and print them
end

s.close             # close socket when done

Public Class Methods

gethostbyname(hostname) → [official_hostname, alias_hostnames, address_family, *address_list] click to toggle source

Use Addrinfo.getaddrinfo instead. This method is deprecated for the following reasons:

  • The 3rd element of the result is the address family of the first address. The address families of the rest of the addresses are not returned.

  • gethostbyname() may take a long time and it may block other threads. (GVL cannot be released since gethostbyname() is not thread safe.)

  • This method uses gethostbyname() function already removed from POSIX.

This method lookups host information by hostname.

TCPSocket.gethostbyname("localhost")
#=> ["localhost", ["hal"], 2, "127.0.0.1"]

static VALUE
tcp_s_gethostbyname(VALUE obj, VALUE host)
{
    rb_warn("TCPSocket.gethostbyname is deprecated; use Addrinfo.getaddrinfo instead.");
    struct rb_addrinfo *res =
        rsock_addrinfo(host, Qnil, AF_UNSPEC, SOCK_STREAM, AI_CANONNAME);
    return rsock_make_hostent(host, res, tcp_sockaddr);
}
new(remote_host, remote_port, local_host=nil, local_port=nil, resolv_timeout: nil, connect_timeout: nil, fast_fallback: true) click to toggle source

Opens a TCP connection to remote_host on remote_port. If local_host and local_port are specified, then those parameters are used on the local end to establish the connection.

Starting from Ruby 3.4, this method operates according to the Happy Eyeballs Version 2 (RFC 8305) algorithm by default, except on Windows.

To make it behave the same as in Ruby 3.3 and earlier, explicitly specify the option fast_fallback:false.

Happy Eyeballs Version 2 is not provided on Windows, and it behaves the same as in Ruby 3.3 and earlier.

:resolv_timeout

Specifies the timeout in seconds from when the hostname resolution starts.

:connect_timeout

This method sequentially attempts connecting to all candidate destination addresses.
The connect_timeout specifies the timeout in seconds from the start of the connection attempt to the last candidate.
By default, all connection attempts continue until the timeout occurs.
When fast_fallback:false is explicitly specified,
a timeout is set for each connection attempt and any connection attempt that exceeds its timeout will be canceled.

:fast_fallback

Enables the Happy Eyeballs Version 2 algorithm (enabled by default).

Happy Eyeballs Version 2 ↑

Happy Eyeballs Version 2 (RFC 8305) is an algorithm designed to improve client socket connectivity.
It aims for more reliable and efficient connections by performing hostname resolution and connection attempts in parallel, instead of serially.

Starting from Ruby 3.4, this method operates as follows with this algorithm except on Windows:

  1. Start resolving both IPv6 and IPv4 addresses concurrently.

  2. Start connecting to the one of the addresses that are obtained first.
    If IPv4 addresses are obtained first, the method waits 50 ms for IPv6 name resolution to prioritize IPv6 connections.

  3. After starting a connection attempt, wait 250 ms for the connection to be established.
    If no connection is established within this time, a new connection is started every 250 ms
    until a connection is established or there are no more candidate addresses.
    (Although RFC 8305 strictly specifies sorting addresses,
    this method only alternates between IPv6 / IPv4 addresses due to the performance concerns)

  4. Once a connection is established, all remaining connection attempts are canceled.

static VALUE
tcp_init(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE sock)
{
    VALUE remote_host, remote_serv;
    VALUE local_host, local_serv;
    VALUE opt;
    static ID keyword_ids[4];
    VALUE kwargs[4];
    VALUE resolv_timeout = Qnil;
    VALUE connect_timeout = Qnil;
    VALUE fast_fallback = Qnil;
    VALUE test_mode_settings = Qnil;

    if (!keyword_ids[0]) {
        CONST_ID(keyword_ids[0], "resolv_timeout");
        CONST_ID(keyword_ids[1], "connect_timeout");
        CONST_ID(keyword_ids[2], "fast_fallback");
        CONST_ID(keyword_ids[3], "test_mode_settings");
    }

    rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "22:", &remote_host, &remote_serv,
                        &local_host, &local_serv, &opt);

    if (!NIL_P(opt)) {
        rb_get_kwargs(opt, keyword_ids, 0, 4, kwargs);
        if (kwargs[0] != Qundef) { resolv_timeout = kwargs[0]; }
        if (kwargs[1] != Qundef) { connect_timeout = kwargs[1]; }
        if (kwargs[2] != Qundef) { fast_fallback = kwargs[2]; }
        if (kwargs[3] != Qundef) { test_mode_settings = kwargs[3]; }
    }

    if (fast_fallback == Qnil) {
        VALUE socket_class = rb_const_get(rb_cObject, rb_intern("Socket"));
        ID var_id = rb_intern("@tcp_fast_fallback");
        fast_fallback = rb_ivar_get(socket_class, var_id);
        if (fast_fallback == Qnil) fast_fallback = Qtrue;
    }

    return rsock_init_inetsock(sock, remote_host, remote_serv,
                               local_host, local_serv, INET_CLIENT,
                               resolv_timeout, connect_timeout, fast_fallback,
                               test_mode_settings);
}