Re: (ITS#4783) ldap_sasl_bind() is not asynchronous

[fcusack@fcusack.com]

On December 22, 2006 10:56:40 AM +0100 Pierangelo Masarati 
<ando@sys-net.it> wrote:
> fcusack@fcusack.com wrote:
>> But still you can do the bind async, and just close the fd on the client
>> side on timeout.  I don't see why connect() timeout can't be handled
>> the same way.  (ignoring the problem that there is no API call AFAICT
>> to just drop the connection)
>>
> I'll note that there's been some interest in that area --- I loosely have
> the same need (see
> <http://www.openldap.org/lists/openldap-devel/200611/msg00000.html>) but
> unfortunately it's not in my priority list, considering that it might
> have relevant impact on the client library.

Unfortunately I won't be able to contribute a patch as I've worked
around it in my application (I created a separate thread to handle
the ldap connect) so I can't afford to invest the time.  Plus I needed
a solution that would work with the Netscape API as well as OpenLDAP.

I did find LDAP_OPT_NETWORK_TIMEOUT, which I didn't try, but which is
close to the desired functionality.  AFAICT it implements a *separate*
timeout for the connect() (and maybe unbind/close()?) part of an ldap
connection.  Why someone would want to distinguish between connect()
and bind I don't know, especially when they don't get feedback about
how long connect() took.

It should be easy (?) to add something like LDAP_OPT_CONNECT_BIND_TIMEOUT
which would be the total time for connect() and bind, given that
non-blocking connect() is already implemented.  That would probably
solve a lot of folk's need for a working async bind.

-frank