On Thu, Jun 05, 2003 at 10:11:45PM +1200, Peter Gutmann wrote: > Bodo Moeller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>> Using an explicit state machine helps to get code suitable for multiplexing >> within a single thread various connections using non-blocking I/O. > Is there some specific advantage here, or is it an academic exercise? > [...] I have a vague idea from discussions with some > OpenSSL-engine developers that they had some requirement for supporting async > hardware in non-threaded environments, [...] the > discussions tended to devolve into griping sessions about how hard async > crypto hardware was to work with, not helped by comments like "That's because > you're taking the path of most resistance, just use threads" :-). I don't mind working with threads, but there's a lot of software out there that uses single-threaded multiplexing, and adding SSL/TLS to such software becomes much easier if the SSL/TLS library supports this multiplexing paradigm. (Not that it would be impossible otherwise -- another option, for Unix anway, is to fork off a processes that handles a SSL/TLS connection and communicates with the main process via a pipe.) -- Bodo Mvller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> PGP http://www.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/TI/Mitarbeiter/moeller/0x36d2c658.html * TU Darmstadt, Theoretische Informatik, Alexanderstr. 10, D-64283 Darmstadt * Tel. +49-6151-16-6628, Fax +49-6151-16-6036