[Python-Dev] Adding socket timeout to urllib2 (original) (raw)

Bill Janssen janssen at parc.com
Wed Mar 7 18:41:18 CET 2007

Guido> Since "idel timeout" is not a commonly understood term it would Guido> be even better if it was explained without using it. I think it's commonly understood, but it doesn't mean what the socket timeout is used for. It's how long a connection can be idle (the client doesn't make a request of the server) before the server will close the connection.

Let me chime it to support Skip here. "idle timeout" seems a really bad name for the new timeout feature under discussion. It's not about idling; it's about how long you'll wait for something you're expecting from the other end of the connection before assuming that something has gone wrong over there (infinite loop, etc.) and aborting the connection. OTOH, "idling" is when the TCP connection exists, but neither side wants anything from the other side.

If you really need a name other than "timeout" (which seems fine to me), how about "waiting-with-mild-trepidation-timeout"?

Bill

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