Ceptcl - Communications EndPoints for Tcl
2004 Stuart Cassoff  <[email protected]>

Ceptcl is a Tcl extension which provides a variety of new
socket types and greater control over socket options.

Domains : local, inet4, inet6
Types   : tcp, udp, raw
Options : many, see cep(n)

A 'cep' is an Communications EndPoint.  In most cases,
ceps will be implemented by sockets.

Ceptcl is designed to be backwards compatible with existing
Tcl socket based applications. The cep command works exactly
like the Tcl socket command; changing 'socket' to 'cep'
inside a Tcl program should be all that is required to switch
regular Tcl sockets to Ceptcl ceps.

Ceptcl also adds many more options to the fconfigure command for ceps.
Broadcast, multicast and a variety of socket options are supported.
See the man page cep(n) for more the full list.

Data sent and receieved through ceps usually passes through
the Tcl channel system.  It is possible to bypass the channel
system by using the 'sendto' command and a 'receiver' cep.

Ceptcl is currently unix-only. On some platforms, ceps
may be implemented with mechanisms other than sockets.

If anyone would like to write the Mac or Windows part,
that would be great!

BUGS:
I'm not sure how well the datagram and raw ceps
interact with the Tcl channel system.
The' -buffering none -blocking false' options
to [fconfigure] should be used for datagram and raw ceps.

Buffersize is an issue I have yet to fully explore
in regards to datagram and raw ceps and would
appreciate any feedback about errors or strange results.

Ceptcl uses getnameinfo(3), which may not be thread-safe
on all platforms.

HISTORY:
Ceptcl started out simply to make local (unix domain) sockets.
The socket code guts were ripped from Tcl and trimmed
down just for local sockets.  It worked, but then I got
'sockets fever' and put eveything inet-related back in,
plus a whole lot more.

CREDITS:
Ceptcl owes its existence to the talented programmers
whose Tcl channel code I have used. I wouldn't have
gotten this far without that very solid base.
The Tcl community, for being one of the most knowledgable,
helpful and friendly group of computer-types around.
The OpenSSH and OpenBSD people, for their compatibility code
(which I have used), and great software & documentation.


Cheers!

Stu