| 2014/04/16 - Pointer assignments during processing of the HTTP body |
| |
| In HAProxy, a struct http_msg is a descriptor for an HTTP message, which stores |
| the state of an HTTP parser at any given instant, relative to a buffer which |
| contains part of the message being inspected. |
| |
| Currently, an http_msg holds a few pointers and offsets to some important |
| locations in a message depending on the state the parser is in. Some of these |
| pointers and offsets may move when data are inserted into or removed from the |
| buffer, others won't move. |
| |
| An important point is that the state of the parser only translates what the |
| parser is reading, and not at all what is being done on the message (eg: |
| forwarding). |
| |
| For an HTTP message <msg> and a buffer <buf>, we have the following elements |
| to work with : |
| |
| |
| Buffer : |
| -------- |
| |
| buf.size : the allocated size of the buffer. A message cannot be larger than |
| this size. In general, a message will even be smaller because the |
| size is almost always reduced by global.maxrewrite bytes. |
| |
| buf.data : memory area containing the part of the message being worked on. This |
| area is exactly <buf.size> bytes long. It should be seen as a sliding |
| window over the message, but in terms of implementation, it's closer |
| to a wrapping window. For ease of processing, new messages (requests |
| or responses) are aligned to the beginning of the buffer so that they |
| never wrap and common string processing functions can be used. |
| |
| buf.p : memory pointer (char *) to the beginning of the buffer as the parser |
| understands it. It commonly refers to the first character of an HTTP |
| request or response, but during forwarding, it can point to other |
| locations. This pointer always points to a location in <buf.data>. |
| |
| buf.i : number of bytes after <buf.p> that are available in the buffer. If |
| <buf.p + buf.i> exceeds <buf.data + buf.size>, then the pending data |
| wrap at the end of the buffer and continue at <buf.data>. |
| |
| buf.o : number of bytes already processed before <buf.p> that are pending |
| for departure. These bytes may leave at any instant once a connection |
| is established. These ones may wrap before <buf.data> to start before |
| <buf.data + buf.size>. |
| |
| It's common to call the part between buf.p and buf.p+buf.i the input buffer, and |
| the part between buf.p-buf.o and buf.p the output buffer. This design permits |
| efficient forwarding without copies. As a result, forwarding one byte from the |
| input buffer to the output buffer only consists in : |
| - incrementing buf.p |
| - incrementing buf.o |
| - decrementing buf.i |
| |
| |
| Message : |
| --------- |
| Unless stated otherwise, all values are relative to <buf.p>, and are always |
| comprised between 0 and <buf.i>. These values are relative offsets and they do |
| not need to take wrapping into account, they are used as if the buffer was an |
| infinite length sliding window. The buffer management functions handle the |
| wrapping automatically. |
| |
| msg.next : points to the next byte to inspect. This offset is automatically |
| adjusted when inserting/removing some headers. In data states, it is |
| automatically adjusted to the number of bytes already inspected. |
| |
| msg.sov : start of value. First character of the header's value in the header |
| states, start of the body in the data states until headers are |
| forwarded. This offset is automatically adjusted when inserting or |
| removing some headers. In data states, it always constains the size |
| of the whole HTTP headers (including the trailing CRLF) that needs |
| to be forwarded before the first byte of body. Once the headers are |
| forwarded, this value drops to zero. |
| |
| msg.sol : start of line. Points to the beginning of the current header line |
| while parsing headers. It is cleared to zero in the BODY state, |
| and contains exactly the number of bytes comprising the preceeding |
| chunk size in the DATA state (which can be zero), so that the sum of |
| msg.sov + msg.sol always points to the beginning of data for all |
| states starting with DATA. For chunked encoded messages, this sum |
| always corresponds to the beginning of the current chunk of data as |
| it appears in the buffer, or to be more precise, it corresponds to |
| the first of the remaining bytes of chunked data to be inspected. |
| |
| msg.eoh : end of headers. Points to the CRLF (or LF) preceeding the body and |
| marking the end of headers. It is where new headers are appended. |
| This offset is automatically adjusted when inserting/removing some |
| headers. It always contains the size of the headers excluding the |
| trailing CRLF even after headers have been forwarded. |
| |
| msg.eol : end of line. Points to the CRLF or LF of the current header line |
| being inspected during the various header states. In data states, it |
| holds the trailing CRLF length (1 or 2) so that msg.eoh + msg.eol |
| always equals the exact header length. It is not affected during data |
| states nor by forwarding. |
| |
| The beginning of the message headers can always be found this way even after |
| headers have been forwarded : |
| |
| headers = buf.p + msg->sov - msg->eoh - msg->eol |
| |
| |
| Message length : |
| ---------------- |
| msg.chunk_len : amount of bytes of the current chunk or total message body |
| remaining to be inspected after msg.next. It is automatically |
| incremented when parsing a chunk size, and decremented as data |
| are forwarded. |
| |
| msg.body_len : total message body length, for logging. Equals Content-Length |
| when used, otherwise is the sum of all correctly parsed chunks. |
| |
| |
| Message state : |
| --------------- |
| msg.msg_state contains the current parser state, one of HTTP_MSG_*. The state |
| indicates what byte is expected at msg->next. |
| |
| HTTP_MSG_BODY : all headers have been parsed, parsing of body has not |
| started yet. |
| |
| HTTP_MSG_100_SENT : parsing of body has started. If a 100-Continue was needed |
| it has already been sent. |
| |
| HTTP_MSG_DATA : some bytes are remaining for either the whole body when |
| the message size is determined by Content-Length, or for |
| the current chunk in chunked-encoded mode. |
| |
| HTTP_MSG_CHUNK_CRLF : msg->next points to the CRLF after the current data chunk. |
| |
| HTTP_MSG_TRAILERS : msg->next points to the beginning of a possibly empty |
| trailer line after the final empty chunk. |
| |
| HTTP_MSG_DONE : all the Content-Length data has been inspected, or the |
| final CRLF after trailers has been met. |
| |
| |
| Message forwarding : |
| -------------------- |
| Forwarding part of a message consists in advancing buf.p up to the point where |
| it points to the byte following the last one to be forwarded. This can be done |
| inline if enough bytes are present in the buffer, or in multiple steps if more |
| buffers need to be forwarded (possibly including splicing). Thus by definition, |
| after a block has been scheduled for being forwarded, msg->next and msg->sov |
| must be reset. |
| |
| The communication channel between the producer and the consumer holds a counter |
| of extra bytes remaining to be forwarded directly without consulting analysers, |
| after buf.p. This counter is called to_forward. It commonly holds the advertised |
| chunk length or content-length that does not fit in the buffer. For example, if |
| 2000 bytes are to be forwarded, and 10 bytes are present after buf.p as reported |
| by buf.i, then both buf.o and buf.p will advance by 10, buf.i will be reset, and |
| to_forward will be set to 1990 so that in total, 2000 bytes will be forwarded. |
| At the end of the forwarding, buf.p will point to the first byte to be inspected |
| after the 2000 forwarded bytes. |