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clinuxsocketsbufferingunix-socket

Buffering characteristics of Unix Sockets


Does anyone know the buffering characteristics of Unix sockets when sending small chunks of data (a few bytes)?

When I am using TCP sockets, I can disable the Nagle algorithm to prevent latency in data transit. But there's no equivalent functionality (that I know of) for Unix Domain sockets.


Solution

  • There is no nagle algorithm available on unix domain sockets.

    Unix sockets are normally implemented as a memory buffer in the operating system kernel. Once you've written/sent data on the socket, it is copied into that buffer, and becomes immediately available to the peer.