Document that an empty datagram sent just before a close reads as the close on Linux

The native API's receive rule cannot tell a zero-length datagram that is
the last message before a close from the close itself on SOCK_SEQPACKET,
which Linux uses: reading it drains the queue, and every observation
then matches a bare end of file. macOS and FreeBSD carry the flow on
SOCK_DGRAM, where the empty datagram is delivered and the close is
reported by the read after it.

The doc comment on Received::Datagram said an empty datagram is never a
close, which contradicted the limitation stated a few hundred lines
below it. It now says where the exception applies, and the recv_once
rationale, the FipsStream::recv rustdoc, the native API reference and
the client how-to scope the limitation to Linux. The reference page's
list of places where data disappears gains the send-side consequence:
a program that sends an empty datagram and then drops its stream may
have the daemon read it as the close, so it never reaches the peer. The
datagram how-to, which counts those places, is updated to match.

A new test pins the behaviour per socket type, branching on the
module's socket-type constant rather than on the OS, so the
documentation and the test cannot drift apart.

docs/how-to/use-the-native-datagram-api.md

@@ -286,10 +286,11 @@ port from one dropped because a client was not reading fast enough.
 For the response shape, see
 [../reference/control-socket.md](../reference/control-socket.md#read-only-queries).
 
-Reach for this when datagrams go missing. **Four places lose data with
+Reach for this when datagrams go missing. **Five places lose data with
 nothing reported to your program**: a full per-flow queue, a listener that
 does not accept fast enough, an outbound datagram sent before a session
-exists, and an outbound datagram after the transport MTU has fallen.
+exists, an outbound datagram after the transport MTU has fallen, and, on
+Linux, an empty datagram sent just before a close.
 [../reference/native-api.md](../reference/native-api.md#where-data-disappears)
 describes each and what bounds it.
 

docs/how-to/write-a-native-api-client.md

@@ -85,13 +85,15 @@ that costs a real payload if you get it wrong. A client that sends an empty
 datagram, then a message, then closes, leaves both queued, and a reader that
 trusts `POLLHUP` alone discards the message.
 
-**One case has no answer, and you should design around it rather than solve
+**One case has no answer on Linux, where the pair is `SOCK_SEQPACKET`, and you
-it.** A zero-length datagram that is the last message before a close is
+should design around it rather than solve it.** A zero-length datagram that is
-indistinguishable from the close: reading it drains the queue, and `FIONREAD`
+the last message before a close is indistinguishable from the close: reading it
-then reports zero because a zero-length message contributes no bytes. If your
+drains the queue, and `FIONREAD` then reports zero because a zero-length message
-protocol gives a zero-length payload a meaning, do not send it as a zero-length
+contributes no bytes. If your protocol gives a zero-length payload a meaning, do
-socket message. Carry a one-byte discriminator, and keep the zero-byte read for
+not send it as a zero-length socket message. Carry a one-byte discriminator, and
-end of file alone.
+keep the zero-byte read for end of file alone. On macOS and FreeBSD the pair is
+`SOCK_DGRAM`: the empty datagram reads as zero bytes, and the close is reported
+by the read after it.
 
 Both directions of the mistake are real. Reading an empty datagram as a close
 lets a peer tear down a live flow by sending nothing, and presents as a

docs/reference/native-api.md

@@ -260,13 +260,15 @@ because it latches while messages are still queued: a read that trusted it
 would report the close early and discard whatever was waiting. The `EPIPE` that
 `recv` returns means the daemon went away, never that a peer finished.
 
-**One case is reported as `EPIPE` although it is a datagram.** A zero-length
+**On Linux, one case is reported as `EPIPE` although it is a datagram.** A
-datagram that is the last message before a close is indistinguishable from the
+zero-length datagram that is the last message before a close is
-close, because reading it drains the queue and `FIONREAD` then reports zero: a
+indistinguishable from the close, because reading it drains the queue and
-zero-length message contributes no bytes. Do not give a zero-length payload a
+`FIONREAD` then reports zero: a zero-length message contributes no bytes. macOS
-meaning of its own on this API. Carry a one-byte discriminator instead.
+and FreeBSD carry the flow on `SOCK_DGRAM`, where the datagram is delivered as
-Separating the two needs a payload that is never zero bytes on the wire, which
+`Ok(0)` and the close follows it. Do not give a zero-length payload a meaning
-is a protocol change rather than a receive-path one.
+of its own on this API. Carry a one-byte discriminator instead. Separating the
+two needs a payload that is never zero bytes on the wire, which is a protocol
+change rather than a receive-path one.
 
 **`peer_addr()`** and **`local_addr()`** return `FipsAddr`, not
 `io::Result<FipsAddr>`, unlike their `TcpStream` counterparts. These are field
@@ -438,7 +440,7 @@ There is no acknowledgement, no retransmission, no ordering guarantee and no
 flow control between the two ends. A program that needs confirmation gets it
 from the peer, in the payload.
 
-Four places lose data with nothing reported to the client.
+Five places lose data with nothing reported to the client.
 
 **A full per-flow queue.** Inbound datagrams beyond `pending_per_flow` are
 dropped with a trace log and no client-visible signal. A program that stops
@@ -467,6 +469,14 @@ snapshot taken at setup. The daemon re-checks each outbound datagram against
 the node's current limit and drops it silently if the transport MTU has since
 fallen.
 
+**An empty datagram sent just before a close, on Linux.** A program that sends
+a zero-length datagram and then drops its `FipsStream` may have the daemon read
+that datagram as the close: the daemon frees the flow and the empty datagram
+never reaches the peer. In the other direction, an empty datagram from the peer
+that the daemon delivers immediately before its own half of the flow closes,
+as when the daemon stops, reaches `recv` as `EPIPE` rather than `Ok(0)`. macOS
+and FreeBSD are not affected. See `recv` above.
+
 ### The drop causes, and what they mean
 
 An inbound datagram can be refused for eight reasons, which render as seven

src/native/client/mod.rs

@@ -488,10 +488,12 @@ impl FipsStream {
     /// [`bytes_queued`](super::seqpacket::bytes_queued) reports nothing behind
     /// it. The daemon half applies the identical rule, on the same pair.
     ///
-    /// One case survives both checks: a zero-length datagram that is the last
+    /// One case survives both checks on Linux, where the pair is
-    /// message before the close is indistinguishable from the close, because
+    /// `SOCK_SEQPACKET`: a zero-length datagram that is the last message before
-    /// reading it drains the queue and a zero-length message contributes no
+    /// the close is indistinguishable from the close, because reading it drains
-    /// bytes. Do not give a zero-length payload a meaning of its own.
+    /// the queue and a zero-length message contributes no bytes, so it is
+    /// reported as `EPIPE`. On macOS and FreeBSD it is delivered as `Ok(0)` and
+    /// the close follows. Do not give a zero-length payload a meaning of its own.
     ///
     /// A datagram longer than `buf` is truncated and the remainder discarded,
     /// which is `SOCK_SEQPACKET` behaviour. Size `buf` at

src/native/seqpacket.rs

@@ -46,7 +46,11 @@ use tokio::io::unix::AsyncFd;
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq)]
 pub enum Received {
     /// A datagram of this many bytes. Zero is a legitimate value: a client may
-    /// send an empty datagram, and that is not the same as closing.
+    /// send an empty datagram, and while it keeps its half open that is not the
+    /// same as closing. On Linux, where the pair is `SOCK_SEQPACKET`, an empty
+    /// datagram that is the last thing a client sends before it closes reads as
+    /// [`Received::Eof`] instead; `recv_once` says why that one case cannot be
+    /// told apart.
     Datagram(usize),
     /// The peer closed its half of the pair.
     Eof,
@@ -308,14 +312,18 @@ impl Seqpacket {
 /// message behind it is never taken.
 ///
 /// This matters because reading an empty datagram as a close would let a client
-/// tear down its own flow by sending nothing, and the defect would present as a
+/// tear down its own flow by sending nothing while it is still connected, and the
-/// spurious disconnect.
+/// defect would present as a spurious disconnect.
 ///
-/// **One case survives and cannot be fixed here.** A zero-length datagram that
+/// **One case survives on `SOCK_SEQPACKET`, which is Linux, and cannot be fixed
-/// is the last message before a close is indistinguishable from the close:
+/// here.** A zero-length datagram that is the last message before a close is
-/// reading it drains the queue, and every observation then matches a bare end of
+/// indistinguishable from the close: reading it drains the queue, and every
-/// file. Separating those needs a payload that is never zero bytes on the wire,
+/// observation then matches a bare end of file. The flow ends early and the empty
-/// which is a protocol change rather than a receive-path one.
+/// datagram is never delivered. Separating those needs a payload that is never
+/// zero bytes on the wire, which is a protocol change rather than a receive-path
+/// one. On `SOCK_DGRAM`, which macOS and FreeBSD use, the empty datagram is
+/// delivered and the close is reported by the read after it; the tests below
+/// pin both behaviours.
 ///
 /// **`ECONNRESET` is treated as end of file too**, for the platform whose
 /// datagram sockets report a close that way rather than through `POLLHUP`. Both
@@ -671,6 +679,45 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(recv_bounded(&daemon, &mut buf).await, Received::Eof);
     }
 
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn a_trailing_empty_datagram_before_a_close_reads_as_the_close_only_on_seqpacket() {
+        // The case recv_once documents as unfixable, pinned per socket type so
+        // the documentation cannot drift from what the kernel does. On
+        // SOCK_SEQPACKET the empty datagram is the last thing queued when the
+        // client closes, so reading it drains the queue with POLLHUP latched
+        // and it is indistinguishable from the close. On SOCK_DGRAM it is
+        // delivered and the close is reported by the read after it. The branch
+        // is on SOCK_TYPE rather than on the OS, because the socket type is the
+        // property the limitation depends on.
+        let (daemon, theirs) = pair().unwrap();
+        let daemon = Seqpacket::new(daemon).unwrap();
+        let theirs = client(theirs);
+
+        // SAFETY: the descriptor is open and owned by `theirs`.
+        let sent = unsafe { libc::send(theirs.as_raw_fd(), std::ptr::null(), 0, 0) };
+        assert_eq!(sent, 0, "{}", io::Error::last_os_error());
+        drop(theirs);
+
+        let mut buf = [0u8; 64];
+        if SOCK_TYPE == libc::SOCK_SEQPACKET {
+            assert_eq!(
+                recv_bounded(&daemon, &mut buf).await,
+                Received::Eof,
+                "a trailing empty datagram on SOCK_SEQPACKET was delivered rather than \
+                 read as the close; the documented limitation no longer holds on this \
+                 kernel, so re-measure it and correct the docs that describe it"
+            );
+        } else {
+            assert_eq!(
+                recv_bounded(&daemon, &mut buf).await,
+                Received::Datagram(0),
+                "a trailing empty datagram on SOCK_DGRAM was not delivered; the docs \
+                 say only SOCK_SEQPACKET platforms lose it"
+            );
+            assert_eq!(recv_bounded(&daemon, &mut buf).await, Received::Eof);
+        }
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn both_halves_of_a_pair_are_close_on_exec() {
         // Asserted rather than assumed because the platforms disagree on how it