On Thu, Aug 30, 2001 at 07:28:27PM -0700, Bob Galloway wrote: | On Fri, Aug 31, 2001 at 03:25:27AM +0200, Martin F Krafft wrote: | > tcp 0 0 192.168.14.6:32884 mailhost:smtp TIME_WAIT - | > tcp 0 0 192.168.14.6:32885 mailhost:smtp TIME_WAIT - | > tell me nothing about the process owning them. | > i am merely wondering why this is possible... | | The clue is in the "TIME_WAIT" flag. The socket is in the late stage
A little more detail : The TCP initiator sends a FIN packet to indicate that it is done and wants to terminate the connection. The other side sends back an ACK to acknowledge recieving the FIN. Then the other side sends a FIN (when it is ready) to indicate that it too is done and wants to close the connection. Then the sockets enter a wait period where they wait for any remaining packets that are stuck in some routers somewhere to arrive before they actually close. If they didn't wait then it is possible that some other process would get the same port and receive those left-over packets, which it shouldn't. -D
