When a socket is created it is attached to an address family, but it
doesn't have an address in this family. Socket.bind assigns the
address (sometimes called name) of the socket.
It is generally required to bind to a local address before you can
receive connections. (See Socket.listen and Socket.accept ).
In certain situations, you may also want to bind a socket that will be
used to initiate connections, though this is not normally required.
If socket is a TCP socket, then allow_reuse controls the setting
of the SO_REUSEADDR socket option; normally it should be TRUE for
server sockets (sockets that you will eventually call
Socket.accept on), and FALSE for client sockets. (Failing to
set this flag on a server socket may cause Socket.bind to return
G_IO_ERROR_ADDRESS_IN_USE if the server program is stopped and then
immediately restarted.)
If socket is a UDP socket, then allow_reuse determines whether or
not other UDP sockets can be bound to the same address at the same
time. In particular, you can have several UDP sockets bound to the
same address, and they will all receive all of the multicast and
broadcast packets sent to that address. (The behavior of unicast
UDP packets to an address with multiple listeners is not defined.)
When a socket is created it is attached to an address family, but it doesn't have an address in this family. Socket.bind assigns the address (sometimes called name) of the socket.
It is generally required to bind to a local address before you can receive connections. (See Socket.listen and Socket.accept ). In certain situations, you may also want to bind a socket that will be used to initiate connections, though this is not normally required.
If socket is a TCP socket, then allow_reuse controls the setting of the SO_REUSEADDR socket option; normally it should be TRUE for server sockets (sockets that you will eventually call Socket.accept on), and FALSE for client sockets. (Failing to set this flag on a server socket may cause Socket.bind to return G_IO_ERROR_ADDRESS_IN_USE if the server program is stopped and then immediately restarted.)
If socket is a UDP socket, then allow_reuse determines whether or not other UDP sockets can be bound to the same address at the same time. In particular, you can have several UDP sockets bound to the same address, and they will all receive all of the multicast and broadcast packets sent to that address. (The behavior of unicast UDP packets to an address with multiple listeners is not defined.)