Getting the file descriptor of a handle, without closing it

[John Meacham]

Can you use 'dup' to copy the file descriptor and return that version?
That will keep a reference to the file even if haskell closes the
original descriptor.

    John


On Sat, Mar 10, 2012 at 5:31 PM, Volker Wysk <pf3 at volker-wysk.de> wrote:
> Hi
>
> This is an addition to my previous post.
>
>
> This modified version of main seems to work:
>
> main = do
>
>   fd <- unsafeWithHandleFd stdin return
>   putStrLn ("stdin: fd = " ++ show fd)
>
>   fd <- unsafeWithHandleFd stdout return
>   putStrLn ("stdout: fd = " ++ show fd)
>
>
> The way I understand it, unsafeWithHandleFd's job is to keep a reference to
> the hande, so it won't be garbage collected, while the action is still
> running. Garbage collecting the handle would close it, as well as the
> underlying file descriptor, while the latter is still in use by the action.
> This can't happen as long as use of the file descriptor is encapsulated in the
> action.
>
> This encapsulation can be circumvented by returning the file descriptor, and
> that's what the modified main function above does. This should usually never be
> done.
>
> However, I want to use it with stdin, stdout and stderr, only. These three
> should never be garbage collected, should they? I think it would be safe to
> use unsafeWithHandleFd this way. Am I right?
>
>
> unsafeWithHandleFd is still broken (see previous message), but for my purposes
> it wouldn't necessarily need to be fixed.
>
>
> Happy hacking
> Volker Wysk
>
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