How to properly set a flag in the write_fds and select() in C

When the send() buffer is full, I set a flag in the write_fds for the given socket and the next iteration tries to send it by checking that write_fds is set.

It works fine setting the flag in write_fds for one socket. But, if I do FD_SET(i, write_fds) for multiple sockets, only the last socket appears as set and only the last socket gets the data.

If I do write_fds = master; right before select(2), then all of them appear as set and all unsent data is sent to all sockets, but select always returns.

I'm sure I must be doing something wrong.

FD_ZERO(&master);
FD_ZERO(&read_fds);
FD_ZERO(&write_fds);

// socket setting...
// bind...
// listen...

FD_SET(listener, &master);
fdmax = listener; // so far, it's this one
for(;;){
    read_fds = master; // copy it
    // write_fds = master;
    select(fdmax+1, &read_fds, &write_fds, NULL, NULL);

    for(i = 0; i <= fdmax; i++){
        if(FD_ISSET(i, &read_fds)) {
            if(i == listener){
                addrlen = sizeof remoteaddr;
                newfd = accept(listener, (struct sockaddr * ) & remoteaddr, &addrlen);
                FD_SET(newfd, &master);
                if(newfd > fdmax)
                    fdmax = newfd;
                fcntl(newfd, F_SETFL, fcntl(newfd, F_GETFL, 0) | O_NONBLOCK);
            }else{
                // do some reading and then... send
                sent = send(i, buf, len, 0);
                if ((sent < 0 || (sent == -1 && errno == EWOULDBLOCK))
                    FD_SET(i, &write_fds);
            }  
        }  
        else if(FD_ISSET(i, &write_fds) && i != listener){
            if((sent = send(i, buf, len - sent, 0)) == len - sent)
                FD_CLR(i, &write_fds);
        }  
    }  
}

Solution

You should have FD_ZERO and FD_SETs before calling select function.

E.g.

int res = 0;
for(;;){
     FD_ZERO(&read_fds);
     FD_ZERO(&write_fds);    

     fdmax = 0;
     size_t fd_index;
     for (fd_index=0; fd_index<num_of_fd; fd_index++)
     {
        FD_SET(fd_array[fd_index], &read_fds);  
        FD_SET(fd_array[fd_index], &write_fds);  

        if (fdmax < fd_array[fd_index])
           fdmax = fd_array[fd_index];
     }

    // write_fds = master;
    res = select(fdmax+1, &read_fds, &write_fds, NULL, NULL);

    if( res == 0 )
    {
       // TIMEOUT ...not your case
    }
    else if( res < 0 )
    {
        perror("Select error: ");
    }
    else
    {
        // process your data
    }

And you cannot write

read_fds = master;

because of fd_set is a complex struct.

EDIT

As @jeremyP commented sent < 0 should be sent > 0