Networking: Binding a socket on all interfaces when interfaces goes up/down

Question

I'm creating an socket that needs to listen on all network interfaces on a specific port.

I create it using INADDR_ANY, so the socket listen correctly on all local IP addresses.

My question is: what happens if a new interface goes up? Does the socket automatically listen to the new interface, or do I have to rebind it?

Example: My socket is already listening, and I create a wifi ad-hoc connection. Do I need to detect that a new interface is available (the ad-hoc one), and rebind the socket?

(I'm using C++ on windows right now, but the code will have to be ported to MacOS)

alk · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-17 12:34:47Z

3

INADDR_ANY really means any interface, not 'all' interfaces. As such it doesn't matter whether the interface even existed when the socket was bound.

edited Dec 17, 2012 at 12:34

alk

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answered Dec 17, 2012 at 11:53

user207421

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