c++ - Where does one get the "sys/socket.h" header/source file?

Question

I've been trying to write a server in C++ Unix style, but I'm stuck on a Windows machine. I started with MinGW, but it didn't compile right and told me that it couldn't find the "sys/socket.h" file. Which, of course, is necessary for the server to even work. I went searching for it, and I think somewhere said to install Cygwin instead, as it comes with lots of libraries. Okay, so I installed it. Every single library it could possibly offer me. Then I went to compile again, and it STILL can't find it. I went searching through the ENTIRE includes folder, and couldn't find the file. So I was a little miffed (3 hours down the drain for extra functionality I don't need), but I continued to search. I can't find it ANYWHERE. I find multiple references to using it, but I can't find ANYWHERE to download it. I've been searching for the past few hours now, and I've become very frustrated with everything because there are NO references to where I can get it (and I will NOT use winsock. That breaks compatibility if I remember right).

So, long story short, where can I download the 'socket.h'/'socket.c'/'socket.cpp' files? It would make my life (and I'm sure many others' lives) SO much easier, and I would really appreciate it!

Answer 1

Given that Windows has no sys/socket.h, you might consider just doing something like this:

#ifdef __WIN32__
# include <winsock2.h>
#else
# include <sys/socket.h>
#endif

I know you indicated that you won't use WinSock, but since WinSock is how TCP networking is done under Windows, I don't see that you have any alternative. Even if you use a cross-platform networking library, that library will be calling WinSock internally. Most of the standard BSD sockets API calls are implemented in WinSock, so with a bit of futzing around, you can make the same sockets-based program compile under both Windows and other OS's. Just don't forget to do a

#ifdef __WIN32__
   WORD versionWanted = MAKEWORD(1, 1);
   WSADATA wsaData;
   WSAStartup(versionWanted, &wsaData);
#endif

at the top of main()... otherwise all of your socket calls will fail under Windows, because the WSA subsystem wasn't initialized for your process.