TCP File Sharing Application

The application has two primary parts - Client and Server - and the reliable transfer is ensured using TCP with help of socket() API specifying SOCK_STREAM.

The Client’s flow:

• Checks for validity of arguments - needs server’s ip and port to fire up
• Creates sockfd which controls the flow or the control of the connection
• Connects socket ref by sockfd to server_addr (address and port specified)
• Set up data connection in listenfd descriptor and binds the socket to data_addr port
• Then until user quits, listens to commands, parses it using helpers, and executes them using the respective helper functions

The Server’s flow:

• Opens a TCP connection and starts listening to incoming connections
• Binds the listening file descriptor to the specified port
• Creates a fork of its process for every incoming connection, closing listenfd for that particular fork
• Receives client’s data and command
• Takes the necessary actions