How can I close the socket in a proper way? [duplicate]

Answer 1

From javadoc :

The Java runtime automatically closes the input and output streams, the client socket, and the server socket because they have been created in the try-with-resources statement.

Also

The finalize() method is called by the Java virtual machine (JVM) before the program exits to give the program a chance to clean up and release resources. Multi-threaded programs should close all Files and Sockets they use before exiting so they do not face resource starvation. The call to server.close() in the finalize() method closes the Socket connection used by each thread in this program.

protected void finalize(){
//Objects created in run method are finalized when
//program terminates and thread exits
     try{
        server.close();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        System.out.println("Could not close socket");
        System.exit(-1);
    }
  }

Answer 2

After creating your ServerSocket, you could add a ShutdownHook to close it on JVM termination, something like this:

Runtime.getRuntime().addShutdownHook(new Thread(){public void run(){
    try {
        socket.close();
        System.out.println("The server is shut down!");
    } catch (IOException e) { /* failed */ }
}});

Invoking ServerSocket#close will terminate the blocking ServerSocket.accept call, causing it to throw a SocketException. However, note that your current handling of IOException in the while loop means you will then re-enter the while loop to attempt accept on a closed socket. The JVM will still terminate, but it's a bit untidy.

Shutdown hooks do not run if you terminate a console application in Eclipse (on Windows at least). But they do run if you CTRL-C Java in a normal console. For them to run, you need the JVM to be terminated normally, e.g. SIGINT or SIGTERM rather than SIGKILL (kill -9).

A simple program which you can execute in Eclipse or a console will demonstrate this.

public class Test implements Runnable {

  public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
    final Test test = new Test();
    Runtime.getRuntime().addShutdownHook(new Thread(){public void run(){
      test.shutdown();
    }});
    Thread t = new Thread(test);
    t.start();
  }

  public void run() {
    synchronized(this) {
      try {
        System.err.println("running");
        wait();
      } catch (InterruptedException e) {}
    }
  }

  public void shutdown() {
    System.err.println("shutdown");
  }
}

Answer 3

No need in your particular case, the operating system will close all the TCP sockets for you when the program exits.

Answer 4

Well, how do you "exit" the program? finally will be executed if an exception will be thrown or if the try block finishes its execution in a "normal" way but I think that might be "hard" because of your while(true).

To close the socket you should use socket.close() and I would recommend you not to rely on the destroy function.

Answer 5

Howcome the finally is not run? Probably the while(true) should be replaced with something like

while (!shutdownRequested)

alternatively you can create a shutdown hook that handles the socket close