Getting “Address already in use” error using Unix socket

Question

Writing the C source below using Unix local sockets I got an error about the address already in use. After having checked man 7 Unix for further informations I tried to create a sub-folder where executing my program (obviously modifying the sun_path field on the current folder) but the error was ever the same.

Is there someone able to help me?

Source code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/un.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <errno.h>

#define MAXLEN  128

int main (int argc, char *argv[]){

        struct sockaddr_un      server;
        int                                     serverfd, clientfd;
        socklen_t                       addrsize = sizeof(struct sockaddr_un);
        char                            buff[MAXLEN], *path;

        if (argc < 2){
                printf("Error: %s [MESSAGE]\n", argv[0]);
                return 1;
        }

        if ((serverfd = socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM, 0)) < 0){
                printf("Error \"%s\" in socket()\n", strerror(errno));
                exit(1);
        }
        puts("socket()");

        server.sun_family = AF_UNIX;
        path = strcpy(server.sun_path, "/home/myhome/Dropbox/Sources/C/sub");

        printf("[DEBUG]Address bound at %s\n", path);

        if ((bind(serverfd, (struct sockaddr*)&server, addrsize)) < 0){
                printf("Error \"%s\" in bind()\n", strerror(errno));
                exit(1);
        }
        puts("bind()");


        if ((listen(serverfd, 1)) < 0){
                printf("Error \"%s\" in listen()\n", strerror(errno));
                exit(1);
        }

        if ((clientfd = accept(serverfd, NULL, &addrsize)) < 0){
                printf("Error \"%s\" in accept()\n", strerror(errno));
                exit(1);
        }

        write(clientfd, argv[1], strlen(argv[1]));
        read(clientfd, buff, sizeof(buff));

        puts(buff);

        close(clientfd);
        close(serverfd);
        return 0;
}

Answer 1

You should unlink() the path file before bind call. You will get this error when file exists during the bind. Either you should ensure to unlink/remove the file before exiting the application or you could always unlink it before bind.

Check man page of bind. Also, note the example given in the man page at the end.

Answer 2

You can try to use the SO_REUSEADDR flag like so:

int yes = 1;
if (setsockopt(socketfd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_REUSEADDR, &yes, sizeof(int)) == -1) {
    // error handling
    exit(1);
}