HttpUrlConnection.openConnection fails second time

Question

I know this issue should be fixed with System.setProperty("http.keepAlive", "false"); before openConnection, but that didn't work to me. First try on this code works, second one fails. Even if i try this request after less than 5 seconds, it also works. If i wait more than that, it fails again

This is my code:

    System.setProperty("http.keepAlive", "false");
  HttpURLConnection conn = (HttpURLConnection) mURL.openConnection();
  conn.setUseCaches(false); 
  conn.setRequestProperty("Connection","Keep-Alive"); 
  conn.setRequestProperty("User-Agent", useragent);
  conn.setConnectTimeout (30000) ; 
  conn.setDoOutput(true); 
        conn.setDoInput(true); 

  consumer.sign(conn);
  InputSource is = new InputSource(conn.getInputStream());

I get the exception on last line:

java.io.IOException: Write error: I/O error during system call, Broken pipe W/System.err( 2164): at org.apache.harmony.xnet.provider.jsse.OpenSSLSocketImpl.nativewrite(Native Method) W/System.err( 2164): at org.apache.harmony.xnet.provider.jsse.OpenSSLSocketImpl.access$600(OpenSSLSocketImpl.java:55) W/System.err( 2164): at org.apache.harmony.xnet.provider.jsse.OpenSSLSocketImpl$SSLOutputStream.write(OpenSSLSocketImpl.java:583) W/System.err( 2164): at java.io.OutputStream.write(OutputStream.java:82) W/System.err( 2164): at org.apache.harmony.luni.internal.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnectionImpl.sendRequest(HttpURLConnectionImpl.java:1332) W/System.err( 2164): at org.apache.harmony.luni.internal.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnectionImpl.doRequestInternal(HttpURLConnectionImpl.java:1656) W/System.err( 2164): at org.apache.harmony.luni.internal.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnectionImpl.doRequest(HttpURLConnectionImpl.java:1649) W/System.err( 2164): at org.apache.harmony.luni.internal.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnectionImpl.getInputStream(HttpURLConnectionImpl.java:1153) W/System.err( 2164): at org.apache.harmony.luni.internal.net.www.protocol.https.HttpsURLConnectionImpl.getInputStream(HttpsURLConnectionImpl.java:253)

Does someone have an idea about what's wrong here?. Thanks!

Answer 1

I believe your problem lies in the order of your code. Check those methods in the URLConnection JavaDocs - setRequestProperty should not be called after the connection is made on mUrl.openConnection(). It may be working the first time because the connection is made, then you are changing settings that are not affecting anything until the next time you try to make a connection. Try using the HttpURLConnection constructor instead so you can call connect() after you have set the properties.

Answer 2

I solved the problem. Here i leave you the code, in case it might be helpful for someone. Basically i see a trend on Google for using HttpClient/HttpGet instead of HttpUrlConnection. So i tried with those classes, and everything worked:

final HttpClient client = new DefaultHttpClient();
final HttpGet conn = new HttpGet(mURL.toString());

OAuthConsumer consumer = mOAuthManager.getPostConsumer();
consumer.sign(conn);
HttpResponse response = client.execute(conn);
InputSource is = new InputSource(response.getEntity().getContent());

Answer 3

The connection pool used by HttpURLConnection when it is keeping connections alive is broken such that it tries to use connections that have been closed by the server. By default Android sets KeepAlive on all connections.

System.setProperty("http.keepAlive", "false"); is a workaround that disables KeepAlive for all connections so then you avoid the bug in the connection pool.

conn.setRequestProperty("Connection","Keep-Alive"); turns KeepAlive on for this particular connection, essentially reversing what System.setProperty("http.keepAlive", "false"); does.

Also I always explicitly call connect() as it makes it clear where you are ending your connection setup. I'm not sure if calling this method is optional or not.

System.setProperty("http.keepAlive", "false");
HttpURLConnection conn = (HttpURLConnection) mURL.openConnection();
conn.setUseCaches(false); 
conn.setRequestProperty("User-Agent", useragent);
conn.setConnectTimeout(30000);
conn.setDoOutput(true); 
conn.setDoInput(true); 
consumer.sign(conn);

conn.connect();

InputSource is = new InputSource(conn.getInputStream());

Answer 4

You dont need the System.setProperty("http.keepAlive", "false");

All you need is conn.setRequestProperty("connection", "close");

this fixes the issue but effectively kills keep alives and therefore potentially makes multiple connections slower (which is a shame). I was looking through the harmony bug tracker but could not really find anything.

@fonetik, do you know whether this is already raised with harmony? I mean not that it helps much since another http related luni defect is still unassigned after more than a month.