write_nonblock

Writes str in the non-blocking manner.

If there is buffered data, it is flushed first. This may block.

write_nonblock returns number of bytes written to the SSL connection.

When no data can be written without blocking it raises OpenSSL::SSL::SSLError extended by IO::WaitReadable or IO::WaitWritable.

IO::WaitReadable means SSL needs to read internally so write_nonblock should be called again after the underlying IO is readable.

IO::WaitWritable means SSL needs to write internally so write_nonblock should be called again after underlying IO is writable.

So OpenSSL::Buffering#write_nonblock needs two rescue clause as follows.

# emulates blocking write.
begin
  result = ssl.write_nonblock(str)
rescue IO::WaitReadable
  IO.select([io])
  retry
rescue IO::WaitWritable
  IO.select(nil, [io])
  retry
end

Note that one reason that write_nonblock reads from the underlying IO is when the peer requests a new TLS/SSL handshake. See the openssl FAQ for more details. http://www.openssl.org/support/faq.html