Merge pull request 'feat: add -f/--sendfile for zero-copy file transfer' (#8) from sendfile-support into main

Reviewed-on: #8

README.md

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ FastFileTransfer is a C implementation of a file synchronization system that:
 4. Utilizes multithreading for parallel file processing
 5. Implements producer-consumer patterns with thread-safe queues
 6. Provides both in-memory and disk-based storage options
+7. Supports `sendfile()` for zero-copy file transfer
 
 ## System Architecture
 
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ The system consists of two main components:
 - Compresses data using zstd algorithm
 - Serializes chunks into a compact binary format for batch transfer
 - Sends files to server using custom protocol
+- Supports sendfile for zero-copy file transfer (`-f`)
 - Supports both single-threaded and multi-threaded operation
 
 ### Server
@@ -49,6 +51,7 @@ The client-server communication uses the following status codes:
 | `-m` | Enable multithreading mode |
 | `-c [level]` | Enable compression with optional level (1-22, default: 5) |
 | `-s` | Enable chunk serialization (batch-transfer all files per chunk) |
+| `-f` | Enable sendfile (zero-copy file transfer, bypasses userspace memory). Can be combined with `-m`. Incompatible with `-c` and `-s`. |
 | `--source-dir <path>` | Source directory to sync (overrides `FASTSYNC_SOURCE_DIR`) |
 | `--dest-dir <path>` | Server-side destination directory (overrides `FASTSYNC_DEST_DIR`) |
 | `--save-to-disk` | Persist received files to disk |
@@ -118,6 +121,12 @@ make
 
 # Multithreaded with compressed chunk serialization
 ./build/client -m -s -c 3
+
+# Sendfile (zero-copy, bypasses userspace for large files)
+./build/client -f
+
+# Sendfile with multithreading
+./build/client -f -m
 ```
 
 ## Testing
@@ -150,8 +159,9 @@ tests/      # Unit tests
 
 1. Chunk size (10MB default) affects memory usage and transfer efficiency
 2. Compression level (1-22) trades CPU usage for space savings
-3. Multithreading improves performance on multi-core systems
-4. Thread-safe queues minimize contention between producer/consumer threads
+3. `sendfile()` (`-f`) bypasses userspace memory, ~2x faster on localhost for large files
+4. Multithreading improves performance on multi-core systems
+5. Thread-safe queues minimize contention between producer/consumer threads
 
 ## Extensibility
 

src/client/client.c

@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@ int send_chunk(Client *client, Chunk *chunk, Config *config) {
     }
     send_data(client->file_descriptor, data->data, data->size);
     data_destroy(data);
+  } else if (config->use_sendfile && !config->use_compression) {
+    for (int i = 0; i < chunk->element_count; i++) {
+      send_status(client->file_descriptor, STATUS_NEXT);
+      file_send_sendfile(chunk->items[i], client->file_descriptor);
+    }
   } else {
     for (int i = 0; i < chunk->element_count; i++) {
       send_status(client->file_descriptor, STATUS_NEXT);
@@ -81,8 +86,10 @@ int load_files_multithreaded(void *pipeline_context) {
       mtx_unlock(&context->mutex_loader);
       return thrd_success;
     }
-    for (int i = 0; i < chunk->element_count; i++)
-      file_load_data(chunk->items[i]);
+    if (!context->config->use_sendfile) {
+      for (int i = 0; i < chunk->element_count; i++)
+        file_load_data(chunk->items[i]);
+    }
     queue_enqueue_multithreaded(context->queue_loader, chunk,
                                 &context->mutex_loader,
                                 &context->condition_not_empty_loader,
@@ -130,8 +137,10 @@ int send_files(Config *config) {
   DirectoryScanner *scanner = directory_scanner_create(config->send_directory);
   Chunk *current_chunk;
   while ((current_chunk = directory_scanner_next(scanner)) != NULL) {
-    for (int i = 0; i < current_chunk->element_count; i++)
-      file_load_data(current_chunk->items[i]);
+    if (!config->use_sendfile) {
+      for (int i = 0; i < current_chunk->element_count; i++)
+        file_load_data(current_chunk->items[i]);
+    }
     send_chunk(client, current_chunk, config);
     chunk_destroy(current_chunk);
   }
@@ -192,7 +201,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
   }
 
   Config *config = config_create(str_dup("1.0.0"), source_dir, dest_dir,
-                                 save_to_disk, false, false, false, 5, 20);
+                                 save_to_disk, false, false, false, 5, 20, false);
   for (int i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
     if (strcmp(argv[i], "-c") == 0) {
       config->use_compression = true;
@@ -215,6 +224,9 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
       config->receive_root_directory = str_dup(argv[++i]);
     } else if (strcmp(argv[i], "--save-to-disk") == 0) {
       config->save_to_disk = true;
+    } else if (strcmp(argv[i], "-f") == 0 || strcmp(argv[i], "--sendfile") == 0) {
+      config->use_sendfile = true;
+      log_message(LOG_LEVEL_INFO, "Enabled sendfile");
     } else {
       handle_arg(argv[i], "-m", &config->use_multithreading,
                  "Enabled Multithreading");
@@ -223,6 +235,11 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
     }
   }
 
+  if (config->use_sendfile && (config->use_chunk_serialization || config->use_compression)) {
+    fprintf(stderr, "Error: -f/--sendfile cannot be combined with -c (compression) or -s (chunk serialization)\n");
+    return 1;
+  }
+
   if (config->use_multithreading)
     return send_files_multithreaded(config);
   return send_files(config);

src/shared/config.c

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ Config *config_create(char *version, char *send_directory,
                       char *receive_directory, bool save_to_disk,
                       bool use_multithreading, bool use_chunk_serialization,
                       bool use_compression, int compression_level,
-                      int num_connections) {
+                      int num_connections, bool use_sendfile) {
 
   Config *config = malloc(sizeof(Config));
   config->version = version;
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ Config *config_create(char *version, char *send_directory,
   config->use_compression = use_compression;
   config->compression_level = compression_level;
   config->num_connections = num_connections;
+  config->use_sendfile = use_sendfile;
   return config;
 }
 

src/shared/config.h

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ typedef struct Config {
   bool use_multithreading;
   bool use_chunk_serialization;
   bool use_compression;
+  bool use_sendfile;
   bool use_single_send_per_file;
   int compression_level;
   int num_connections;
@@ -20,7 +21,7 @@ Config *config_create(char *version, char *send_directory,
                       char *receive_directory, bool save_to_disk,
                       bool use_multithreading, bool use_chunk_serialization,
                       bool use_compression, int compression_level,
-                      int num_connections);
+                      int num_connections, bool use_sendfile);
 void config_delete(Config *config);
 void config_send(int file_descriptor, Config *config);
 Config *config_receive(int file_descriptor);

src/shared/file.c

@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
 #include <dirent.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
 #include <libgen.h>
 #include <stddef.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <sys/sendfile.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
 #include <zstd.h>
 
 #include "data.h"
@@ -68,6 +71,31 @@ void file_send_single_calls(File *file, int file_descriptor) {
   send_data(file_descriptor, file->data->data, file->data->size);
 }
 
+void file_send_sendfile(File *file, int file_descriptor) {
+  send_str(file_descriptor, file->path);
+
+  int fd = open(file->path, O_RDONLY);
+  if (fd == -1) {
+    perror("Could not open file for sendfile");
+    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+  }
+
+  unsigned long long file_size = file->stats.st_size;
+  send_n_data(file_descriptor, &file_size, sizeof(unsigned long long));
+
+  off_t offset = 0;
+  while (offset < file_size) {
+    ssize_t sent = sendfile(file_descriptor, fd, &offset, file_size - offset);
+    if (sent == -1) {
+      perror("sendfile failed");
+      close(fd);
+      exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+    }
+  }
+
+  close(fd);
+}
+
 size_t file_content_to_buffer(File *file) {
   FILE *file_pointer = fopen(file->path, "rb");
   if (file_pointer == NULL) {

src/shared/file.h

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ void file_destroy(void *item);
 void file_load_data(File *file);
 void file_print(void *item);
 void file_send_single_calls(File *file, int file_descriptor);
+void file_send_sendfile(File *file, int file_descriptor);
 size_t file_content_to_buffer(File *file);
 
 FileReceive *file_receive_create(char *path, Data *data);

test.py

@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ TEST_CASES = [
         "name": "Multithreading + Compression + Chunk Serialization (-m -c -s)",
         "flags": ["-m", "-c", "-s"],
     },
+    {"name": "Sendfile (-f)", "flags": ["-f"]},
+    {"name": "Sendfile + Multithreading (-f -m)", "flags": ["-f", "-m"]},
 ]
 
 

tests/test_config.c

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 static void test_config_lifecycle() {
   Config *cfg = config_create(str_dup("1.0"), str_dup("/src"), str_dup("/dst"),
-                              true, true, false, false, 1, 4);
+                              true, true, false, false, 1, 4, false);
   EXPECT_NOT_NULL(cfg);
   EXPECT_EQ_STR(cfg->version, "1.0");
   EXPECT_EQ_STR(cfg->send_directory, "/src");
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ static void test_config_lifecycle() {
 
 static void test_pipeline_sender_lifecycle() {
   Config *cfg = config_create(str_dup("2.0"), str_dup("/src2"),
-                              str_dup("/dst2"), false, false, true, true, 1, 8);
+                              str_dup("/dst2"), false, false, true, true, 1, 8, false);
   Queue *q1 = queue_create(5, NULL);
   Queue *q2 = queue_create(15, NULL);
 
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ static void test_pipeline_sender_lifecycle() {
 
 static void test_pipeline_receiver_lifecycle() {
   Config *cfg = config_create(str_dup("3.0"), str_dup("/src3"),
-                              str_dup("/dst3"), true, true, true, true, 1, 2);
+                              str_dup("/dst3"), true, true, true, true, 1, 2, false);
   Queue *q = queue_create(20, NULL);
 
   PipelineContextReceiver *pcr = pipeline_context_receiver_create(cfg, q, 42);