Hello,

While writing some client server application in c, we noticed a strange 
behavior : if we try to connect endlessly to a given local port where 
nobody is listening, and if the port is >= to 32768, after several 
thousands tries ( Connection refused ) connect will return 0.
This behavior is not exhibited when port is < 32768.

We confirmed this behavior in kernel 2.6.17-10, 2.6.18-1, 2.6.8, on x86 
and 2.4.21-32 on ia64, on several hardware configurations.
Distribution is debian or ubuntu.

Attached is a source file that demonstrate this behavior.
./a.out port_number

Sample execution :

./a.out 35489
Out port : 35489
connect try 1 failed : Connection refused
connect try 2 failed : Connection refused
connect try 3 failed : Connection refused
.....
connect try 6089 failed : Connection refused
connect try 6090 failed : Connection refused
Connection success : 6091 try
Connection closed
last error : Connection refused


Is this behavior to be expected?
Can it be disabled?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Brice Videau