[sane-devel] Setting a timeout for the net backend?

[Ryan]

Short version:
Is there a way to shorten the timeout of the "net backend" so that  
after about 10 seconds without a response from a computer running  
saned, scanimage -L will move on and not hang around for minutes on  
end awaiting a response?


Long version (for those who need more context):
I have a total of 5 Fujitsu scanners at 5 remote locations.  Each  
Fujitsu is attached to a computer (which I'll call a "scan-computer")  
running saned.  The scan-computers all live on the same VPN so a 6th,  
central, computer can safely use the net backend to connect to the  
scanners via the scan-computers.

This setup works relatively well.  Running a "scanadf -L" to get the  
list of scanners only takes ~4-5 seconds.

That is until one of the VPN connections is severed, either because  
someone turns off a scan-computer, or someone's DSL is down or  
something.  When that happens, running a "scanadf -L" on my central  
computer ends up taking 5-6 minutes!  This delay is crippling to my  
setup.

I've looked around and I can't seem to find a way to set a shorter  
timeout value for the net backend.  net.conf doesn't seem to provide  
a way to pass a value and there doesn't seem to be an environment  
variable I can set.  I'm even willing to find some global TCP timeout  
variable that would shorten the timeout for all TCP connections  
initiated by my central server.

Lastly, I'm willing to patch the net.c file to use the setsockopt  
call to lower the SO_RCVTIMEO to a value defined in some environment  
variable, say "SANE_NET_TIMEOUT".  The last option seems a bit  
drastic, so I'm hoping there is a better/easier way.

Thanks,
Ryan