Applications that connect to other apps and services must be able to handle temporary errors. This is especially true for cloud apps, which are more likely to experience these errors.

Transient faults include temporary loss of network connection, service unavailability, and timeouts. Network connection error can caused Broken Pipe error.

In this blog post, I want to write a note about Broken Pipe error. If you have corrections or suggestions, please let me know.

What is Broken Pipe Error

Broken Pipe is a specific error that occurs when the client or a process tries to read data from a socket that has been closed by the server or the other end of the pipe.

What Causes a Broken Pipe Error?

There are a number of things that can cause a broken pipe error, including:

  • Closing the other end of the pipe: If the other end of the pipe is closed, the process that is trying to write to it will receive a broken pipe error.
  • Crashing the other process: If the other process crashes, the process that is trying to write to it will also receive a broken pipe error.
  • Network errors: If there is a network error, such as a timeout or a dropped packet, the process that is trying to write to the pipe may receive a broken pipe error.

How to Fix a Broken Pipe Error

There are a few things you can do to try to fix a broken pipe error, including:

  • Check the other end of the pipe: If you think the other end of the pipe may have been closed, try opening it again.
  • Restart the other process: If you think the other process may have crashed, try restarting it.
  • Check your network connection: If you think there may be a network error, check your network connection and/or restart your router.

If you regularly get a Broken Pipe error when uploading a file to a server, try these steps:

  • Increase the timeout value. The timeout value is the amount of time that the client will wait for a response from the server before giving up.
  • Implement a retry mechanism. A retry mechanism will try to upload the file again if the first attempt fails. Impelementing retries with exponential backoff would be better.

How to Prevent Broken Pipe Errors

There are a few things you can do to try to prevent broken pipe errors, including:

  • Use reliable network connections: If you are using a network connection that is known to be unreliable, you may want to try using a different connection.
  • Close pipes when you are finished with them: When you are finished using a pipe, be sure to close it. This will help to prevent other processes from trying to write to it.
  • Use error handling: If you are using a programming language that supports error handling, you can use it to catch and handle broken pipe errors.