Handle pipeline().get( SslHandler.class) returning null

[andrewscode]

I've come across a rare problem where channel.pipeline().get( SslHandler.class) can return null. The situation is that the channel connection completes but the ssl side fails (handshake error, ex. the remote side rejects the certificate). SslHandler will close the connection and then it (SslHandler) is removed from the pipeline. Thereby, it won't be possible to get a handshakeFuture

This code should check if this.channel.pipeline().get(SslHandler.class) is null, otherwise a null pointer exception could occur.

ApnsClientThread.java:423

this.handshakeFuture = this.channel.pipeline().get(SslHandler.class).handshakeFuture();

This should be rare since it's a tiny window between the channel opening and handshakeFuture is called, but yesterday I had it happen consistently happen.

[jchambers]

Sounds vaguely like netty/netty#1980.

[jchambers]

Also:

…and then it (SslHandler) is removed from the pipeline

Do you think that's the intended behavior or an upstream issue? I plan on working around it in Pushy either way, but will open an issue with Netty if need be.

[andrewscode]

Do you think that's the intended behavior or an upstream issue? I plan on working around it in Pushy either way, but will open an issue with Netty if need be.

It may not be a bad idea but I wonder if there's a better way to get the handshakeFuture, perhaps when the SslHandler is created grab a reference to the handshakeFuture (currently inside the initChannel of the bootstrap),