1 files changed, 13 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/pkt-line.h b/pkt-line.h
index 8cfeb0c31c..7a67e9c65b 100644
--- a/pkt-line.h
+++ b/pkt-line.h
@@ -5,7 +5,19 @@
 #include "strbuf.h"
 
 /*
- * Silly packetized line writing interface
+ * Write a packetized stream, where each line is preceded by
+ * its length (including the header) as a 4-byte hex number.
+ * A length of 'zero' means end of stream (and a length of 1-3
+ * would be an error).
+ *
+ * This is all pretty stupid, but we use this packetized line
+ * format to make a streaming format possible without ever
+ * over-running the read buffers. That way we'll never read
+ * into what might be the pack data (which should go to another
+ * process entirely).
+ *
+ * The writing side could use stdio, but since the reading
+ * side can't, we stay with pure read/write interfaces.
  */
 void packet_flush(int fd);
 void packet_write(int fd, const char *fmt, ...) __attribute__((format (printf, 2, 3)));