Dart program will not exit if response body is unread

import 'dart:convert';
import 'dart:io';

final url = Uri.http('127.0.0.1', '');
Future<void> main() async {
  final httpClient = HttpClient();
  httpClient.findProxy = null;
  final req = await httpClient.getUrl(url);
  final res = await req.close();
  // await res.transform(utf8.decoder).join();
  httpClient.close();
  print('end of main');
}

The program will not terminate if the line is commented out. Should we read the response body anyway if it is not important, or discard it somehow?

Solution 1:

You can use force: true on your HttpClient object if you are sure you just want to kill all ongoing connections:

Shuts down the HTTP client.

If force is false (the default) the HttpClient will be kept alive until all active connections are done. If force is true any active connections will be closed to immediately release all resources. These closed connections will receive an error event to indicate that the client was shut down. In both cases trying to establish a new connection after calling close will throw an exception.

https://api.dart.dev/stable/2.15.1/dart-io/HttpClient/close.html

Alternative, you can use drain() on your HttpClientResponse if you just want to get the answer but throw it away immediately.