+The BIO pair can be used to have full control over the network access of an
+application. The application can call select() on the socket as required
+without having to go through the SSL-interface.
+
+ BIO *internal_bio, *network_bio;
+ ...
+ BIO_new_bio_pair(internal_bio, 0, network_bio, 0);
+ SSL_set_bio(ssl, internal_bio, internal_bio);
+ SSL_operations();
+ ...
+
+ application | TLS-engine
+ | |
+ +----------> SSL_operations()
+ | /\ ||
+ | || \/
+ | BIO-pair (internal_bio)
+ +----------< BIO-pair (network_bio)
+ | |
+ socket |
+
+ ...
+ SSL_free(ssl); /* implicitly frees internal_bio */
+ BIO_free(network_bio);
+ ...
+
+As the BIO pair will only buffer the data and never directly access the
+connection, it behaves non-blocking and will return as soon as the write
+buffer is full or the read buffer is drained. Then the application has to
+flush the write buffer and/or fill the read buffer.
+
+Use the BIO_ctrl_pending(), to find out whether data is buffered in the BIO
+and must be transfered to the network. Use BIO_ctrl_get_read_request() to
+find out, how many bytes must be written into the buffer before the
+SSL_operation() can successfully be continued.
+
+=head1 WARNING
+
+As the data is buffered, SSL_operation() may return with a ERROR_SSL_WANT_READ
+condition, but there is still data in the write buffer. An application must
+not rely on the error value of SSL_operation() but must assure that the
+write buffer is always flushed first. Otherwise a deadlock may occur as
+the peer might be waiting for the data before being able to continue.