sub makecon
  {
  my($self, $server, $port) = @_;
  my($iaddr, $paddr, $filehandle);
  my $proto = getprotobyname('tcp');

  unless($iaddr = inet_aton($server)) { carp "No host found: $server"; return; }
  $paddr = sockaddr_in($port, $iaddr);
  unless(socket($filehandle, PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, $proto)) { carp "socket failure: $!"; return; }
  unless(connect($filehandle, $paddr)) { carp "connect failure: $!"; return; }

  return $filehandle;
  }