PubSubClient - MQTT_MAX_PACKET_SIZE How is it calculated

Question

I'm using an ESP32, and I want to rule out a probable MQTT error. In PubSubClient , MQTT_MAX_PACKET_SIZE is set to 256. Is 256 the size for message only ? if not, what is left for message only ?

Answer 1

It is the maximum size of an entire packet. In publish() this check is done:

if (MQTT_MAX_PACKET_SIZE < MQTT_MAX_HEADER_SIZE + 2+strlen(topic) + plength) {

So the maximum length of a message payload will be

MQTT_MAX_PACKET_SIZE - MQTT_MAX_HEADER_SIZE - 2 - strlen(topic)

MQTT_MAX_HEADER_SIZE is defined as 5, so if you have, for example, a 20 character topic you would have 256 -ひく 5 -ひく 2 -ひく 20 =わ 229 bytes left for your payload.