return -1;
 }
 
+int client_socket(int family, int type,
+                 const struct network_helper_opts *opts)
+{
+       int fd;
+
+       if (!opts)
+               opts = &default_opts;
+
+       fd = socket(family, type, opts->proto);
+       if (fd < 0) {
+               log_err("Failed to create client socket");
+               return -1;
+       }
+
+       if (settimeo(fd, opts->timeout_ms))
+               goto error_close;
+
+       if (opts->post_socket_cb &&
+           opts->post_socket_cb(fd, opts->cb_opts))
+               goto error_close;
+
+       return fd;
+
+error_close:
+       save_errno_close(fd);
+       return -1;
+}
+
 static int connect_fd_to_addr(int fd,
                              const struct sockaddr_storage *addr,
                              socklen_t addrlen, const bool must_fail)
        if (!opts)
                opts = &default_opts;
 
-       fd = socket(addr->ss_family, type, opts->proto);
+       fd = client_socket(addr->ss_family, type, opts);
        if (fd < 0) {
                log_err("Failed to create client socket");
                return -1;
        }
 
-       if (settimeo(fd, opts->timeout_ms))
-               goto error_close;
-
-       if (opts->post_socket_cb &&
-           opts->post_socket_cb(fd, opts->cb_opts))
-               goto error_close;
-
        if (!opts->noconnect)
                if (connect_fd_to_addr(fd, addr, addrlen, opts->must_fail))
                        goto error_close;
 
 int start_server_addr(int type, const struct sockaddr_storage *addr, socklen_t len,
                      const struct network_helper_opts *opts);
 void free_fds(int *fds, unsigned int nr_close_fds);
+int client_socket(int family, int type,
+                 const struct network_helper_opts *opts);
 int connect_to_addr(int type, const struct sockaddr_storage *addr, socklen_t len,
                    const struct network_helper_opts *opts);
 int connect_to_fd(int server_fd, int timeout_ms);