96432 - IPv6 - Disable by default

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Core :: Networking, defect, P5)

Description

[benc]

Having read most of the IPv6 bugs, I don't even know if this is possible, but it
was proposed in bug 86449 after several contributors scratched their heads for
several months.

If it is possible, we should disable support with a pref, and set it off by default.

As an example, in the "commercial" Netscape 6 functional tests that I do for
general networking, we do not do any IPv6 testing at this time.

At the same time, IPv6 is probably the future, so we need documentation here, so
we can get more testers on board focused on these features, <insert usual
'helpwanted' text...>

Comment 1

[Erik Hensema]

Indeed. As IPv6 isn't quite functional on the internet right now, it seems to be
more trouble than it's worth to chase this moving target.

Comment 2

[Bradley Baetz (:bbaetz)]

It would be more trouble than its worth to find all the places we need ifdefs
for, I think.

Comment 3

[Doug Turner (:dougt)]

THere really hasn't been much pressure on anyone to do this.

Comment 4

[benc]

People who are on IPv6 systems need to be smarter than the average IPv4 user anyhow.

This is a good RFE, but probably not a big deal. What we need is better
documentation about IPv6, like how to help someone determine that someone else
turned it on...

Comment 5

[Doug Turner (:dougt)]

moving neeti's futured bugs for triaging.

Comment 6

[Jo Hermans]

*** Bug 181610 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 7

[John G. Myers]

Recommend WONTFIX.  Time marches on.

Comment 8

[benc]

-> dariin for decision. I'm too behind on my IPv6 bugmail to really know what is
going on.

Comment 9

[Jo Hermans]

Note that IPv6 is now disabled on Mac OS X if you're not running 10.3 or higher
(bug 222031)

Comment 10

[benc]

Based on the DNS problems we have in bug 68796, I think this bug should be
re-considered. 

For example, if I upgrade to Mac OS X 10.3, I am not going to be using IPv6,
even if the OS and mozilla support it. If these features create problems, I
should be able to run w/o them.

Comment 11

[John G. Myers]

If you're not on an IPv6 network, bug 68796 doesn't affect you.

Comment 12

[Lorenzo Colitti]

A pref (network.dns.enableIPv6) now exists to turn IPv6 name lookups off, and
that pref is set to true on OS X by default.

I suggest WONTFIX. :)

Comment 13

[Joey Stanford]

(In reply to comment #9)
> Note that IPv6 is now disabled on Mac OS X if you're not running 10.3 or higher
> (bug 222031)

In fact, in 1.7a and the latest nightly of Firebird, IPV6 is completely disabled
on 10.3.3   

I'm dead in the water with my favourite browsers since I'm on IPV6.  I have to
use  the Safari hack to surf.

Comment 14

[Lorenzo Colitti]

(In reply to comment #13)
> I'm dead in the water with my favourite browsers since I'm on IPV6.  I have to
> use  the Safari hack to surf.

If you need IPv6 on Mac OS 10.3, you can do so by setting the pref
"network.dns.disableIPv6" to false? You can use about:config to do this.

If IPv6 doesn't work after that, it's a bug and you should let me know. :)

This was mentioned in the release notes for 1.7a, but maybe it deserves more
attention. I should post it to the apple-ipv6 mailing list, since it's mainly an
OS bug and maybe they can fix it.

Comment 15

[Pete Hurst]

Effectively a duplicate of bug 377383 "enable ipv6 by default". More recent discussion has been taking place there.

Comment 16

[benc]

I'm of the mind to WONTFIX this bug for two reasons:

The original purpose of this bug was to use the technical issue to hilight the problem area, which was that we needed to add ipv6 support in two ways:

1- Add features that support IPv6 (mostly through changing network API's)
2- Do platform + product checking to make sure that as vendors started sliding in IPv6 support, that it works.

and...

3- A master switch would have allowed people to add IPv6 address support at higher levels, but off by default, to avoid accidental regressing of the rest of the world... 

I would imagine that #1 is almost done, and #2 did not create enormous problems (probably because at some point, the DNS switch was added via "design by bug").

Because we've gone from "very little IPv6" to "almost everyone but pre-Vista", I think we should close this bug, and let new problems go to new bugs.

The only possible reason I can think of why we'd preserve an IPv4-only mode would be for embedding, but those devices are inevitably going to operate in an IPv6 world...