625710 - "Unable to connect" page should note the possiblity of missing IPv6 connectivity for IPv6-only sites

Status: NEW

(Core :: Networking, enhancement, P3)

Description

[Andreas Kotes]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux x86_64; en-US; rv:1.9.2.13) Gecko/20101206 Ubuntu/10.10 (maverick) Firefox/3.6.13
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux x86_64; en-US; rv:1.9.2.13) Gecko/20101206 Ubuntu/10.10 (maverick) Firefox/3.6.13

When
- connecting to http://www.v6.facebook.com (a IPv6 only website)
- with only a link-local IPv6 address

the current error page reads:

"Unable to connect

Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at www.v6.facebook.com.
 *   The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few moments.
 *   If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network connection.
*   If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure that Firefox is permitted to access the Web."

.. which is the standard error page, and (as such) would be sufficient, as it's talking about the computer's network connection. IPv6 support is reasonably new, and IPv6-only sites are not distinguishable from other for the average user, so (IMHO) this should be noted especially, e.g. with an additional message if Firefox sees that there are only AAAA but no A records for a site:

* This site uses IPv6 for connectivity. Please make sure that not only your computer but also your internet connection provide global IPv6 connectivity.

.. or similar. Minimal effort, reasonable usability effect.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
go to http://www.v6.facebook.com or any other site with IPv6-only connectivity without actually having full IPv6 connectivity.

Comment 2

[YF (Yang)]

It is also suitable for other products.

It may require a separate string, and check the networks status.

Comment 3

[Firefox Bug Husbandry Bot]

Bulk change to priority: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1399258

Comment 4

[bert]

Many ISPs provide IPv6 connectivity on demand.
In a lot of other cases, newer revisions of routers support IPv6 whereas older ones do not.

Without accurate error messages, users would make false assumptions about why a site is inaccessible. With accurate information, many users could easily solve the problem by requesting ipv6 from their isp, requesting a newer router or altering configuration.

Comment 5

[chrysn]

With DoH being rolled out and widely available, I think this issue should be revisited: Back in 2011, this would have only worked for users whose v4-only ISPs would not filter out AAAA records. Now when DoH is used, the browser can determine reliably that there are AAAA and not A records, and site operators can be reasonably sure that the message gets across (at least in regions where DoH is enabled).

Comment 6

[ipv6only]

Why is this feature still missing?

I had this conversation a few months ago where I emailed someone a link.

And what I got back was a very furious reply.

“YOUR LINK IS INVALID JUST AFTER HTTPS://!!!!!!1111111”

It turned out that the guy on the other end was not only a fundamentalist IPv6 refusenik.

He also had no clue what was happening because the error message in his browser was simply not helpful.

IPv6 refuseniks need education, and that's why we need this feature.

Comment 7

[Lars Eggert [:lars]]

(In reply to ipv6only from comment #6)

Why is this feature still missing?

It's still missing, because we have (very) limited engineering resources, and this has not made it near the top of our priority list. It's a feature request for a niche error case for most users, and requests the addition of information that for most users will not be actionable,.

Comment 8

[chrysn]

This issue will not get easier by bringing up extreme cases of deliberate ignorance, nor will it be any easier by trying to educate. I do share the goal of spreading IPv6, but turning this into an education issue will call upon endless discussion that effectively stalls any progress.

Let's stick with the browser presenting the information it has (there was an AAAA record found but no IPv6 connectivity is possible, or vice versa), and therefore "Address not found" is not accurate, the "Check the address for typing errors" is not helpful, and instead, the browser can state facts and observations such as:

Address not reachable.

The browser could find but not reach the host server for the provided address.

• The server is available on IPvX, for which no connection could be made from this device.
• Your network administrator or ISP can enable that service for you.

Comment 9

[namedrelay]

(Note: The issues Misleading error page for IPv6-only website and Report partial connectivity without IPv6 are related/similar/duplicate.)

This 15 year old bug will only get more relevant over time.
And this bug stops being a "niche error case" at the moment that a more common website goes IPv6-only.
This is likely to happen sooner or later in a place with major IPv6 adoption like India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, France and Germany.

Personally I would like to avoid such a situation, so i want this issue fixed.
Knowing that the amount of engineering resources is rather limited, what could i as a non-firefox-developer do?
I've put in a vote and i've now left a comment saying i want this repaired. Can i do anything else or is that it?

Also, thank you all very much for maintaining Firefox!

Comment 10

[Lars Eggert [:lars]]

It's not that we don't want to do this; believe me, we do. But as I said above, we have limited resources and there are a lot of more critical things. If someone feels strongly that this needs to be fixed now and is willing to propose a patch, I'd be very happy to review it and see it landed.