hello, my dear friends.

once again i am getting on your nerves. i have worked hard and wrecked several linux-installations these last days/weeks in order to find a solution for the bloody ipv6 problems (on routers) many users have. this time, i did the following:

i installed fedoracore3, mandrake 10.1, ubuntu, kanotix and yoper on a desktop-pc and a laptop, in order to make sure the problems are not only distro related. on each of these boxes, i deactivated ipv6 for the browser and deactivated (o rather tried to) it on the global network, too. i added /changed the follwing files:

/etc/sysconfig/network, added "NETWORKING_IPV6=0"

/etc/sysctl.conf, changed to "ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts=1" and "ipv4.tcp_window_scaling=0"

/etc/modprobe.d/aliases, (on debian based systems) changed to "alias net-pf-10 off"

also set the ipv6 usage to "no" in the /etc/ppp/ipv6-up and ipv6-down files.
(also tried alternative packages for dnsresolving and dhcp-server use)

webbrowing works this way without mayor hassles. the only thing that does not work well, especially on laptops is fetching mail or updating systems. i tried several mail-clients and used apt-get, yum, urpmi and up2date. i was not able to reach the mirrors/servers if i did not open a terminal at the same time, pining directly at the server/mirror, prior to starting the mail or updating tools.

now, the dramatic question is: why does ipv6 blocking work on the web but not with mail/updating? is there another file that i forgot to change? if not, why are these two things handled differently?

i think there must be a way to solve this problem but i must say, it is getting more complicated the more i check the systems. it is not frustrating, but i guess it is starting to get over my head...

any ideas for discussing this/solving this problem together would be nice. 100 brains think faster than one brain. ; )

update: i thought of the possibility that it could have something to do with a firewall blocking the traffic, but as i had the same setup on all boxes, it should be very unlikely that the firewall blocks the traffic on one box, while it works on the other. also, as stated before, the connection is there if i ping the sites directly.
...still searching for a solution...

uh... i just realized that with some boxes, there is no way of getting some webpages to display, like e.g ebay of the xfce homepage. i am not sure if this has something to do with this issue ( i think that it could be more of a browser problem with firefox). again: this has nothing to do with firewalls. i tested it. any guess this time?

i know, only few people might know an answer but this topic is not about seeking an immediate answer but a workbench and it would be nice to hear some input.

on the ipv6 stuff: i thought that maybe changing some scripts in the /etc and /sbin folder could help, but i am not sure at all. maybe hacking one file will cause a chain-reaction so that i might need to change dozens of scripts or might destroy the box altogether . (i would need an old, unneeded box for that i guess)

... if someone would pay me the time used on this problem, i would be richer than bill gates.

arctic - you've mentioned 'workbench' several times, so I'll move this to the Workbench forum.

okidoki