Bug 150207

Background:

Many customers have problems with the default condition of enabling IPv6 in SUSE Linux. This causes long delays in DNS resolution among other things (web sites appearing to take 60 seconds instead of under 1 to display); this is a well known condition and there are hacks in the support database to solve this problem.

Changing the default to disabling IPv6 also wouldn't be a solution for users who only get IPv6 addresses.

However it isn't always obvious to the user what is causing the problems and it is probably one of the most frequently asked questions on alt.os.linux.suse news group.

For experienced users it is just a matter of a couple of CLI commands to edit the modprobe.conf file and then change the relevant entry. For novice users this can be a scary, and necessary, first introduction to Linux and more especially SUSE.

Proposal:
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Put a checkbox in YAST installer/YAST network card configuration dialog to enable IPv6, along with a short descriptive piece of text in the description panel. This would then, when set/reset, automatically update modprobe.conf to either enable or disable the setting.

(Additionally setting the relevant flag for enabling/disabling IPv6 in KDE (KDE_USE_IPV6) - found in the YAST "Editor für /etc/sysconfig Datein" - during installation would be helpful, but not mandatory. However I think Firefox's ipv6 settings should be outside the scope for this change, otherwise this would be an ever moving target as more and more applications allow IPv6 enabling/disabling internally.)

I also think a brief mention of IPv6 and possible problems should be given in the installation guide - either in Chapter 4.8 (First Contact - Networking and Mobility) or in 9.5 (Common Problems - Network Problems).