Bugzilla – Bug 150207
IPv6 on/off visual select during Installation/Network card configuration
Last modified: 2007-01-22 14:59:14 UTC
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: ========= 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).
As the maintainer of yast2-network, my problem with this is where to put the switch, both during the installation and afterwards. Currently there is no dialog for such a global setting.
Would it be possible to add it to the "Overview of the Configuration of Network Cards" dialog? You have the list of cards at the top, an information panel on the currently selected card and 3 buttons at the bottom. Making the list box slightly smaller (on my display the default (using half the screen height) would fit around 15 interface cards) and put the check box between the information panel and the buttons? Just a thought as I guess you don't want to go adding a new dialog just for this one option (although I've seen it elsewhere in YaST). That is assuming there aren't any other global network settings that would benefit from being done visually, making a new global options dialog a possibility... (I haven't investigated whether anything else would benefit, IPv6 came up in a factory discussion as it is a headache for many, especially new users.
Suggestion: You could give users the hint, that if they use a router or DSL modem, then it's probably a good idea, to switch ipv6 off, as many of those home devices do not support ipv6.
Reassigning to the new maintainer of yast2-network.
move to later
reopen to fix
fixed
*** Bug 230224 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***