A bug report covering this issue can be found → here.
The boot parameter will only take effect when IPv6 has actually been compiled into the kernel, so deactivating it using a module option obviously implies IPv6 being build into the kernel - before using this workaround, one should test the system by using the above ‘zgrep’-command.
Thank you for this gropiuskalle. Though I am surprised it is still a problem for us x86_64 users since the bug goes back to before 11.2 went golden. Should have been a fix rolled out as an update by now.
Sometimes it’s better not to mess around with /boot/grub/menu.lst
Um… and in this case? Where’s the problem?
Yet another option is to edit the respective line in /etc/sysconfig/bootloader, in most cases that will be DEFAULT_APPEND and FAILSAFE_APPEND (in some cases also XEN_KERNEL_APPEND if you use that kernel-flavour). Edit it so
ipv6.disable=1
will appear at the end of the line (between the " " !) - the advantage of this method is that it’ll make this option persistent, while with the first way shown here /boot/grub/menu.lst has to be edited again after each kernel-update.
This can also be done via YaSTs editor for /etc/sysconfig.
If you edit the sysctl.conf, you may or may not know that changes aren’t applied immediately without further action.
You either need to reboot or execute one of the two following commands immediately (to apply without rebooting)
The non-systemd way (typically for 12.2 and earlier)
sysctl -p
The systemd way (12.3 and later although the above should still work indefinitely)
Although in the above thread sysctl on my machine started working after posting, it definitely had not been working for a long time beforehand. It’s unknown why it started working, it could have been an update pushed in the meantime or something “jiggled loose” and started working but I am pretty sure sysctl is not working in some undetermined number of machines.
If you feel ambitious, towards the end of my referenced thread, I posted a script that adds new IPv4 TCP/IP values which includes enlarging buffers and changing the Congestion Control Algorithm. If you run the script adding them to your sysctl, restart sysctl as I’ve described and still don’t see changes, then you should know that any other entries in your sysctl.conf likely aren’t being applied, also. Any modifications to sysctl.conf can be removed simply by deleting the new lines in the file.
Sorry that you did not understand the main reason or this action. It is not about the exact number of ISPs that support a part or the whole of IPv6. It is about the need to switch IPv6 off in openSUSE.
Or, to go to your personal situation: do you have any need to switch off IPv6 in any of the supported openSUSE versions you use? And when yes, is this 11.2 Howto of any use to such an action to be undertaken by you?
> Sorry that you did not understand the main reason or this action. It is
> not about the exact number of ISPs that support a part or the whole of
> IPv6. It is about the need to switch IPv6 off in openSUSE.
>
> Or, to go to your personal situation: do you have any need to switch
> off IPv6 in any of the supported openSUSE versions you use?
Maybe, maybe not
On occasion, I have problems updating because I get IPv6 addresses from
the openSUSE redirector which I can not use.
> And when
> yes, is this 11.2 Howto of any use to such an action to be undertaken by
> you?
That I do not know yet
I just wanted to point out that it is not true, to my knowledge, that
«many ISPs support IPv6 nowadays». Not in my country, at least, I know
none using it for clients. In other countries the contrary may be true,
though.
That’s all. Not that the howto is valid or not.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)
