Re: why I'm not implementing IPv6

[Margaret Wasserman <mrw@windriver.com>]

Hi Pekka,

> IMO, it was a serious mistake to make the system libraries sort AAAA DNS
> replies before A records (btw: I'm not aware of any implementation where
> you could actually specify the order) when using getaddrinfo and
> AF_UNSPEC.
Specifically, what problem does this cause?  Are there many hosts
that have IPv6 AAAA records in the DNS, but no connectivity via
IPv6?

> This is because now people are afraid of deploying v6-enabled software
> because v6 connectivity is not really there, and contacting dual-stack
> servers is only likely to cause problems when done over v6.  Only when
> explicitly configured, v6 would be used over v4, until some more or less
> "magic moment" (at different times in different regions etc.)
I don't believe in a "magic moment"...  In order for IPv6 to get
deployed, we have to make dual stack nodes work properly throughout
the transition AND build an IPv6 protocol and network architecture
that has sufficient benefits for some situations, users and/or
applications that it gets deployed and used.

> If this would have been different, we migh have a significantly higher
> number of v6-enabled applications etc. enabled in the mainstream
> distributions.
How would specifying a different order for DNS records achieve
this?

Margaret