[solved] Temporarily disable ipv6

ComputerNerd · n00b Joined: 27 Feb 2013 Posts: 25

I switch between two networks frequently one has ipv6 support the other does not. On the ipv4 network wget will not work unless I use -4 switch however I also need to access github on the network that does not support ipv6 and thus cannot resolve github.com. Git does not appear to have a -4 switch like wget does which solves the cannot resolve address issues. I do not want to permanently disable ipv6 as the other network that I use supports it. So I was wondering what is a good way that I can disable ipv6 temporarily so that I can resolve github.com.

kurly · Apprentice Joined: 02 Apr 2012 Posts: 260

You shouldn't need to disable IPv6 to use your computer on an IPv4 network; I take my laptop between networks that do and do not have IPv6. I'm thinking there's something broken with the router or potentially your DNS settings. Can you tell us more about your computer's network settings and potentially the two networks you are on? What do pages like http://test-ipv6.com/ say from the network that either has broken or no IPv6 (the "IPv4-only" network)? Does ifconfig indicate any not-link-local IPv6 addresses when you are connected to the "IPv4-only" network?

Darknight · Guru Joined: 26 Jan 2004 Posts: 485 Location: Italy

Try and see if sysctl can do what you need.
Something like echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/all/disable_ipv6

ComputerNerd · n00b Joined: 27 Feb 2013 Posts: 25

Sadly the sysctl does not appear to work. Here are the results from http://test-ipv6.com/

Darknight · Guru Joined: 26 Jan 2004 Posts: 485 Location: Italy

Quite strange. You don't have an ipv6 address and the test confirms, so basically you cannot use ipv6 and git should just use v4.

Darknight · Guru Joined: 26 Jan 2004 Posts: 485 Location: Italy

And by the way: github does not have an ipv6 address.
I'd double-check your dns settings.

ComputerNerd · n00b Joined: 27 Feb 2013 Posts: 25

Even stranger github works in google chrome. Right now I am using opendns on the ipv4 only network. I also tried google's public DNS and got the same resualts. When I do wget github.com I must add the -4 switch or else it will not work. This is also true for many other websites including gentoo.org works in chrome but wget requires the -4 switch.Edit fixed. I edited /etc/resolv.conf to also use the opendns nameservers in addition to my router.