[ntp:questions] Pool returns IPv6 address to IPv4 query

Brian Utterback brian.utterback at oracle.com
Tue Nov 19 18:01:54 UTC 2013


On 11/19/2013 12:33 PM, Rick Jones wrote:
> Danny Mayer <mayer at ntp.org> wrote:
>> That must have been a short discussion. getaddrinfo() has nothing to
>> do with the IP stack. getaddrinfo()'s job is to get information from
>> the nameservers you specify in resolv.conf or wherever else the OS
>> has that information. Its job is NOT to make decisions about what it
>> should ask for. That's the programmer's job when setting up the API
>> call as to what addresses to ask for.
> I suspect it all boils down to the behaviour when one sets
> AI_ADDRCONFIG in the getaddrinfo() call.  When that is set, ostensibly
> getaddrinfo() is supposed to filter-out any reponses that are of a
> type that cannot be used by the application.  The decision made was if
> there were no non-loopback-interface IPv6 addresses configured, AAAA
> records would not be returned from the getaddrinfo() call.  Similarly
> for A recorecords if there were no IPv4 addresses configured on the
> system.
>
> Later, when interfaces started getting auto-configured, local scope
> IPv6 addresses, there was a call to change that to be "don't return
> IPv6 addresses unless there is a better-than-local-scope IPv6 address
> assigned."  Started causing me all manner of pain in netperf :( Not
> sure where that stands now in the Linux world.
>
> rick jones
Yes, that was the issue. Further complicating it was what do you return 
if you have no IPv6 interfaces and you set AI_ADDRCONFIG and you pass in 
a literal IPv6 address. The problem is that getaddrinfo replaces both 
gethostbyname and inet_aton, each of which you might expect to have 
different results in that case. We had people citing two RFC's and the 
ipng working group mailing list. Great fun.

Brian utterback

Brian Utterback


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