IPv6 for Slackware
==================

Features
--------
* Dual stack. Interfaces can be configured with an IPv4 address or an IPv6
address, or both.
* Each interface can have single or multiple v4 and/or v6 IPs. Additional
v4 IPs are added as 'alias' interfaces, whereas v6 IPs are simply added
to the interface.
* Optional StateLess Address Auto Configuration (SLAAC) of v6 IP addresses
(disabled by default).
* DHCPv6 support for server controlled address configuration.
* Fixed IP configuration of IPv6 interfaces.

Configuration
-------------
v6 IPs can be configured via SLAAC, DHCP6 or statically using the following new
options for rc.inet1.conf:
USE_SLAAC[x]="" Allow StateLess Address Auto Configuration of a
(potentially) globally routable v6 IP. With this option
set to "yes", the interface's v6 IP will ONLY be
configured via SLAAC, even if RA indicates DHCP6 is
available on the network - if SLAAC is not available on
the network, no IPv6 address will be assigned.

Since dhcpcd is capable of handling SLAAC as well as
DHCP, it is better practice to set USE_DHCP6[x]="yes" to
perform full auto configuration instead.

USE_DHCP6[x]="" Use dhcpcd to configure the interface. This will bring
up the interface using DHCP6, falling back to SLAAC (if
configured on the network), or will leave the interface
unconfigured after a timeout. When this option is set
to "yes", the USE_SLAAC[x] option is ignored.

This is the preferred option to configure an interface
dynamically - whether the network is setup for DHCP6 or
SLAAC, dhcpcd will be able to configure the interface.

IP6ADDRS[x]="" The static v6 IP addresses for the interface. This
option takes a list of v6 IP addresses and prefix
lengths in CIDR notation, in a space delimited list.
For example: IP6ADDRS[x]="a:b:c:d:e::1/48 1:2:3:4::5/64"

If a prefix length is not given (separated from the IP
address with a /), a length of 64 will be assumed, and
a warning emitted about the unset value.

When either the USE_DHCP6[x] or USE_SLAAC[x] options are
set to "yes", this setting is ignored - dynamic
configuration takes precedence over fixed IPs in
Slackware.

GATEWAY6="" The default IPv6 gateway for the network. This is a
IPv6 address in standard format.

The following lesser used misc options have been added for use in rc.inet1.conf:
USE_RA[x]="" Normally, unless USE_SLAAC[x]="yes" is set, Router
Advertisment (RA) is disabled for the interface as it
can result in extraneous routes being added to the
routing table. With this option set to "yes", RA
packets will be accepted on the interface even when DHCP
or fixed IP addressing is used, and the routes
advertised by the router will be added to the table.

Conversely, if this option is explicitly set to "no", RA
will be disabled at all times - meaning SLAAC cannot be
performed even when USE_SLAAC[x]="yes" is set. The
default (unset) is to enable RA when SLAAC is in use,
and to disable it otherwise.

The use of this option should rarely be required as
rc.inet1 will do the right thing.

SLAAC_TIMEOUT[x]="" The time to wait (in seconds) for an interface to be
configured by SLAAC. When unset, the default is 15.
Some networks may require a longer period for the router
to broadcast an advertisement packet on the network.


Disabling IPv6
--------------
For some use cases, where IPv6 support is not required at all, disabling IPv6
may be a better option than leaving the interface unconfigured.

There are two similar methods which can be used to disable IPv6. Both of the
options involve creating (or replacing the content if it already exists) the
file /etc/modprobe.d/ipv6.conf (which overrides any configuration in the
/lib/modprobe.d/ipv6.conf file), and making the content as follows:
alias ipv6 off
alias net-pf-10 off
Or:
install ipv6 /bin/true
install net-pf-10 /bin/true

It is important to disable both the 'ipv6' and 'net-pf-10' modules since the
module can be automatically loaded by each name.


Changes from previous Slackware versions
----------------------------------------
* Previously, if the network the host is connecting to is configured for
StateLess Address Auto Configuration (SLAAC), the host would bring up an
interface with a (potentially) globally routable IPv6 address with no
configuration by the user. This has been changed so that all network
configuration must be explicitly enabled. Thus, interfaces will no longer
automatically come up with a valid IPv6 address on networks which support auto
configuration, without enabling the USE_SLAAC[x]="yes" option for the
interface. This is a security enhancement.

* Unless RA is explicitly enabled using the USE_RA[x]="yes" option, rc.inet1 now
disables RA (via the accept_ra tunable in /proc) for an interface before
trying to add any IPs configured for it. This prevents RA on the network from
automatically adding any routes to the table. When USE_SLAAC[x]="yes" is set,
RA is implicitly re-enabled for the interface (since SLAAC and RA are usually
used together on a network), unless explicitly disabled with USE_RA[x]="no".
This is a change from previous versions of Slackware, which would auto
configure routes. This is a security enhancement in the same vein as above.

* Interfaces will no longer be brought into the 'up' state unless they are
actually configured with an IP address. In previous versions, no matter
whether the interface was assigned an IP (either via DHCP or a fixed IP) or
not, the interface would be left in the 'up' state after executing 'rc.inet1
start'. This will no longer happen and is considered a clean-up of the
previous behaviour.

* If no NETMASK[x] is set for an interface, rc.inet1 will now assume a
prefix/netmask of 24 (and will emit a warning). CIDR notation netmasks are now
recommended (with the leading / as optional), but the old style dotted-quad
notation is still accepted for IPv4. This is a configuration enhancement.

* In previous versions, the IP aliases configuration for IPv4 assumed a netmask
of /32, making the interface only addressable by itself. Now, a netmask of
/24 is assumed where none is provided in the configuration. This is a bugfix.

* Sometime during this -current cycle, the call to dhcpcd gained a hard coded -L
(disable use of IPv4LL addresses as last resort) parameter which effectively
rendered the DHCP_NOIPV4LL[x] option redundant - the use of -L was not
contingent upon the value of DHCP_NOIPV4LL[x]. The hard coded -L has been
removed from the dhcpcd command line, restoring the behaviour of 14.2 and the
usefulness of the DHCP_NOIPV4LL[x] option.


Known issues
------------
* When being invoked without the -4 or -6 option (that is, when both USE_DHCP[x]
and USE_DHCP6[x] are set), dhcpcd will only wait until one type of IP is
obtained before backgrounding - it will not wait for both a v4 AND v6 to be
configured. This means there is no way to know if the interface has been
configured for both types of IP, as one type will continue to be sought in the
background; but may ultimately fail. This is an issue with the way dhcpcd
operates and not an issue with rc.inet1.

* Changes in interface configuration type from DHCP to fixed IP or stateless
will cause an issue where the dhcpcd daemon fails to be stopped during a
restart or stop/start operation because rc.inet1 is unaware of how an
interface was previously configured - it can only stop the interface based
upon its current configuration. This is a by-product of the way the rc.inet1
script is coded (there is no record kept of the previous configuration type of
an interface) and is present (but doesn't seem to be documented anywhere) on
previous versions of Slackware. This particular issue is not specifically
related to IPv6, but is documented here for completeness.

* When being killed in if_down(), dhcpcd requires some command line options to
match those which were used to invoke it - not only does the interface name
need to match, but also the use of -4/-6. This can cause a problem during a
restart or stop/start of the interface if the configuration for DHCP has
changed. This manifests itself in the same way as the issue detailed above
and is no more serious. In both cases, the end user must kill the dhcpcd
daemon manually. This issue is caused by the new way dhcpcd is invoked when
using/not using IPv6.


Thanks
------
* Robby Workman, for the original iproute2 version of rc.inet1 and advice.
* David Spencer, for advice, debating, and testing the SLAAC implementation.

--
Darren 'Tadgy' Austin.
<darren (at) afterdark.org.uk>