# Rid IPv6 from FreeBSD 9.1



## un_x (Mar 3, 2013)

Hi.  I am new to FreeBSD 9.1 (by way of 9.1 destroying my 4.11 machine), and see that much has changed.  It will take some time to study all differences, most notably the new procedures for kernel compilation and IPv6 infecting the entire system.

I suppose I will eventually find the answer to my question, but possibly someone may be able to simplify things.

How difficult will it be to recompile my entire system to rid IPv6 from the kernel and all userland/ports?

I have many reasons to hate IPv6, and no good reasons to have it running throughout my entire system like a plague.  Personally, I hope IPv6 dies an early and ugly death.

Thanks.


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## un_x (Mar 3, 2013)

Interesting.  What does the "free" in FreeBSD stand for now?

Free as in "free beer" ?  Or
Free as in "free speech" ?

IPv6 enables every single thing imaginable on the planet to be monitored, tracked, and controlled with RFID chips.  It is an evil so great that it defies imagination.  There is no other reason for it.  That is it's sole function.  And everyone else is OK with that?

I am not OK with that.  If the reason was "address space" for people, the solution could have been to start using base64 numbers or something similar.  The only reason for IPv6 address space is to put an IP on every single thing on the planet, so you can know where it is, who has it, and what it is doing at all times.

Anyway, if FreeBSD means "free as in speech", IPv6 should be an option.  No ISP or other infrastructure uses IPv6 where I live, and it is nothing but a big kludge on the installed system here, and I dislike watching it trying to promote itself by sending out "Welcome to IPv6" packets to other elements of the Internet infrastructure where I live.  It is not welcome here, and nobody wants it or likes it here.


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## troberts (Mar 3, 2013)

I am pulling this from my memory but in /etc/make.conf put

WITHOUT_IPV6=yes

in /etc/src.conf put

WITHOUT_INET6=yes
WITHOUT_INET6_SUPPORT=yes


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## usdmatt (Mar 3, 2013)

Your til-foil hat hatred of ipv6 is hilarious. From some of your comments I get the impression you don't have the technical networking knowledge to have an educated, reasoned opinion on it.

Yes, IPv6 was created to fix a shortage of IP addresses. It has not been created just to track you. The base64 idea makes no sense and what the hell does RFID have to do with the Internet? Do you know what RFID is?

IPv6 is the future of the Internet. There is absolutely no possibility of it dying out. This is why it's enabled in FreeBSD as default and why it requires recompiling to remove it entirely (although you shouldn't bother). It's also a default part of every other modern OS. Your ISP haven't moved yet because it may require they upgrade equipment, may take more effort for the admins to get started with and they haven't run out of their IPv4 addresses yet. They will start using it eventually and I seriously doubt they think it's evil like you, they just don't want the extra hassle of configuring it until that have to.


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## un_x (Mar 3, 2013)

*Ha?*



			
				usdmatt said:
			
		

> Your til-foil hat hatred of ipv6 is hilarious. From some of your comments I get the impression you don't have the technical networking knowledge to have an educated, reasoned opinion on it.
> 
> Yes, IPv6 was created to fix a shortage of IP addresses. It has not been created just to track you. The base64 idea makes no sense and what the hell does RFID have to do with the Internet? Do you know what RFID is?
> 
> IPv6 is the future of the Internet. There is absolutely no possibility of it dying out. This is why it's enabled in FreeBSD as default and why it requires recompiling to remove it entirely (although you shouldn't bother). It's also a default part of every other modern OS. Your ISP haven't moved yet because it may require they upgrade equipment, may take more effort for the admins to get started with and they haven't run out of their IPv4 addresses yet. They will start using it eventually and I seriously doubt they think it's evil like you, they just don't want the extra hassle of configuring it until that have to.



No, IPv6 was not designed for a shortage of addresses for people to use.  Yes, it was designed to assign an address to every imaginable thing - this is plain.  I do not want to argue who has more knowledge of what because ad hominem attacks amount to nothing of significance.  What do you mean base64 numbers make no sense?  Of course they make sense because you can fit [way] more numbers in the same byte-space.  What does RFID have to do with the Internet?  That is a ridiculous question, isn't it?  They can put them in light bulbs, and find out who has what light on, and when, in their home; put them in pills and find out if you took your assigned meds, etc.  It is a total complete absolute monitoring and control paradigm.

There is absolutely no possibility of it dying out?  Sorry, but you are sadly misinformed.  Civilization and everything that goes with it has a 100% failure rate, and I see no signs of that ever changing.  The "every other OS does it" argument holds no water with me.  I am not a slave to technology.  I have used FreeBSD for 19 years, and I use it for my utility or not at all, and IPv6 has absolutely no utility for me, nor for mankind in my opinion.


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## un_x (Mar 3, 2013)

troberts said:
			
		

> I am pulling this from my memory but in /etc/make.conf put
> 
> WITHOUT_IPV6=yes
> 
> ...



Thanks, this is interesting, because there is no documentation on this in the default /etc/make.conf or /usr/share/examples/etc/make.conf - and there is no src.conf in the installation - though I did see the manpage for it.  I did see the option in the kernel config, but not the system-wide option.

I don't think IPv6 will be stopped, but it may result in 2 Internets.  Many people in the USA do not want any part of IPv6.


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## usdmatt (Mar 3, 2013)

I'm not trying to attack your intelligence, I'm sure you have much greater knowledge in some areas, however, most of your arguments show a clear lack of understanding of IP networking and have no grounding in reality. I don't see how you can effectively comment on and attack an addressing scheme designed by Internetworking experts when you clearly don't understand networking yourself.



> Of course they make sense because you can fit [way] more numbers in the same byte-space



No. There is no such thing as a 'base64 number'. Base64 is a way of encoding data into ASCII, and actually, it usually results in an output that is larger than the original. It is mainly used for transferring binary data over networks when it's simpler and safer to send ASCII than binary.

Current IP addresses are 32 bit (32 ones and zeros). This allows for 4 billion unique addresses. For display purposes, the 32 bits are split into four groups of 8 and shown as 8 bit integers of 0-255 (a.b.c.d). There is no way of fitting more addresses into this, by using base64 or any other encoding. It's just not possible.

In order to provide more addresses, you have to use more bits - 48, 64, 128 etc. Regardless of what number of bits you choose (they chose 128), or how you display them (they went for 8 groups of 16 bits, displayed as hex), you still can't get past the fact that this is a new scheme that requires a new IP stack. What difference would it of made if they increased IP space to 128 bit, but displayed them as base64? (which would be a stupid idea btw) You're not going to fit those 128 bits into 32.



> What does RFID have to do with the Internet? That is a ridiculous question, isn't it? They can put them in light bulbs, and find out who has what light on, and when, in their home; put them in pills and find out if you took your assigned meds, etc. It is a total complete absolute monitoring and control paradigm.



Again, I ask, specifically, what RFID has to do with IPv6? An RFID tag is simply a small device with a unique ID (not an IP address) that can be read by a close proximity reader. RFID by itself is not related to the Internet or IP *at all*. You'd have to have a device in your house that reads all the RFID tags and made the information available over the Internet (which would be easily possible with IPv4)



> There is absolutely no possibility of it dying out? Sorry, but you are sadly misinformed. Civilization and everything that goes with it has a 100% failure rate, and I see no signs of that ever changing



Your first post suggested you were hoping IPv6 would die out (due to your completely irrational worries about it), I assume to be replaced by something else (seeing as we clearly need more IP addresses than IPv4 allows). You stupidly suggested trying to magically cram more than 32 bits into 32 bits of space using encoding. IPv6 is the replacement, it's not going anywhere. Sure, if you want to be pedantic, in the distant future we'll all die out and so will computers, the Internet and everything that goes with it, but IPv6 is the future addressing scheme of the Internet. There's no question about that, get used to it.



> IPv6 has absolutely no utility for me, nor for mankind in my opinion.



No utility for mankind? Lol



> but it may result in 2 Internets. Many people in the USA do not want any part of IPv6.



Good luck with that...


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## wblock@ (Mar 3, 2013)

Discussing building and using FreeBSD without IPv6 is fine.  Debating conspiracy theories should be done in another place.


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## un_x (Mar 3, 2013)

usdmatt said:
			
		

> I'm not trying to attack your intelligence, I'm sure you have much greater knowledge in some areas, however, most of your arguments show a clear lack of understanding of IP networking and have no grounding in reality. I don't see how you can effectively comment on and attack an addressing scheme designed by Internetworking experts when you clearly don't understand networking yourself.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Think about what you write.  At first, I laughed in shock at what you said about base64 numbers (as if they are different than any other numbering scheme), but then you did continue to make a valid point about bitstreams across copper/optics.  Anyway, the point was that if more addresses were needed, it would have been much more trivial to add 2 more bytes (16 bits) to the IPv4 protocol.  Furthermore, not everyone would agree that it is wise to design things with more address space than atoms on earth (guess) or for a planet with 100s of billions of people on it (and we are not going into space - no Star Trek future - cosmic radiation is still an insurmountable obstacle - a permanent one as far as we can see today).  At this point in time, there are only 40x40 yards/meters of arable land per person on the planet, and nobody is looking at the bigger picture as every specialist fiddles with their bits.

You are obfuscating the matter a little by mixing bit-streams (devices) and byte-data (software) information without keeping those topics clearly separate as you should.

As far as RFID goes, you are just looking at ordinary ones as you may see today, but the term applies as the technologies are furthered.  We live in a dynamic system, and it is not valid to argue with a static snapshot of technology in time.  Generally, my point is that IPv6 offers no substantial benefits now, it has great potential for global tyrannical tracking, monitoring, and control of everything in existence, and the agenda behind pushing it is strong, yet unclear.  We certainly don't need addresses for every grain of sand on earth.  And prediciting never-ending growth is a matter of opinion, and possibly a poor one at that.  Generally, nothing big changes unless there is a dire circumstance or enough wealth to simply have fun, and as far as IPv6 is concerned, those cards may not be in the immediate future as you may think.


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## un_x (Mar 3, 2013)

*Agreed*



			
				wblock@ said:
			
		

> Discussing building and using FreeBSD without IPv6 is fine.  Debating conspiracy theories should be done in another place.


a

I agree, so in conclusion, I am just putting my vote on the internet that FreeBSD keep it's configurations such that one can easily choose IPv4 or 6 as they require, and avoid "pushing" IPv6 on people by making it difficult to configure an IPv4-only system.


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## wblock@ (Mar 3, 2013)

All right, thread closed then.


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