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m (Pavlix moved page Networking/NameResolution/ADDRCONFIG to QA/Networking/NameResolution/ADDRCONFIG: We now have a QA project for topics like this one.)
 
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== Flag AI_ADDRCONFIG considered harmful ==
== Current implementation of AI_ADDRCONFIG considered harmful ==


As far as I know, AI_ADDRCONFIG was added for the following reasons:
AI_ADDRCONFIG was added in order to optimise DNS query traffic, so that only useful addresses are queried for. In other words, an IPv4-only node should not query its upstream resolver for ''IN AAAA'' resource records, while an IPv6-only node should not query for ''IN A'' resource records.


* Some buggy DNS servers would be confused by AAAA requests
AI_ADDRCONFIG is defined in several places:
* Optimization of the number DNS queries


Currently, I'm aware of several documents that define AI_ADDRCONFIG:
* [http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/getaddrinfo.html POSIX.1-2008]
* RFC 3493 (informational)
* RFC 2553 (obsolete informational)
* [http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/getaddrinfo.3.html man getaddrinfo]: like RFC 3493


* POSIX1-2008: useless but harmless
The current glibc <code>getaddrinfo()</code> code doesn't behave strictly according to any of these definitions including its own manual page.
* RFC 3493 (informational): useless but (partially) breaks IPv4/IPv6 localhost
* RFC 2553 (obsolete informational): useless but hopefully harmless
* GLIBC getaddrinfo(3): like RFC 3493


Actual GLIBC <code>getaddrinfo()</code> behavior differs from the manual
The '''choice whether to use AI_ADDRCONFIG is done by developers''' of software that uses TCP/IP networking. It is not enabled by default.
page.


=== Problem statement ===
=== Problem statement ===


Currently, any of the definitions above prevents AI_ADDRCONFIG from filtering
The proper function of AI_ADDRCONFIG requires that:
out IPv6 addresses when a link-local IPv6 address is present.
These addresses are automatically added to interfaces that are otherwise
only configured for IPv4. Therefore, on a typical linux system, AI_ADDRCONFIG
cannot meet its goals and is effectively useless.


But it builds on a false assumption, that no IPv4 communication is feasible
# The usual '''processing of all node-local and link-local names and addresses is preserved''' as long as the respective addresses are present.
without a non-loopback address. But why would we have a loopback address
# The '''global name resolution is not affected''' by the existence or non-existence of node-local and link-local addresses.
if we can't use it for node-local communication? AI_ADDRCONFIG breaks
# ''IN AAAA'' DNS queries should not be transmitted from a node with no global IPv6 address, and vice versa: ''IN A'' queries should not to be transmitted from a node with no global IPv4 address.
''localhost'', ''localhost4'', ''localhost6'', ''127.0.0.1'', ''::1'' and
more if there's no non-loopback address of the respective protocol.


This can happen if the computer is connected to an IPv4-only network or
Unfortunately, the current implementation of <code>getaddrinfo()</code> mostly follows the informational RFC 3493, which '''fails in both #1, #2, and partially in #3'''.
and IPv6-only network, when it loses IPv4 or IPv6 connectivity and when
 
it's used offline.
The standards are unclear on whether a global address assigned to a loopback interface considered a loopback address. The current implementation does '''not''' consider it to be.
 
AI_ADDRCONFIG is a best-effort heuristic to determine whether a node is IPv4-only, IPv6-only, or dual-stacked. While only a routing lookup can be used as a definitive test whether or not a particular destination host is considered potentially reachable, AI_ADDRCONFIG's heuristics are applied before the actual address of the destination is known, so a routing lookup cannot be used.
 
==== Problem 1: Node-local and link-local networking ====
 
Software developers cannot always anticipate whether their software will used for '''node-local networking, link-local networking or global scope networking''', just as they cannot anticipate whether the software will connect using an IPv4 or IPv6 address. The <code>getaddrinfo()</code> function is here to provide a '''universal interface independent of address family and scope'''.
 
There is a '''huge number of critical or less critical services''' that can be accessed globally, through a link-local IPv6 address or through one of the two localhost addresses. If localhost is broken, you '''never know what else will break''' because of it. It can be a file service including NFS, FTP and HTTP, remote access protocol including SSH, database service, mail service, system configuration service, print service or anything else.
 
Filtering <code>getaddrinfo()</code>'s result set based on non-existence of a global address of that family is a mistake, as this will filter out addresses that are not global.
 
In particular, symptoms of this problems are:
 
* On IPv4-only nodes, <code>getaddrinfo()</code> w/AI_ADDRCONFIG will fail to yield any results for nodenames such as ''::1'', ''fe80::1%eth0'', and ''localhost6''.
* On IPv6-only nodes, <code>getaddrinfo()</code> w/AI_ADDRCONFIG will fail to yield any results for nodenames such as ''127.0.0.1'' and ''localhost4''.
* On single-stack node, <code>getaddrinfo()</code> w/AI_ADDRCONFIG will fail to yield both IPv4 and IPv6 results for nodenames such as ''localhost'' and the system hostname (assuming it's present in /etc/hosts).
 
Related fedora bug reports:
 
* [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=721350 Fedora 721350 – getaddrinfo ("127.0.0.1") and/or getaddrinfo ("::1) may fail with AI_ADDRCONFIG]
* [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=887577 Fedora 887577 – getaddrinfo with AI_ADDRCONFIG may fail to properly resolve /etc/hosts names, e.g. getaddrinfo("localhost")]
 
==== Problem 2: IN AAAA DNS query suppression from Ethernet-connected IPv4-only hosts ====
 
The current implementation of AI_ADDRCONFIG considers IPv6 link-local addresses as an indicator to '''not''' suppress ''IN AAAA'' DNS queries. On Ethernet, IPv6 link-local addresses are usually automatically configured on every Ethernet interface, even though this is not connected to a network with any IPv6 service. This defeats the purpose of AI_ADDRCONFIG, as ''IN AAAA'' DNS queries are transmitted even though the host really has no IPv6 connectivity.
 
This leads to bugs reports from users such as:
 
* [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=459756 RH #459756]
* [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=505105 RH #505105]
* [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/eglibc/+bug/417757 Ubuntu #417757].
 
A [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=697149 patch] was applied to Fedora that attempted to improve the DNS filtering logic by ignoring IPv6 link-local addresses when determining whether or not to apply AI_ADDRCONFIG. While this patch solved the IN AAAA DNS query suppression problem, it aggravated the problem described in [http://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=808147 bug 808147]. It was therefore eventually reverted.
 
=== Benefits of AI_ADDRCONFIG ===
 
The preceived benefits of AI_ADDRCONFIG (if implemented perfectly), are:
 
* Reduction of DNS server load generated by single-stacked nodes.
* Potential reduction of <code>getaddrinfo()</code>'s run-time on single-stack nodes, as it would only need to wait for a single DNS response instead of two.
* Avoid tickling bugs in single-stack DNS servers that do not correctly cope with the "opposite" record type queries.
 
Note that all these benefits are exlusively relating to the suppression of '''DNS <u>queries</u>'''.
 
'''No benefits''' associated with glibc's current filtering of <code>getaddrinfo()</code>'s '''result set''' have been identified. This may even include results that originated from DNS in the first place, e.g., results that were cached by NSCD from an earlier call to <code>getaddrinfo()</code> that did not use AI_ADDRCONFIG.
 
Applications using <code>getaddrinfo()</code> are supposed to loop through '''all the results''' and try <code>connect()</code>/<code>sendto()</code> for each address until it either succeeds or all addresses have been attempted. In addition, `getaddrinfo()` employs a sorting mechanism that further optimizes that. This works for '''both TCP and UDP'''. For unreachable hosts, <code>connect()</code>/<code>sendto()</code> fails.


=== Tests ===
=== Tests ===
Line 63: Line 102:
</pre>
</pre>


The ''desired result'' may not be well defined in this case. For now I'm using a simple definition that says:
The ''desired result'' may not be well defined in this case. The simple definition used here is as follows:
 
1) Don't break non-DNS results. You never know when you need them.


2) Filter DNS results based on the presence of global IPv4 and global IPv6 addresses (with a simplified definition of global that means not node-local and not link-local).
1) Don't filter any non-DNS results under any circumstance.


Feel free to offer better definitions of what constitutes a desired result.
2) Filter DNS queries based on the presence of global IPv4 and global IPv6 addresses (with a simplified definition of global that means not node-local and not link-local).


The ''documented result'' is what follows from the manual page. Note that the definition of getaddrinfo() is roughly the same as RFC 3493 but substantially different from POSIX1-2008.
The ''documented result'' is what follows from the manual page. Note that the definition of getaddrinfo() is roughly the same as RFC 3493 but substantially different from POSIX1-2008.
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Actual result: Same '''as desired''' result, different from documented result.
Actual result: Same '''as desired''' result, different from documented result.


Broken addresses: 127.0.0.1, ::1
Broken addresses: None (127.0.0.1, ::1 according to documentation).


==== Host with 127.0.0.1, ::1 and at least one link-local IPv6 address ====
==== Host with 127.0.0.1, ::1 and at least one link-local IPv6 address ====
Line 90: Line 127:


Actual result: Same '''as documented''' result, different from desired result.
Actual result: Same '''as documented''' result, different from desired result.
Broken addresses: 127.0.0.1


==== Host with global IPv4, link-local IPv6 (and DNS) ====
==== Host with global IPv4, link-local IPv6 (and DNS) ====
Line 105: Line 144:
Document result: Only IPv4 addresses should work. Both non-DNS and DNS names should only give IPv4 addresses.
Document result: Only IPv4 addresses should work. Both non-DNS and DNS names should only give IPv4 addresses.


Actual result: Same ''as documented'', different from desired.
Actual result: Same '''as documented''', different from desired.
 
Broken addresses: ::1


==== Host with global IPv6 (and DNS) ====
==== Host with global IPv6 (and DNS) ====
Line 114: Line 155:


Actual result: Same '''as documented''' result, different from desired result.
Actual result: Same '''as documented''' result, different from desired result.
Broken addresses: 127.0.0.1


==== Host with both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses (and DNS, of course) ====
==== Host with both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses (and DNS, of course) ====
Line 121: Line 164:
Actual result: Same '''as desired and documented'''. Everything works.
Actual result: Same '''as desired and documented'''. Everything works.


=== Making AI_ADDRCONFIG useful ===
=== Conclusions ===


A possible solution for the first problem (that AI_ADDRCONFIG is useless)
* Filtering out non-DNS addresses from <code>getaddrinfo()</code>'s result set is flawed and unfortunate.
is to treat link-local addresses the same as loopback (or node-local)
* Using IPv6 link-local addresses as an indicator to issue ''IN AAAA'' queries is flawed, as they will be present on most IPv4-only hosts with connected Ethernet interfaces.
addresses. But this is even more harmful.


Fedora's GLIBC was patched to do exactly the above thing. The consequence
=== Proposed solutions ===
was that even link-local IPv6 stopped working when a global IPv6 address
was absent. And what would we have link-local addresses for if they didn't
work without global addresses? This patch has been already reverted.


=== Conclusion ===
1a) Remove all code that deals with AI_ADDRCONFIG, effectively disabling it in the general <code>getaddrinfo()</code> code ([http://bugzilla.redhat.com/attachment.cgi?id=615840 patch]). '''Pros:''' Solves all known problematic cases relating to filtering of (non-DNS) results. '''Cons:''' Breaks the DNS query suppression funcionality. Undermines applications that are consciously using AI_ADDRCONFIG.


The whole idea of filtering-out non-DNS addresses is flawed and breaks
1b) Modify the code to disable all the result set filtering while keeping the gethostbyname* function selection which in turn affects suppression of DNS queries. [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/attachment.cgi?id=660514 Partial patch here] (doesn't solve /etc/hosts names etc.). '''Pros:''' Solves problematic cases relating to filtering of IP literal lookups. May be combined with #4 to improve IN AAAA DNS query suppression logic. '''Cons:''' None?
so many things including IPv4 and IPv6 literals. There is no reason
to filter them out.


Proposed solutions:
2a) Remove AI_ADDRCONFIG in all software that uses it. Deprecate AI_ADDRCONFIG and prevent/reject modifications that add it to any software. Can be used together with #1a. '''Pros:''' Solves all known problematic cases relating to filtering of (non-DNS) results. '''Cons''': Same as for #1a, and in addition it would be an monumental task, especially considering that AI_ADDRCONFIG is a cross-platform feature.


1) Make <code>getaddrinfo()</code> ignore AI_ADDRCONFIG. It has not been working for years and nobody
2b) Implement workarounds over AI_ADDRCONFIG in all software. '''Pros and cons''': Same as for #2a.
cared enough to fix it, there is a substantial probability that it's not
needed.  Remove the code that implements it ([http://bugzilla.redhat.com/attachment.cgi?id=615840 patch]).


1b) Make <code>getaddrinfo()</code> ignre AI_ADDRCONFIG only when filtering the results but keeps its behavior for gethostbyname* function selection which affects DNS results. The resulting behavior is something between #1 and #3.
3) Implement <code>getaddrinfo()</code> in the name service switch (which is a good idea in itself). Implement AI_ADDRCONFIG in the DNS plugin. This must be used together with #1a, to bring any effect. '''Pros:''' Solves problematic cases relating to filtering of IP literal lookups and non-DNS hostnames. May be combined with #4 to improve IN AAAA DNS query suppression logic. '''Cons:''' None?


2) Patch all software to avoid using AI_ADDRCONFIG. Follow new development, and
4) Ignore any link-local IPv6 addresses when determining whether to apply AI_ADDRCONFIG logic on otherwise IPv4-only nodes ([https://bugzilla.redhat.com/attachment.cgi?id=492541 patch]) '''Pros:''' Makes the DNS filtering logic work as expected on hosts connected to IPv4-only Ethernet segments. '''Cons:''' Breaks <code>getaddrinfo()</code> for IPv6 node- or link-local nodenames on hosts connected to IPv4-only Ethernet segments.
prevent/reject modifications that add it. This is impractical.


3) Only process AI_ADDRCONFIG in the nsswitch DNS plugin. This requires
Various people have various preferences on how to approach the problem:
implementing <code>getaddrinfo()</code> in nsswitch which is required
for zeroconf networking anyway. Use solution (1) as a temporary fix. Locally
assigned addresses looked up through local DNS would still fail.


Notes: Solution #2 is advocated by Michal Kubeček from SUSE. The third solution
'''Pavel Šimerda''': Favors solution #3 (sort of implying #1a). Would be ok with #1b. Would be temporarily ok with #1a even with its drawbacks. Provided that the localhost problem is solved
is an output of long discussions between me (Pavel Šimerda) and Tore Anderson,
(by #3 or #1), I am perfectly ok with implementing #4 that would make AI_ADDRCONFIG actually useful.
who explained me the original purpose of AI_ADDRCONFIG. I would have no problem
 
with just doing #1.
'''Tore Anderson''': Favours #3 or #1b - ideally combined with #4. Opposed to #1a and #2a because they will prevent applications from using/requesting DNS query filtering. Believes #2a and #2b are unfeasible.
 
'''Michal Kubeček (SuSE)''': Advocates solution #2a, as well as solution #2b but wouldn't participate.


More resources:
More resources:


* IPv4: [http://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=721350 <code>getaddrinfo("127.0.0.1", ...)</code> fail with some AI_ADDRCONFIG configurations]
* IPv6: [http://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=808147 Fedora 808147 - <code>getaddrinfo("::1", ...)</code> fails with some configurations of AI_ADDRCONFIG]
* IPv6: <code>getaddrinfo("fe80::1234:56ff:fe78:90%eth0", ...)</code> also fails as above
* IPv6: [http://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=843054 GLIBC's nsswitch doesn't support overriding <code>getaddrinfo</code> which is requred to resolve link-local IPv6 addresses]
* IPv6: [http://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=843054 GLIBC's nsswitch doesn't support overriding <code>getaddrinfo</code> which is requred to resolve link-local IPv6 addresses]


Line 171: Line 201:
* GLIB ([http://git.gnome.org/browse/glib/tree/gio/gresolver.c#n159 lines with AI_ADDRCONFIG])
* GLIB ([http://git.gnome.org/browse/glib/tree/gio/gresolver.c#n159 lines with AI_ADDRCONFIG])
* Apache ([http://svn.apache.org/viewvc/apr/apr/trunk/network_io/unix/sockaddr.c?r1=1341196&r2=1343233 patch adding AI_ADDRCONFIG with comments])
* Apache ([http://svn.apache.org/viewvc/apr/apr/trunk/network_io/unix/sockaddr.c?r1=1341196&r2=1343233 patch adding AI_ADDRCONFIG with comments])
=== Contact information ===
You can find all the contact information in [[Features/FixNetworkNameResolution]].

Latest revision as of 10:01, 8 October 2015

Current implementation of AI_ADDRCONFIG considered harmful

AI_ADDRCONFIG was added in order to optimise DNS query traffic, so that only useful addresses are queried for. In other words, an IPv4-only node should not query its upstream resolver for IN AAAA resource records, while an IPv6-only node should not query for IN A resource records.

AI_ADDRCONFIG is defined in several places:

The current glibc getaddrinfo() code doesn't behave strictly according to any of these definitions including its own manual page.

The choice whether to use AI_ADDRCONFIG is done by developers of software that uses TCP/IP networking. It is not enabled by default.

Problem statement

The proper function of AI_ADDRCONFIG requires that:

  1. The usual processing of all node-local and link-local names and addresses is preserved as long as the respective addresses are present.
  2. The global name resolution is not affected by the existence or non-existence of node-local and link-local addresses.
  3. IN AAAA DNS queries should not be transmitted from a node with no global IPv6 address, and vice versa: IN A queries should not to be transmitted from a node with no global IPv4 address.

Unfortunately, the current implementation of getaddrinfo() mostly follows the informational RFC 3493, which fails in both #1, #2, and partially in #3.

The standards are unclear on whether a global address assigned to a loopback interface considered a loopback address. The current implementation does not consider it to be.

AI_ADDRCONFIG is a best-effort heuristic to determine whether a node is IPv4-only, IPv6-only, or dual-stacked. While only a routing lookup can be used as a definitive test whether or not a particular destination host is considered potentially reachable, AI_ADDRCONFIG's heuristics are applied before the actual address of the destination is known, so a routing lookup cannot be used.

Problem 1: Node-local and link-local networking

Software developers cannot always anticipate whether their software will used for node-local networking, link-local networking or global scope networking, just as they cannot anticipate whether the software will connect using an IPv4 or IPv6 address. The getaddrinfo() function is here to provide a universal interface independent of address family and scope.

There is a huge number of critical or less critical services that can be accessed globally, through a link-local IPv6 address or through one of the two localhost addresses. If localhost is broken, you never know what else will break because of it. It can be a file service including NFS, FTP and HTTP, remote access protocol including SSH, database service, mail service, system configuration service, print service or anything else.

Filtering getaddrinfo()'s result set based on non-existence of a global address of that family is a mistake, as this will filter out addresses that are not global.

In particular, symptoms of this problems are:

  • On IPv4-only nodes, getaddrinfo() w/AI_ADDRCONFIG will fail to yield any results for nodenames such as ::1, fe80::1%eth0, and localhost6.
  • On IPv6-only nodes, getaddrinfo() w/AI_ADDRCONFIG will fail to yield any results for nodenames such as 127.0.0.1 and localhost4.
  • On single-stack node, getaddrinfo() w/AI_ADDRCONFIG will fail to yield both IPv4 and IPv6 results for nodenames such as localhost and the system hostname (assuming it's present in /etc/hosts).

Related fedora bug reports:

Problem 2: IN AAAA DNS query suppression from Ethernet-connected IPv4-only hosts

The current implementation of AI_ADDRCONFIG considers IPv6 link-local addresses as an indicator to not suppress IN AAAA DNS queries. On Ethernet, IPv6 link-local addresses are usually automatically configured on every Ethernet interface, even though this is not connected to a network with any IPv6 service. This defeats the purpose of AI_ADDRCONFIG, as IN AAAA DNS queries are transmitted even though the host really has no IPv6 connectivity.

This leads to bugs reports from users such as:

A patch was applied to Fedora that attempted to improve the DNS filtering logic by ignoring IPv6 link-local addresses when determining whether or not to apply AI_ADDRCONFIG. While this patch solved the IN AAAA DNS query suppression problem, it aggravated the problem described in bug 808147. It was therefore eventually reverted.

Benefits of AI_ADDRCONFIG

The preceived benefits of AI_ADDRCONFIG (if implemented perfectly), are:

  • Reduction of DNS server load generated by single-stacked nodes.
  • Potential reduction of getaddrinfo()'s run-time on single-stack nodes, as it would only need to wait for a single DNS response instead of two.
  • Avoid tickling bugs in single-stack DNS servers that do not correctly cope with the "opposite" record type queries.

Note that all these benefits are exlusively relating to the suppression of DNS queries.

No benefits associated with glibc's current filtering of getaddrinfo()'s result set have been identified. This may even include results that originated from DNS in the first place, e.g., results that were cached by NSCD from an earlier call to getaddrinfo() that did not use AI_ADDRCONFIG.

Applications using getaddrinfo() are supposed to loop through all the results and try connect()/sendto() for each address until it either succeeds or all addresses have been attempted. In addition, getaddrinfo() employs a sorting mechanism that further optimizes that. This works for both TCP and UDP. For unreachable hosts, connect()/sendto() fails.

Tests

Tested with glibc 2.16.0.

#!/usr/bin/python3
import sys
from socket import *
hosts = [
    None,
    "localhost",
    "127.0.0.1",
    "localhost4",
    "::1",
    "localhost6",
    "195.47.235.3",
    "2a02:38::1001",
    "info.nix.cz",
    "www.google.com",
]
for host in hosts:
    print("getaddrinfo host=\"{}\" hints.ai_flags=AI_ADDRCONFIG:".format(host))
    try:
        for item in getaddrinfo(host, "http", AF_UNSPEC, SOCK_STREAM, SOL_TCP, AI_ADDRCONFIG):
            print("  {}".format(item[4][0]))
    except gaierror as error:
    	print("  !! {} !!".format(error))

The desired result may not be well defined in this case. The simple definition used here is as follows:

1) Don't filter any non-DNS results under any circumstance.

2) Filter DNS queries based on the presence of global IPv4 and global IPv6 addresses (with a simplified definition of global that means not node-local and not link-local).

The documented result is what follows from the manual page. Note that the definition of getaddrinfo() is roughly the same as RFC 3493 but substantially different from POSIX1-2008.

Host with only 127.0.0.1 and ::1 names

Desired result: All addresses and all non-DNS names should work.

Documented result: Nothing should work.

Actual result: Same as desired result, different from documented result.

Broken addresses: None (127.0.0.1, ::1 according to documentation).

Host with 127.0.0.1, ::1 and at least one link-local IPv6 address

Desired result: All addresses and all non-DNS names should work.

Documented result: Only IPv6 addresses should work. Non-DNS names should only give IPv6 addresses.

Actual result: Same as documented result, different from desired result.

Broken addresses: 127.0.0.1

Host with global IPv4, link-local IPv6 (and DNS)

Desired result: All addresses and all non-DNS names should work. DNS names should only give IPv4 addresses.

Document result: Unlimited address resolution (like without AI_ADDRCONFIG).

Actual result: Same as documented, different from desired.

Host with global IPv4 (and DNS), without link-local IPv6 (like non-ethernet links)

Desired result: All addresses and all non-DNS names should work. DNS names should only give IPv4 addresses.

Document result: Only IPv4 addresses should work. Both non-DNS and DNS names should only give IPv4 addresses.

Actual result: Same as documented, different from desired.

Broken addresses: ::1

Host with global IPv6 (and DNS)

Desired result: All addresses and all non-DNS names should work. DNS name should only give IPv6 addresses.

Documented result: Only IPv6 addresses should work. Both non-DNS and DNS names should only give IPv6 addresses

Actual result: Same as documented result, different from desired result.

Broken addresses: 127.0.0.1

Host with both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses (and DNS, of course)

Desired and documented result: Unlimited address resolution (like without AI_ADDRCONFIG).

Actual result: Same as desired and documented. Everything works.

Conclusions

  • Filtering out non-DNS addresses from getaddrinfo()'s result set is flawed and unfortunate.
  • Using IPv6 link-local addresses as an indicator to issue IN AAAA queries is flawed, as they will be present on most IPv4-only hosts with connected Ethernet interfaces.

Proposed solutions

1a) Remove all code that deals with AI_ADDRCONFIG, effectively disabling it in the general getaddrinfo() code (patch). Pros: Solves all known problematic cases relating to filtering of (non-DNS) results. Cons: Breaks the DNS query suppression funcionality. Undermines applications that are consciously using AI_ADDRCONFIG.

1b) Modify the code to disable all the result set filtering while keeping the gethostbyname* function selection which in turn affects suppression of DNS queries. Partial patch here (doesn't solve /etc/hosts names etc.). Pros: Solves problematic cases relating to filtering of IP literal lookups. May be combined with #4 to improve IN AAAA DNS query suppression logic. Cons: None?

2a) Remove AI_ADDRCONFIG in all software that uses it. Deprecate AI_ADDRCONFIG and prevent/reject modifications that add it to any software. Can be used together with #1a. Pros: Solves all known problematic cases relating to filtering of (non-DNS) results. Cons: Same as for #1a, and in addition it would be an monumental task, especially considering that AI_ADDRCONFIG is a cross-platform feature.

2b) Implement workarounds over AI_ADDRCONFIG in all software. Pros and cons: Same as for #2a.

3) Implement getaddrinfo() in the name service switch (which is a good idea in itself). Implement AI_ADDRCONFIG in the DNS plugin. This must be used together with #1a, to bring any effect. Pros: Solves problematic cases relating to filtering of IP literal lookups and non-DNS hostnames. May be combined with #4 to improve IN AAAA DNS query suppression logic. Cons: None?

4) Ignore any link-local IPv6 addresses when determining whether to apply AI_ADDRCONFIG logic on otherwise IPv4-only nodes (patch) Pros: Makes the DNS filtering logic work as expected on hosts connected to IPv4-only Ethernet segments. Cons: Breaks getaddrinfo() for IPv6 node- or link-local nodenames on hosts connected to IPv4-only Ethernet segments.

Various people have various preferences on how to approach the problem:

Pavel Šimerda: Favors solution #3 (sort of implying #1a). Would be ok with #1b. Would be temporarily ok with #1a even with its drawbacks. Provided that the localhost problem is solved (by #3 or #1), I am perfectly ok with implementing #4 that would make AI_ADDRCONFIG actually useful.

Tore Anderson: Favours #3 or #1b - ideally combined with #4. Opposed to #1a and #2a because they will prevent applications from using/requesting DNS query filtering. Believes #2a and #2b are unfeasible.

Michal Kubeček (SuSE): Advocates solution #2a, as well as solution #2b but wouldn't participate.

More resources:

Examples of software using AI_ADDRCONFIG

Contact information

You can find all the contact information in Features/FixNetworkNameResolution.