Android (lack of) support for DHCPv6

Tue Jun 9 18:20:56 UTC 2015

It really is too bad.  They're literally the only major player not on board
but claim to champion IPv6.

There is a big difference between saying that something isn't supported and
the Android position that they will NOT support DHCPv6.  To me, that's
something that shouldn't be a decision they get to make, especially when
other operating systems have already come around with DHCPv6 support.  Very
frustrating, and quite frankly an embarrassment to Google.  I really didn't
expect that kind of dismissive response out of Lorenzo but maybe I just
haven't been paying attention.

Clients should support a verity of methods and let network operators choose
the solution that fits the environment.  The whole premise for not
supporting DHCPv6 seems to be that mobile networks don't need it, but that
totally ignores 802.11 which is equally important.

Not to single out Google, on the opposite side It's equally disappointing
that Windows 10 will not support RDNSS (at least I haven't been able to
find any information on it, has anyone been able to confirm?).

I would hope we're past the religious arguments of SLAAC vs DHCPv6 but it
seems like every time the topic comes up the entire conversation turns into
a holy war on what method is the best.  They're both valid, and both useful.

On Mon, Jun 8, 2015 at 11:14 PM, Paul B. Henson <henson at acm.org> wrote:

> We're in the beginning steps of bringing up IPv6 at the fairly large
> university where I work. We plan to use DHCPv6 rather than SLAAC for a
> variety of reasons. One of our guys recently noticed that Android has no
> support for DHCPv6, and a rather odd issue thread discussing it:
>
> https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=32621
>
> It looks like one developer simply refuses to implement it because if he
> did there might be a scenario where somebody might not be able to tether
> 8-/? His attitude is that you have to use SLAAC and RDNSS, which we're
> just not going to do. At this point I guess Android devices just won't
> work with IPv6 on our network, and we'll suggest they complain to their
> vendor and/or get a different phone.
>
> I was just curious what this forum might think of that design decision
> and the discussion on the issue thread.
>
> Thanks...
>
>

-- 
Ray Patrick Soucy
Network Engineer
University of Maine System

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