Hello.

I have discovered that the current default configuration of inetd set by approx makes it only support IPv4, not IPv6.

Only this line existed in my openbsd-inetd config file (don't remember if that's the default port or I changed it):

  9998    stream  tcp     nowait  approx  /usr/sbin/approx

To add IPv6 support, it was enough to also add another line to inetd.conf:

  9998    stream  tcp6     nowait  approx  /usr/sbin/approx

Both lines can (and must) be present in the file, if both IPv6 and IPv4 support is desired.
Debian Release: 5.0.1
  500 stable          apt-proxy.i4
  200 lenny-backports apt-proxy.i4
--- Package information. ---
Depends               (Version) | Installed
===============================-+-===========
libc6                  (>= 2.3) | 2.7-18
libpcre3               (>= 7.7) | 7.8-2
debconf               (>= 0.5)  | 1.5.24
 OR debconf-2.0                 |
lsb-base               (>= 3.2) | 3.2-20
adduser                         | 3.110
bzip2                           | 1.0.5-1
curl                            | 7.18.2-8lenny2
openbsd-inetd                   | 0.20080125-2
 OR inet-superserver            |
update-inetd                    | 4.31

Is there any reason this patch hasn't been applied?  I can confirm that the
described change does make approx accessable via IPv6.

- Matt

Sorry, just inertia.  I also haven't found any other packages that
enable IPv6 entries in inetd.conf -- if you can point me at any, it
might help me avoid doing something stupid.

I can't say I've really looked.  However, copying the existing line and
changing 'tcp' to 'tcp6' worked beautifully for me.  It's pretty easy to
test, too: restart inetd, and if inetd's now listening on :::9999 as well as
0.0.0.0:9999, then all is well.

Or, in patch form:

diff -urN approx-4.5.orig/debian/approx.postinst approx-4.5/debian/approx.postinst
--- approx-4.5.orig/debian/approx.postinst	2010-08-18 23:13:56.000000000 +1000
+++ approx-4.5/debian/approx.postinst	2011-01-21 02:27:08.260000003 +1100
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 db_get approx/port
 port="$RET"
 update-inetd --add "$port\t\tstream\ttcp\tnowait\tapprox\t/usr/sbin/approx /usr/sbin/approx"
+update-inetd --add "$port\t\tstream\ttcp6\tnowait\tapprox\t/usr/sbin/approx /usr/sbin/approx"

 if dpkg --compare-versions "$2" lt "4.0"; then
     if [ -f /etc/default/approx ]; then


- Matt

package approx
block 527397 on 24043
thanks

It turns out that this patch doesn't actually work, due to a
long-standing bug in update-inetd.

Here's an update on approx and IPv6:

* approx 5.4-1 (08 Dec 2013) first added the systemd socket files, but
the postinst was still using update-inetd. This release also added an
example xinetd conffile
* approx 5.7-3 removed the use of update-inetd in the postinst to enable
the service. The patch included in this bug (and blocked by #24043) is
no longer relevant.
* Users still using /etc/inetd.conf style inetd servers can add the tcp6
entry themselves and that will work.
* (Most) users using the systemd socket files which use "ListenStream"
will get IPv4 and IPv6 (unless BindIPv6Only is set)
* I don't know how xinetd will handle it (how does the provided example
specify what port to listen on?)

So I think the spirit of the original wishlist bug "Please add IPv6
support by default" is met by systemd doing that by default, and there
are ways for enabling support on the other inetd servers.

So I think this can be closed, yay!