Disabling IPv6 in Ubuntu

Q I want to remove IPv6 support. I set about doing /etc/modprobe.d/aliases in the terminal as root, but I got a terse message telling me: 'permission denied' Can you tell me why that is? I have Ubuntu Studio 7.10 and I need the other things working as well. This has been a nightmare for me trying to disable IPv6. My modem is a D-Link ADSL DSL-G624T, my ISP is Virgin. I went to the Ubuntu website and followed their instructions to disable IPv6. As root I put in the terminal,

gksudo gedit/etc/modprobe.d/aliases

Nothing happened (I believe a list is supposed to come up on a web browser or something). I am a Linux newbie and I really would like an answer to this terrible nightmare. Others out there have the same problem as me. Can't the Ubuntu people make an update for this, I think IPv6 is not even being used yet, and will not be used for some time to come.

A /etc/modprobe.d/aliases is a data file, not a program, so you cannot run it: you need to edit it. This is what the command you found on the Ubuntu website does, but you mistyped it. The correct command is

gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/aliases

note the space after gedit. This does not open a browser; it runs the Gedit text editor, loading the aliases file ready for you to modify. The gksudo program is used to run the program as root, because only the root user can modify system files like this. In fact, plain old sudo will do the job just as well. Once it's loaded, add the lines

alias net-pf-10 off
alias ipv6 off

reboot and you should be able to use the net. It is true that IPv6 is not presently in common use, but ISPs will have to begin the switch over fairly soon. The best solution is to fix the broken part of the system, which is not your distro for having IPv6 capability, nor your ISP for not using it yet. The fault lies with your router for not handling the fallback correctly. Many manufacturers have released firmware updates for their routers, which fix this problem without your having to hack at the operating system setup.

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