socket.gethostbyaddr does not work with IPv6 on Solaris
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- Python
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Description
Bug report
Bug description:
The documentation suggests that socket.gethostbyaddr supports both IPv4 and IPv6:
https://docs.python.org/3/library/socket.html#socket.gethostbyaddr
however, gethostbyaddr_r on Solaris does not support IPv6.
Solaris/Illumos provide platform-specific getipnodebyaddr function which can be used to lookup IPv6 addresses.
I did not test this with Illumos, but the man page suggest the same behavior as with Oracle Solaris:
https://www.smartos.org/man/3nsl/gethostbyaddr_r
"the functions described in the following cannot be used with applications targeted to work with IPv6."
CPython versions tested on:
CPython main branch, 3.13, 3.11
Operating systems tested on:
Other
Linked PRs
- gh-157498
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start from the socket.gethostbyaddr entry point and review how CPython calls gethostbyaddr_r on Solaris. Compare that path with the platform-specific getipnodebyaddr behavior described in the issue, and review linked PR gh-157498. Done means IPv6 reverse lookups work on Solaris without breaking existing IPv4 behavior.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- networking
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100