Android and IPv6 in Java

android, ipv6, java, sockets

Solution

Use this static method in Inet6Address to get a Inet6Address object for your address,

Inet6Address getByAddress (String host, byte[] addr, int scope_id)

then use, the following socket constructor to get a socket,

Socket(InetAddress dstAddress, int dstPort).

Problem

I am developing an Android application and I need to use IPv6 to connect to a server. IPv6 is enabled on the phone and I can see my local IPv6 address with `ip addr`. I can also successfully `ping6` my phone from the PC and viceversa. But hen I try to get local addresses on Android through the Java command `NetworkInterface.getNetworkInterfaces()` I only get IPv4 addresses. I also tryed to open a client socket but the line `Socket s = new Socket(MYSERVERIPV6ADDRESS, PORT);` always throws `java.net.SocketException: Invalid argument`. I am sure the address is correct because I tryed with the same code on my computer and works perfectly. It seems that IPv6 is supported by the operating system but not by the Java virtual machine. Is there a way to solve this problem?

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