I hadn't intended to post any further replies, but given the source and the message here, felt this warranted it:
Compared to the substantial training (just getting NOC monkeys to understand hexidecimal can be a challenge), back office system changes, deployment dependencies, etc. to use ipv6, the effort involved in patching systems to use 240/4 is lost in the noise. Saying "deploying a large network with 240/4 is a problem of the same scale as migrating to ipv6" is like saying that trimming a hangnail is like having a leg amputated; both are painful but one is orders of magnitude more so than the other.
So is this a statement that Cisco is volunteering to provide free binary patches for its entire product line? Including the really old stuff that happens to be floating around out there and still in use? Because if it's not, your first stop should be to get your own shop in order and on board, because for a major router vendor to not make free binary patches available for its entire product line certainly does represent a huge roadblock with adoption of IPv4-240+. The day you guys release a set of free binary patches for all your previous products, including stuff like the old Compatible Systems line, old Cisco gear like the 2500, and old Linksys products, then I'll be happy to concede that I could be wrong and that vendors might actually make it possible for IPv4-240+ to be usable. Until then, this doesn't carry much credibility, and continuing this thread is a waste of time. Nobody cares if you're able to patch a current Linux system so that you can make one measly node on the Internet work with IPv4-240+. It's getting the rest of them to be patched - including all the hosts and networking gear - that's the problem. If you just want to discuss your clever Linux patches, the Linux mailing lists are >>> thataway. ... JG -- Joe Greco - sol.net Network Services - Milwaukee, WI - http://www.sol.net "We call it the 'one bite at the apple' rule. Give me one chance [and] then I won't contact you again." - Direct Marketing Ass'n position on e-mail spam(CNN) With 24 million small businesses in the US alone, that's way too many apples.