gping fails on IPv6: tries non-existent ping6 instead of ping -6
Author: sedlundCreated Feb 1, 2026Updated Jun 17, 2026
Describe the bug
gping fails to ping IPv6 addresses on systems using modern iputils, because it tries to execute a separate ping6 binary which no longer exists.
This results in:
Error: Error spawning ping: No such file or directory (os error 2)Even when a capable dual-stack ping from iputils is in $PATH (successfully probed via ping -V), gping does not fall back to using ping -6.
To Reproduce
gping 2620:fe::fe
# or
gping -6 2620:fe::feStrace shows:
- Successful
ping -Vprobe (detects iputils) - Then attempts
.../bin/ping6→ ENOENT - Searches other locations for
ping6→ all fail - Exits with os error 2
Expected behavior
gping should use ping -6 for IPv6 targets when a modern dual-stack ping (iputils) is available, or fall back to it if ping6 is not found.
Additional context
- iputils removed the separate
ping6binary in 2015 (version s20150815):
https://github.com/iputils/iputils/pull/31
Quote: "As of version s20150815, the ping6 binary doesn't exist anymore." gpingalready requires iputils (rejects inetutils/BusyBox)- Some recent PRs (e.g. #546) moves toward
ping -6, which would fix this.
Suggested fix
Update the pinger logic to:
- Try
ping6if it exists (legacy support) - Otherwise use
ping -6when iputils is detected
Thanks for the great tool! This small change would make IPv6 work out-of-the-box on current Linux systems with iputils.
Source: orf/gping