Some updates on the issue:
The etc/hosts file contains the following lines:
# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost
As I understand it, those effectively mean that localhost is not
resolved via this hosts file but "within DNS itself", whatever that
exactly means.
Concerning the question whether ping works, the result is that "ping
localhost" works and that it uses the IPv6 (sic!) address. I also tried
"ping ::1" and "ping 127.0.0.1" and both work. Weird, as ipconfig
doesn't list any IPv6 addresses.
Concerning the question whether a firewall blocks and unnecessarily
delays connection attempts to ::1, I haven't determined that yet. I'll
ask our admins here to verify whether that is the case.
Lastly, I tried the same using Python 3.2.3/64bit (the other was
actually the 32-bit version), and the same issues are there. In summary,
I guess that it's a problem with the IP configuration not one in
Python's or my code.
Sorry for the noise...
Uli
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