> Hello,
>
> > Why not implement DHCP? It could be used more than one then ;-)
>
> Well, I don't think DHCP support in the kernel is a good idea,
> because
>
> (1) Linux machines are usually switched on during all the day,
> so assignment of dynamic IP addresses doesn't improve anything.
Right and wrong: If you want to reconfigure a running machine now you
have to login to the machine, maybe bring it down and reconfigure.
With perfect DHCP you could just change the address in your DHCP
servers and in your BIND, and then wait for a while.
Summary: DHCP is not only useful for dialup connections!
>
> (2) All DHCP options can be passed as BOOTP vendor extensions
> (RFC 1533). The only exceptions are the fixed-time leases discussed
> above.
>
> (3) Full DHCP support would require a daemon running all the time
> handling the re-allocation of dynamic IP addresses.
Maybe an ifconfig that can query DHCP servers would be nice. You
could still use cron to recheck the addresses validity from time to
time.
>
> (4) All DHCP servers should be able to handle BOOTP requests.
Huh!? Don't they? DHCP is a set of vendor extensions (RFC1533, I
guess) together with a new protocol specification; thus every DHCP
reply is also a BOOTP reply (if I don't have tomatoes on my eyes).
>
> If someone thinks DHCP _is_ useful for Linux, I'll try to
> implement it...
A separate server/client would be fine, although there is on for
SUNOS 4.1 that doesn't run on more recent OS's.
>
> Martin
Ulrich