Re: PATCH: boot-time DHCP

Hans de Goede (hans@highrise.nl)
Sun, 12 Dec 1999 13:20:05 +0100


Andi wrote:
>chip@valinux.com (Chip Salzenberg) writes:
>
>> I was surprised to find that the plug-and-play network configuration
>> supports BOOTP and RARP(?!) but not DHCP. So I added it myself.
>
>I think the reason is that the kernel bootp code is really obsolete.
>It will probably go the same way as kernel rarpd sometime in the future..
>
I think it is because bootp is a subset of dhcp, designed for boot time
configuration which is what we're doing. DHCP requires continued
negotiation.

>Doing it by a small user mode program in a initrd is much more sane.
>Near all modern distributions rely on initrd now anyways.
>
Please don't go that way, what about the following scenario:
diskless machine with bootrom, requests ip with bootp, gets kenrel image
with tftp boots kernelimage. Now where should the initrd come from, from
the server and how does it get to the server if it doesn't have an ip?
And replacing 100+ bootroms to add initrd knowledge is NOT an option.

I also know cases with a kernel image inside the bootrom.

So please don't remove bootp, rarp on the other hand is obsolote imho.

With diskless root-over-nfs setups which I happen to use a lott for
embedded systems and the like, having in kernel bootp for getting an ip
and finding the server for example is a must.

I don't understand why people would want dhcp however since every dhcp
server can server bootp too (yes even NT) as long as you use static ip's
which is preferable anyways.

Regards,

Hans

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