Re: ITP: laptop-netconf -- a network detection and configuration program
On Tue, Apr 17, 2001 at 07:58:44PM +1000, Hamish Moffatt wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 16, 2001 at 01:43:02PM -0400, Andrew Pimlott wrote:
> > 1. Debian should move towards using the ISC dhcp client by default.
> > It has much better features than pump. I assume there is some
> > reason we are not recommending it now?
>
> pump seems to be quite feature-poor. It bugs me to death on Red Hat.
> For example, I could not find a way to configure it to run a script
> whenever the lease is granted or renewed (needed to update a dynamic
> DNS service). I don't know why we use it when all the other alternatives
> are better. I use dhcp-client (dhclient) here.
(Lest anyone get confused, let me note that dhcp-client, dhclient,
and ICS dhcp client are all the same thing.)
There are so many ways that dhclient is better, it's hardly worth
comparing. But while we're at it, I'll add two more data points:
- The author of dhclient also wrote the standard ISC dhcp server,
wrote the definitive book on dhcp, and is extremely helpful and
responsive on the mailing list to boot.
- pump keeps no state between invocations, so it has to send a fresh
"discovery" query every time you start up. If the dhcp server
isn't smart (ISC dhcpd is--it tries to save a hostname's IP addres
even after the lease expires; Windows NT dhcpd isn't), it will
likely give you a new IP address. dhclient logs its leases, so
when it starts up, it sends a "request" for its old lease, which
typically causes the server to grant the same IP address.
Andrew
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