Subject: Re: wireless / dhcp
To: None <current-users@netbsd.org>
From: Robert Elz <kre@munnari.OZ.AU>
List: current-users
Date: 02/14/2000 11:58:39
    Date:        11 Feb 2000 14:33:41 -0800
    From:        Wolfgang Rupprecht <wolfgang@wsrcc.com>
    Message-ID:  <x7k8kbjrne.fsf@capsicum.wsrcc.com>

  | (BTW dhclient with no args will attempt to config all the
  | gif's faiths etc and get horribly confused.  That was a non-starter.)

The last time this came up I wondered (but was so out of date reading
mail I didn't bother sending) whether perhaps an interface flag could be
invented to mean "do dhcp".

Then, for interfaces you want to do dhcp on, in the ifconfig.xxN file
would be just (something like)
	dhcp
(and maybe a media arg as well, though that is normally set in the 
dhclient.conf)

Then, after having configured the interfaces, dhcpclient would run with
no specific interfaces specified, it would scan the interface list just
like it does now, and simply ignore all the interfaces that don't have the
dhcp flag set (just like it currently ignores "lo0" and a few other magic
names, which is clearly not a scalable solution).

For interfaces that come and go, the pcmcia insert/remove scripts (which
I don't think yet exist on NetBSD, but will some day I'm sure) can just
set/reset the dhcp flag in the interface, and dhclient can start or stop
managing the address (or attempting to) - assuming it can receive
notification of the change in the interface list, which ought be possible,
several commands need that kind of thing, and "scan every 20 seconds" isn't
the right way.

kre