Hi all,

I was trying to find out how to run a script when the IP got changed by DHCP 
(found how to do this, will probably write a wiki page on this) and, during 
my reasearch, a few questions unrelated to the initial problem came up:

1. dhcpcd option -t

-- Quote from "man dhcpcd" --
-t <timeout>
    Specifies (in seconds ) for how long dhcpcd will try to get an IP address. 
The default is 60 seconds. dhcpcd will not fork into background until it gets 
a valid IP address in which case dhcpcd will return 0 to the parent process. 
In a case dhcpcd times out before receiving a valid IP address from DHCP 
server dhcpcd will return exit code 1 to the parent process.
-- end quote --

-- Quote from /etc/conf.d/dhcpcd --
DHCPCD_ARGS="-t 30 -h $HOSTNAME"
-- end quote --

Now, let's assume that my LAN DHCP server is down (powered down) and I start 
my computer. dhcpcd will try to get the IP for 30 seconds and.. if it can't 
get it... hmmm... just "die"?  That's not what a normal user would want, 
right? I mean, I'd like it to keep trying the IP *in background* for an 
unlimited time, until I stop it.


2. While trying to find a more accurate documentation on the above switch, 
I've noticed that there a new generation of dhcpcd, namely dhcpcd-3*. Arch is 
still using dhcpcd-1. The "dhcpcd" package is marked out of date (I've just 
noticed this, I don't know for how long).
* http://roy.marples.name/node/289

My question is: why is ArchLinux still using dhcpcd-1? I know that "if it 
isn't broken, why fix it?" but...

I found that dhcpcd-3 mentions in the man page:
-- Quote --
-t timeout
Specifies (in seconds ) for how long dhcpcd will try to get an IP address. The 
default is 20 seconds. dhcpcd will not fork into background until it gets a 
valid IP address in which case dhcpcd will return 0 to the parent process.  
In a case dhcpcd times out  before  receiving  a  valid  IP address  from 
DHCP server dhcpcd will return exit code 1 to the parent process. Setting the 
timeout to zero disables it: dhcp will keep trying forever to get a lease, 
and if the lease is  lost, it will try forever to get another.
-- end quote --

which definitely solves my first problem.

Also, dhcpcd-3 seems to store the info on the leases in /var by default (which 
seems right), not /etc like dhcpcd-1 (I take this as a design improvement).


Thanks for your patience in reading this mail :)
Any feedback on the above 2 issues is welcomed.


Mircea
/IceRAM

-- 
http://mircea.bardac.net

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