Beyond Linux® From Scratch - Version 7.4

Chapter 14. Connecting to a Network

dhcpcd-6.0.5

Introduction to dhcpcd

dhcpcd is an implementation of the DHCP client specified in RFC2131. A DHCP client is useful for connecting your computer to a network which uses DHCP to assign network addresses. dhcpcd strives to be a fully featured, yet very lightweight DHCP client.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-7.4 platform.

Package Information

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/dhcpcd

Installation of dhcpcd

Install dhcpcd by running the following commands: 

./configure --libexecdir=/lib/dhcpcd \
            --dbdir=/run             \
            --sysconfdir=/etc &&
make

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user: 

make install

By default, a plain text lease info file isn't created but the dhcpcd provides a hook which can be used for creating such a file. Install the hook by running the following commands as the root user: 

sed -i "s;/var/lib;/run;g" dhcpcd-hooks/50-dhcpcd-compat &&
install -v -m 644 dhcpcd-hooks/50-dhcpcd-compat /lib/dhcpcd/dhcpcd-hooks/

Configuring dhcpcd

Config Files

/etc/dhcpcd.conf

Configuration Information

To configure dhcpcd, you need to first install the network service script, /lib/services/dhcpcd included in the blfs-bootscripts-20130908 package (as user root): 

make install-service-dhcpcd

Whenever dhcpcd configures or shuts down a network interface, it executes hook scripts. For more details about those scripts, see the dhcpcd-run-hooks and dhcpcd man pages.

Finally, as the root user create the /etc/sysconfig/ifconfig.eth0 configuration file using the following commands. Adjust appropriately for additional interfaces: 

cat > /etc/sysconfig/ifconfig.eth0 << "EOF"
ONBOOT="yes"
IFACE="eth0"
SERVICE="dhcpcd"
DHCP_START="-b -q <insert appropriate start options here>"
DHCP_STOP="-k <insert additional stop options here>"
EOF

For more information on the appropriate DHCP_START and DHCP_STOP values, examine the man page for dhcpcd.

[Note]

Note

The default behavior of dhcpcd sets the hostname and mtu settings. It also overwrites /etc/resolv.conf and /etc/ntp.conf. These modifications to system files and settings on system configuration files are done by hooks which are stored in /lib/dhcpcd/dhcpcd-hooks. Setup dhcpcd by removing or adding hooks from/to that directory. The execution of hooks can be disabled by using the --nohook (-C) command line option or by the nohook option in the /etc/dhcpcd.conf file.

Review the dhcpcd man page for switches to add to the DHCP_START value.

Contents

Installed Program: dhcpcd
Installed Libraries: none
Installed Directory: /lib/dhcpcd

Short Descriptions

dhcpcd

is an implementation of the DHCP client specified in RFC2131.

Last updated on 2013-09-06 10:46:32 -0700