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      1 # dhcpcd
      2 
      3 dhcpcd is a
      4 [DHCP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol) and a
      5 [DHCPv6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DHCPv6) client.
      6 It's also an IPv4LL (aka [ZeroConf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeroconf))
      7 client.
      8 In layperson's terms, dhcpcd runs on your machine and silently configures your
      9 computer to work on the attached networks without trouble and mostly without
     10 configuration.
     11 
     12 If you're a desktop user then you may also be interested in
     13 [Network Configurator (dhcpcd-ui)](http://roy.marples.name/projects/dhcpcd-ui)
     14 which sits in the notification area and monitors the state of the network via
     15 dhcpcd.
     16 It also has a nice configuration dialog and the ability to enter a pass phrase
     17 for wireless networks.
     18 
     19 dhcpcd may not be the only daemon running that wants to configure DNS on the
     20 host, so it uses [openresolv](http://roy.marples.name/projects/openresolv)
     21 to ensure they can co-exist.
     22 
     23 See [BUILDING.md](BUILDING.md) for how to build dhcpcd.
     24 
     25 ## Configuration
     26 
     27 You should read the dhcpcd.conf man page
     28 and put your options into `/etc/dhcpcd.conf`.
     29 The default configuration file should work for most people just fine.
     30 Here it is, in case you lose it.
     31 
     32 ```
     33 # A sample configuration for dhcpcd.
     34 # See dhcpcd.conf(5) for details.
     35 
     36 # Allow users of this group to interact with dhcpcd via the control socket.
     37 #controlgroup wheel
     38 
     39 # Inform the DHCP server of our hostname for DDNS.
     40 hostname
     41 
     42 # Use the hardware address of the interface for the Client ID.
     43 #clientid
     44 # or
     45 # Use the same DUID + IAID as set in DHCPv6 for DHCPv4 ClientID as per RFC4361.
     46 # Some non-RFC compliant DHCP servers do not reply with this set.
     47 # In this case, comment out duid and enable clientid above.
     48 duid
     49 
     50 # Persist interface configuration when dhcpcd exits.
     51 persistent
     52 
     53 # Rapid commit support.
     54 # Safe to enable by default because it requires the equivalent option set
     55 # on the server to actually work.
     56 option rapid_commit
     57 
     58 # A list of options to request from the DHCP server.
     59 option domain_name_servers, domain_name, domain_search, host_name
     60 option classless_static_routes
     61 # Respect the network MTU. This is applied to DHCP routes.
     62 option interface_mtu
     63 
     64 # Most distributions have NTP support.
     65 #option ntp_servers
     66 
     67 # A ServerID is required by RFC2131.
     68 require dhcp_server_identifier
     69 
     70 # Generate SLAAC address using the Hardware Address of the interface
     71 #slaac hwaddr
     72 # OR generate Stable Private IPv6 Addresses based from the DUID
     73 slaac private
     74 ```
     75 
     76 The dhcpcd man page has a lot of the same options and more,
     77 which only apply to calling dhcpcd from the command line.
     78 
     79 
     80 ## Compatibility
     81 dhcpcd-5 is only fully command line compatible with dhcpcd-4. 
     82 For compatibility with older versions, use dhcpcd-4.
     83 
     84 ## Upgrading
     85 dhcpcd-7 defaults the database directory to `/var/db/dhcpcd` instead of
     86 `/var/db` and now stores dhcpcd.duid and dhcpcd.secret in there instead of
     87 in /etc.
     88 
     89 dhcpcd-9 defaults the run directory to `/var/run/dhcpcd` instead of
     90 `/var/run` and the prefix of dhcpcd has been removed from the files therein.
     91 
     92 ## ChangeLog
     93 We no longer supply a ChangeLog.
     94 However, you're more than welcome to read the
     95 [commit log](https://github.com/NetworkConfiguration/dhcpcd/commits) and
     96 [release announcements](https://github.com/NetworkConfiguration/dhcpcd/releases).
     97