[Bug 3553] Retain lease information for udhcpc across restarts

[bugzilla at busybox.net]

https://bugs.busybox.net/show_bug.cgi?id=3553

--- Comment #5 from Philip Prindeville <philipp at redfish-solutions.com>  ---
(In reply to comment #4)

> I see the difference, but I don't see how is it materially different in
> practice.
> 
> With "udhcpc -r IP" invocation, where IP is the IP is the last IP we were
> using, client will ask server to give it the previous address. Server should be
> ready for such common use case anyway, because this happens all the time when
> clients are rebooted. So it should give us this address.
> 
> Do you work with server which doesn't?

I haven't tried with the servers that I currently have access to, but I know
that I've worked with seriously (and deliberately) damaged servers in the
past, including one that would not allow you to renew your lease...
the reasons being that (1) if you had a stable IP address, it was easier to
run a file-sharing P2P service like bit-torrent, and (2) it made 3rd party
VoIP services competitive with this major US cable operator's own VoIP
service... so constantly swapping out people IP addresses every few hours
was an effective way to cripple all competitors' VoIP services.

My point is that you shouldn't count on an ISP's service conforming to the
spec or even refraining from certain malicious, disruptive practices.

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