udhcpc doesn't set hostname in discover packet

[Tom Metro]

When invoking udhcpc (0.9.8cvs20050303-2 on Ubuntu 8.04) via /etc/network/interfaces, it appears as if it does not send the host name in the discover packet, as occurs with dhcp3-client and dhcpcd.

I haven't confirmed this with a packet sniffer, but my DHCP server behaved as if this was the case (it assigned a dynamic IP address rather than matching a rule to assign a static address based on the supplied host name). Modifying /etc/network/interfaces to include a hostname argument appeared to resolve the problem.

(I ran across this while developing a work around for Bug #351378.)

[MatthiasH (m-launchpad-heidbrink)]

I had the same problem, I believe: udhcpc did not set the host name in the DHCP server.

When examining the problem, I learned that this is a configuration issue:
Adding the option "hostname $(hostname)" to the configuration of the respective interface in /etc/network/interfaces and reinitializing the interface (ifdown/ifup) solved the problem.

The "hostname" entry is explained in the man page for interfaces, the "$(hostname)" was just a guess (it's not explained in that man page) and worked.

However, I'd prefer this to be enabled by default as long as this can't cause other problems.

[Tom Metro (tmetro+ubuntu)]

MatthiasH wrote:
> ...I learned that this is a configuration issue:
> Adding the option "hostname $(hostname)" to the configuration...

Right, it seems I noted that in my original report:
"Modifying /etc/network/interfaces to include a hostname argument
appeared to resolve the problem."

I believe the bug I was pointing out is that the behavior is
inconsistent with the other two DHCP client packages.

[MatthiasH (m-launchpad-heidbrink)]

Hi Tom,

just didn't fully get what you meaned when I wrote this comment yesterday night.
At least the next guy to google for that problem will be able find a more complete workaround now.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.