• Kea and deprecation of ISC DHCP

    From jayjwa@jayjwa@atr2.ath.cx.invalid to alt.os.linux.slackware on Mon Aug 17 11:33:08 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

    It looks like that old girl, ISC DHCP is being put to pasture. The
    Current Changelog:

    n/kea-3.2.0-x86_64-1.txz: Added.
    This is the modern DHCPv4/v6 server from ISC, which replaces the
    deprecated ISC dhcp. With ISC dhcp moved to /pasture, the included
    dhclient DHCP client is also gone. If you're still using it, it's
    time to switch to dhcpcd.

    pasture/dhcp-4.4.3_P1-x86_64-1.txz: Added.

    The issue is, I'm using dhclient and dhcpd for my internal LAN; my
    Linux box is the router. Now I'm trying to plan on how to proceed. Other network details:

    - ip4, ip6, and DECnet are also routed
    - IPX, Chaosnet also present
    - network is wired and wireless
    - most of the action is on a bridge, br0, (virtual switch I guess)
    - dhclient gets ip6 prefix delegation for the LAN
    - radvd sends it down the line
    - dhcpd does DHCP for ip4 for the LAN
    - SLAAC for ip6, for ip6-able hosts (see radvd point above)
    - dhcpcd getting global ip4 from ISP (that is, dhcpcd is already in use)
    - diverse network of game consoles, phones, Linux, Sun, and DEC systems

    Other software parts in use (these will factor into any choice below):
    - dhcpd/dhclient from ISC
    - radvd
    - hostapd for wireless AP
    - pydecnet
    - linux decnet
    - iptables (for NAT: -j MASQUERADE)
    - some custom scripts to bind this all together

    Now, with ISC dhcp going away, I will eventually have to select a
    different choice. Right now as I can see it, these choices are:

    1. Do nothing and hope ISC dhcp stays around in Slackware
    2. Wrangle Kea (I know almost nothing about it), moving off ISC dhcp
    3. Migrate to dnsmasq

    Moving to dnsmasq would have some added benefits, but would require
    completely reworking the network. I have zero experience with dnsmasq,
    but it looks like it would handle alot of the things I'd need. Migrating
    to Kea would involve trial and error, and an assumption that it will
    work as ISC dhcp does. I don't even know if it has a "dhclient" and
    "dhcpd" binary or work-alike.

    My question is: what are you that are using ISC dhcp doing about it now
    that it is put to pasture? Will you be using Kea? What do you suggest I
    do, considering all the moving parts I'm looking at? General Kea versus
    ISC dhcp and migration discussion, also.
    --
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  • From Marco Moock@mm@dorfdsl.de to alt.os.linux.slackware on Mon Aug 17 17:48:17 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

    Am 17.08.26 um 17:33 schrieb jayjwa:
    It looks like that old girl, ISC DHCP is being put to pasture. The
    Current Changelog:

    n/kea-3.2.0-x86_64-1.txz: Added.
    This is the modern DHCPv4/v6 server from ISC, which replaces the
    deprecated ISC dhcp. With ISC dhcp moved to /pasture, the included
    dhclient DHCP client is also gone. If you're still using it, it's
    time to switch to dhcpcd.

    pasture/dhcp-4.4.3_P1-x86_64-1.txz: Added.

    The issue is, I'm using dhclient and dhcpd for my internal LAN; my
    Linux box is the router. Now I'm trying to plan on how to proceed. Other network details:

    - ip4, ip6, and DECnet are also routed
    - IPX, Chaosnet also present
    - network is wired and wireless
    - most of the action is on a bridge, br0, (virtual switch I guess)
    - dhclient gets ip6 prefix delegation for the LAN
    - radvd sends it down the line
    - dhcpd does DHCP for ip4 for the LAN
    - SLAAC for ip6, for ip6-able hosts (see radvd point above)
    - dhcpcd getting global ip4 from ISP (that is, dhcpcd is already in use)
    - diverse network of game consoles, phones, Linux, Sun, and DEC systems

    Other software parts in use (these will factor into any choice below):
    - dhcpd/dhclient from ISC
    - radvd
    - hostapd for wireless AP
    - pydecnet
    - linux decnet
    - iptables (for NAT: -j MASQUERADE)
    - some custom scripts to bind this all together

    Now, with ISC dhcp going away, I will eventually have to select a
    different choice. Right now as I can see it, these choices are:

    1. Do nothing and hope ISC dhcp stays around in Slackware

    I don't think it will stay the next years. It has been out of support by
    ISC for some years and doesn't receive any bugfixes anymore

    2. Wrangle Kea (I know almost nothing about it), moving off ISC dhcp

    Is there any issue with that?
    How did you handle the DHCPv6-PD in dhcpd?

    Is there maybe a solution with NetworkManager for that?
    --
    Gru|f
    Marco

    Junk-Mail bitte an trashcan@stinkedores.dorfdsl.de
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  • From Henrik Carlqvist@Henrik.Carlqvist@deadspam.com to alt.os.linux.slackware on Mon Aug 17 16:38:33 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

    On Mon, 17 Aug 2026 11:33:08 -0400, jayjwa wrote:
    My question is: what are you that are using ISC dhcp doing about it now
    that it is put to pasture? Will you be using Kea?

    Right now, this is no problem for me. All my machines configured as dhcp servers are running Slackware stable.

    Once next stable version of Slackware is released I will evaluate the usefulness of Kea and if it somehow does not suit my needs I will
    probably resort to the dhcp package from pasture.

    What do you suggest I do, considering all the moving parts I'm looking
    at? General Kea versus ISC dhcp and migration discussion, also.

    For anything mission critical, I would suggest stable Slackware 15.0
    rather than current right now. Slackware current is a test bed for the
    next stable version of Slackware. It might get package updates with new
    non backwards compatible versions breaking existing configuration files.
    It might simply get some bugs which breaks functionality. It seems as if Slackware current still is far from getting into any "feature freeze",
    "beta" ore "release candidate" status. Instead you should expect updates causing bugs or breaking existing configurations.

    regards Henrik

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  • From Sylvain Robitaille@syl@therockgarden.ca to alt.os.linux.slackware on Mon Aug 17 18:45:23 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

    On 2026-08-17, jayjwa wrote:

    My question is: what are you that are using ISC dhcp doing about
    it now that it is put to pasture? Will you be using Kea?

    I fully expect that I will move to Kea sooner than later. In fact,
    I *expected* to already have moved to it by now, but haven't worked
    on that at all. My DHCP server runs on a Slackware-15.0 system,
    so some local compilation will be necessary (unless next stable is
    released and installed here before I get to working on that).

    I wrote to Patrick back in February, and proposed a patch and
    SlackBuild script that got the then-latest Kea compiling cleanly on
    my own Slackware-current system. I had not (and *still* have not)
    tested to confirm that the same would build cleanly on Slackware-15.0,
    but feel free to examine https://github.com/syl-robitaille/Slackware-Kea
    if you're even mildly curious.

    Examining the build script for the new package in Slackware-current,
    I'm inclined to believe that Patrick was likely already aware of the
    need for Kea when I wrote to him, and was likely also already working
    on getting it into -current, and ultimately waited until all that
    was needed was already in place to get it compiling cleanly *without*
    patching. I won't be needing my patch after all, unless I still need
    it (or an updated version of it) to build this on Slackware-15.0.
    --
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Sylvain Robitaille syl@therockgarden.ca ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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  • From jayjwa@jayjwa@atr2.ath.cx.invalid to alt.os.linux.slackware on Wed Aug 19 10:59:04 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

    Marco Moock <mm@dorfdsl.de> writes:

    2. Wrangle Kea (I know almost nothing about it), moving off ISC dhcp

    Is there any issue with that?
    How did you handle the DHCPv6-PD in dhcpd?

    I used radvd for ipv6 and stateless autoconf. For right now, I think I
    might stand with what I have until that machine is replaced. In the
    meanwhile, I'll look into dnsmasq because it can combine a number of
    features I'm currently getting from other tools. Should I feel
    adventurous, I can start testing how dnsmasq will behave while
    constructing its config file.

    Kea is absolutely massive. Consider just the lines in the package files
    versus ISC dhcp:

    wc -l /var/log/packages/kea-3.2.0-x86_64-1
    1006 /var/log/packages/kea-3.2.0-x86_64-1

    wc -l /var/log/packages/dhcp-4.4.3_P1-x86_64-1
    66 /var/log/packages/dhcp-4.4.3_P1-x86_64-1

    Is there maybe a solution with NetworkManager for that?

    Possibly, but since I don't currently use it that's a bigger time
    investment.
    --
    PGP Key ID: 781C A3E2 C6ED 70A6 B356 7AF5 B510 542E D460 5CAE
    "The Internet should always be the Wild West!"
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  • From Marco Moock@mm@dorfdsl.de to alt.os.linux.slackware on Wed Aug 19 17:19:37 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

    Am 19.08.26 um 16:59 schrieb jayjwa:
    I used radvd for ipv6 and stateless autoconf.

    How do you handle the changing prefix from your ISP?
    --
    Gru|f
    Marco

    Spam bitte an abfalleimer2001@stinkedores.dorfdsl.de
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  • From Eric Pozharski@apple.universe@posteo.net to alt.os.linux.slackware on Wed Aug 19 13:17:42 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

    with <87ecfwdaob.fsf@atr2.ath.cx> jayjwa wrote:

    *SKIP* [ 39 lines 1 level deep]
    Migrating to Kea would involve trial and error, and an assumption that
    it will work as ISC dhcp does. I don't even know if it has a
    "dhclient" and "dhcpd" binary or work-alike.

    My reading of wikipedia page is: no, it doesn't; almost like it's the
    whole point. At least that's how it was a half-year ago.

    *CUT* [ 4 lines 1 level deep]
    --
    Torvalds' goal for Linux is very simple: World Domination
    Stallman's goal for GNU is even simpler: Freedom
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