dhcpleased(8)

dhcpleased8

Dynamic host configuration protocol (dhcp) client

Usage

dhcpleased [-dnv] [-f file] [-s socket]

Overview

dhcpleased is a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) daemon for clients. If an interface has the AUTOCONF4 flag set (auto configuration is enabled), dhcpleased sends requests for IP configuration information from a DHCP server, such as dhcpd(8), and uses that information to configure the relevant interface.

See hostname.if(5) and ifconfig(8) on how to enable auto configuration on an interface.

dhcpleased monitors network interface states (interface going up or down, auto configuration enabled or disabled, etc.) and sends requests when necessary. A running dhcpleased can be controlled with the dhcpleasectl(8) utility.

The options are as follows:

-d

Do not daemonize. If this option is specified, dhcpleased will run in the foreground and log to stderr.

-f file

Specify an alternative configuration file.

-n

Configtest mode. Only check the configuration file for validity.

-s socket

Use an alternate location for the default control socket.

-v

Produce more verbose output. Multiple -v options increase the verbosity.

Files

/dev/dhcpleased.sock

UNIX-domain socket used for communication with dhcpleasectl(8).

/etc/dhcpleased.conf

Default dhcpleased configuration file.

/var/db/dhcpleased/⟨if⟩

Interface specific lease files.

Releases

13 releases since OpenBSD 6.9; the text changed 4 times.

  1. 6.9
  2. 7.0–7.1
  3. 7.2
  4. 7.3–7.5
  5. 7.6–8.0

-f since OpenBSD 7.0; -n since OpenBSD 7.0.

Standards

R. Droms, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, RFC 2131, March 1997.

S. Alexander and R. Droms, DHCP Options and BOOTP Vendor Extensions, RFC 2132, March 1997.

History

The dhcpleased program first appeared in OpenBSD 6.9.

Authors

The dhcpleased program was written by Florian Obser ⟨[email protected]⟩.

From man 8.0-current-20261101 in OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01). Parsed by carta from the page's mdoc source.