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acogia

Member

Registered: 2026-09-09

Posts: 6  

dhclient missing from Excalibur

I have scripts that rely on dhclient, but its missing from the repos for Excalibur.

Synaptic finds isc-dhcp-client and informs me...

DHCP client for automatically obtaining an IP address (deprecated)
 
This is the Internet Software Consortium's DHCP client.
.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a protocol like BOOTP
(actually dhcpd includes much of the functionality of bootpd). It
gives client machines "leases" for IP addresses and can
automatically set their network configuration. If your machine
depends on DHCP (especially likely if it's a workstation on a large
network, or a laptop, or attached to a cable modem), keep this or
another DHCP client installed.

Extra documentation can be found in the package isc-dhcp-common.

ISC has decided to stop maintaining the client and relay parts of isc-dhcp,
and they will be removed after the 4.4.3 release, keeping only the server
component. Please, consider using an alternative for isc-dhcp-client
(dhclient).

More information can be found in the ISC official announcement:
https://www.isc.org/blogs/dhcp-client-relay-eom/

ISC has deprecated the DHCP project. See:
https://www.isc.org/blogs/isc-dhcp-eol/.

...so, is dhclient the upgrade, or just another name for isc-dhcp-client?

A: If dhclient is the alternative mentioned, can we have it back please?
...or,
B: Is there a similar alternative I should be looking at in the repos?

NOTE: My bare-bones OS does not have nmcli/tui/gui as it's deps include unwanted gtk stuff.

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All sigs are tedious after one read, including this one.

mknoop

Member

Registered: 2017-05-18

Posts: 76  

Re: dhclient missing from Excalibur

My Excalibur has dhcpcd-base installed and it works fine.

ralph.ronnquist

Administrator

From: Battery Point, Tasmania, AUS

Registered: 2016-11-30

Posts: 1,744  

Re: dhclient missing from Excalibur

There's also udhcpc if you want to go bare-bones.

acogia

Member

Registered: 2026-09-09

Posts: 6  

Re: dhclient missing from Excalibur

Hi mknoop. I can't find dhcpcd-base in Excalibur's Synaptic listings, only x5 isc-dhcp-somethings, all with 'ISC has deprecated the DHCP project. '. These are not the ones you are refering to?

Hi ralph.ronnquist. udhcpc looks like an interesting client. Ta.

I'm also open to alternative ideas to getting a lease/connection to my mobile phone for tethering without using network-manager.

Or, how to install networkmanager (nmcli & nmtui) without those pesky GTK dependencies that should surely be just recommendations?

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All sigs are tedious after one read, including this one.

fsmithred

Administrator

Registered: 2016-11-25

Posts: 2,984  

Re: dhclient missing from Excalibur

apt install network-manager

" This package provides the userspace daemons and a command line interface to
interact with NetworkManager."

Do not install network-manager-gnome or network-manager-applet.

$ apt-file list network-manager | grep bin
network-manager: /usr/bin/nm-online
network-manager: /usr/bin/nmcli
network-manager: /usr/bin/nmtui
network-manager: /usr/bin/nmtui-connect
network-manager: /usr/bin/nmtui-edit
network-manager: /usr/bin/nmtui-hostname
network-manager: /usr/sbin/NetworkManager

mknoop

Member

Registered: 2017-05-18

Posts: 76  

Re: dhclient missing from Excalibur

Hi acogia,
I don't understand why dhcpcd-base is missing from your synaptic listing.  It is a deb13 package and so should be included.  Are you running an amd64 system?