[Dnsmasq-discuss] Please consider clarifying the man page about the tftp service

Geert Stappers stappers at stappers.nl
Fri Jan 24 22:54:50 GMT 2020


On Fri, Jan 24, 2020 at 10:49:21PM +0100, Olivier Cailloux wrote:
> 
> I have been happy to use dnsmasq
> to install debian through network boot.
     <snip/> 
} before I finally found a correct one for my use case:
>   sudo /usr/sbin/dnsmasq --port=0 --dhcp-range=192.168.1.0,proxy \
>          --dhcp-boot=pxelinux.0 --enable-tftp --log-dhcp \
>          --tftp-root=/home/olivier/netboot \
>         "--pxe-service=x86PC,Install Linux,pxelinux"
> 
> (All this took a while because I did not even know the TFTP service was
> not activated with my first tries, so I thought the problem lied
> somewhere else.)
> 
> The man page says: “If dnsmasq is providing a TFTP service (see --enable-tftp )
> then only the filename is required here to enable network booting.”

That line in context
| -M, --dhcp-boot=[tag:<tag>,]<filename>,[<servername>[,<server address>|<tftp_servername>]]
|    (IPv4 only) Set BOOTP options to be returned by the DHCP server.
|    Server name and address are optional: if not provided, the name is
|    left empty, and the address set to the address of the machine
|    running dnsmasq. If dnsmasq is providing a TFTP service (see
|    --enable-tftp ) then only the filename is required here to enable
|    network booting. If the optional tag(s) are given, they must match
|    for this configuration to be sent.

> and also reading about the pxe-service option, I thought that
> it was unnecessary and was there just to allow for customizing the
> string that would display at start (which I thought I do not need).
> 
> Please consider clarifying the man page concerning the relevant options
> to state which option is required exactly; and especially, please
> consider making dnsmasq tell something in the log file, or (better
> IMHO) refuse to start when the options it receives are incoherent. With
> the current behavior, it is very hard, when it’s the first time you do
> it, to even know that dnsmasq is not configured properly.


FWIW:  I do understand the point of view of Original Poster.


Regards
Geert Stappers
-- 
Double edge blades are indeed double edge blades.



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