Arch Linux

Description:

For the longest time, the default ArchLinux networking setup had one
deficiency: it would not send the machine hostname to the DHCP server
/ router when acquiring a DHCP lease. As a result, I was never able
to ping/ssh my ArchLinux system by its hostname from other machines in
my home network --- instead, I was always forced to type out my
ArchLinux system's IP address in full.

I looked high and low across the 'net before I finally found the
answer in the dhcpcd.conf man page: the solution was to add the
following line to my /etc/dhcpcd.conf file:

hostname

I request the developers in charge of the default ArchLinux networking
setup to make the above change, so that ArchLinux systems send their
hostnames to the DHCP server (and therefore can be
pinged/ssh'ed/accessed by their hostname) out of the box!

Thanks for your consideration.


P.S.
The following line in the default /etc/dhcpd.conf file confused me:

# dhcpcd-run-hooks uses these options.
option domain_name_servers, domain_name, domain_search, host_name

The "option host_name" part *seems* like it would send your
machine's hostname to the DHCP server, but it really doesn't.
Maybe that's a bug?



Additional info:

I am using this version of dhcpcd:

core/dhcpcd 5.1.3-1 [installed] (base)
RFC2131 compliant DHCP client daemon

And the default version of /etc/rc.d/network on a wired
(eth0) connection to my router. Here is the relevant
portion of my /etc/rc.conf file:

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# NETWORKING
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# HOSTNAME: Hostname of machine. Should also be put in /etc/hosts
#
HOSTNAME="yantram"

# Use 'ifconfig -a' or 'ls /sys/class/net/' to see all available interfaces.
#
# Interfaces to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each interface then list in INTERFACES
# - prefix an entry in INTERFACES with a ! to disable it
# - no hyphens in your interface names - Bash doesn't like it
#
# DHCP: Set your interface to "dhcp" (eth0="dhcp")
# Wireless: See network profiles below
#
#eth0="eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255"
eth0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(eth0)

# Routes to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each route then list in ROUTES
# - prefix an entry in ROUTES with a ! to disable it
#
gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)

# Enable these network profiles at boot-up. These are only useful
# if you happen to need multiple network configurations (ie, laptop users)
# - set to 'menu' to present a menu during boot-up (dialog package required)
# - prefix an entry with a ! to disable it
#
# Network profiles are found in /etc/network.d
#
# This now requires the netcfg package
#
#NETWORKS=(main)



Steps to reproduce:

1. Run `/etc/rc.d/network start` on your ArchLinux machine
2. Go to a different machine on your network
3. Try to ping your ArchLinux machine by its hostname (will not work)
4. Try to ping your ArchLinux machine by its IP address (will work)