On Wed, Jun 17, 2026 at 06:52:37PM +0530, Anshu Kumari wrote:
> Introduce the --dhcp-opt flag that allows setting arbitrary DHCP
> options from command-line in the form [--dhcp-opt CODE,VALUE].
> 
> Add a type lookup table mapping option codes to RFC 2132 value types
> (IPv4, IPv4 list, integer, string) and dhcp_opt_parse() to convert
> CLI strings to binary wire format.  Parsed options are stored in
> struct ctx and injected into DHCP replies.  If the same option code
> is given more than once, the last value wins.
> 
> Link: https://bugs.passt.top/show_bug.cgi?id=192
> Signed-off-by: Anshu Kumari <anskuma@redhat.com>
> ---
> v4:
>   - Renamed custom_opts to dhcp_opts, 256 entries indexed by option
>     code, removed MAX_CUSTOM_DHCP_OPTS and count field.
>   - Changed str buffer from 256 to 255 bytes.
>   - Moved function to conf.c as static conf_dhcp_option(), renamed
>     from dhcp_add_option().
>   - Made dhcp_opt_parse() non-static, declared in dhcp.h
>   - Dropped val/len from ctx struct; conf_dhcp_option() validates
>     with temp buffer, dhcp() parses str directly into opts[] at
>     reply time.

Hmm.  So each option is parsed twice.  What prevents you from parsing
directly into the opts[] array at conf() time?

>   - Replaced strtok_r() + 256-byte buffer with strcspn() +
>     INET_ADDRSTRLEN buffer.
>   - Added DHCP_OPT_SINT32 for option 2 (Time Offset), uses strtol()
>     per RFC 2132 Section 8.2.
>   - All errors in dhcp_opt_parse() return -1, removed die() calls;
>     caller handles error message consistently.
>   - Removed redundant !slen check in DHCP_OPT_STR case.
>   - Omitted explicit array size for dhcp_opt_types[], arraydded bounds
>     check before lookup.
>   - Added errno = 0 + errno check for strtoul() in case 34.
>   - Fixed usage text: "Set DHCP option CODE to VAL".
>   - Improved man page: added format description and examples
> 
> v3:
>   - Replaced DHCP_OPT_INTEGER with separate DHCP_OPT_INT8/INT16/INT32
>     enums, removed dhcp_opt_int_width[] array.
>   - Shared logic between DHCP_OPT_IPV4 and DHCP_OPT_IPV4_LIST — parse
>     both as list, error if >1 in single case.
>   - Added errno = 0 before strtoul() and check after.
>   - Fixed range check: 1ULL << (width * 8) for all widths including
>     width==4.
>   - strncpy → memcpy for DHCP_OPT_STR.
>   - Moved enum to dhcp.c since not used in other files.
>   - Removed options 55, 61 (client-only), 119 (DNS compression, use
>     --dhcp-search instead), 33 (IP pairs not supported).
>   - DHCP_OPT_PARSE_BUF 1024 → char tmp[256].
>   - Upgraded dhcp_add_option() to call dhcp_opt_parse() and populate
>     val[]/len.
>   - Aligned array entries for readability.
>   - Added tab after @DHCP_OPT_IPV4_LIST: in kerneldoc.
>   - Reject empty value strings before parsing
>   - Reject leading/trailing/consecutive commas in IP list values.
> 
> v2:
>   - Replaced struct lookup table + dhcp_opt_type_lookup() function with flat dhcp_opt_types[256] array indexed by code.
>   - Consolidated DHCP_OPT_UINT8/UINT16/UINT32 into single DHCP_OPT_INTEGER with dhcp_opt_int_width[256] table.
>   - Dropped DHCP_OPT_ROUTES / option 121 entirely.
>   - Added kerneldoc for enum dhcp_opt_type values.
>   - Removed curly braces from switch cases, declarations before switch.
>   - Added newlines before return statements.
>   - Changed IP list delimiter from space to comma (--dhcp-opt 6,1.1.1.1,8.8.8.8).
>   - Defined DHCP_OPT_PARSE_BUF constant for bare 1024.
>   - Added len and val[255] fields to struct here (moved from patch 1).
>   - Added kerneldoc for @custom_opts.len and @custom_opts.val.
>   - Wired dhcp_opt_parse() into case 32 (--dhcp-boot) to populate val/len.
> ---
>  conf.c  |  45 ++++++++++++-
>  dhcp.c  | 191 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  dhcp.h  |   2 +
>  passt.1 |  42 +++++++++++++
>  passt.h |   6 ++
>  5 files changed, 285 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
> 
> diff --git a/conf.c b/conf.c
> index cd05adf..836b297 100644
> --- a/conf.c
> +++ b/conf.c
> @@ -47,6 +47,7 @@
>  #include "lineread.h"
>  #include "isolation.h"
>  #include "log.h"
> +#include "dhcp.h"
>  #include "vhost_user.h"
>  #include "epoll_ctl.h"
>  #include "conf.h"
> @@ -616,7 +617,8 @@ static void usage(const char *name, FILE *f, int status)
>  		"  -S, --search LIST	Space-separated list, search domains\n"
>  		"    a single, empty option disables the DNS search list\n"
>  		"  -H, --hostname NAME 	Hostname to configure client with\n"
> -		"  --fqdn NAME		FQDN to configure client with\n");
> +		"  --fqdn NAME		FQDN to configure client with\n"
> +		"  --dhcp-opt CODE,VAL	Set DHCP option CODE to VAL\n");
>  	if (strstr(name, "pasta"))
>  		FPRINTF(f, "    default: don't use any search list\n");
>  	else
> @@ -844,6 +846,10 @@ static void conf_print(const struct ctx *c)
>  			info("    router: %s",
>  			     inet_ntop(AF_INET, &c->ip4.guest_gw,
>  				       buf, sizeof(buf)));
> +			for (i = 1; i < 255; i++)
> +				if (*c->dhcp_opts[i].str)
> +					info("    option %u: %s", i,
> +					     c->dhcp_opts[i].str);
>  		}
>  
>  		for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(c->ip4.dns); i++) {
> @@ -1150,6 +1156,25 @@ static void conf_sock_listen(const struct ctx *c)
>  		die_perror("Couldn't add configuration socket to epoll");
>  }
>  
> +/**
> + * conf_dhcp_option() - Set value for a DHCP option in configuration
> + * @c:		Execution context
> + * @code:	DHCP option code
> + * @val_str:	Value string from command line
> + */
> +static void conf_dhcp_option(struct ctx *c, uint8_t code, const char *val_str)
> +{
> +	uint8_t tmp[255];
> +
> +	if (dhcp_opt_parse(code, val_str, tmp, sizeof(tmp)) < 0)
> +		die("Invalid value for DHCP option %u: %s", code, val_str);
> +
> +	if (snprintf_check(c->dhcp_opts[code].str,
> +			   sizeof(c->dhcp_opts[0].str),
> +			   "%s", val_str))
> +		die("DHCP option value too long: %s", val_str);
> +}
> +
>  /**
>   * conf() - Process command-line arguments and set configuration
>   * @c:		Execution context
> @@ -1233,6 +1258,7 @@ void conf(struct ctx *c, int argc, char **argv)
>  		{"migrate-no-linger", no_argument,	NULL,		30 },
>  		{"stats", required_argument,		NULL,		31 },
>  		{"conf-path",	required_argument,	NULL,		'c' },
> +		{"dhcp-opt", required_argument,		NULL,		34 },
>  		{ 0 },
>  	};
>  	const char *optstring = "+dqfel:hs:c:F:I:p:P:m:a:n:M:g:i:o:D:S:H:461t:u:T:U:";
> @@ -1248,10 +1274,13 @@ void conf(struct ctx *c, int argc, char **argv)
>  	uint8_t prefix_len_from_opt = 0;
>  	unsigned int ifi4 = 0, ifi6 = 0;
>  	const char *logfile = NULL;
> +	unsigned long optcode;
>  	char *runas = NULL;
>  	size_t logsize = 0;
> +	const char *comma;
>  	long fd_tap_opt;
>  	int name, ret;
> +	char *end;
>  	uid_t uid;
>  	gid_t gid;
>  
> @@ -1467,6 +1496,20 @@ void conf(struct ctx *c, int argc, char **argv)
>  				die("Can't display statistics if not running in foreground");
>  			c->stats = strtol(optarg, NULL, 0);
>  			break;
> +		case 34:
> +			comma = strchr(optarg, ',');
> +			if (!comma)
> +				die("--dhcp-opt requires CODE,VALUE format");
> +
> +			errno = 0;
> +			optcode = strtoul(optarg, &end, 0);
> +			if (end != comma || errno ||
> +			    optcode < 1 || optcode > 254)
> +				die("DHCP option code must be 1-254: %s",
> +				    optarg);
> +
> +			conf_dhcp_option(c, optcode, comma + 1);
> +			break;
>  		case 'd':
>  			c->debug = 1;
>  			c->quiet = 0;
> diff --git a/dhcp.c b/dhcp.c
> index 78790d8..47bb524 100644
> --- a/dhcp.c
> +++ b/dhcp.c
> @@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
>  #include <unistd.h>
>  #include <string.h>
>  #include <limits.h>
> +#include <errno.h>
>  
>  #include "util.h"
>  #include "ip.h"
> @@ -130,6 +131,189 @@ struct msg {
>  	uint8_t o[OPT_MAX + 1 /* End option */ ];
>  } __attribute__((__packed__));
>  
> +/**
> + * enum dhcp_opt_type - DHCP option value types per RFC 2132
> + * @DHCP_OPT_NONE:	Unsupported or unknown option
> + * @DHCP_OPT_STR:	Variable-length string
> + * @DHCP_OPT_IPV4:	Single IPv4 address
> + * @DHCP_OPT_IPV4_LIST:	Multiple IPv4 addresses, comma-separated
> + * @DHCP_OPT_INT8:	Unsigned 8-bit integer
> + * @DHCP_OPT_INT16:	Unsigned 16-bit integer
> + * @DHCP_OPT_INT32:	Unsigned 32-bit integer
> + * @DHCP_OPT_SINT32:	Signed 32-bit integer

For consistency with C conventions, I'd suggset UINT{8,16,32} and just
INT32 for the signed case.

> + */
> +enum dhcp_opt_type {
> +	DHCP_OPT_NONE,
> +	DHCP_OPT_STR,
> +	DHCP_OPT_IPV4,
> +	DHCP_OPT_IPV4_LIST,
> +	DHCP_OPT_INT8,
> +	DHCP_OPT_INT16,
> +	DHCP_OPT_INT32,
> +	DHCP_OPT_SINT32,
> +};
> +
> +/**
> + * dhcp_opt_types - Maps option code to RFC 2132 value type, indexed by code
> + */
> +static const enum dhcp_opt_type dhcp_opt_types[] = {
> +	[1]   = DHCP_OPT_IPV4,		/* Subnet Mask */
> +	[2]   = DHCP_OPT_SINT32,	/* Time Offset */
> +	[3]   = DHCP_OPT_IPV4_LIST,	/* Router */
> +	[4]   = DHCP_OPT_IPV4_LIST,	/* Time Server */
> +	[5]   = DHCP_OPT_IPV4_LIST,	/* Name Server */
> +	[6]   = DHCP_OPT_IPV4_LIST,	/* Domain Name Server */
> +	[7]   = DHCP_OPT_IPV4_LIST,	/* Log Server */
> +	[8]   = DHCP_OPT_IPV4_LIST,	/* Cookie Server */
> +	[9]   = DHCP_OPT_IPV4_LIST,	/* LPR Server */
> +	[10]  = DHCP_OPT_IPV4_LIST,	/* Impress Server */
> +	[11]  = DHCP_OPT_IPV4_LIST,	/* Resource Location Server */
> +	[12]  = DHCP_OPT_STR,		/* Host Name */
> +	[13]  = DHCP_OPT_INT16,		/* Boot File Size */
> +	[15]  = DHCP_OPT_STR,		/* Domain Name */
> +	[16]  = DHCP_OPT_IPV4,		/* Swap Server */
> +	[17]  = DHCP_OPT_STR,		/* Root Path */
> +	[19]  = DHCP_OPT_INT8,		/* IP Forwarding */
> +	[23]  = DHCP_OPT_INT8,		/* Default IP TTL */
> +	[26]  = DHCP_OPT_INT16,		/* Interface MTU */
> +	[28]  = DHCP_OPT_IPV4,		/* Broadcast Address */
> +	[37]  = DHCP_OPT_INT8,		/* TCP Default TTL */
> +	[38]  = DHCP_OPT_INT32,		/* TCP Keepalive Interval */
> +	[40]  = DHCP_OPT_STR,		/* NIS Domain Name */
> +	[41]  = DHCP_OPT_IPV4_LIST,	/* NIS Servers */
> +	[42]  = DHCP_OPT_IPV4_LIST,	/* NTP Servers */
> +	[44]  = DHCP_OPT_IPV4_LIST,	/* NetBIOS Name Server */
> +	[50]  = DHCP_OPT_IPV4,		/* Requested IP Address */
> +	[51]  = DHCP_OPT_INT32,		/* IP Address Lease Time */
> +	[53]  = DHCP_OPT_INT8,		/* DHCP Message Type */
> +	[54]  = DHCP_OPT_IPV4,		/* Server Identifier */
> +	[57]  = DHCP_OPT_INT16,		/* Max DHCP Message Size */
> +	[58]  = DHCP_OPT_INT32,		/* Renewal (T1) Time */
> +	[59]  = DHCP_OPT_INT32,		/* Rebinding (T2) Time */
> +	[60]  = DHCP_OPT_STR,		/* Vendor Class Identifier */
> +	[66]  = DHCP_OPT_STR,		/* TFTP Server Name */
> +	[67]  = DHCP_OPT_STR,		/* Bootfile Name */
> +	[252] = DHCP_OPT_STR,		/* WPAD URL */
> +};
> +
> +/**
> + * dhcp_opt_parse() - Parse a DHCP option value
> + * @code:	DHCP option code
> + * @str:	Value string from command line
> + * @buf:	Output buffer for binary value
> + * @buf_len:	Size of output buffer
> + *
> + * Return: number of bytes written to @buf, or -1 on error
> + */
> +int dhcp_opt_parse(uint8_t code, const char *str,
> +		   uint8_t *buf, size_t buf_len)
> +{
> +	enum dhcp_opt_type type;
> +	unsigned long val;
> +	unsigned int i;
> +	uint8_t width;
> +	size_t slen;
> +	char *end;
> +	int len;
> +
> +	if (code >= ARRAY_SIZE(dhcp_opt_types))
> +		return -1;
> +
> +	type = dhcp_opt_types[code];
> +
> +	if (!*str)
> +		return -1;
> +
> +	switch (type) {
> +	case DHCP_OPT_NONE:
> +		return -1;
> +	case DHCP_OPT_IPV4:
> +	case DHCP_OPT_IPV4_LIST:
> +		len = 0;
> +
> +		while (*str) {
> +			char ipbuf[INET_ADDRSTRLEN];
> +			size_t chunk;
> +
> +			chunk = strcspn(str, ",");
> +
> +			if (!chunk || chunk >= sizeof(ipbuf))
> +				return -1;
> +
> +			memcpy(ipbuf, str, chunk);
> +			ipbuf[chunk] = '\0';
> +
> +			if (len + (int)sizeof(struct in_addr) > (int)buf_len)

Both sides are necessarily non-negative, so it would make more sense
to make len unsigned than to cast the other things to signed.

> +				return -1;
> +
> +			if (inet_pton(AF_INET, ipbuf, buf + len) != 1)
> +				return -1;
> +
> +			len += sizeof(struct in_addr);
> +
> +			if (type == DHCP_OPT_IPV4) {
> +				if (str[chunk] == ',')
> +					return -1;
> +				break;
> +			}
> +
> +			str += chunk + (str[chunk] == ',');
> +		}
> +
> +		if (!len)
> +			return -1;
> +
> +		return len;
> +	case DHCP_OPT_INT8:
> +	case DHCP_OPT_INT16:
> +	case DHCP_OPT_INT32:
> +	case DHCP_OPT_SINT32:
> +		if (type == DHCP_OPT_INT8)
> +			width = 1;
> +		else if (type == DHCP_OPT_INT16)
> +			width = 2;
> +		else
> +			width = 4;
> +
> +		if (buf_len < width)
> +			return -1;
> +
> +		errno = 0;
> +		if (type == DHCP_OPT_SINT32) {
> +			long sval;
> +
> +			sval = strtol(str, &end, 0);
> +			if (*end || errno ||
> +			    sval < INT32_MIN || sval > INT32_MAX)
> +				return -1;
> +			val = (uint32_t)sval;
> +		} else {
> +			val = strtoul(str, &end, 0);
> +			if (*end || errno ||
> +			    val >= (1ULL << (width * 8)))
> +				return -1;
> +		}
> +
> +		for (i = width; i > 0; i--) {
> +			buf[i - 1] = val & 0xff;
> +			val >>= 8;
> +		}
> +
> +		return width;
> +	case DHCP_OPT_STR:
> +		slen = strlen(str);
> +
> +		if (slen >= buf_len)
> +			return -1;
> +
> +		memcpy(buf, str, slen);
> +
> +		return slen;
> +	}
> +
> +	return -1;
> +}
> +
>  /**
>   * fill_one() - Fill a single option into a buffer
>   * @buf:	Buffer to write option
> @@ -541,6 +725,13 @@ int dhcp(const struct ctx *c, struct iov_tail *data)
>  	if (!c->no_dhcp_dns_search)
>  		opt_set_dns_search(c, OPT_MAX - 3);
>  
> +	for (i = 1; i < 255; i++) {
> +		if (!c->dhcp_opts[i].str[0])
> +			continue;
> +		opts[i].slen = dhcp_opt_parse(i, c->dhcp_opts[i].str,
> +					      opts[i].s, sizeof(opts[i].s));
> +	}
> +
>  	/* RFC 2132, Section 9.5: put boot file name in the 'file' header
>  	 * field.  Suppress option 67 from the options area and reserve
>  	 * the file field from overload.
> diff --git a/dhcp.h b/dhcp.h
> index cd50c99..cc8d5dd 100644
> --- a/dhcp.h
> +++ b/dhcp.h
> @@ -8,5 +8,7 @@
>  
>  int dhcp(const struct ctx *c, struct iov_tail *data);
>  void dhcp_init(void);
> +int dhcp_opt_parse(uint8_t code, const char *str,
> +		   uint8_t *buf, size_t buf_len);
>  
>  #endif /* DHCP_H */
> diff --git a/passt.1 b/passt.1
> index 908fd4a..ccdcbb2 100644
> --- a/passt.1
> +++ b/passt.1
> @@ -430,6 +430,48 @@ Send \fIname\fR as DHCP option 12 (hostname).
>  FQDN to configure the client with.
>  Send \fIname\fR as Client FQDN: DHCP option 81 and DHCPv6 option 39.
>  
> +.TP
> +.BR \-\-dhcp-opt " " \fICODE\fR,\fIVALUE\fR
> +Set DHCP option \fICODE\fR (1\-254) to \fIVALUE\fR. The value format depends
> +on the option type and is determined automatically from the option code.
> +Multiple IPv4 addresses are comma-separated.
> +This option can be specified multiple times. If the same option code is
> +given more than once, the last value wins. Options set with
> +\fB\-\-dhcp-opt\fR override built-in values.
> +.PP
> +Examples:
> +.nf
> +  \-\-dhcp-opt 6,8.8.8.8,4.4.4.4
> +  \-\-dhcp-opt 12,myhostname
> +.fi
> +.PP
> +Only the following option codes are supported (unsupported codes cause an error):
> +.RS
> +.TP
> +.B IPv4 address options
> +1 (Subnet Mask), 16 (Swap Server), 28 (Broadcast Address), 50 (Requested IP),
> +54 (Server Identifier)
> +.TP
> +.B IPv4 address list options (comma-separated)
> +3 (Router), 4 (Time Server), 5 (Name Server), 6 (DNS), 7 (Log Server),
> +8 (Cookie Server), 9 (LPR Server), 10 (Impress Server),
> +11 (Resource Location Server), 41 (NIS Servers),
> +42 (NTP Servers), 44 (NetBIOS Name Server)
> +.TP
> +.B Integer options
> +2 (Time Offset, 32-bit), 13 (Boot File Size, 16-bit), 19 (IP Forwarding, 8-bit),
> +23 (Default IP TTL, 8-bit), 26 (Interface MTU, 16-bit),
> +37 (TCP Default TTL, 8-bit), 38 (TCP Keepalive Interval, 32-bit),
> +51 (IP Address Lease Time, 32-bit),
> +53 (DHCP Message Type, 8-bit), 57 (Max DHCP Message Size, 16-bit),
> +58 (Renewal Time, 32-bit), 59 (Rebinding Time, 32-bit)
> +.TP
> +.B String options
> +12 (Host Name), 15 (Domain Name), 17 (Root Path), 40 (NIS Domain Name),
> +60 (Vendor Class Identifier), 66 (TFTP Server Name),
> +67 (Bootfile Name), 252 (WPAD URL)
> +.RE
> +
>  .TP
>  .BR \-t ", " \-\-tcp-ports " " \fIspec
>  Configure TCP port forwarding to guest or namespace. \fIspec\fR can be one of:
> diff --git a/passt.h b/passt.h
> index 3a07294..15e2d83 100644
> --- a/passt.h
> +++ b/passt.h
> @@ -182,6 +182,8 @@ struct ip6_ctx {
>   * @dns_search:		DNS search list
>   * @hostname:		Guest hostname
>   * @fqdn:		Guest FQDN
> + * @dhcp_opts:		User-specified DHCP options from --dhcp-opt
> + * @dhcp_opts.str:	String value from command line
>   * @ifi6:		Template interface for IPv6, -1: none, 0: IPv6 disabled
>   * @ip6:		IPv6 configuration
>   * @pasta_ifn:		Name of namespace interface for pasta
> @@ -264,6 +266,10 @@ struct ctx {
>  	char hostname[PASST_MAXDNAME];
>  	char fqdn[PASST_MAXDNAME];
>  
> +	struct {
> +		char str[255];
> +	} dhcp_opts[256];
> +
>  	int ifi6;
>  	struct ip6_ctx ip6;
>  
> -- 
> 2.54.0
> 

-- 
David Gibson (he or they)	| I'll have my music baroque, and my code
david AT gibson.dropbear.id.au	| minimalist, thank you, not the other way
				| around.
http://www.ozlabs.org/~dgibson