BOOTPTEST(8)

📦
version 2.4.3 · 2 versions
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💖 BOOTPTEST(8) 💖

System Manager's Manual · the "hey bestie, is anyone out there" tool for BOOTP

✨ NAME ✨

bootptest — send BOOTP queries and print responses 🦋

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

bootptest [ -f bootfile ] [ -h ] [ -m magic_number ] server-name
[template-file]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

okay so picture this: bootptest sends BOOTP requests to the host you name as server-name, and it just keeps doing it, once every single second, until either somebody answers OR ten requests have gone completely unanswered (ghosted, literally 😭).

and then — plot twist — the moment a response comes back, bootptest doesn't just dip. it hangs around for one more second listening for any additional responses, because FOMO is real and there might be more. 💖

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • -f bootfile — fills in the boot file field of the request with bootfile. like, "hi yes, this is the boot file I want, thanks." ✨
  • -h — use the hardware (Ethernet) address to identify the client. by default, the IP address is copied into the request instead, which is basically the client going "I already know my IP, bestie, we're good." 💅
  • -m magic_number — initializes the first word of the vendor options field with magic_number. magic, literally in the name 🧚

and here's the extra lil bonus round: you can also pass a template-file 🍓. if you do, bootptest uses the (binary!) contents of that file to initialize the options area of the request packet. binary, no cap, it's giving raw bytes energy.

👑 CREDITS 👑

The bootptest program is a combination of original and derived works, and honestly? iconic lineage.

  • The main program module (bootptest.c) is original work by Gordon W. Ross <gwr@mc.com>.
  • The packet printing module (print-bootp.c) is a slightly modified version of a file from the BSD tcpdump program.

This program includes software developed by the University of California, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and its contributors. (See the copyright notice in print-bootp.c.) 🫶

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

🌈 REFERENCES 🌈

  • RFC951 — BOOTSTRAP PROTOCOL (BOOTP)
  • RFC1048 — BOOTP Vendor Information Extensions
ngl this page lives under MAINTENANCE COMMANDS, and it's dated 10 June 1993 — a certified vintage. slay, periodt. 💜💖✨
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