System fails to start dhclient at boot after upgrade 6.1.5 -> 7.0.1

[metalliqaz%fastmail.fm@localhost]

I have just upgraded my server from 6.1.5 to 7.0.1 and I'm having
trouble with dhclient.  My expectation is that the rc system will launch
dhclient early in the boot process and wait for it to finish before
moving on.  This does not happen.  Instead it rushes right into
launching daemons (which fills my logs with named complaints). 
Sometimes it will complete acquisition after boot, but half the time it
fails completely and a "/etc/rc.d/dhclient restart" says that the
service is already stopped.  This is a headless server so watching the
console is difficult.  It has two interfaces, with only the external
using dhclient.  The working rc.conf was not changed during the 7.0.1
upgrade.

A quick look over the NetBSD-7 and 7.0.1 release notices doesn't show me
any obvious reason for a change in behavior.  Does anyone know what is
going on?

thanks,
-d