> From: Jason Thorpe <thorpej@nas.nasa.gov>
> Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 12:52:47 -0700

> [...] although, I wonder what happens when
> some client on the wire _does_ set the broadcast bit, and the bootp/dhcp
> server replies broadcast... N hosts could receive the wrong reply, yes?

Yes, but the BOOTP reply contains the client's h/w address in the
bp_chaddr field which the client is supposed to compare with its
own h/w address and ignore the packet if it does not match.
(Note, bp_chaddr is not part of the ether header.)

Anyway, the "broadcast reply" option of BOOTP is not the preferred
way for the server to reach the client.  Clients that ask for this
are an annoyance, particularly because many servers have difficulty
sending out a broadcast with the old "all ones" h/w address.

Gordon