Hello:

On 19 Mar 2025 at 18:05, Simon wrote:

> If you take a step backwards ...
I will probably trip on something and fall, the flat is a proper
mess. 8^D

> ... vast majority of users ...
When I came across this problem ie: my DNS settings, out of nowhere
getting changed without my intervention or notice and as a result
rendering my Pi-hole VM inoperative, I did what most Linux users
would do: search the web for a solution.

What I found was a huge number of posts by members of that great
majority of users you mention, many if not most going back many
years.

They also did not know what was going on and when I came across
something resembling a solution, it was a clumsy workaround.
ie: to make [/etc/resolv.conf] (a system file, no less) immutable.

Like Ralph R. cleverly pointed out, I had not RTFM.
Looking back, it never crossed my mind to check the DHCP man pages.

Why should it?
For years things were working perfectly well till they suddenly were
not.

And then, it would seem that none of the great many affected users
RTFM either.
Not a coincidence, me thinks.

> ... and "works" really means "has working DNS resolution".
Which is *exactly* what I had till [connman], making use of a
configuration *option* the DHCP offered, did away with.

The developers / maintainers of the client I had been using up to
that point, [WiCD], wisely chose not to go the same way.

[WiCD] had a quick way of setting your DNS from the UI and once you
set it, it stayed that way.

> ... vast majority of users even Linux ones ...
Well ...

Some people opine that there are a vast majority of Linux users who
are quite happy with the default implementation of [systemd] (or some
other Poettering-ish idea) in their system and then ...

> ... suggest that the vitriol ...
We have never met, I can assure you that it was not vitriol.
But I'll make a note of your observation. 8^)

> ... if you have a crippled, ISP supplied router ...
I have used this same line of vendor supplied (crippled) ISP routers
and the problem cropped up when [WiCD] was deprecated.
ie: whatever the router did (reset at random intervals) did not
affect my DNS settings and my Pi-hole always worked as intended.

> ... not the fault of the DHCP protocol ...
Granted.
The fault lies on the developer who thought up the *feature*.
Quite sure I am not the only one who thinks so.

> ... it´s the fault of the ISP ...
I believe it is common practise most everywhere.
Which is probably why VPNs have become so popular.

Like moving around IP assignments, something I actually find to be
convenient. ie: not having a fixed IP for too long.

> It´s why I´ve turned off the DHCP service ...
I do not have much of a network to speak of so I may eventually
resort to turning it off.

> ... multiple ways to solve this issue :
All of them interesting but far too complex for me.

One easy solution would have been for the Linux installer process to
ask if the default setting was acceptable to the user of the system
being installed and also indicate how to change it if needed.
ie: like when you need to reconfigure your keyboard.

Further down the line, the next easy solution would have been for the
developers of [connman] (and probably other clients, no idea) to have
a way to get that done, the same way [WiCD] did, through the UI.

That is what gets me, the fact that someone up the chain decides
about something important without a second thought to the eventual
consequences.

Right ...

@Simon:
Thank you very much for taking the time to write this up.
Much appreciated.

Best,

A.