INIT_NET issues

[andressbarajas]

I was playing around with @darcagn's httpd-ack-next repo and I noticed that when using the INIT_NET flag in KOS_INIT_FLAGS(INIT_DEFAULT | INIT_NET); it would show a black screen for 45-60 seconds before showing the main screen. Looking at the code I found that KOS was trying to establish a DHCP connection which Im not setup for so it takes 45-60 secs to fail before it goes to showing the main screen of the repo. By updating this portion of net_init() from

if(net_default_dev) {
    /* Did we get a requested IP address? this normally happens over dcload-ip. */
    if(ip) {
        rv = net_dhcp_request(ip);
        if(rv < 0) {
            dbglog(DBG_DEBUG, "Failed to acquire the specified IP with DHCP\n");

            /* If that fails, set the address manually. Although gateway
               and dns etc. will also manually need setting */
            net_ipv4_parse_address(ip, net_default_dev->ip_addr);
            rv = 0;
        }
    }
    /* We didn't get a requested IP address, if we don't already have one
       set, then do so via DHCP. */
    else if(!net_default_dev->ip_addr[0])
        rv = net_dhcp_request(0);
}

to this:

if(net_default_dev) {
    /* Did we get a requested IP address? this normally happens over dcload-ip. */
    if(ip) {
            /* Set the address manually. Although gateway
               and dns etc. will also manually need setting */
            net_ipv4_parse_address(ip, net_default_dev->ip_addr);
            rv = 0;
    }
    /* We didn't get a requested IP address, if we don't already have one
       set, then do so via DHCP. */
    else if(!net_default_dev->ip_addr[0])
        rv = net_dhcp_request(0);
}

the main screen shows up within 2-3 seconds of upload using dcload-serial. I have a question (as a networking noob):

Why do we do a call to net_dhcp_request(ip); when given an IP when it can also be set manually? For people that are not setup for DHCP, it blocks the main thread and we have 45-60 seconds of black screen before it times out and sets it manually.

Tagging experts and people Ive talked with this about: @Kazade @darcagn @gyrovorbis