[Dagger2]

> I don't get why they couldn't have kept a simpler / more familiar framework with ipv6 as an option, even if less ideal. Ie, DHCP vs autoconfig stuff

That's a statement made with 20 years of hindsight behind it. But if you had an extra 5 or so years of hindsight then it'd make more sense.

DHCP only predates IPv6 by two years (October 1993 on RFC 1531, vs December 1995 on RFC 1883). AppleTalk and Novell NetWare were still fairly common around that time. You're looking at DHCP as if it's ubiquitous, which indeed it is now, but it certainly wasn't while v6 was being developed and wouldn't be until a good few years afterwards.

In fact, router advertisements were defined in RFC 1256 in 1991, so they have two years of seniority on DHCP -- although I suppose you could make an argument that DHCP is a standardized set of BOOTP extensions, and that BOOTP has been around for longer.