--- name: "dhcp_release" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "dnsmasq" version: "2.93-1" release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/dhcp_release" --- # dhcp\_release(1) Release a DHCP lease on a the local dnsmasq DHCP server. ## NAME dhcp\_release - Release a DHCP lease on a the local dnsmasq DHCP server. ## SYNOPSIS **dhcp\_release \ \ \ \** ## DESCRIPTION A utility which forces the DHCP server running on this machine to release a DHCP lease. Send a DHCPRELEASE message via the specified interface to tell the local DHCP server to delete a particular lease. The interface argument is the interface in which a DHCP request \_would\_ be received if it was coming from the client, rather than being faked up here. The address argument is a dotted-quad IP addresses and mandatory. The MAC address is colon separated hex, and is mandatory. It may be prefixed by an address-type byte followed by -, eg 10-11:22:33:44:55:66 but if the address-type byte is missing it is assumed to be 1, the type for ethernet. This encoding is the one used in dnsmasq lease files. The client-id is optional. If it is "\*" then it treated as being missing. ## NOTES MUST be run as root - will fail otherwise. ## LIMITATIONS Only usable on IPv4 DHCP leases. ## SEE ALSO [**dnsmasq**(8)](/dnsmasq/8.md) ## AUTHOR This manual page was written by Simon Kelley \.