[ale] Static IP became DHCP IP

[JD]

>> Any ideas what I misconfigured, if anything?
>>
> NetworkManager's not installed/running, is it?  Although it's supposed
> to ignore interfaces that have a configuration in
> /etc/network/interfaces, I've seen it do odd things.
> 

Don't think so. This is "server", not "desktop". I don't think
network-manager is even installed.

The issue seems to be the /sbin/dhclient-script. That is part of
dhcp3-client, which I don't need, but removing it automatically removes
ubuntu-minimal - which appears to be responsible for boot, hw detection
... basically a ton of really, really important other things.
http://packages.ubuntu.com/lucid/ubuntu-minimal

Stupid meta package dependencies.  Why should DHCP be mandatory on a
server?  I guess we'll never know 'cause I'm afraid - won't be removing
that.