IPv4 can eventually do it via APIPA and make it’s own link local addresses, but only as a fallback after DHCP times out. With IPv6, link-local is the first step of SLAAC. The interface comes up, you instantly get a fe80:: address, and you have immediate connectivity on the switch without waiting for DHCP to fail. When deploying unprovisioned (not having to set a static IP for each host) embedded Linux images, I prefer IPv6’s native design over IPv4’s error state.
That is also possible with IPv4 though.
IPv4 can eventually do it via APIPA and make it’s own link local addresses, but only as a fallback after DHCP times out. With IPv6, link-local is the first step of SLAAC. The interface comes up, you instantly get a fe80:: address, and you have immediate connectivity on the switch without waiting for DHCP to fail. When deploying unprovisioned (not having to set a static IP for each host) embedded Linux images, I prefer IPv6’s native design over IPv4’s error state.