diff --git a/contrib/lease-tools/dhcp_lease_time.c b/contrib/lease-tools/dhcp_lease_time.c
index 91edbfa..e2bad3c 100644
--- a/contrib/lease-tools/dhcp_lease_time.c
+++ b/contrib/lease-tools/dhcp_lease_time.c
@@ -153,7 +153,11 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
       exit(1);
     }
  
-  lease.s_addr = inet_addr(argv[1]);
+  if (inet_pton(AF_INET, argv[1], &lease) < 1)
+    {
+      fprintf(stderr, "invalid address: %s\n", argv[1]);
+      exit(1);
+    }
    
   memset(&packet, 0, sizeof(packet));
  
@@ -176,8 +180,8 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
   
   *(p++) = OPTION_END;
  
-  dest.sin_family = AF_INET; 
-  dest.sin_addr.s_addr = inet_addr("127.0.0.1");
+  dest.sin_family = AF_INET;
+  (void)inet_pton(AF_INET, "127.0.0.1", &dest.sin_addr);
   dest.sin_port = ntohs(DHCP_SERVER_PORT);
   
   if (sendto(fd, &packet, sizeof(packet), 0, 
diff --git a/contrib/lease-tools/dhcp_release.c b/contrib/lease-tools/dhcp_release.c
index 30e77c6..c1c835b 100644
--- a/contrib/lease-tools/dhcp_release.c
+++ b/contrib/lease-tools/dhcp_release.c
@@ -288,13 +288,12 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
       exit(1);
     }
   
-  if (inet_addr(argv[2]) == INADDR_NONE)
+  if (inet_pton(AF_INET, argv[2], &lease.s_addr) < 1)
     {
       perror("invalid ip address");
       exit(1);
     }
   
-  lease.s_addr = inet_addr(argv[2]);
   server = find_interface(lease, nl, if_nametoindex(argv[1]), fd, &ifr);
   
   memset(&packet, 0, sizeof(packet));
diff --git a/src/dhcp.c b/src/dhcp.c
index 97324f2..3d41a08 100644
--- a/src/dhcp.c
+++ b/src/dhcp.c
@@ -922,7 +922,7 @@ void dhcp_read_ethers(void)
       
       if (!*cp)
 	{
-	  if ((addr.s_addr = inet_addr(ip)) == (in_addr_t)-1)
+	  if (inet_pton(AF_INET, ip, &addr.s_addr) < 1)
 	    {
 	      my_syslog(MS_DHCP | LOG_ERR, _("bad address at %s line %d"), ETHERSFILE, lineno); 
 	      continue;
diff --git a/src/network.c b/src/network.c
index 3ef71b9..3fc179d 100644
--- a/src/network.c
+++ b/src/network.c
@@ -1688,7 +1688,7 @@ int reload_servers(char *fname)
       memset(&addr, 0, sizeof(addr));
       memset(&source_addr, 0, sizeof(source_addr));
       
-      if ((addr.in.sin_addr.s_addr = inet_addr(token)) != (in_addr_t) -1)
+      if (inet_pton(AF_INET, token, &addr.in.sin_addr) > 0)
 	{
 #ifdef HAVE_SOCKADDR_SA_LEN
 	  source_addr.in.sin_len = addr.in.sin_len = sizeof(source_addr.in);