48 - yeah that would never be correct ;) I could see maybe setting /64 as default on ipv6 address
Over the years this discussion has come up a few times.. And while I kind of agree on the /24 default.. It is up to the user to set the correct mask..
I think it just defaults to one side of the list.. You could look if its been actually requested before in redmine.. But if I recall it never got any traction, and thought there was an actual reason other then just users should pay attention.. But don't recall off the top of my head the old discussions on this topic..
Other than nothing ever came of it, since it still defaults to /32 ;)
You should get windows to change their default from the old class standards while you at it when you put in a 10 for example it default to 255.0.0.0.. If you put in 172.16 it does 16
windowdefault.png
172.png
While its nice to "guess" to what the user might be thinking of doing - ultimately it comes down to the person setting the IP to make sure the mask is correct.
Maybe a note or something when setting it in the gui that if you use /32 dhcp is not going to be available ;) But users never seem to have issues with this sort of thing never seem to read the notes or manual anyway - hehehe