I would expect the opposite. Doesn't DHCP make more sense, for example, if the user creates a snapshot and restores it with a new IP? I don't use Lenode, so I can't judge, but I would expect DHCP to be default.
Default created Debian based linodes use a static IP. How they assign you the IP is they have an initial network boot script that injects that static IP into your config.
I learned this because I wanted to test image recovery of deleted linode. When I restored it, I got a different IP address from linode (the static IP assigned to me), and I couldn't connect to it. Using the web console I found the IP address was hard coded to the old one still.
Just checked my tiny Nanode 1 GB image (Fremont) running Debian and it's indeed running dhclient. Still have access, but I need the instance this weekend for a virtual event. Kind of sucky timing for a potential outage, Linode.
I would expect the opposite. Doesn't DHCP make more sense, for example, if the user creates a snapshot and restores it with a new IP? I don't use Lenode, so I can't judge, but I would expect DHCP to be default.