Rob Sullivan sent in some cleanups, which I beat on slightly.
diff --git a/miscutils/makedevs.c b/miscutils/makedevs.c
index e988400..7bfe54f 100644
--- a/miscutils/makedevs.c
+++ b/miscutils/makedevs.c
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
-#include <getopt.h>
 #include <time.h>
 #include <ctype.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
@@ -76,40 +75,20 @@
 
 #elif defined CONFIG_FEATURE_MAKEDEVS_TABLE
 
-/*
- *  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
- *  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as
- *  published by the Free Software Foundation.
- *
- *  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
- *  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
- *  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
- *  GNU Library General Public License for more details.
- *
- *  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
- *  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
- *  Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
- *
- */
+/* Licensed under the GPL v2 or later, see the file LICENSE in this tarball. */
 
 extern int makedevs_main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
-	int opt;
 	FILE *table = stdin;
 	char *rootdir = NULL;
 	char *line = NULL;
 	int linenum = 0;
 	int ret = EXIT_SUCCESS;
 
-	while ((opt = getopt(argc, argv, "d:")) != -1) {
-		switch(opt) {
-			case 'd':
-				table = bb_xfopen((line=optarg), "r");
-				break;
-			default:
-				bb_show_usage();
-		}
-	}
+	unsigned long flags;
+   	flags = bb_getopt_ulflags(argc, argv, "d:", &line);
+	if (line)
+		table = bb_xfopen(line, "r");
 
 	if (optind >= argc || (rootdir=argv[optind])==NULL) {
 		bb_error_msg_and_die("root directory not specified");
@@ -159,16 +138,9 @@
 		if (name[0] == '#') {
 			continue;
 		}
-		if (group) {
-			gid = get_ug_id(group, bb_xgetgrnam);
-		} else {
-			gid = getgid();
-		}
-		if (user) {
-			uid = get_ug_id(user, bb_xgetpwnam);
-		} else {
-			uid = getuid();
-		}
+		
+		gid = group ? get_ug_id(group, bb_xgetgrnam) : getgid();
+		uid = user ? get_ug_id(user, bb_xgetpwnam) : getuid();
 		full_name = concat_path_file(rootdir, name);
 
 		if (type == 'd') {
diff --git a/miscutils/watchdog.c b/miscutils/watchdog.c
index 276fade..4b00e50 100644
--- a/miscutils/watchdog.c
+++ b/miscutils/watchdog.c
@@ -4,20 +4,7 @@
  *
  * Copyright (C) 2003  Paul Mundt <lethal@linux-sh.org>
  *
- * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
- * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
- * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
- * (at your option) any later version.
- *
- * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
- * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
- * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
- * General Public License for more details.
- *
- * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
- * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
- * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
- *
+ * Licensed under the GPL v2 or later, see the file LICENSE in this tarball.
  */
 
 #include <stdio.h>
@@ -40,19 +27,14 @@
 	exit(0);
 }
 
-extern int watchdog_main(int argc, char **argv)
+int watchdog_main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
-	int opt;
-
-	while ((opt = getopt(argc, argv, "t:")) > 0) {
-		switch (opt) {
-			case 't':
-				timer_duration = bb_xgetlarg(optarg, 10, 0, INT_MAX);
-				break;
-			default:
-				bb_show_usage();
-		}
-	}
+	
+	char *t_arg;
+	unsigned long flags;
+	flags = bb_getopt_ulflags(argc, argv, "t:", &t_arg);
+	if (flags & 1)
+		timer_duration = bb_xgetlarg(t_arg, 10, 0, INT_MAX);
 
 	/* We're only interested in the watchdog device .. */
 	if (optind < argc - 1 || argc == 1)
diff --git a/networking/ifupdown.c b/networking/ifupdown.c
index d23c9f7..7578278 100644
--- a/networking/ifupdown.c
+++ b/networking/ifupdown.c
@@ -12,19 +12,7 @@
  *  Lines in the interfaces file cannot wrap.
  *  To adhere to the FHS, the default state file is /var/run/ifstate.
  *
- *  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
- *  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
- *  the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
- *  (at your option) any later version.
- *
- *  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
- *  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
- *  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
- *  GNU General Public License for more details.
- *
- *  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
- *  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
- *  Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
+ * Licensed under the GPL v2 or later, see the file LICENSE in this tarball.
  */
 
 /* TODO: standardise execute() return codes to return 0 for success and 1 for failure */
@@ -819,7 +807,7 @@
 				}
 
 				/* Add the interface to the list */
-				defn->autointerfaces = llist_add_to_end(defn->autointerfaces, strdup(firstword));
+				defn->autointerfaces = llist_add_to_end(defn->autointerfaces, bb_xstrdup(firstword));
 				debug_noise("\nauto %s\n", firstword);
 			}
 			currently_processing = NONE;
@@ -1254,7 +1242,7 @@
 			const llist_t *list = state_list;
 			while (list) {
 				new_item = xmalloc(sizeof(llist_t));
-				new_item->data = strdup(list->data);
+				new_item->data = bb_xstrdup(list->data);
 				new_item->link = NULL;
 				list = target_list;
 				if (list == NULL)
@@ -1273,7 +1261,7 @@
 			/* iface_down */
 			const llist_t *list = state_list;
 			while (list) {
-				target_list = llist_add_to_end(target_list, strdup(list->data));
+				target_list = llist_add_to_end(target_list, bb_xstrdup(list->data));
 				list = list->link;
 			}
 			target_list = defn->autointerfaces;
@@ -1294,15 +1282,15 @@
 		int okay = 0;
 		int cmds_ret;
 
-		iface = strdup(target_list->data);
+		iface = bb_xstrdup(target_list->data);
 		target_list = target_list->link;
 
 		pch = strchr(iface, '=');
 		if (pch) {
 			*pch = '\0';
-			liface = strdup(pch + 1);
+			liface = bb_xstrdup(pch + 1);
 		} else {
-			liface = strdup(iface);
+			liface = bb_xstrdup(iface);
 		}
 
 		if (!force) {
diff --git a/networking/telnet.c b/networking/telnet.c
index 2416005..d9f0e94 100644
--- a/networking/telnet.c
+++ b/networking/telnet.c
@@ -8,19 +8,7 @@
  * Created: Thu Apr  7 13:29:41 1994 too
  * Last modified: Fri Jun  9 14:34:24 2000 too
  *
- * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
- * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
- * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
- * (at your option) any later version.
- *
- * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
- * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
- * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
- * General Public License for more details.
- *
- * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
- * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
- * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
+ * Licensed under the GPL v2 or later, see the file LICENSE in this tarball.
  *
  * HISTORY
  * Revision 3.1  1994/04/17  11:31:54  too
@@ -636,10 +624,6 @@
 	int maxfd;
 #endif
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_FEATURE_TELNET_AUTOLOGIN
-	int opt;
-#endif
-
 #ifdef CONFIG_FEATURE_AUTOWIDTH
 	get_terminal_width_height(0, &win_width, &win_height);
 #endif
@@ -661,20 +645,10 @@
 		bb_show_usage();
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_FEATURE_TELNET_AUTOLOGIN
-	autologin = NULL;
-	while ((opt = getopt(argc, argv, "al:")) != EOF) {
-		switch (opt) {
-			case 'l':
-				autologin = optarg;
-				break;
-			case 'a':
-				autologin = getenv("USER");
-				break;
-			case '?':
-				bb_show_usage();
-				break;
-		}
-	}
+	unsigned long flags = bb_getopt_ulflags(argc, argv, "al:", &autologin);
+	if (flags & 1)
+		autologin = getenv("USER");
+	
 	if (optind < argc) {
 		bb_lookup_host(&s_in, argv[optind++]);
 		s_in.sin_port = bb_lookup_port((optind < argc) ? argv[optind++] :
diff --git a/util-linux/rdate.c b/util-linux/rdate.c
index a73e8ee..e282460 100644
--- a/util-linux/rdate.c
+++ b/util-linux/rdate.c
@@ -5,20 +5,7 @@
  *
  * by Sterling Huxley <sterling@europa.com>
  *
- * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
- * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
- * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
- * (at your option) any later version.
- *
- * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
- * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
- * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
- * General Public License for more details.
- *
- * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
- * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
- * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
- *
+ * Licensed under GPL v2 or later, see file License for details.
 */
 
 #include <sys/time.h>
@@ -27,7 +14,6 @@
 #include <netinet/in.h>
 #include <netdb.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
-#include <getopt.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <time.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
@@ -46,14 +32,14 @@
 
 static time_t askremotedate(const char *host)
 {
-	unsigned long int nett, localt;
+	unsigned long nett;
 	struct sockaddr_in s_in;
 	int fd;
 
 	bb_lookup_host(&s_in, host);
 	s_in.sin_port = bb_lookup_port("time", "tcp", 37);
 
-	/* Add a timeout for dead or non accessable servers */
+	/* Add a timeout for dead or inaccessible servers */
 	alarm(10);
 	signal(SIGALRM, socket_timeout);
 
@@ -61,7 +47,6 @@
 
 	if (safe_read(fd, (void *)&nett, 4) != 4)    /* read time from server */
 		bb_error_msg_and_die("%s did not send the complete time", host);
-
 	close(fd);
 
 	/* convert from network byte order to local byte order.
@@ -70,40 +55,22 @@
 	 *  the RFC 868 time 2,208,988,800 corresponds to 00:00  1 Jan 1970 GMT
 	 * Subtract the RFC 868 time  to get Linux epoch
 	 */
-	localt= ntohl(nett) - RFC_868_BIAS;
-
-	return(localt);
+	
+	return(ntohl(nett) - RFC_868_BIAS);
 }
 
 int rdate_main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
 	time_t remote_time;
-	int opt;
-	int setdate = 1;
-	int printdate = 1;
-
-	/* Interpret command line args */
-	while ((opt = getopt(argc, argv, "sp")) > 0) {
-		switch (opt) {
-			case 's':
-				printdate = 0;
-				setdate = 1;
-				break;
-			case 'p':
-				printdate = 1;
-				setdate = 0;
-				break;
-			default:
-				bb_show_usage();
-		}
-	}
-
-	if (optind == argc)
+	
+	unsigned long flags = bb_getopt_ulflags(argc, argv, "sp");
+	
+	if (!flags || argc == optind)
 		bb_show_usage();
-
+	
 	remote_time = askremotedate(argv[optind]);
 
-	if (setdate) {
+	if (flags & 1) {
 		time_t current_time;
 
 		time(&current_time);
@@ -112,10 +79,10 @@
 		else
 			if (stime(&remote_time) < 0)
 				bb_perror_msg_and_die("Could not set time of day");
-	}
-
-	if (printdate)
-		printf("%s", ctime(&remote_time));
+		
+	/* No need to check for the -p flag as it's the only option left */
+		
+	} else printf("%s", ctime(&remote_time));
 
 	return EXIT_SUCCESS;
 }