Jun 30, 2026, 11:12 AM@simontatham @castaway The reason for replacing ifconfig with ip is that the command syntax for the former can't request a lot configuration the latter can (because it was written for that purpose).
- Jun 30, 2026, 11:12 AM
Replies
Simon Tathamsimontatham@hachyderm.ioJun 30, 2026, 12:38 PM@mansr @castaway I'm sure you're right, and I've even used some of that functionality myself, but it _still_ doesn't change the resulting lack of enthusiasm to learn the new thing thoroughly.
To decide whether it's worth putting in the effort, the question is not whether the change happened for a good reason. It's whether another similar change is likely in the future. If it happened because other stuff made it genuinely necessary, who's to say other stuff might not make it genuinely necessary again?
arclightarclight@oldbytes.spaceJun 30, 2026, 12:54 PM@mansr @simontatham @castaway That's a reason for creating ip, not for replacing ifconfig. Those are two different things.
- Jun 30, 2026, 3:32 PM
@arclight @simontatham @castaway Who stops you building and running ifconfig? Both tools can happily coexist.
Jess Robinsoncastaway@fosstodon.orgJun 30, 2026, 3:33 PM@mansr @arclight @simontatham nobody particularly (and I do, I run Gentoo).. but not all the boxes I use are admined by me
Jun 30, 2026, 11:45 PM@mansr @simontatham @castaway i was never convinced by this argument because the BSDs managed to extend ifconfig with new features
- Jul 1, 2026, 6:44 AM
@fanf @simontatham @castaway I haven't looked closely at the BSDs, but the ip syntax is still more logical and more easily extended when needed. Personally, I prefer it even though it meant getting used to a new thing.
Why is this coming up now though? It's been 20 years.
Jul 4, 2026, 11:16 AM@mansr As OP explained in the second post, it came up just because it came up. ( hachyderm.io/@simontatham/1168… )
I think conservative interface evolution is an important aspect, and I think reworking user interfaces to new requirements rather than building epicycles on top of
whatever we came up with in the past is important too.I think on a modern Linux-based operating system, it's still possible to install both "ip" and "ifconfig" without conflict, and both will work, but there is no doubt that "ip" is the default in the modern environment.
Maybe the new interface is superior, but the point is that the change had a cost, the counterpoint being that legacy has a cost too. As with everything, it's a balance and a tradeoff.