Linux ifconfig truely sucks. It cannot handle multiple inet addresses easily (using aliases for the interface name sucks). Also ifconfig sucks for a lot of scripting usage. Whilst iproute2 is a lot friendlier, it’s also not ifconfig- which makes portable(ish) network configuration a lot harder.
Lastly, Linux has a lof of misc tools- ifenslave, vlanconfig, etc, which should all be wrapped up into ifconfig. The BSD ifconfig is a very good example of how network configuration should be done.
As such, I will attempt to write an ifconfig for Linux which addresses all the above, with a comprehensive man page. This will make the new network script for OpenRC a lot easier to use in turn. It’s not aimed at being an iproute2 replacement as iproute2 handles a lot of other stuff outside of the scope of ifconfig.