[gentoo-dev] rfc: openrc: use iproute2 for all network handling in linux

[William Hubbs]

Hi all,

http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=389437

has prompted a discussion of whether or not we should use ifconfig in
openrc to configure networking on linux systems.

I'm not asking that we consider removing net-tools from systems, because
there are tools there that we still need. In my view though, two of
these tools (ifconfig and route), have been surpassed in functionality
by iproute2's ip tool. So, what I am considering doing is dropping the
ifconfig module from openrc and using iproute2 for all network
configuration on linux systems.

The other side of the discussion seems to be that openrc needs to work
on minimal installations, so we need to continue supporting using ifconfig.

I realize there would be a trade-off if I stop supporting linux's
ifconfig and route in openrc, but how much of a trade-off? Would the
benefits of iproute2 outweigh the down side of not supporting ifconfig
and route on linux?

What does everyone think?

William