Erik Christiansen <dvalin@internode.on.net> writes:
On the other hand, in the last quarter century, I've found traditional networking 100% reliable and easy to use, on HP-UX, Solaris (Sparc & x86), and several linux distros, both domestically and administering up to a dozen workstations. It is possible that I have never suffered ifup state confusion simply because I always use "ifconfig -a" to check interface state, simply through habit. (And if I'm not sure what I'm facing, then "/etc/init.d/networking restart" is zero risk in 99% of cases - a server with a single interface, which is in need of TLC.)
My impression is that Brian's talking about laptops that go walkies and have multiple ifaces on the same net, which I guess is harder to magic than a server, where you connect it up and then leave it alone forever. ifupdown's codebase is certainly ugly and unloved -- until recently it was still written in noweb!