Hi Joel, On Sun, Jun 11, 2017 at 07:55:50AM +0900, Joel Rees wrote: > # If the address to be assigned is given first, which I think everyone > # pretty much does: > > myadm@mycomp:~$ env LANG=en_US.UTF-8 sudo ifconfig eth0:1 down > myadm@mycomp:~$ env LANG=en_US.UTF-8 sudo ifconfig eth0:1 > 10.19.201.198 netmask 255.255.255.224 broadcast 10.19.201.223 > myadm@mycomp:~$ env LANG=en_US.UTF-8 sudo ifconfig eth0:1 > eth0:1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 53:bc:81:02:21:bb > inet addr:10.19.201.198 Bcast:10.19.201.223 Mask:255.255.255.224 > UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 > Interrupt:42 Base address:0xa000 > > # it seems to see the address first and set things as intended in one pass. > --------------------------------- > > Which is confusing to my middle-aged brain.
Have you considered just using "ip"? # ip address add 10.19.201.198/27 dev eth0 You don't need to specify the broadcast address as it will by default be the top-most address (10.19.201.233 for 10.19.201.192/27). > So I could suggest editing the man page, something along the lines > of the following… The binaries provided by the net-tools package are considered obsolete on Linux, and from stretch onwards the package is not marked essential. It would only be installed if a dependency pulled it in (which is admittedly still very likely at this point). I'm not trying to start an ip vs. ifconfig debate, but it is a fact that development of net-tools has stagnated and already doesn't support some kernel features. It seems likely that eventually net-tools will not be in a default Debian install and you would have to go out of your way to install it. So, I am not sure that anyone would be willing to keep the relevant net-tools manpages up to date. Even the net-tools maintainers in Debian have wanted it removed from the base install for more than 8 years now. I'm not saying they would refuse to fix documentation bugs, but the motivation may be very low at this point. Some more info: https://lwn.net/Articles/710533/ Cheers, Andy -- https://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting