My actual use case is parsimony with files.
I have a Makefile system to set up siteXY.tgz and siteXY-host.tgz,
where XY is the version of OpenBSD (for example, 78).
I have several different architectures. Some have the re ethernet interfaces.
Some have the igc ethernet interfaces. Some have the vr ethernet interfaces.
Several of those interfaces are all set up the same way (if they exist).
So I am loading (at install time) hostname.if files for all of my architectures,
even though those interfaces don't exist on every machine.
This prevents me from having separate files for each hostname,
for interfaces that are always configured the same.
Parsimony with files is a good software practice.
Hence my question.
On Wednesday, November 12, 2025 at 08:18:00 PM EST, Robert B. Carleton
<[email protected]> wrote:
On 11/12/25 18:10, Kenneth Hendrickson wrote:
> Is there any badness that might occur from having hostname.if files for an
> interface that doesn't exist??
>
> For example, having hostname.re1 on a host that doesn't have an re1 interface.
>
> Thanks,
> Ken Hendrickson
>
If I recall the behavior correctly, nothing would happen during a
reboot, or using /etc/netstart until the interface existed again. It
sounds like you're talking about a case where the ethernet adaptor has
been removed for some reason?
