> Note: One the reasons the OpenBSD ifconfig man page is so big is because on OpenBSD ifconfig does the job of multiple Linux utils, because it makes sense to have ifconfig control all the interface state.
Do you know if iproute2 if it supports STP configuration? I used brctl in the past to configure that, and it's something I would expect in an interface configuration tool (although maybe not a command named "ip"). I don't imagine that would be hard for them to add in if not though.
I think a better example of my point regarding man pages would be CARP[1]. In my experience where Linux has really lacked in man pages is concepts. The BSDs will offer refer you to man pages that aren't for any one command or file, but for a system or feature to explain it in general.
See also ipsec[2] for a description of the protocol, and aac[3] for a description of their driver implementation for Adaptec "FSA" family of RAID cards, and documentation on how to work with bluetooth[4] at the kernel level on their platform. Really, most of section 4[5].
[1]: http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=carp
[2]: http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=ipsec
[3]: http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=aac
[4]: http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=bluetooth
[5]: http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=(4)&apropos...
Task / BSD / Linux
set ip / ifconfig / ifconfig or now "ip" which is extremely confusing
wifi / ifconfig / iwconfig
speed / ifconfig / miitool or ethtool
duplex / ifconfig / miitool or ethtool
vlan / ifconfig / vlan
wol / ifconfig / miitool or ethtool
bridge / ifconfig / brctl
link aggregation / ifconfig / flags while loading module OR use distro network config scripts and restart all networking or reboot server
Want find out which nic is occupying ethX perhaps for tuning or scripting etc?
Linux = complicated, by distro/version
FreeBSD = nic by device eg em0
Most Linux distros are adopting consistent naming schemes, using biosdevname algorithm, e.g.
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/ConsistentNetworkDev...
> More addon tools simply proves the point.
I was only showing that comparing Linux’s ifconfig with BSD’s ifconfig is not fair, not really making any point.
I don’t see how this is all that confusing though, you get ip for managing routing and iw/ethtool/etc for managing interfaces or creating interfaces on lower networking levels or device level. It’s just different.