My opinion doesn’t matter a damn of course. But I’m going to write it here anyway.
You install Linux, log in and the first thing you will need to do is find out the IP address your DHCP server has given it so what do you type?
ifconfig
The last thing you expect to find is that the command has been deprecated. If Microsoft did something like this I would be a bit miffed as well. Why change core commands. Okay. ifconfig wasn’t maintained and ip has more functionality so why not just branch ifconfig and add that functionality in! I know. That’s a very simple opinion to have but ifconfig is used on Unix and several spin ofs so why the hell would Debian decide to remove it completely. same with netstat and route! It just seems stupid and crazy to me.
I don’t mind learning about ip. But it’s such a core command. I shouldn’t need to think of what distribution I’m in when I’m deciding the command that I’m going to use just to check an IP address.
You can read more about the deprecation of ifconfig in this Server fault forum thread.
In the case of RHEL, the warnings that ipconfig would be depricated have been there now for years. It is still available in 7.5 but, since there has been enough warning, I think most sys admins are using the replacement ip command which is just fine to use. I know we all like the familiarity that comes with things staying the same but as long as changes provide at least the same and hopefully better functionality and usability, that’s fine by me.
Phil, I completely see where you’re coming from. and in a way, I even agree with you. functionality needs to be improved. But ifconfig? it’s like ping. dir. ls. df. cd. They are core commands. Changing them on a handfull of distributions just causes confusion. And fine. for system administrators working in this every day, it’s well known but for system administrators who are working on the one version of Linux for years then need to upgrade a few boxes, it’s just a head ache that’s not needed. Then you have separate versions and separate distributions that are using different core commands. If apt-get for example changed apt-get install to apt-get setup I wouldn’t be so bothered. It’s not a core command imho.
Maybe this isn’t important and I just need to get out more. 🙂
Or maybe I’m just not reading the right blogs and release notes.
I don’t know.
Thanks for commenting. Keep them coming.