> 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.
I was aware of iproute2, but wasn't aware the coverage ip had for features. That is indeed much better than ifconfig (feature wise), but I'm not sure if how indicative that man page is of the man pages on Linux in general, so it may just point out a poor example on my part.
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].
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.
https://linux.die.net/man/8/ip
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iproute2