> Putting these values and options for a complex set of ifconfig's into the
> netstart.conf file means we add a level of indirection that doesn't
> (necassarily) gain us anything, and makes a file with (primarily)
> boolean choices into a more complex beast than we need.

Netstart.conf?   Why not rc.conf?   And why is it "complicated" to
do something like:

ifconfig_le0_1=inet 192.5.5.213 netmask 255.255.255.240 media UTP
ifconfig_le0_2=inet alias 128.45.1.17 netmask 255.255.255.0
ifconfig_le0_3=atalk <whatever>

Why is this better than having a seperate file for this information?

> Other considerations start to pop up as well.  As the system gets more
> complex (a couple of network interfaces, a firewall, a half dozen PPP
> sessions, etc.) leaving that stuff in the ifconfig.XXX file
> compartmentalizes it.  Trying to add everything into the netstart.conf
> file would just complicate the file.

I'm not at all comfortable with the idea of putting firewall
configuration information into /etc/ifconfig.??? - that belongs in the
firewall config file.   Nobody's proposing that there be one big
unified config file for the whole system - what I've seen so far is
just a proposal to move as much startup configuration as possible into
one file, which sounds like a really good idea to me.

			       _MelloN_