Simon Walter <simon@???> writes:
> I am working on some cdist scripts for setting up some network interfaces.
>
> So far I am modifying the /etc/network/interfaces and then bring down
> and up the interfaces. For a while now /etc/init.d/networking has a
> warning that it is deprecated. I understand why. So I issue:
> # ip address flush dev xxx && ip link set xxx down
>
> Which seems to work fine. However, when I try to bring the device back
> up with the new config with "ifup xxx"
> It fails. If I first issue a "ifdown xxx" then it works.

ifupdown uses a state file (/etc/network/run/ifstate) to record which
interfaces are up and ifup refuses to activate an interface recorded as
active. You could remove the relevant interface entries manually,
however, a more sensible course of action is

1. ifown <iface>
2. modify interfaces definition
3. ifup <iface>

In case this would affect an interface used to access the machine, a
command sequence like

ifdown <iface>; mv interfaces.new interfaces; ifup <iface>

can be used. A typo in this command is obviously going have Bad
Effects[tm].

> So I have couple questions for those who know about the situation in De*an:
>
> 1. Is there a plan to move away from ipconfig?

ipconfig is a Windows command. ifconfig is part of the net tools
package, it has been technically obsolete since 1998 and unmaintained
since 2005. I don't believe any plans to stop using it just because of
this.