https://netconf.alioth.debian.org/

netconf could mean:

• RFC4741, the NETCONF protocol, save/store network configuration.
• The miniconference at LCA
• Internal/proprietary produce

Why?

• ifupdown aging
• requires hooks
• very stateful, can get out of sync with reality.
• not extensible, eg. wireless support limited.
• single interface, no dependancies, limited.
• other distros have there own requirements.
• network manager, requires a GUI, GUI-centric design. Backends limited, eg to one IP address per interface, no bonding, bridging, etc.
• netconf will be able to interface to networkmanager, network manager will continue working.

The vision:

• bottom up; start with smallest thing, keep it simple, keep it modular.
• event based system
• decisions are decided based on policy
• stateless as much as possible; not entirely possible, eg. dhcp client.
• do not get in the way of the administrator
• daemon calls shell scripts to do the manipulation.
• cross distro support. gentoo does network stuff better then Debian.
• non-root bring up interfaces if policy allows.
• integrate with resolv.conf management, firewalling, link-status (netlink).
• no magic

Road map in git repository.

• replace ifupdown in Debian.
• implement a policy layer, authenticate non-root users.
• listen to netlink events and react. Make ifplugd obsolete.
• If driver is broken, it won’t work.
• link detection happens eclusively via the Netlink socket.
• tacking link down on any interface should really activate power save mode.