There are two main reasons: 1. net-tools is a completely separate project while iproute is closely related to the kernel. On FreeBSD, userland is kept in sync

There are two main reasons: 1. net-tools is a completely separate project while iproute is closely related to the kernel. On FreeBSD, userland is kept in sync with kernel. 2. ifconfig output was parsed by programs and difficult to extend without breaking everything. iproute output is extensible and less likely to break programs. As a side node, net-tools development has resumed recently. Output of ifconfig has changed but not much else. https://sourceforge.net/p/net-tools/mailman/message/35509868/ https://sourceforge.net/p/net-tools/mailman/message/35509868...