They actually are accessible as a file interface: ls /sys/class/net You can't read and write packets via the interface, but there are configuration knobs an

They actually are accessible as a file interface: ls /sys/class/net You can't read and write packets via the interface, but there are configuration knobs and statistics you can access. I think it's quite messy and inconsistent that some network interface attributes are only in sysfs, and others are only accessible via AF_NETLINK (usually via the "ip" tool). But it's there.