The summary is: ifconfig output format does not support new networking features ...

qznc on May 25, 2018 | parent | context | favorite | on: There are real reasons for Linux to replace ifconf...

The summary is: ifconfig output format does not support new networking features like IP aliases[0]. Changing the output format would break many scripts, so ifconfig will not be changed.

[0] It does support "interface aliases" and that seems to be something different

yellowapple on May 25, 2018 [–]

Removing ifconfig (the implied end-goal of deprecating it) would also break many scripts.