ifconfig output: ipv4 netmask format

[Warner Losh]

On Apr 8, 2011, at 6:08 AM, Sergey Vinogradov wrote:

> Hi, hackers.
> I have a question: why ipv4 netmask is displayed by ifconfig in hex format? Isn't dot-decimal notation more human-readable? Will the attached patch break something in the very bad way?

This is a gratuitous change that would break scripts.  Hex has been used for a very long time, and most people know how to cope.

If we really wanted to make it human readable, we'd output 10.2.3.4/24

Warner