ifstate(5)

📦
version 0.13.0 · 7 versions
, in alpine 3.24

💅 ifstate(5) — the interface state database

ok so bestie, quick vibe check: this page lives in section 5 of the manual — File Formats Manual — and it's all about /run/ifstate, the literal glow-up journal of your network interfaces ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

/run/ifstate — interface state database

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

The /run/ifstate file is basically the receipts for the present state of your interface configuration. Like, it keeps track of three things, and yes they're all icon behavior:

  • how many interfaces are up 🔥
  • how many dependencies each interface has which are up (this is the refcount, iykyk)
  • whether or not an interface was explicitly brought up — either because someone requested it or because of configuration

🎀 FILE SYNTAX 🎀

At a minimum, the /run/ifstate file contains at least one column: the physical to logical interface mapping. It's formatted like this, no cap:

lo=lo
eth0=eth0
wlan0=work

The left side of the mapping is the physical interface, and the right side is the logical interface. This field is required to be present — it's the main character, fr fr.

The next field is the reference count. It's a number that reflects the number of active dependencies an interface has. As interfaces are brought up and down, the refcount may change. This field is optional 🫶

The final field denotes whether or not an interface was brought up explicitly — either by being marked as auto or brought up manually using ifup(8). The contents of this field, if present, is the explicit keyword 💅

⭐ EXAMPLES ⭐

Here's an example from a typical system with localhost, eth0 and a wireguard VPN — she ate:

lo=lo 1 explicit
eth0=eth0 2 explicit
wg0=wg0 1 explicit

🧚 SEE ALSO 🧚

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Ariadne Conill <ariadne@dereferenced.org>

ok that's the whole page, you're officially fluent in ifstate 💖 this was the ifstate(5) page, dated 2026-05-10 — go forth and slay your network config bestie 🦋✨🎀

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