ifup(8)

💅 ifup(8) — the System Manager's Manual, but make it make sense ✨

okay so bestie, quick vibe check: this is the manual page for ifup, living in section 8 of the System Manager's Manual. it's the little gremlin that brings your network interfaces up. let's get into it 🫶

---

🌸 NAME 🌸

ifup — bring interfaces up. that's it, that's the whole job. main character energy fr 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

ifup [<options>...] <interfaces>

you pass it some options (maybe), and then the interfaces you want to wake up. iconic.

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

ifup is the one that actually configures interfaces, okay? and it does it according to how they are configured in the configuration database — so it's not out here improvising, it's reading the config db and following instructions like a good little soldier. periodt 💜

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -a, --auto — only matches interfaces that are marked as auto. like, only the ones who volunteered 💖
• -f, --force — forces configuration of the interface. ngl this option literally exists for compatibility with other implementations, so it's giving "i'm here because my friends are here" 😭
• -h, --help — displays supported options to ifquery. yep, that's what it says. not to ifup, to ifquery. we don't make the rules, we just report them 🙈
• -i, --interfaces FILE — uses FILE as the config database. your config, your rules ✨
• -n, --no-act — shows you what commands would be run instead of actually running them. lowkey the best option for testing configuration changes without the consequences 💀 super useful, no cap.
• -v, --verbose — shows you what commands are being run as they're being executed. narrating the whole thing, love that for us 🌈
• -E, --executor-path PATH — looks for executors in the given PATH. go find your people, bestie 🧚
• -I, --include PATTERN — includes PATTERN when matching against the config or state database 🍓
• -L, --no-lock — does not use a lockfile to serialize state changes. highkey risky if you've got stuff running at the same time, just so you know 👀
• -S, --state-file FILE — uses FILE as the state database 💖
• -T, --timeout TIMEOUT — waits up to TIMEOUT seconds for executors to complete before raising an error. patience is a virtue but it's also finite ⏳🔥
• -V, --version — prints the ifupdown-ng version and exits. bye bestie 👋
• -X, --exclude PATTERN — excludes PATTERN when matching against the config or state database. not you, not you, definitely not you 🙅‍♀️

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

ifupdown-ng.conf(5) · ifdown(8) · ifquery(8) · interfaces(5)

go read those too, they're literally the rest of the lore 📚✨

💜 AUTHORS 💜

Ariadne Conill <ariadne@dereferenced.org> — an absolute icon, we stan 🌟

---

ok that's the whole page, no cap. every flag, every default, every path, all of it. you're welcome 💅

and a cute little sign-off for the footer bestie: this one's from the System Manager's Manual, dated 2026-05-10, and yes — that's the source/version and date, preserved with love 🎀💖 slay.