-verbose-message "pl_netinit: attempting to start networking"
-/sbin/service network start
-
-# for backwards compatibility
-/sbin/ifconfig $ETH_DEVICE > $IFCONFIG_OUTPUT
+# my understanding is this is used to upload to MyPLC
+# details like mac addresses and the like
+# for backwards compatibility, in a best-effort manner,
+# we try and compensate for the disappearance of ifconfig
+( /sbin/ifconfig $ETH_DEVICE || ip address show $ETH_DEVICE ) > $IFCONFIG_OUTPUT