The new style networking for OpenRC is very simplistic - provide a basic means of configuring static interface address and routes whilst allowing the possibility to run any command at any point.
In a nutshell, init.d/network is a wrapper around ifconfig(8) and init.d/staticroute is wrapper around route(8).
In the Perfect World (TM) ifconfig should be able to configure everything about the interface easily * . The BSD family almost get this right and Linux epically fails.
- Only static configuration, including link setup. For dynamic, static, IPv4LL, arping and per ssid IPv4 setup dhcpcd-5.x provides your needs.
It fails because there are many tools to do the same job and often have vastly different syntax where they could be similar. In other words, there is no coherence.
OpenRC-0.4.x and older (inc Gentoo baselayout-1) had a collection of scripts for each tool and allowed a script per interface. Over the years, this design has proven very hard to maintain as each user has their own idea of how things should work. Also, there were (and still are) race conditions.
So where do we go from here? Well, it's possible to use the new network scripts using the tools currently available. It's just harder as you have to know them and their documentation can be lacking at times. The correct end goal is a BSD style ifconfig tool. I've started work on it, but the project has stalled somewhat. It's display only right now and the source is not yet publicly available. If you have the skills and share the vision then contact me privately and we'll take it from there.