[jdub]

Sure, and systemd would translate that directly into a dependency on network startup, which is precisely equivalent to the approach I mentioned that depends on operator knowledge. It's configuration, not "just works" inference.

[simoncion]

> Sure, and systemd would translate that directly into a dependency on network startup...

You'd think so, but the Github Issue linked by GP shows that the machinery is unreliable:

  In practice, adding `_netdev` does not always force systemd to [consider the mount unit a network mount], in some instances even showing *both* local and remote ordering. ... This can ultimately result in dependency cycles during shutdown which should not have been there - and were not there - when the units were first loaded.

> ...not "just works" inference.

Given that SystemD can't reliably handle explicit use of _netdev, I'd say it has no hope of reliably doing any sort of "just works" inference.

[jdub]

It's so refreshing to discover that the "I found one bug in systemd which invalidates everything" pattern continues in the year of our lord 2026.