diff --git a/package/ifupdown-scripts/ifupdown-scripts.mk b/package/ifupdown-scripts/ifupdown-scripts.mk
index 16fef783dd..8a2337e46b 100644
--- a/package/ifupdown-scripts/ifupdown-scripts.mk
+++ b/package/ifupdown-scripts/ifupdown-scripts.mk
@@ -4,13 +4,17 @@
 #
 ################################################################################
 
+define IFUPDOWN_SCRIPTS_PREAMBLE
+	echo "# interface file auto-generated by buildroot" \
+		> $(TARGET_DIR)/etc/network/interfaces
+endef
+
 define IFUPDOWN_SCRIPTS_LOCALHOST
 	( \
-		echo "# interface file auto-generated by buildroot"; \
 		echo ; \
 		echo "auto lo"; \
 		echo "iface lo inet loopback"; \
-	) > $(TARGET_DIR)/etc/network/interfaces
+	) >> $(TARGET_DIR)/etc/network/interfaces
 endef
 
 IFUPDOWN_SCRIPTS_DHCP_IFACE = $(call qstrip,$(BR2_SYSTEM_DHCP))
@@ -37,6 +41,7 @@ endef
 define IFUPDOWN_SCRIPTS_INSTALL_INIT_SYSV
 	$(INSTALL) -D -m 0755 $(IFUPDOWN_SCRIPTS_PKGDIR)/S40network \
 		$(TARGET_DIR)/etc/init.d/S40network
+	$(IFUPDOWN_SCRIPTS_PREAMBLE)
 	$(IFUPDOWN_SCRIPTS_LOCALHOST)
 	$(IFUPDOWN_SCRIPTS_DHCP)
 endef
@@ -47,6 +52,7 @@ endef
 define IFUPDOWN_SCRIPTS_INSTALL_INIT_SYSTEMD
 	$(INSTALL) -D -m 644 $(IFUPDOWN_SCRIPTS_PKGDIR)/network.service \
 		$(TARGET_DIR)/etc/systemd/system/network.service
+	$(IFUPDOWN_SCRIPTS_PREAMBLE)
 	$(IFUPDOWN_SCRIPTS_LOCALHOST)
 	$(IFUPDOWN_SCRIPTS_DHCP)
 endef