diff --git a/sbin/ifconfig/ifconfig.c b/sbin/ifconfig/ifconfig.c
index 7af3306d68f8..aa9617557225 100644
--- a/sbin/ifconfig/ifconfig.c
+++ b/sbin/ifconfig/ifconfig.c
@@ -922,19 +922,20 @@ status(const struct afswtch *afp, const struct sockaddr_dl *sdl,
 			ifr.ifr_buffer.buffer = descr;
 			ifr.ifr_buffer.length = descrlen;
 			if (ioctl(s, SIOCGIFDESCR, &ifr) == 0) {
-				if (strlen(descr) > 0)
-					printf("\tdescription: %s\n", descr);
-				break;
-			} else if (errno == ENAMETOOLONG)
-				descrlen = ifr.ifr_buffer.length;
-			else
-				break;
-		} else {
+				if (ifr.ifr_buffer.buffer == descr) {
+					if (strlen(descr) > 0)
+						printf("\tdescription: %s\n",
+						    descr);
+				} else if (ifr.ifr_buffer.length > descrlen) {
+					descrlen = ifr.ifr_buffer.length;
+					continue;
+				}
+			}
+		} else
 			warn("unable to allocate memory for interface"
 			    "description");
-			break;
-		}
-	};
+		break;
+	}
 
 	if (ioctl(s, SIOCGIFCAP, (caddr_t)&ifr) == 0) {
 		if (ifr.ifr_curcap != 0) {
diff --git a/share/man/man4/netintro.4 b/share/man/man4/netintro.4
index 348a13e68fd8..3e9894017777 100644
--- a/share/man/man4/netintro.4
+++ b/share/man/man4/netintro.4
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 .\"     @(#)netintro.4	8.2 (Berkeley) 11/30/93
 .\" $FreeBSD$
 .\"
-.Dd January 26, 2010
+.Dd April 14, 2010
 .Dt NETINTRO 4
 .Os
 .Sh NAME
@@ -292,8 +292,11 @@ field of
 struct passed in as parameter, and the length would include
 the terminating nul character.
 If there is not enough space to hold the interface length,
-no copy would be done and an
-error would be returned.
+no copy would be done and the
+.Va buffer
+field of
+.Va ifru_buffer
+would be set to NULL.
 The kernel will store the buffer length in the
 .Va length
 field upon return, regardless whether the buffer itself is
diff --git a/sys/net/if.c b/sys/net/if.c
index e4a200549636..98c8afa4a2b9 100644
--- a/sys/net/if.c
+++ b/sys/net/if.c
@@ -2049,14 +2049,13 @@ ifhwioctl(u_long cmd, struct ifnet *ifp, caddr_t data, struct thread *td)
 	case SIOCGIFDESCR:
 		error = 0;
 		sx_slock(&ifdescr_sx);
-		if (ifp->if_description == NULL) {
-			ifr->ifr_buffer.length = 0;
+		if (ifp->if_description == NULL)
 			error = ENOMSG;
-		} else {
+		else {
 			/* space for terminating nul */
 			descrlen = strlen(ifp->if_description) + 1;
 			if (ifr->ifr_buffer.length < descrlen)
-				error = ENAMETOOLONG;
+				ifr->ifr_buffer.buffer = NULL;
 			else
 				error = copyout(ifp->if_description,
 				    ifr->ifr_buffer.buffer, descrlen);