diff --git a/libifupdown/interface.c b/libifupdown/interface.c
index fe9acea..4f348dc 100644
--- a/libifupdown/interface.c
+++ b/libifupdown/interface.c
@@ -63,7 +63,11 @@ lif_interface_init(struct lif_interface *interface, const char *ifname)
 
 	interface->ifname = strdup(ifname);
 
-	lif_interface_use_executor(interface, strchr(ifname, '.') == NULL ? "link" : "vlan");
+	lif_interface_use_executor(interface, "link");
+
+	/* keep the 'vlan' executor as a config hint for backwards compatibility */
+	if (strchr(ifname, '.') != NULL)
+		lif_interface_use_executor(interface, "vlan");
 }
 
 bool
diff --git a/tests/ifquery_test b/tests/ifquery_test
index a53c22c..26c0c6f 100755
--- a/tests/ifquery_test
+++ b/tests/ifquery_test
@@ -30,7 +30,9 @@ tests_init \
 	tunnel_legacy_rewrite \
 	tunnel_ifupdown2_dependency \
 	tunnel_ifupdown2_rewrite \
-	gre_dependency
+	gre_dependency \
+	vlan_explicit_learned_dependency \
+	vlan_guessed_learned_dependency
 
 noargs_body() {
 	atf_check -s exit:1 -e ignore ifquery -S/dev/null
@@ -192,3 +194,15 @@ gre_dependency_body() {
 	atf_check -s exit:0 -o match:"requires eth0" \
 		ifquery -E $EXECUTORS_LINUX -i $FIXTURES/gre.interfaces tun0
 }
+
+vlan_explicit_learned_dependency_body() {
+	atf_check -s exit:0 -o match:"requires eth0" \
+		-o match:"use vlan" \
+		ifquery -E $EXECUTORS_LINUX -i $FIXTURES/vlan-named.interfaces servers
+}
+
+vlan_guessed_learned_dependency_body() {
+	atf_check -s exit:0 -o match:"requires eth0" \
+		-o match:"use vlan" \
+		ifquery -E $EXECUTORS_LINUX -i $FIXTURES/vlan.interfaces eth0.8
+}