network options

[Tom Allison <tallison@tacocat.net>]

I found this in my /etc/network/options

ip_forward=no
spoofprotect=yes
syncookies=no


Can someone explain how this is used for the iptables configurations and 
for setting /proc/sys/net/ipv4/... options?

I am also interesting in knowing if I can replace:

echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts

with something like this in the /etc/network/options:
icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts=yes