FreeBSD FreeBSD supported branches update

[J65nko]

From http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/f...er/005728.html

Hello Everyone,

The branches supported by the FreeBSD Security Officer have been updated to
reflect the EoL (end-of-life) of FreeBSD 6.4 and FreeBSD 8.0. Since FreeBSD
6.4 was the last remaining supported release from the FreeBSD 6.x stable
branch, support for the FreeBSD 6.x stable branch has also ended. The new
list of supported branches is below and at < http://security.freebsd.org/ >.

The current supported branches and expected EoL dates are:

   +---------------------------------------------------------------------+
   |  Branch   |  Release   |  Type  |   Release date  |  Estimated EoL  |
   |-----------+------------+--------+-----------------+-----------------|
   |RELENG_7   |n/a         |n/a     |n/a              |last release + 2y|
   |-----------+------------+--------+-----------------+-----------------|
   |RELENG_7_1 |7.1-RELEASE |Extended|January 4, 2009  |January 31, 2011 |
   |-----------+------------+--------+-----------------+-----------------|
   |RELENG_7_3 |7.3-RELEASE |Extended|March 23, 2010   |March 31, 2012   |
   |-----------+------------+--------+-----------------+-----------------|
   |RELENG_7_4 |7.4-RELEASE |Extended|not yet          |release + 2 years|
   |-----------+------------+--------+-----------------+-----------------|
   |RELENG_8   |n/a         |n/a     |n/a              |last release + 2y|
   |-----------+------------+--------+-----------------+-----------------|
   |RELENG_8_1 |8.1-RELEASE |Extended|July 23, 2010    |July 31, 2012    |
   |-----------+------------+--------+-----------------+-----------------|
   |RELENG_8_2 |8.2-RELEASE |Normal  |not yet          |release + 1 year |
   +---------------------------------------------------------------------+

[hansivers]

Just a quick question : why the 7.4 RELEASE is expected to have an EXTENDED status? Usually, only impair number releases have this status? Is it because the 7.4 release is planned to be the last 7.x release?

[phoenix]

The unofficial "pattern" tends to be:

• X.0 normal support term
• X.1 extended support term
• X.2 normal support term
• X.3 extended support term
• X.last-release extended support term

Thus, if X.3 is the last release, it's an extended support release.
If there's an X.4, that is usually the final release, so it's an extended release.

These days (since 5.0) it's rare to get more than 4 minor releases.