[FreeBSD-Announce] FreeBSD supported branches update

[FreeBSD Security Officer]

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Hello Everyone,

The branches supported by the FreeBSD Security Officer have been updated
to reflect the EoL (end-of-life) of FreeBSD 7.0.  The new list is below
and at <URL: http://security.freebsd.org/ >.  Please note that FreeBSD
7.0 was originally announced with an EoL date of February 28, 2009, but
the EoL was delayed by two months in order to allow a 3 month window for
systems to be upgraded to FreeBSD 7.1.

Users of FreeBSD 7.0 are advised to upgrade promptly to FreeBSD 7.1,
either by downloading an updated source tree and building updates manually,
or (for i386 and amd64 systems) using the FreeBSD Update utility as
described in the FreeBSD 7.1 release announcement.  Some users may wish to
wait for the upcoming FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE; however, they should be aware
that FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE will only receive "normal" support (i.e., support
for 12 months) and consequently it will not be supported for as long as
FreeBSD 7.1.

[Excerpt from http://security.freebsd.org/ follows]

FreeBSD Security Advisories

~   The FreeBSD Security Officer provides security advisories for
~   several branches of FreeBSD development. These are the -STABLE
~   Branches and the Security Branches. (Advisories are not issued for
~   the -CURRENT Branch.)

~     * The -STABLE branch tags have names like RELENG_7. The
~       corresponding builds have names like FreeBSD 7.0-STABLE.

~     * Each FreeBSD Release has an associated Security Branch. The
~       Security Branch tags have names like RELENG_7_0. The
~       corresponding builds have names like FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE-p1.

~   Isses affecting the FreeBSD Ports Collection are covered in the
~   FreeBSD VuXML document.

~   Each branch is supported by the Security Officer for a limited
~   time only, and is designated as one of `Early adopter', `Normal',
~   or `Extended'.  The designation is used as a guideline for
~   determining the lifetime of the branch as follows.

~   Early adopter
~       Releases which are published from the -CURRENT branch will be
~       supported by the Security Officer for a minimum of 6 months
~       after the release.

~   Normal
~       Releases which are published from a -STABLE branch will be
~       supported by the Security Officer for a minimum of 12 months
~       after the release, and for sufficient additional time (if
~       needed) to ensure that there is a newer release for at least
~       3 months before the older Normal release expires.

~   Extended
~       Selected releases (normally every second release plus the last
~       release from each -STABLE branch) will be supported by the
~       Security Officer for a minimum of 24 months after the release,
~       and for sufficient additional time (if needed) to ensure that
~       there is a newer Extended release for at least 3 months before
~       the older Extended release expires.

~   The current designation and estimated lifetimes of the currently
~   supported branches are given below.  The Estimated EoL (end-of-life)
~   column gives the earliest date on which that branch is likely to be
~   dropped.  Please note that these dates may be extended into the
~   future, but only extenuating circumstances would lead to a branch's
~   support being dropped earlier than the date listed.

~   +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
~   |  Branch   |  Release  |  Type  |  Release date   |  Estimated EoL  |
~   |-----------+-----------+--------+-----------------+-----------------|
~   |RELENG_6   |n/a        |n/a     |n/a              |November 30, 2010|
~   |-----------+-----------+--------+-----------------+-----------------|
~   |RELENG_6_3 |6.3-RELEASE|Extended|January 18, 2008 |January 31, 2010 |
~   |-----------+-----------+--------+-----------------+-----------------|
~   |RELENG_6_4 |6.4-RELEASE|Extended|November 28, 2008|November 30, 2010|
~   |-----------+-----------+--------+-----------------+-----------------|
~   |RELENG_7   |n/a        |n/a     |n/a              |last release + 2y|
~   |-----------+-----------+--------+-----------------+-----------------|
~   |RELENG_7_1 |7.1-RELEASE|Extended|January 4, 2009  |January 31, 2011 |
~   +--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[End excerpt]

- --
Colin Percival
Security Officer, FreeBSD | freebsd.org | The power to serve
Founder / author, Tarsnap | tarsnap.com | Online backups for the truly paranoid
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