file version and libmagic

[b. f.]

>Why do FreeBSD-9 use still file-5.3 ?  whereas file-5.09 was ready to use with updated >magic databases (was ready FreeBSD9 release date).  Do you know why FreeBSD insist >to use old magic databases ?

FreeBSD doesn't "insist" on the use of old versions of file -- it is
just that no committer imported the new version into the base system
during the time that FreeBSD 9.0 was being developed and tested.
(This may have been partly influenced by the discovery of several
security problems in newer versions of file, but it is more likely
that the committer that usually maintains file in the base system was
simply preoccupied with other matters.)  You could have requested an
import during that time, if you were interested.

file 5.11 was recently imported into -CURRENT and 9-STABLE, so it
should be in the next 9-* and 10-* releases.  In the meantime, you may
use ports/sysutils/file from FreeBSD Ports.

Incidentally, it is more appropriate to send an inquiry of this kind
to the freebsd-stable mailing list, rather than to freebsd-hackers.

b.