Security Officer-supported branches update

[Jacques A. Vidrine]

Hello Everyone,

The branches supported by the FreeBSD Security Officer have been
updated to reflect recent EoL (end-of-life) events.  The new list is
below and at <URL: http://www.freebsd.org/security/ >.  FreeBSD 4.8
has `expired' and is no longer supported effective April 1, 2005.  Also
note that FreeBSD 4.9 ceased to be supported on November 1, 2004.

If you are running FreeBSD 4.8 or FreeBSD 4.9, it is recommended that
you upgrade to FreeBSD 4.10 or FreeBSD 4.11.

[Excerpt from http://www.freebsd.org/security/ 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.)

     * There is usually only a single -STABLE branch, although during
       the transition from one major development line to another
       (such as from FreeBSD 4.x to 5.x), there is a time span in
       which there are two -STABLE branches. The -STABLE branch tags
       have names like RELENG_4. The corresponding builds have names
       like FreeBSD 4.10-STABLE.

     * Each FreeBSD Release has an associated Security Branch. The
       Security Branch tags have names like RELENG_4_10. The
       corresponding builds have names like FreeBSD 4.10-RELEASE-p5.

   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 the -STABLE branch will be
       supported by the Security Officer for a minimum of 12 months
       after the release.

   Extended
       Selected releases will be supported by the Security Officer
       for a minimum of 24 months after the release.

   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_4   |n/a         |n/a     |n/a             |January 31,2007 |
   |-----------+------------+--------+----------------+----------------|
   |RELENG_4_10|4.10-RELEASE|Extended|May 27, 2004    |May 31, 2006    |
   |-----------+------------+--------+----------------+----------------|
   |RELENG_4_11|4.11-RELEASE|Extended|January 25, 2005|January 31, 2007|
   |-----------+------------+--------+----------------+----------------|
   |RELENG_5   |n/a         |n/a     |n/a             |October 31, 2006|
   |-----------+------------+--------+----------------+----------------|
   |RELENG_5_3 |5.3-RELEASE |Extended|November 6, 2004|October 31, 2006|
   +-------------------------------------------------------------------+

   Older releases are not maintained and users are strongly
   encouraged to upgrade to one of the supported releases mentioned
   above.

[End excerpt]
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