[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 recent EoL (end-of-life) events.  The new list is below and
at <URL: http://security.freebsd.org/ >.  FreeBSD 5.5, FreeBSD 6.1, and
FreeBSD 6.2 have `expired' and are no longer supported effective June 1,
2008.  Users of these releases are advised to upgrade promptly to FreeBSD
6.3 or FreeBSD 7.0, 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 6.3 and FreeBSD 7.0
release announcements.

This marks the end of support by the FreeBSD Security Team for the
FreeBSD 5-STABLE branch, and at this time support for running software
from the ports tree on FreeBSD 5.x is also ceasing:  Packages for binary
installations will no longer be built for FreeBSD 5.5, building ports
from source on FreeBSD 5.x will no longer be supported, and the ports
INDEX will no longer be built and made available via portsnap or the
'make fetchindex' target.  Patches for individual ports specific for
their functioning on FreeBSD 5.5 may still be accepted at the discretion
of the port maintainer.

[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.)

     * There is usually only a single -STABLE branch, although during
       the transition from one major development line to another
       (such as from FreeBSD 5.x to 6.x), there is a time span in
       which there are two -STABLE branches. The -STABLE branch tags
       have names like RELENG_6. The corresponding builds have names
       like FreeBSD 6.1-STABLE.

     * Each FreeBSD Release has an associated Security Branch. The
       Security Branch tags have names like RELENG_6_1. The
       corresponding builds have names like FreeBSD 6.1-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.

   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_6   |n/a        |n/a     |n/a              |January 31, 2010 |
   |-----------+-----------+--------+-----------------+-----------------|
   |RELENG_6_3 |6.3-RELEASE|Extended|January 18, 2008 |January 31, 2010 |
   |-----------+-----------+--------+-----------------+-----------------|
   |RELENG_7   |n/a        |n/a     |n/a              |last release + 2y|
   |-----------+-----------+--------+-----------------+-----------------|
   |RELENG_7_0 |7.0-RELEASE|Normal  |February 27, 2008|February 28, 2009|
   +--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[End excerpt]

Colin Percival
FreeBSD Security Officer
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