FreeBSD supported versions (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Wright, Jonathon Mr CTR US USA USARPAC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: FOUO

Agreed, 

Just thought it never hurt to ask. You never know. 
Thanks again for the support. 

Jonathon



Jonathon Wright   CISSP, MSIS, SSCP, BSIT
RCERT PACIFIC - Architecture Cell
Contractor, Quantum Research 
(808) 438-1094


-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel Staal [mailto:DStaal at usa.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2011 3:21 PM
To: Wright, Jonathon Mr CTR US USA USARPAC; 'freebsd-questions at FreeBSD.org'
Subject: Re: FreeBSD supported versions (UNCLASSIFIED)

--As of August 10, 2011 1:26:10 PM -1000, Wright, Jonathon Mr CTR US USA USARPAC is alleged to have said:

> How do I know as an admin of my FreeBSD server that the version I am 
> running is supported via automated fashion? I'm trying to find a way 
> to do this through a script of sorts so that when the date comes, I'm 
> alerted that I need to upgrade.
>
> For example on this link: http://www.freebsd.org/security/#sup
> It has a table with dates / versions.
> How can I query this through the ports tree / or other means?

--As for the rest, it is mine.

I don't think there is an automated way to do this.  Like most OSes, end of life for a particular version is announced ahead of time, and when it occurs, through mailing lists and the media, but there aren't any automatic checks.  You can check if there are current patches for your current version, but the lack of patches doesn't mean that there necessarily won't be some at some future time.

(I actually can't think of _any_ OS that has support for an 'automated' 
check of this sort, besides possibly scraping a web page, which you could do with FreeBSD if you wanted.)

Daniel T. Staal

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Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: FOUO