[FreeBSD-Announce] FreeBSD 12.0 end-of-life

[Doug Hardie]

> On 16 May 2020, at 11:45, Polytropon <freebsd at edvax.de> wrote:
> 
> On Sat, 16 May 2020 12:07:30 -0600, @lbutlr wrote:
>> On 19 Feb 2020, at 01:52, Ottavio Caruso via freebsd-questions <freebsd-questions at freebsd.org> wrote:
>>> To a beginner and uninitiated like me, the way FreeBSD labels
>>> "stable", "release", "releng" and "current" is, at the very least,
>>> confusing.
>> 
>> It might be sensible to have a prominent note along the lines
>> of “If you are wondering what to run, -RELEASE is the answer.”
>> 
>> Because, really, anyone who wants stable or current should know
>> why they do.
> 
> And how.
> 
> 
> 
>> I agree the names are not the best. 
> 
> That is true; however there are historical reasons for the
> names, and their meaning is documented:
> 

I started using FreeBSD somewhere between 2.5 and 2.7 and I remember the confusion of those "labels".  Yes the information is there, but it's not obvious to the new user.  I was running production systems and the name "stable" seemed like the right one.  However, the descriptions made me think that perhaps that was not the right choice.  I finally settled on "release" but it was quite a difficult decision.  After many discussions on this mailing list, I finally understood the differences.  I still find the names misleading, but I can work with them.  I do feel for anyone new to FreeBSD trying to figure that out.  It might be "obvious" to those who know, but it's not for others.

-- Doug