FreeBSD Security Officer
2007-Feb-01 23:23 UTC
[FreeBSD-Announce] Security Officer-supported branches update
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 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 4.11 and FreeBSD 6.0 have `expired' and are no longer supported effective February 1, 2007. Discussions concerning FreeBSD releases which are no longer supported should take place on the freebsd-eol@freebsd.org mailing list. This marks the end of support by the FreeBSD Security Team for the FreeBSD 4-STABLE branch, two years after FreeBSD 4.11-RELEASE and almost seven years after FreeBSD 4.0-RELEASE. For an explanation of the rationale behind the EoL of FreeBSD 4.11 (and the 4-STABLE branch), please see my earlier mailing list post on this subject: http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-security/2006-October/004111.html At this point, support for running software from the ports tree on FreeBSD 4.x is ceasing: Packages for binary installations will no longer be built for FreeBSD 4.11, building ports from source on FreeBSD 4.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 4.11 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_5 |n/a |n/a |n/a |May 31, 2008 | |-----------+------------+--------+----------------+-----------------| |RELENG_5_5 |5.5-RELEASE |Extended|May 25, 2006 |May 31, 2008 | |-----------+------------+--------+----------------+-----------------| |RELENG_6 |n/a |n/a |n/a |last release + 2y| |-----------+------------+--------+----------------+-----------------| |RELENG_6_1 |6.1-RELEASE |Extended|May 9, 2006 |May 31, 2008 | |-----------+------------+--------+----------------+-----------------| |RELENG_6_2 |6.2-RELEASE |Normal |January 15, 2007|January 31, 2008 | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ [End excerpt] Colin Percival FreeBSD Security Officer -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFFwmbSFdaIBMps37IRAgR4AJ9zXOq0HWZoi4s0WnLTmNid6E0PQwCfSrdZ YjuUnWhcU6W2NzW5jpFzWBQ=YQgc -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----