From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jan 17 06:27:50 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 064A4106566C for ; Tue, 17 Jan 2012 06:27:50 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from fjwcash@gmail.com) Received: from mail-vw0-f54.google.com (mail-vw0-f54.google.com [209.85.212.54]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B34268FC08 for ; Tue, 17 Jan 2012 06:27:49 +0000 (UTC) Received: by vbbey12 with SMTP id ey12so1348706vbb.13 for ; Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:27:49 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :content-type; bh=eyjBiFes96GkKVmFub2JwGgIxzJ7jH9y3piN5rjvBh0=; b=hqcbxNgD8G8gF2uNezeLZaT6lT62fKdk4u9ISEinl/2RP58gXhMg4c3WNLFxMRYg5G V5J/LJzWaDh1bG46G+Pu2oQ86/wczwem9dWSn7x+hxw+dBh/YbtlS57jfNFDWb7w+RVl 0bpkr7oL9I1lO5Me30aJtuDG8LckzHR8qHsO8= MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.52.91.17 with SMTP id ca17mr7502126vdb.56.1326780267014; Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:04:27 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.220.191.130 with HTTP; Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:04:26 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.220.191.130 with HTTP; Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:04:26 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: References: Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:04:26 -0800 Message-ID: From: Freddie Cash To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Subject: Re: FreeBSD has serious problems with focus, longevity, and lifecycle X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 06:27:50 -0000 Just a note before everyone goes off on wonderful things were with FreeBSD 4.x going all the way to 4.11: 4.x is an anomoly in the history of FreeBSD major versions, being the only release with more than 4? 5? minor releases. There were only a couple minor versions of 1.x; there were only a couple of minor versions of 2.x; there were only a couple minor versions of 3.x; and so on through to 8.x. IOW, the 'glory days before 5.0' is really no different than the days since 5.0. Looking at the complete history of FreeBSD releases, 4.x is the outlier that needs to be discarded for the stats to make sense. (Or something like that, I've failed stats 3 times now.) :) When I started with FreeBSD, there were two production releases available: 2.2.something and 3.1. They even came in the same box set from Walnut Creek? Forget where I ordered them online now. Shortly after, 4.0 was released, but 3.x was stil developped. The only difference between pre-5 and post-5 is the switch from feature-based releases that could take years to develop, to time-based releases that ship at mostly-regular times, with whatever features are ready. The latter is actually more useful, as you can plan ahead of time as you know the general timeframes between major versions. So, let's keep a little perspective in the discussion, and not ignore the past history of FreeBSD releases. Cheers, Freddie