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Date:      Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:04:26 -0800
From:      Freddie Cash <fjwcash@gmail.com>
To:        freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: FreeBSD has serious problems with focus, longevity, and lifecycle
Message-ID:  <CAOjFWZ5tgi4dc3uR--%2BetJ1osSmE0kZPpUMx87MdTaj2HjL_VQ@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <alpine.BSF.2.00.1112211415580.19710@kozubik.com>
References:  <alpine.BSF.2.00.1112211415580.19710@kozubik.com>

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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



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