From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Dec 3 22:06:10 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5A8FA1065679 for ; Fri, 3 Dec 2010 22:06:10 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx02.qsc.de (mx02.qsc.de [213.148.130.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1B91C8FC22 for ; Fri, 3 Dec 2010 22:06:09 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r55.edvax.de (port-92-195-8-222.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.8.222]) by mx02.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id 91A371E9EB; Fri, 3 Dec 2010 23:06:08 +0100 (CET) Received: from r55.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r55.edvax.de (8.14.2/8.14.2) with SMTP id oB3M67Si003322; Fri, 3 Dec 2010 23:06:08 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2010 23:06:07 +0100 From: Polytropon To: JB Message-Id: <20101203230607.8c46bb1d.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: References: <20101203194605.068da7e8.freebsd@edvax.de> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.4.7 (GTK+ 2.12.1; i386-portbld-freebsd7.0) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: RELEASE vice CURRENT vice STABLE X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2010 22:06:10 -0000 On Fri, 3 Dec 2010 21:26:23 +0000 (UTC), JB wrote: > In case of FreeBSD, it seems (visually) that there is some mainline > CURRENT branch repository since FreeBSD 1.0 time, from which major > branches are started in parallel (right now there are 8.2-CURRENT > and 9.0-CURRENT developed, if I am correct), and they end their own > life so to speak, without affecting other major branches; but there > were periods of sequential dvelopments as well, e.g. 5.0 thru 5.2. > So, this is the overview, as I see it. > > But, if my interpretation above is correct, then the question > arises at what time at least some of the changes (not all, because > some may be confined to individual branches only) from major and > their subsequent minor branches are contributed back to > the mainline CURRENT branch, so next major branches can start and > build upon some common base in an organized manner ? Basically, this is corret. There are often two branches, aiming toward the "production release" and a "legacy release", are developed in parallel. Let me give an example from 4.x and 5.0 at the same time. Technology requiring the 5 kernel infrastructure did not make the way back to the 4.x branch, but many other things got backported. At the time a legacy release and the current release are supported, development takes place in both branches to make sure the legacy release receives the valid security updates during the support period. This may cause sub-branches to appear during the support time period. http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/share/misc/bsd-family-tree?rev=1.141;content-type=text%2Fplain The current diagram shows that there is development for the upcoming release 9.0, as well as development for the current release branch 8 (with 8.2 expected) and also 7.3, the last release of the branch 7, the legacy branch. Those individual branches do exist for some time, but as a release branch is out of support, the development for this branch is stopped, it won't continue. -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...