On: Ask HN: Why does FreeBSD do Releases the way the do?

[ComradePhil]

> (a) there are 3 simultaneous production releases (13.0, 12.3, 12.2) - which seems confusing and lack of focus

Don't you mean 13.0, 12.2 and 11.4?

This is pretty common in other software too, isn't it? Ubuntu for example has 18.04 supported until 2023, 20.04 until 2025 and 22.04 (coming out soon) until 2027: https://ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle

Python has 4 supported versions: https://endoflife.date/python, and so does node: https://endoflife.date/nodejs.

[tiffanyh → ComradePhil]

> Don't you mean 13.0, 12.2 and 11.4?

Directly from freebsd.org front page, "Production: 13.0, 12.3, 12.2"

But to your point, it seems like FreeBSD could eliminate a branch since what equates to the "LTS" gets confusing due to the version methodology [0] in use.

Instead of the current flow of:

  CURRENT > STABLE > BETA* > RC* > RELEASE

Maybe a more approach version methodology would be:

  STABLE (stable major release) > CURRENT (testing minor release) > RELEASE (stable minor release)

                                   ^                                          | 
                                   |------------------------------------------

[0] https://www.freebsd.org/security/#sup

[toast0 → ComradePhil]

> Don't you mean 13.0, 12.2 and 11.4?

11.4 (and with it, the 11 major release) went out of support on September 30, 2021

12.2 will go out of support on March 31, 2022

Then it'll only be 13.0 and 12.2 supported; but 13.1 is expected to release in late April, and we'll have 13.1, 13.0, and 12.2.