[fbsd] HEADS UP: FreeBSD 5.3, 5.4, 6.0 EoLs coming soon

[Dominic Marks]

>
> IMHO, The FreeBSD Project should have some mechanism for
> recognizing the fact that in some cases (especially embedded
> systems and slower hardware) a really good, solid older
> implementation is the right choice and is worth maintaining. (And
> that's no April Fool's Day joke.) To do this doesn't constitute a
> "fork" and is of enough value to warrant a bit of developer time
> (though obviously different developers will take different amounts
> of interest in maintaining "classic" releases).
>

If enough people want 4.x to continue being supported they should put
up their hands and find a company willing to back it. You can't ask
developers to spend time on a specific thing, as has been discussed,
but it sounds to me like a lot of people are running Business
applications on 4.x and are quite happy as they are.

Now you just have to find some one/some company which you can pay for
this pleasure. Sadly I have neither the time or sufficient skills to
do this, but I might if I did.

In an ideal world paying for 'long life' support of 4.x might even
fund developers to work on 6 and 7.

Dominic