>>>Would you prefer freshclam/ClamAV crash/corrupt memory when loading the
new databases with >980 byte lines?

If it was impossible to support new functionality with a database compatible 
with ClamAV <=0.94, then the database should have forked -- two sets of 
databases generated by the automated database build process, one containing 
only signatures compatible with ClamAV <=0.94, and the other containing all 
available signatures, and the database update infrastructure should have been 
enhanced to be smart enough to know how to download the correct database for 
the installed ClamAV version.

>>>The initial announcement about this was 6 month ago.
If a 6 month window to upgrade is not enough, what would be?

I'd say that obsoleting and remotely disabling mission-critical software that 
is less than two years old is unreasonable whether the software is commercial 
or OSS, and I'd say that doing so with anything less than a 1-year lead time is 
also unreasonable.

In comparison, Symantec says (see 
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/Symantec_Support_Policy.pdf), "We 
generally provide Support Services for each 'Major Release' of Licensed 
Software for a period of up to seven (7) years from the date it first became 
GA."

While seven years may be excessive for an OSS project, whose resources are 
obviously far more limited than those of a large corporation, I really think 
what was done here was excessive in the other direction.

Not to mention that y'all really need to put some thought into your version 
numbering.  A major incompatible change like this warrants a major version 
bump, and yet despite the fact that ClamAV has been in use by many sites in 
production for years and years and you've introduced many major changes during 
that time, you're still not even at version 1.0.  There's something wrong there.

  jik
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