On Fri, Mar 16, 2007 at 01:31:33PM -0800, smith wrote: > OpenBSD developers add code and fix bugs using a program called CVS. CVS has > the ability to create branches like a tree. The main tree trunk is -current.
> After a certain amount of time, usually a couple of months before the release > date, a branch is created called 4.1. This branch is frozen, meaning that no > new features will go in but bugs will be fixed. When release date comes, > every six months, they take the 4.1 branch on that day and mark it as the > release. Then they make CD's from the release. Keep in mind that this > release day is not the same as the day it's released to the public because the > developers need time to create the cd's. From the 4.1 branch, fixes are added > whether they are bugs or reliability fixes; this is referred to as 4.1-stable. Heh. You mostly got it. One big difference: the branch is not created before the release. Rather, development slows down, the release is built, cd are prep'ped, and the tagging/branch is made at that point. > There are many fixes in 4.1-stable so only the important and critical ones > appear in the errata. Actually, there are not that many fixes in 4.1-stable, most of it shows it as errata for source, and new packages for ports. > -current is still the main tree trunk; this is the code > where developers "develop". Yep, most developers track -current, all the time. > 4.1-stable is where developers "maintain". Very important bug-fixes end up being backported to the branch, and usually to the previous release as well.