Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 23:19:08 -0800
+ From: "Murray Stokely" <murray@FreeBSD.org>
+ To: freebsd-announce@FreeBSD.org
+ Subject: FreeBSD &local.rel;-RELEASE is now available
I am happy to announce the availability of FreeBSD 4.9-RELEASE, the + latest release of the FreeBSD -STABLE development branch. Since + FreeBSD 4.8-RELEASE in April 2003, we have made conservative updates + to a number of software programs in the base system, dealt with + known security issues, and merged support for large memory i386 + machines with Page Address Extensions (PAE) from 5.1.
+ +For a complete list of new features and known problems, please see + the release notes and errata list, available here:
+ +http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/&local.rel;R/relnotes.html
+http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/&local.rel;R/errata.html
+ +This release does not include all of the new technologies that were + introduced with FreeBSD 5.1 in June. Most developer resources are + focused on improving the FreeBSD 5.X branch, and this may very well + be the last major release of FreeBSD 4.X. The security officer team + will continue to actively support the 4.X branch according to the + normal policy. Additional 4.9.X releases may be made available when + necessitated by security vulnerabilities or high-impact + bugfixes.
+ +We encourage all our users to evaluate FreeBSD 5.1 and the upcoming +5.2. Because PAE support has only been a feature in 4.X for a few +months, it has not received wide-spread testing, and our most +conservative users may wish to stay with FreeBSD 4.8 until they choose +to migrate to 5.X.
+ +For more information about the distinctions between FreeBSD 4.X and +5.X, or for general information about the FreeBSD release engineering +activities, please see :
+ +http://www.FreeBSD.org/releng/
+ +FreeBSD &local.rel;-RELEASE supports the i386 and alpha architectures and + can be installed directly over the net using the boot floppies or + copied to a local NFS/FTP server.
+ +Please continue to support the FreeBSD Project by purchasing media + from one of our supporting vendors. The following companies have + contributed substantially to the development of FreeBSD:
+ +| FreeBSD Mall, Inc. | +http://www.freebsdmall.com/ | +
| Daemon News | +http://www.bsdmall.com/freebsd1.html | +
Each CD or DVD set contains the FreeBSD installation and + application package bits for the i386 ("PC") architecture. For a set + of distfiles used to build ports in the ports collection, please see + the FreeBSD Toolkit, a 6 CD set containing extra bits which no + longer fit on the 4 CD set, or the DVD distribution.
+ +If you can't afford FreeBSD on media, or just want to use it for + evangelism purposes, then by all means download the ISO images. We + can't promise that all the mirror sites will carry the larger ISO + images, but they will at least be available from:
+ +FreeBSD is also available via anonymous FTP from mirror sites in + the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, + Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, + Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Korea, + Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, + Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, + Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine, and the United + Kingdom.
+ +Before trying the central FTP site, please check your regional + mirror(s) first by going to:
+ +ftp://ftp.<yourdomain>.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD
+ +Any additional mirror sites will be labeled ftp2, ftp3 and so + on.
+ +More information about FreeBSD mirror sites can be found at:
+ +http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors-ftp.html
+ +For instructions on installing FreeBSD, please see Chapter 2 of The + FreeBSD Handbook. It provides a complete installation walk-through + for users new to FreeBSD, and can be found online at:
+ +http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/install.html
+ +Many companies donated equipment, network access, or man-hours to + finance the release engineering activities for FreeBSD &local.rel; including + The FreeBSD Mall, Compaq, Yahoo!, Sentex Communications, and + NTT/Verio.
+ +In addition to myself, the release engineering team for + &local.rel;-RELEASE includes:
+ +| Scott Long <scottl@FreeBSD.org> | +Release Engineering | +
| Bruce Mah <bmah@FreeBSD.org> | +Release Engineering, Documentation | +
| Wilko Bulte <wilko@FreeBSD.org> | +Release Engineering, alpha builds | +
| Robert Watson <rwatson@FreeBSD.org> | +Release Engineering, Security | +
| John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org> | +Release Engineering | +
| Mike Silbersack <silby@silby.com> | +PAE Testing | +
| Luoqi Chen <luoqi@freebsd.org> | +PAE Merge | +
| Joe Marcus Clarke <marcus@FreeBSD.org> | +Packabe Building, GNOME | +
| Kris Kennaway <kris@FreeBSD.org> | +Package Building | +
| Will Andrews <will@FreeBSD.org> | +Package Building, KDE | +
Please join me in thanking them for all the hard work which went + into making this release. Many thanks are also due to the FreeBSD + committers (committers@FreeBSD.org), without whom there would be + nothing to release, and thousands of FreeBSD users world-wide who + have contributed bug fixes, features, and suggestions.
+ +Enjoy!
+ +Murray Stokely
+(For the FreeBSD Release Engineering Team)