> > On December 15, the NetBSD-current tree of NetBSD SUP/FTP server will
> > switch from NetBSD-1.5 release branch to main trunk, and the
> > NetBSD-release tree will switch from NetBSD-1.4 release branch to
> > NetBSD-1.5 release branch.
> > 
> > In other words, after December 15,
> > - if you SUP NetBSD-current, you will get NetBSD-1.5N (or something)
> > - if you SUP NetBSD-release, you will get NetBSD-1.5.1_ALPHA
> 
> How does one get the actual released version?

Please look at (or execute) sys/conf/osrelease.sh.

> I thought that if I used "release" that I would get 1.5 until 1.5.1
> is actually released and not get ALPHA and BETA versions.

Because bug fixes and improvements will be pulled up from main trunk
to NetBSD-1.5 release branch, the release branch (which is currently
available on NetBSD-current SUP collection) already switches
from 1.5 to 1.5.1_ALPHA.
And while tracking NetBSD-release SUP collection, you may get
NetBSD-1.5.1_ALPHA, NetBSD-1.5.1_BETA, and NetBSD-1.5.1-RELEASE.

> If I stick with "release" will I get 1.5.1 up to release when it switches
> to 1.5.2_ALPHA or will it stop there?

When 1.5.1 is released, NetBSD-release SUP collection will switch
to 1.5.2_ALPHA.
--
soda