Re. http://mail-index.netbsd.org/netbsd-users/2003/02/20/0007.html

(This comes up from time to time, but I'm too lazy to find the FAQ
for it.  I'm posting publicly to help avoid duplicate answers being
sent to Lubos.  I haven't seen any sign of a public reply, yet.)


The short answer is that you probably want the login from any of
1.5, 1.5.1, 1.5.2, or 1.5.3.


1.5R is *not* a release.  That is a fairly advanced version of
NetBSD-current between 1.5 and 1.6.  As others my have told you in
private email, NetBSD-current from the 1.5 days is what became 1.6 (after
enough evolution and stabilization).  -current is given a version number
by the major release that it branches from, followed by an "increasing"
letter code (A, B, C, ...).

NetBSD-current from today is what will become either 1.7 or 2.0.
(Last I heard, no one had decided on the version number to come after
1.6.)

Basically, -current runs on a free-wheeling course most of the time.
When a major release is immament, it gets locked down and stabilized.
When that process has been refined enough, a new major release (1.5,
1.6, ...) gets cut.

The major release (say 1.5) then continues on its own life, while
-current resumes free-wheeling with new experimental stuff being
added.  *Bugfixes* to 1.5, for example, come out as 1.5.1, 1.5.2, etc.
(Some new features work in, but mostly the "patch-releases", such as 1.5.1,
are maintenance updates, not full releases.)

Because the patch-releases (3-digit versions) are mostly bug-fixes, you
can probably get away with swapping 1.5.x and 1.5 parts.  But, the later
1.5.x parts may be a little more robust than 1.5 or 1.5_ALPHA.

1.5R may be rather closer to 1.6 than to 1.5.  And I certainly wouldn't
expect (from MY understanding) 1.5R to be compatible with either 1.5 or 1.6.


It's a little confusing, I agree.  But it makes sense if you look at it
the right way.

I hope that that helps.


-- 
  "I probably don't know what I'm talking about."  --rkr@olib.org