Hello Louis,

> What is the expected maintenance scheme for a NetBSD release in a
> production environment?

Please correct me if I didn't understand you correctly. But the normal
ways of maintaining NetBSD releases are:

* Following the netbsd-1-6 branch (with the -rnetbsd-1-6 CVS parameter),
just like you can follow current. The netbsd-1-6 branch includes security
updates and important fixes.
* Apply the patches as explained in the security updates.

Tracking netbsd-1-6 is a bit more ideal, because it includes other fixes.
For packages you can use the normat approach (e.g. using
download-vurnerability-list and audit-packages).

With kind regards,
Daniel de Kok

---
Running NetBSD/i386 1.6.2_RC2
Website: http://blowgish.freeshell.org/