FreeBSD 8.4 has just been released. But I thought we were up to 9.1? Actually version 8 is still being maintained for those who don’t want to change too much in one go, as is the way for FreeBSD.
Given this conservatism, why bother upgrading from 8.3 to 8.4? If you want the latest, why not go straight to 9.1; otherwise be conservative and leave well alone? This time I might upgrade, because 8.4 contains fixed versions of BIND and OpenSSL. Certain high-profile DDoS attacks amplified by a feature of BIND are a good enough reason to suggest everyone keeps up with the latest BIND release.
You could, of course, update BIND and OpenSSL by just pulling them from the repository but there are a number of other good bug fixes in there anyway, especially in several on the Ethernet drivers. And ZFS has been improved, if you want crazy disks.
I’m not expecting 9.2 to show up until early next year, if convention holds, which is a pity because some of the BIND and OpenSSL problems were found after 9.1 was released. Don’t wait until January, apply the patches now! (Follow the links above).