NetBSD 9.5 ships as the final 9.x release, ending support for the branch

The NetBSD Project has released NetBSD 9.5, the last update to the aging NetBSD 9 stable branch. Rather than a feature release, it bundles a curated set of security and stability fixes accumulated since 9.4 landed in April 2024, and it stays binary-compatible with everything back to NetBSD 9.0.

More consequentially, the release closes out the entire netbsd-9 line. With 9.5 out, the 9.x series and its branch reach end-of-life, so no further patches — security or otherwise — will follow. Anyone still running the branch is now on unsupported code.

The project is pushing those users to migrate promptly, pointing them toward NetBSD 11.0 (with 11.1 due at the end of the month) or the imminent NetBSD 10.2. For production systems, the practical takeaway is to plan an upgrade rather than wait, since staying on 9.x means running an OS that will no longer receive fixes.