Post by Netgate

What does End of Life really mean? At Netgate, it doesn't mean the end of software updates. The Netgate 3100 reached end of sale in 2021 and EOL in 2023, yet many of these appliances are still performing critical networking duties today. That's why we continue to support hardware that customers depend on long after its official lifecycle ends. Recently, our engineering team encountered a portability issue in the FireHOL iprange project. As the open-source ecosystem increasingly assumes 64-bit architectures, support for 32-bit platforms like ARMv7 can quietly break. Instead of maintaining a local patch, we developed a portable fix, contributed it upstream, and worked with the project maintainer to ensure long-term compatibility across architectures. Why does this matter? - Keeps existing Netgate 3100 deployments running securely and reliably - Reduces technical debt for maintainers and users alike - Strengthens the open-source ecosystem for everyone Open source works best when companies don't just consume software they contribute back. This is one small example of how we're helping preserve compatibility, extend hardware life, and support the customers who continue to rely on these systems every day. Read the full story on our blog: https://lnkd.in/ePsaVAZV #Netgate #OpenSource #pfSense #Networking #Infrastructure #OpenSourceSoftware #SoftwareEngineering #ARM #NetworkSecurity