They get corrected in FreeBSD (and NetBSD and OpenBSD) in the same
timely manner, to imply otherwise would be disengenuous. In fact, the
development model in these three variants of BSD, although slightly
different in each, propigates changes to the sources generally within
a few hours of when they are checked into the development tree.
FreeBSD has had two branches (although one has reached the end of its
usefulness) for a long time and the stable one generally compiles and
works well (which is why they call it -stable). Just like a couple of
Linux's 2.0.x releases, there have been times when it too doesn't
compile or work 100%. It is the nature of the beast. The FreeBSD
(and NetBSD and OpenBSD) approach has been to have open communications
and fast distribution of current sources in a method they find that
works for them (a central CVS hub and a couple of mailing lists).
While NetBSD and OpenBSD differ in the details, the same comments
apply to them as well. All the sources to the system are housed in
one (sometimes mirrored) location for each of the BSDs.
Linus and the Linux community use a different method that works for
them (Linus makes the releases and communication happens as needed in
mailing lists). In that model, you can get the release within seconds
or minutes (if you have a fast link and vger isn't bogged down) to
patches that posted here. Linus has been known to make multiple
releases in a day as soon as problems are discovered, which can
sometimes be faster than the other model, sometimes slower depending
on the situation. It is a system that works for him and his developer
and user communities. Other people have other pieces of the system
that are done in a similar fashion. Keeping up with these people and
what is needed for what release is part of the Linux system, and seems
to generally work.
If you are wanting to track revs of the kernel, rather than get them
as part of a full system from a cdrom vendor, you should likely chose
the style that you happen to favor that supports your hardware in an
acceptible manner and run with that.
Personally, I track them all due to the mix of machines that I have on
site here that are running or nearly running some variation of each of
these systems.
Warner