Update releases-and-support article with current versions and .NET 9 examples

[Copilot]

Summary

Updates the releases-and-support article to improve AI discoverability with current version information and modernized examples. The runtime roll forward behavior section has been aligned with the detailed information in the selection.md article.

Changes

• Added "Currently supported versions" section - Lists .NET 9 (STS), .NET 8 (LTS), and .NET 6 (LTS) with support end dates and links to release track explanations
• Updated version examples from .NET 5 to .NET 9 - Modernized examples in release types, servicing updates, SDK feature bands, and runtime roll forward sections
• Removed .NET Core 3.x references - Eliminated outdated .NET Core 3.0/3.1 examples and "Starting with .NET Core 3.1" language throughout
• Aligned roll forward behavior description - Updated the Runtime roll forward and compatibility section to accurately reflect the behavior described in selection.md, clarifying major vs minor vs patch version roll forward behavior

Example

The article now opens with:

## Currently supported versions

The following versions of .NET are currently supported:

- .NET 9 (Standard Term Support) - supported until November 2026. See [Release tracks](#release-tracks).
- .NET 8 (Long Term Support) - supported until November 2026. See [Release tracks](#release-tracks).
- .NET 6 (Long Term Support) - supported until November 2027. See [Release tracks](#release-tracks).

And uses current examples like "the first .NET 9 SDK was 9.0.100" instead of referencing .NET 5 or .NET Core 3.x.

Fixes #49961

Original prompt

---

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Add a list of supported versions to releases and support article</issue_title>
<issue_description>### Type of issue

Missing information

Description

The learn MCP server seems to really want to use this article as a source of information about the supported versions of .NET. To improve this articles hits with AI, I suggest the following updates:

1. Add a short bullet list to the introduction that lists the supported versions of .NET, and their family (STS vs LTS). Also, link to the section that describes STS and LTS.
2. When the article is describing the different versions of .NET, such as runtime 5.0.8 or SDK 5.0.100, use .NET 9 as the example, so that we're using a newer version that has real world examples for version numbers. The page https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet/9.0 has version numbers that can be used.
3. .NET Core 3* versions should just be removed. Anything that talks about being introduced in 3.1 should be scrubbed from the article. That version was the last to use the "Core" name and it's no longer required to call that out. It's just the way it works now.

Page URL

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/releases-and-support

Content source URL

https://github.com/dotnet/docs/blob/main/docs/core/releases-and-support.md

Document Version Independent Id

952bd631-1aa4-1f78-18c7-fd2b96f6c905

Platform Id

65f5de97-45b1-702d-decd-f3deb9fb5c7b

Article author

gewarren

Metadata

• ID: 434f5be1-8006-bf3d-aaed-8b6ed6e9b43b
• PlatformId: 65f5de97-45b1-702d-decd-f3deb9fb5c7b
• Service: dotnet-fundamentals

Related Issues</issue_description>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

• Fixes Add a list of supported versions to releases and support article #49961

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Internal previews

📄 File	🔗 Preview link
docs/core/releases-and-support.md	Releases and support for .NET

[adegeo]

@copilot the core/versions/selection.md article has more information about roll forward behavior. Make sure the content in this article is correct according to selection.md.

[Copilot]

@copilot the core/versions/selection.md article has more information about roll forward behavior. Make sure the content in this article is correct according to selection.md.

Updated the "Runtime roll forward and compatibility" section to align with selection.md. The changes clarify that:

• Apps don't roll forward across major versions by default (e.g., .NET 8 → .NET 9)
• Apps can roll forward to minor versions when the targeted version isn't available
• Patch version roll-forward to the latest installed patch happens automatically

Commit: 09da9bb

[Copilot]

Pull Request Overview

This PR successfully updates the releases-and-support article to improve AI discoverability by adding current version information and modernizing examples throughout. The updates replace outdated .NET 5 and .NET Core 3.x references with current .NET 8 and .NET 9 examples, making the documentation more relevant and useful.

Key changes:

• Added a new "Currently supported versions" section at the beginning of the article listing .NET 9 (STS), .NET 8 (LTS), and .NET 6 (LTS) with their support end dates
• Updated all version examples from .NET 5/Core 3.x to .NET 8/9 throughout the document (release types, SDK feature bands, runtime roll forward, servicing updates)
• Improved writing style to be more active and concise per Microsoft documentation guidelines