for($i=2011; $i<=(int)date('Y'); $i++)
{
    $year_list[] = $i;
}

$n = count($year_list)-1;

$javascript2 = 'onchange="document.adminForm.submit();"';
$attribs = 'class="inputbox" size="1" '. $javascript2;

//$options[] = JHTML::_( 'select.option', '', JText::_( 'AUP_SELECTYEAR' ) );

for ($i=0, $n=(count( $year_list )-1); $i <= $n; $i++) {
    $options[] = JHTML::_( 'select.option', $year_list[$i], $year_list[$i] );
}


some notes:
the first $n = is overriden
wtf is that $n = assign inside the foor loop

why not just assign the $options[] inside the first for loop instead of creating year_list .