---
title: "FreeBSD 10.3 Release Process"
sidenav: download
---

:localRel: 10.3
:localBranchStable: stable/10
:localBranchReleng: releng/10.3

include::shared/en/urls.adoc[]

= FreeBSD {localRel} Release Process

== Introduction

This is the release schedule for FreeBSD {localRel}. For more information about the release engineering process, please see the link:../../../releng/[Release Engineering] section of the web site.

General discussions about the pending release and known issues should be sent to the public mailto:FreeBSD-stable@FreeBSD.org[freebsd-stable] mailing list. link:{handbook}glossary/#mfc-glossary[MFC] requests are no longer being accepted at this time.

== Schedule

[.tblbasic]
[cols=",,,",]
|===
|Action |Expected |Actual |Description
|Initial release schedule announcement |- |6 October 2015 |Release Engineers send announcement email to developers with a rough schedule.
|Release schedule reminder |15 November 2015 |3 December 2015 |Release Engineers send reminder announcement e-mail to developers with updated schedule.
|Code slush begins |15 January 2016 |15 January 2016 |Release Engineers announce that all further commits to the {localBranchStable} branch will not require explicit approval, however new features should be avoided.
|Code freeze begins |29 January 2016 |29 January 2016 |Release Engineers announce that all further commits to the {localBranchStable} branch will require explicit approval. Certain blanket approvals will be granted for narrow areas of development, documentation improvements, etc.
|BETA1 builds begin |5 February 2016 |5 February 2016 |First beta test snapshot.
|BETA2 builds begin |12 February 2016 |12 February 2016 |Second beta test snapshot.
|BETA3 builds begin * |26 February 2016 |26 February 2016 |Third beta test snapshot.
|{localBranchReleng} branch |4 March 2016 |4 March 2016 |Subversion branch created; future release engineering proceeds on this branch.
|RC1 builds begin |4 March 2016 |4 March 2016 |First release candidate.
|{localBranchStable} thaw |6 March 2016 |6 March 2016 |The code freeze on the {localBranchStable} branch is lifted.
|RC2 builds begin |11 March 2016 |11 March 2016 |Second release candidate.
|RC3 builds begin * |18 March 2016 |18 March 2016 |Third release candidate.
|RELEASE builds begin |25 March 2016 |25 March 2016 |{localRel}-RELEASE builds begin.
|RELEASE announcement |29 March 2016 |4 April 2016 |{localRel}-RELEASE press release.
|Turn over to the secteam |- |27 April 2016 |{localBranchReleng} branch is handed over to the FreeBSD Security Officer Team in one or two weeks after the announcement.
|===

"*" indicates "as-needed" items.

== Status / TODO

link:../todo/[FreeBSD Release Engineering TODO Page]

== Additional Information

* link:../../releng/[FreeBSD Release Engineering website]