---
title: "FreeBSD 11.0 Release Process"
sidenav: download
---

:localRel: 11.0
:localBranchHead: head
:localBranchStable: stable/11
:localBranchReleng: releng/11.0

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-current@FreeBSD.org[freebsd-current] mailing list. link:{handbook}glossary/#mfc-glossary[MFC] requests should be sent to re@FreeBSD.org.

== Schedule

During the {localBranchHead} freeze, the Release Engineering Team may create ALPHA snapshots to publish for testing purposes. As the frequency and total number of the ALPHA snapshots will depend on the length of time the {localBranchHead} branch is frozen, no official schedule is provided.

Announcements regarding the availability of the ALPHA snapshots will be sent to the mailto:freebsd-current@FreeBSD.org[freebsd-current] and mailto:freebsd-snapshots@FreeBSD.org[freebsd-snapshots] mailing lists.

[.tblbasic]
[width="100%",cols="25%,25%,25%,25%",]
|===
|Action |Expected |Actual |Description
|Initial release schedule announcement |- |26 February 2015 |Release Engineers send announcement email to developers with a rough schedule.
|Release schedule reminder |25 March 2016 |13 April 2016 |Release Engineers send reminder announcement e-mail to developers with updated schedule.
|Code slush begins |27 May 2016 |27 May 2016 |Release Engineers announce that all further commits to the {localBranchHead} branch will not require explicit approval, however new features should be avoided.
|Code freeze begins |10 June 2016 |10 June 2016 |Release Engineers announce that all further commits to the {localBranchHead} branch will require explicit approval. Certain blanket approvals will be granted for narrow areas of development, documentation improvements, etc.
|KBI freeze begins |24 June 2016 |24 June 2016 |Release Engineers announce that all further commits to the {localBranchHead} branch will require explicit approval. Additionally, there can be no changes to the KBI until {localBranchHead} is branched to {localBranchStable}.
|{localBranchStable} branch |8 July 2016 |8 July 2016 |Subversion branch created; release engineering continues on this branch.
|BETA1 builds begin |8 July 2016 |8 July 2016 |First beta test snapshot.
|{localBranchHead} thaw |9 July 2016 |9 July 2016 |The code freeze on the {localBranchHead} branch is lifted.
|BETA2 builds begin |15 July 2016 |22 July 2016 |Second beta test snapshot.
|BETA3 builds begin  |29 July 2016 |29 July 2016 |Third beta test snapshot.
|BETA4 builds begin  |5 August 2016 |5 August 2016 |Fourth beta test snapshot.
|{localBranchReleng} branch |12 August 2016 |12 August 2016 |Subversion branch created; future release engineering proceeds on this branch.
|RC1 builds begin |12 August 2016 |12 August 2016 |First release candidate.
|{localBranchStable} thaw |13 August 2016 |12 August 2016 |The code freeze on the {localBranchStable} branch is lifted.
|RC2 builds begin |19 August 2016 |24 August 2016 |Second release candidate.
|RC3 builds begin  |[line-through]*26 August 2016* +
14 September 2016 |14 September 2016 |Third release candidate.
|RELEASE builds begin |[line-through]*2 September 2016* +
21 September 2016 |[line-through]*22 September 2016* +
28 September 2016 |{localRel}-RELEASE builds begin.
|RELEASE announcement |[line-through]*9 September 2016* +
[line-through]*28 September 2016* +
[line-through]*5 October 2016* +
10 October 2016 |10 October 2016 |{localRel}-RELEASE press release.
|Turn over to the secteam |- |24 October 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]
