---
title: "FreeBSD 11.3 Release Process"
sidenav: download
---

:localRel: 11.3
:localBranchHead: head
:localBranchStable: stable/11
:localBranchReleng: releng/11.3

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.

== Schedule

[.tblbasic]
[cols=",,,",]
|===
|Action |Expected |Actual |Description
|Initial release schedule announcement |- |21 March 2019 |Release Engineers send announcement email to developers with a rough schedule.
|Release schedule reminder |19 April 2019 |19 April 2019 |Release Engineers send reminder announcement e-mail to developers with updated schedule.
|Code slush begins |3 May 2019 |3 May 2019 |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 |17 May 2019 |17 May 2019 |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 |24 May 2019 |24 May 2019 |First beta test snapshot.
|BETA2 builds begin |31 May 2019 |31 May 2019 |Second beta test snapshot.
|BETA3 builds begin |7 June 2019 |7 June 2019 |Third beta test snapshot.
|{localBranchReleng} branch |14 June 2019 |14 June 2019 |Subversion branch created; future release engineering proceeds on this branch.
|RC1 builds begin |14 June 2019 |14 June 2019 |First release candidate.
|{localBranchStable} thaw |16 June 2019 |15 June 2019 |The code freeze on the {localBranchStable} branch is lifted.
|RC2 builds begin |21 June 2019 |21 June 2019 |Second release candidate.
|RC3 builds begin |28 June 2019 |28 June 2019 |Third release candidate.
|RELEASE builds begin |5 July 2019 |5 July 2019 |{localRel}-RELEASE builds begin.
|RELEASE announcement |9 July 2019 |9 July 2019 |{localRel}-RELEASE press release.
|Turn over to the secteam |- |24 July 2019 |{localBranchReleng} branch is handed over to the FreeBSD Security Officer Team in one or two weeks after the announcement.
|===

"*" indicates "as-needed" items.

== Additional Information

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