---
title: "FreeBSD 12.0 Release Process"
sidenav: download
---

:localRel: 12.0
:localBranchHead: head
:localBranchStable: stable/12
:localBranchReleng: releng/12.0

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 are no longer being accepted for {localBranchReleng}.

== 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]
[cols=",,,",]
|===
|Action |Expected |Actual |Description
|Initial release schedule announcement |- |24 April 2018 |Release Engineers send announcement email to developers with a rough schedule.
|Release schedule reminder |6 July 2018 |11 July 2018 |Release Engineers send reminder announcement e-mail to developers with updated schedule.
|Code slush begins |10 August 2018 |10 August 2018 |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 |24 August 2018 |24 August 2018 |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 |7 September 2018 |7 September 2018 |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 |19 October 2018 |19 October 2018 |Subversion branch created; release engineering continues on this branch.
|BETA1 builds begin |19 October 2018 |19 October 2018 |First beta test snapshot.
|{localBranchHead} thaw |21 October 2018 |20 October 2018 |The code freeze on the {localBranchHead} branch is lifted.
|BETA2 builds begin |26 October 2018 |26 October 2018 |Second beta test snapshot.
|BETA3 builds begin |2 November 2018 |2 November 2018 |Third beta test snapshot.
|BETA4 builds begin |9 November 2018 |9 November 2018 |Fourth beta test snapshot.
|{localBranchReleng} branch |16 November 2018 |16 November 2018 |Subversion branch created; future release engineering proceeds on this branch.
|RC1 builds begin |16 November 2018 |16 November 2018 |First release candidate.
|{localBranchStable} thaw |18 November 2018 |17 November 2018 |The code freeze on the {localBranchStable} branch is lifted.
|RC2 builds begin |23 November 2018 |23 November 2018 |Second release candidate.
|RC3 builds begin |30 November 2018 |30 November 2018 |Third release candidate.
|RELEASE builds begin |7 December 2018 |7 December 2018 |{localRel}-RELEASE builds begin.
|RELEASE announcement |11 December 2018 |11 December 2018 |{localRel}-RELEASE press release.
|Turn over to the secteam |- |27 December 2018 |{localBranchReleng} branch is handed over to the FreeBSD Security Officer Team in one or two weeks after the announcement.
|===

"*" indicates "as-needed" items.

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== Status / TODO
link:todo/[FreeBSD Release Engineering TODO Page]
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== Additional Information

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