---
title: "FreeBSD 12.1 Release Process"
sidenav: download
---

:localRel: 12.1
:localBranchHead: head
:localBranchStable: stable/12
:localBranchReleng: releng/12.1

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=",,,",options="header",]
|===
|Action |Expected |Actual |Description
|Initial release schedule announcement |- |14 May 2019 |Release Engineers send announcement email to developers with a rough schedule.
|Release schedule reminder |2 August 2019 |2 August 2019 |Release Engineers send reminder announcement e-mail to developers with updated schedule.
|Code slush begins |6 September 2019 |6 September 2019 |Release Engineers announce that all further commits to the {localBranchStable} branch will not require explicit approval, however new features should be avoided.
|{localBranchReleng} branch |20 September 2019 |20 September 2019 |Subversion branch created; future release engineering proceeds on this branch.
|BETA1 builds begin |20 September 2019 |20 September 2019 |First beta test snapshot.
|BETA2 builds begin |27 September 2019 |27 September 2019 |Second beta test snapshot.
|BETA3 builds begin |4 October 2019 |4 October 2019 |Third beta test snapshot.
|RC1 builds begin |11 October 2019 |11 October 2019 |First release candidate.
|RC2 builds begin |18 October 2019 |18 October 2019 |Second release candidate.
|RELEASE builds begin |1 November 2019 |1 November 2019 |{localRel}-RELEASE builds begin.
|RELEASE announcement |4 November 2019 |4 November 2019 |{localRel}-RELEASE press release.
|Turn over to the secteam |- |11 November 2019 |{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]