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title: "FreeBSD 6.1 Release Process"
sidenav: download
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<h1>Introduction</h1>

<p>This is a specific schedule for the release of FreeBSD 6.1.  For
  more general information about the release engineering process,
  please see the <a href="../../../releng/index.html" shape="rect">Release
  Engineering</a> section of the web site.</p>

<p>General discussions about the release engineering process or
  quality assurance issues should be sent to the public <a href="mailto:FreeBSD-qa@FreeBSD.org" shape="rect">freebsd-qa</a> mailing list.
  <a href="../../../doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/misc.html#DEFINE-MFC" shape="rect">MFC</a>
  requests should be sent to <a href="mailto:re@FreeBSD.org" shape="rect">re@FreeBSD.org</a>.</p>

<h1>Schedule</h1>

<table class="tblbasic">
  <tr class="heading">
    <th rowspan="1" colspan="1">Action</th>
    <th rowspan="1" colspan="1">Expected</th>
    <th rowspan="1" colspan="1">Actual</th>
    <th rowspan="1" colspan="1">Description</th>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Reminder announcement</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">25&nbsp;January&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Release Engineers send announcement email to
      developers with a rough schedule for the FreeBSD
      6.1 release.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Code freeze begins</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">31&nbsp;January&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">31&nbsp;January&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">After this date, all commits to HEAD must be approved by <a href="mailto:re@FreeBSD.org" shape="rect">re@FreeBSD.org</a>.  Certain highly
      active documentation committers are exempt from this rule for
      routine man page / release note updates.  Heads-up emails
      should be sent to the developers, as well as <tt>stable@</tt>
      and <tt>qa@</tt> lists.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Announce the Ports Freeze</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">5&nbsp;February&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Someone from <tt>portmgr@</tt> should email
    <tt>freebsd-ports@</tt> to set a date
    for the week long ports freeze and tagging of the ports tree.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Begin <tt>6.1-BETA1</tt> builds</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">5&nbsp;February&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">5&nbsp;February&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Begin building the first public test release build for all Tier-1
	    platforms.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Release <tt>6.1-BETA1</tt></td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">5&nbsp;February&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">5&nbsp;February&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">6.1-BETA1 tier-1 platform images built, released, and
      uploaded to <tt>ftp-master.FreeBSD.org</tt>.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Begin <tt>6.1-BETA2</tt> builds</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">19&nbsp;February&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">16&nbsp;February&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Begin building the second public test release build for all Tier-1
	    platforms.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Release <tt>6.1-BETA2</tt></td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">19&nbsp;February&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">20&nbsp;February&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">6.1-BETA2 tier-1 platform images built, released, and
      uploaded to <tt>ftp-master.FreeBSD.org</tt>.</td>
  </tr>


  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Ports tree frozen</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">20&nbsp;February&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">23&nbsp;February&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Only approved commits will be permitted to the <tt>ports/</tt>
      tree during the freeze.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Begin <tt>6.1-BETA3</tt> builds</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">1&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Begin building the third public test release build for all Tier-1
	    platforms.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Release <tt>6.1-BETA3</tt></td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">3&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">6.1-BETA3 tier-1 platform images built, released, and
      uploaded to <tt>ftp-master.FreeBSD.org</tt>.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Begin <tt>6.1-BETA4</tt> builds</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">12&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">13&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Begin building the fourth public test release build for all Tier-1
	    platforms.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Release <tt>6.1-BETA4</tt></td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">14&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">6.1-BETA4 tier-1 platform images built, released, and
      uploaded to <tt>ftp-master.FreeBSD.org</tt>.</td>
  </tr>


  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><tt>RELENG_6_1</tt> branch</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><strike>5&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</strike><br clear="none" />
       5&nbsp;April&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">5&nbsp;April&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">The new major version branch is created. Update <tt>newvers.sh</tt>
      and <tt>release.ent</tt> on various branches involved.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><tt>src/</tt> unfrozen</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">TBD</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Unfreeze <tt>RELENG_6</tt> src. Continue to coordinate significant
      check-ins with <tt>re@FreeBSD.org</tt> until the release is final.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Build <tt>6.1-RC1</tt></td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><strike>5&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</strike><br clear="none" />
       5&nbsp;April&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">5&nbsp;April&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Begin building the first release candidate build for all Tier-1
	    platforms.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Release <tt>6.1-RC1</tt></td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><strike>5&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</strike><br clear="none" />
       10&nbsp;April&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">6.1-RC1 tier-1 platform images released, and
      uploaded to <tt>ftp-master.FreeBSD.org</tt>.</td>
  </tr>




  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Ports tree tagged</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">6&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">14&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><tt>RELEASE_6_1_0</tt> tag for <tt>ports/</tt>.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Ports tree unfrozen</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">6&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">14&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">After the <tt>ports/</tt> tree is tagged,
      the <tt>ports/</tt> tree will be re-opened for commits, but
      commits made after tagging will not go in 6.1-RELEASE.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Final package build starts</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">TBD</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">The ports cluster and
      <a href="http://pointyhat.FreeBSD.org" shape="rect">pointyhat</a>
      build final packages.</td>
  </tr>


  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Announce <tt>doc/</tt> tree slush</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">6&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">6&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Notification of the impending <tt>doc/</tt> tree slush should
      be sent to <tt>doc@</tt>.</td>
  </tr>


  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><tt>doc/</tt> tree slush</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><strike>10&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</strike><br clear="none" />
      7&nbsp;April&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">7&nbsp;April&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Non-essential commits to the <tt>en_US.ISO8859-1/</tt> subtree
      should be delayed from this point until after the <tt>doc/</tt>
      tree tagging, to give translation teams time to synchronize
      their work.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Build <tt>6.1-RC2</tt></td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><strike>12&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</strike><br clear="none" />
      30&nbsp;April&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">30&nbsp;April&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Begin building the second release candidate build for all Tier-1
	    platforms.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Release <tt>6.1-RC2</tt></td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><strike>12&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</strike><br clear="none" />
      2&nbsp;May&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">2&nbsp;May&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">6.1-RC2 tier-1 platform images released, and
      uploaded to <tt>ftp-master.FreeBSD.org</tt>.</td>
  </tr>


  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><tt>doc/</tt> tree tagged.</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><strike>13&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</strike><br clear="none" />
      10&nbsp;April&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">17&nbsp;April&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Version number bumps for <tt>doc/</tt> subtree.
      <tt>RELEASE_6_1_0</tt> tag for <tt>doc/</tt>.  <tt>doc/</tt>
      slush ends at this time.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Version numbers bumped</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><strike>17&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</strike><br clear="none" />
      7&nbsp;May&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">The files listed <a href="../../../doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/releng/article.html#VERSIONBUMP" shape="rect">here</a>
        are updated to reflect FreeBSD 6.1.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><tt>src/</tt> tree tagged</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><strike>17&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</strike><br clear="none" />
      7&nbsp;May&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">7&nbsp;May&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Tag the <tt>RELENG_6_1</tt> branch with
      <tt>RELENG_6_1_0_RELEASE</tt>.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Begin <tt>6.1-RELEASE</tt> builds</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><strike>17&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</strike><br clear="none" />
      7&nbsp;May&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">7&nbsp;May&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Start 6.1-RELEASE Tier-1 builds.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Warn <tt>mirror-announce@FreeBSD.org</tt></td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><strike>17&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</strike><br clear="none" />
      7&nbsp;May&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Heads up email to <tt>mirror-announce@FreeBSD.org</tt> to give admins
      time to prepare for the load spike to come. The site
      administrators have frequently requested advance notice
      for new ISOs.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Upload to <tt>ftp-master</tt></td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><strike>19&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</strike><br clear="none" />
      8&nbsp;May&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">8&nbsp;May&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Release and packages uploaded to <tt>ftp-master.FreeBSD.org.</tt></td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Announcement</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><strike>20&nbsp;March&nbsp;2006</strike><br clear="none" />
      8&nbsp;May&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">8&nbsp;May&nbsp;2006</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Announcement sent out after a majority of the mirrors have
      received the bits.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Turn over to the secteam</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">TBD</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">RELENG_6_1 branch is handed over to
      the FreeBSD Security Officer Team in one or two weeks after the
      announcement.</td>
  </tr>
</table>

<h1>Additional Information</h1>

<ul>
  <li><a href="../todo/" shape="rect">FreeBSD 6.1 developer todo list.</a></li>
  <li><a href="../approvals/" shape="rect">FreeBSD 6.1 Code Freeze Commit Approval List.</a></li>
  <li><a href="../../../releng/index.html" shape="rect">FreeBSD Release Engineering website.</a></li>
</ul>


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