FreeBSD, one of the most popular and widely adopted Unix-based operating systems, has unveiled significant changes to its release scheduling and support timelines.
Colin Percival, the release engineering lead at FreeBSD, announced these adjustments in a recent communication with the community. Here they are.
Shorter Support Periods
Starting with FreeBSD 15.x, the support duration for stable branches will be reduced from five years to four years following the initial release.
This change is designed to better align with the capacity of FreeBSDโs security and ports teams, which face challenges managing more than two stable branches simultaneously.
More Frequent and Predictable Releases
Moreover, FreeBSD is introducing a more predictable release schedule. Going forward, the project will see a new minor release from one of the supported stable branches almost every quarter.
Under the new plan, the release process typically includes three BETA versions and one Release Candidate, a simplification from the previous schedule that could include up to six RCs.
Percival, who took over as the head of release engineering in November 2023, explained that these changes stemmed from a comprehensive review of the release process and schedule.
Having more frequent releases will further assist the release process,
since there will be less pressure to get “one last feature” added if the next
minor release is 6 months away rather than a year or more away.
The revised process aims to fix when the release cycle starts, providing valuable estimates for long-term planning even though exact release dates may shift to accommodate critical bug fixes.
Schedule for Upcoming Releases
The updated schedule outlines several upcoming releases, such as:
- FreeBSD 13.4 in September 2024, with EoL in June 2025.
- FreeBSD 13.5 in March 2025, with EoL in April 2026.
- FreeBSD 14.1 in June 2024, EoL in March 2025.
- FreeBSD 14.2 in December 2024, EoL in September 2025.
- FreeBSD 14.3 in June 2025, EoL in June 2026.
- FreeBSD 14.4 in March 2026, EoL in December 2026.
- FreeBSD 14.5 in September 2026, EoL in June 2027.
- FreeBSD 14.6 in March 2027, EoL in November 2028.
- FreeBSD 15.0, a major release, is scheduled for December 2025, with its EoL in September 2026.
We clarify that FreeBSD versions 13.5 and 14.6 are supported until five years after 13.0 and 14.0, respectively.
This structured timeline ensures that each release stageโfrom the code slush to the final releaseโhappens within a quarter, facilitating smoother transitions and better predictability.
The clarity in the release schedule is expected to enhance FreeBSD’s overall stability and security by allowing more regular updates and quicker integration of new features and fixes.
For more in-depth information, visit the announcement.
