Release Engineering Information
This page contains documentation about the FreeBSD release engineering process.
- Upcoming Release Schedule
- Code Freeze Status
- Charter for the Release Engineering Team
- Release Engineering Documentation
- Current Release Engineering Team
- Frequently Asked Questions
Upcoming Release Schedule
NOTE: Release dates are approximate and may be subject to schedule slippage.
| Date | Event | Information |
|---|---|---|
| TBD | FreeBSD 8.4 | Target Schedule |
| TBD | FreeBSD 9.2 |
Code-Freeze Status
The following table lists the code freeze status for the major branches of the src/ subtree of the FreeBSD CVS repository. Commits to any branch listed as "frozen" must first be reviewed and approved by the relevant contact party. The status of other subtrees such as ports/ and doc/, is also provided below.
| Branch | Status | Contact | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| HEAD | Open | committers | Active development branch for 10-CURRENT. |
| stable/9 | Open | committers | Development branch for FreeBSD 9-STABLE. |
| releng/9.1 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 9.1 supported errata fix branch. |
| releng/9.0 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 9.0 supported errata fix branch. |
| RELENG_8 | Open | committers | Development branch for 8-STABLE. |
| RELENG_8_3 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 8.3 supported errata fix branch. |
| RELENG_8_2 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 8.2 errata fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_8_1 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 8.1 errata fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_8_0 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 8.0 errata fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_7 | Open | committers | Development branch for 7-STABLE. |
| RELENG_7_4 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 7.4 supported errata fix branch. |
| RELENG_7_3 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 7.3 errata fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_7_2 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 7.2 errata fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_7_1 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 7.1 errata fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_7_0 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 7.0 errata fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_6 | Open | committers | Maintenance branch for 6-STABLE (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_6_4 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 6.4 errata fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_6_3 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 6.3 errata fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_6_2 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 6.2 errata fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_6_1 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 6.1 errata fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_6_0 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 6.0 errata fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_5 | Open | committers | Maintenance branch for 5-STABLE (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_5_5 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 5.5 errata fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_5_4 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 5.4 errata fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_5_3 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 5.3 errata fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_5_2 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 5.2 / 5.2.1 security fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_5_1 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 5.1 security fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_5_0 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 5.0 security fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_4 | Open | committers | Maintenance branch for 4-STABLE (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_4_11 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 4.11 errata fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_4_10 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 4.10 security fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_4_9 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 4.9 security fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_4_8 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 4.8 security fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_4_7 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 4.7 security fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_4_6 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 4.6 security fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_4_5 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 4.5 security fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_4_4 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 4.4 security fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_4_3 | Frozen | security-officer@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD 4.3 security fix branch (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_3 | Open | committers | Maintenance branch for 3-STABLE (not officially supported). |
| RELENG_2_2 | Open | committers | Maintenance branch for 2.2-STABLE (not officially supported). |
| Subtree | Status | Contact | Notes |
| ports/ | Open | portmgr@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD Ports Collection. |
| doc/ | Open | freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.org | SGML/XML based documentation set. |
Release Engineering Documentation
FreeBSD Release Engineering
Describes the approach used by the FreeBSD release engineering team to make production quality releases of the FreeBSD Operating System. It describes the tools available for those interested in producing customized FreeBSD releases for corporate rollouts or commercial productization.FreeBSD Release Engineering for Third Party Packages
Describes the approach used by the FreeBSD release engineering team to produce a high quality package set suitable for official FreeBSD release media. This document is a work in progress, but eventually it will cover the process used to build a clean package set on the FreeBSD.org "Ports Cluster", how to configure any other set of machines as a ports cluster, how to split up the packages for the release media, and how to verify that a package set is consistent.
Release Engineering Team
The primary release engineering team is responsible for approving MFC requests during code freezes, setting release schedules, and all of the other responsibilities laid out in our charter.
Primary RE Team (re@FreeBSD.org) : Konstantin Belousov, Marc Fonvieille, Josh Paetzel, Hiroki Sato, Ken Smith form the primary release engineering decision-making group.
The builders release engineering team is responsible for building and packaging FreeBSD releases on the various supported platforms.
Builders REs (re-builders@FreeBSD.org) : Marcel Moolenaar, Yoshihiro Takahashi, Nathan Whitehorn
The third party packages in the Ports Collection are managed by the portmgr@ team. Among many other responsibilities, the port managers keep the ports cluster running smoothly to produce binary packages.
Package Builders (portmgr@FreeBSD.org) : Thomas Abthorpe, Joe Marcus Clarke, Baptiste Daroussin, Bernhard Fröhlich, Beat Gätzi, Erwin Lansing, Ion-Mihai Tetcu, Martin Wilke
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I find the release directory or ISO images for older FreeBSD releases?
The FreeBSD Project does not maintain a centralized historical archive of old release ISO images, but there are still many options. First, a large collection of the old releases (many complete with the package sets) is at ftp://ftp-archive.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD-Archive/old-releases/. Second, try looking on http://mirrorlist.FreeBSD.org. If you are unable to find an FTP mirror that still contains the release you are looking for, then you can email CD-ROM vendors to see if they have any old releases available. In September 2003, we know of a case where FreeBSD 1.1 was used in a court of law to invalidate a bogus software patent. Clearly, older releases can be very important in some situations.