Change to FreeBSD release scheduling and support period

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jul 12, 2024,
updated Jul 12, 2024

Dear FreeBSD Community,


We are making two changes related to the release engineering process:


1. FreeBSD stable branch support durations, starting with FreeBSD 15.x, are
being reduced from 5 years to 4 years after the .0 release.


2. A predictable schedule of releases is being established, with a new minor
release from one of the supported stable branches occurring most quarters.


More background:


Since assuming the role of Release Engineering Lead in November 2023, I have
been reviewing the release process and schedule.  I reached a number of
conclusions:


1. With more and better communication between the release engineering team
and FreeBSD developers, we can streamline the release process, to typically
have 3 BETAs and 1 Release Candidate, rather than 3-4 BETAs and 3-6 Release
Candidates.


2. 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.


3. While we can't guarantee when a release will happen -- we will always hold
the release for critical bugs -- we can fix when the release cycle *starts*,
and this is enough to provide estimates useful for long-term planning.


4. The release engineering team has the capacity to manage a release every 3
months, with the exception of .0 releases which take a bit longer.


5. Having a .0 release every 2 years works well from a development perspective
(considering things like new features which can't be MFCed) but the security
and ports teams can't practically manage more than 2 stable branches at once;
so a 4 year support duration is more feasible than a 5 year support duration.


Based on this, the FreeBSD core team has approved reducing the stable branch
support duration from 5 years to 4 years starting with FreeBSD 15 (the support
duration for individual point releases will remain until "next point release +
3 months", although that will now be more predictable) and I have put together
a schedule for upcoming releases:


        Release    EoL
13.3:   Mar 2024   Dec 2024
14.1:   Jun 2024   Mar 2025
13.4:   Sep 2024   Jun 2025
14.2:   Dec 2024   Sep 2025
13.5:   Mar 2025   Apr 2026*
14.3:   Jun 2025   Jun 2026
15.0:   Dec 2025   Sep 2026
14.4:   Mar 2026   Dec 2026
15.1:   Jun 2026   Mar 2027
14.5:   Sep 2026   Jun 2027
15.2:   Dec 2026   Sep 2027
14.6:   Mar 2027   Nov 2028*
15.3:   Jun 2027   Jun 2028
16.0:   Dec 2027   Sep 2028
15.4:   Mar 2028   Dec 2028
16.1:   Jun 2028   Mar 2029
15.5:   Sep 2028   Jun 2029
16.2:   Dec 2028   Sep 2029
15.6:   Mar 2029   Dec 2029
16.3:   Jun 2029   Jun 2030
17.0:   Dec 2029   Sep 2030
* 13.5 and 14.6 are supported until 5 years after 13.0 and 14.0 respectively.


I have referred to this as a "quarterly" schedule, not just because there is a
new release most quarters, but also because for minor releases, the entire
release process happens within that quarter: The code slush starts in the
middle of the first month of the quarter; the release branch is created and
BETA builds happen at the start of the second month; and the release happens
early in the third month of the quarter.


Consequentially:


* New features and driver updates should land by the middle of January / April
/ July / October in order to be included in the relevant release.


* We will need people to test BETAs in the months of February / May / August /
November.


* Even if the schedule slips slightly, releases should be out by the end of
March / June / September / December.


We hope this more predictable schedule makes it easier for FreeBSD users to
plan and manage their upgrade cycles, while also balancing the availability
of new features in releases and the ability of the project to maintain the
set of supported releases.


Sincerely,
- --
Colin Percival
FreeBSD Release Engineering Lead & EC2 platform maintainer
Founder, Tarsnap | www.tarsnap.com | Online backups for the truly paranoid

Read on

Update

Outline here:

• FreeBSD Announces Changes to Release Schedule And Support Period

  Starting with FreeBSD 15.x, the support duration for stable branches will be reduced from 5 years to 4 years. This change will allow the FreeBSD team to focus on supporting a smaller number of branches, making it easier for their security and ports teams to manage and maintain.