5. Release from head/

5. Release from `head/`
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5. Release from `head/`

This section describes the general procedures of the FreeBSD release cycle from the head/ branch.

5.1. FreeBSD “`ALPHA`” Builds

Starting with the FreeBSD 10.0-RELEASE cycle, the notion of “ALPHA” builds was introduced. Unlike the BETA and RC builds, ALPHA builds are not included in the FreeBSD Release schedule.

The idea behind ALPHA builds is to provide regular FreeBSD-provided builds before the creation of the stable/ branch.

FreeBSD ALPHA snapshots should be built approximately once a week.

For the first ALPHA build, the BRANCH value in sys/conf/newvers.sh needs to be changed from CURRENT to ALPHA1. For subsequent ALPHA builds, increment each ALPHAN value by one.

See Section 7, “Building FreeBSD Installation Media” for information on building the ALPHA images.

5.2. Creating the `stable/12/` Branch

When creating the stable/ branch, several changes are required in both the new stable/ branch and the head/ branch. The files listed are relative to the repository root. To create the new stable/12/ branch in Subversion:

% svn cp ^/head stable/12/

Once the stable/12/ branch has been committed, make the following edits:

File to Edit	What to Change
`stable/12/UPDATING`	Update the FreeBSD version, and remove the notice about `WITNESS`
`stable/12/contrib/jemalloc/include/jemalloc/jemalloc_FreeBSD.h`	#ifndef MALLOC_PRODUCTION #define MALLOC_PRODUCTION #endif
`stable/12/lib/clang/llvm.build.mk`	Uncomment `-DNDEBUG`
`stable/12/sys//conf/GENERIC`	Remove debugging support
`stable/12/sys/*/conf/MINIMAL`	Remove debugging support
`stable/12/release/release.conf.sample`	Update `SRCBRANCH`
`stable/12/sys/*/conf/GENERIC-NODEBUG`	Remove these kernel configurations
`stable/12/sys/arm/conf/std.arm*`	Remove debugging options
`stable/12/sys/conf/newvers.sh`	Update the `BRANCH` value to reflect `BETA1`
`stable/12/share/mk/src.opts.mk`	Move `REPRODUCIBLE_BUILD` from `__DEFAULT_NO_OPTIONS` to `__DEFAULT_YES_OPTIONS`
`stable/12/share/mk/src.opts.mk`	Move `LLVM_ASSERTIONS` from `__DEFAULT_YES_OPTIONS` to `__DEFAULT_NO_OPTIONS` (FreeBSD 13.x and later only)
`stable/12/libexec/rc/rc.conf`	Set `dumpdev` from `AUTO` to `NO` (it is configurable via bsdinstall(8) for those that want it enabled by default)
`stable/12/release/Makefile`	Remove the `debug.witness.trace` entries

Then in the head/ branch, which will now become a new major version:

File to Edit	What to Change
`head/UPDATING`	Update the FreeBSD version
`head/sys/conf/newvers.sh`	Update the `BRANCH` value to reflect `CURRENT`, and increment `REVISION`
`head/Makefile.inc1`	Update `TARGET_TRIPLE` and `MACHINE_TRIPLE`
`head/sys/sys/param.h`	Update `__FreeBSD_version`
`head/gnu/usr.bin/cc/cc_tools/freebsd-native.h`	Update `FBSD_MAJOR` and `FBSD_CC_VER`
`head/contrib/gcc/config.gcc`	Append the `freebsd<version>.h` section
`head/lib/clang/llvm.build.mk`	Update the value of `OS_VERSION`
`head/lib/clang/freebsd_cc_version.h`	Update `FREEBSD_CC_VERSION`
`head/lib/clang/include/lld/Common/Version.inc`	Update `LLD_REVISION_STRING`
`head/Makefile.libcompat`	Update `LILB32CPUFLAGS`

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