how big is difference between rc1 and final release?

where can I find such info?

freebsd seem more transparent in this regard:

www.freebsd.org/releases/14.3R/schedule/

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longwind2@yahoo.com wrote:

how big is difference between rc1 and final release?

42*

where can I find such info?

freebsd seem more transparent in this regard:

www.freebsd.org/releases/14.3R/schedule/

FreeBSD isn't more transparent; FreeBSD has a different policy.

They have target dates. Debian has a target relating to bugs:

https://bugs.debian.org/release-critical/

and a progression of freezes:

https://release.debian.org/testing/freeze_policy.html

Those pages should be very informative.



*42 is a cultural joke based on a famous story about a computer
working out the answer to the Great Question of Life, the
Universe and Everything. The answer is 42.

At that point, everyone realized that they didn't know what the
question was.

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On Sun, Jun 08, 2025 at 08:02:43AM +0000, longwind2@yahoo.com wrote:

how big is difference between rc1 and final release?

where can I find such info?

freebsd seem more transparent in this regard:

www.freebsd.org/releases/14.3R/schedule/

Hi longwind2,

This deserves a longer answer: The standard answer for when a Debian release happens is "When it's ready". There are a *lot* of pieces to fit together.

Timescale for support
---------------------
Stable releases in Debian are happening about once every two years at the moment. An older stable release is supported by the Debian security team for one year after the release date of the newer stable release.
Example: The main security support for Debian 12 (Bookworm) will continue for one year more after the release of Debian 13 (Trixie) whenever that happens.
So every stable release of Debian is supported for ~three years in total.
the new stable:

New major releases
------------------
Debian has stages for every package to pass through. A new version of a
package begins in "unstable" and passes into "testing" after a period.
Packages in testing are always intended to be released with the next
major release of Debian stable - whenever that will be. So testing has
a long development cycle - about two years - before it is released as a
stable release.

The release team.
----------------
The release team look after a given release for the whole of its lifecycle. When Bookworm released, we knew the next releases were going to be named
Trixie and Forky. Immediately Trixie is released as Debian 13, there will
be a new testing release which will become Debian 14 (Forky) after two years
or so. The release team also sets the schedule for the release and a timescale for "freezing" the new Debian before final release as Debian stable.

The freeze period
-----------------
We are now in the hard freeze period, ideally fixing release-critical bugs before the release of Trixie. https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/ftparchives#testing
[the process]
and
https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2025/01/msg00004.html
[Trixie freeze dates announced]
and
https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2025/05/msg00004.html
[Trixie hard freeze]
Because the process of fixing bugs is still going on, I can't give you
a hard date when Trixie will be released - probably not in July because
a large part of that will be Debconf25 in Brest.

What does all that mean?
-----------------------
Trixie RC1 was released as a test build of the installer for Trixie.
There have been changes made since but there isn't yet an RC2 and there may
not be. It would probably be safe to install Trixie from RC1 as the install process updates packages. Otherwise, maybe wait for the final release :)

FreeBSD
-------
Looks to have a similar release process: they are freezing minor updates
to FreeBSD 14. Their freeze looks like about a month but they build
more BETA builds as part of that. It looks as if they give dates for
end of support for 14.2 and likely end of support for the 14 series as
a whole. 14.3 looks as if it will be the last full release of the 14 series
on its own as the release process for 15.0 has started concurrently.

Very similar in outline: their 14.* releases are regular point releases,
likely with small numbers of changes and supported for three months after
the next point release. Users are discouraged from installing BETA releases. FreeBSD commit to a formal five year support for stable releases. https://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-announce/2015-February/001624.html

It sounds very much as if they've learned from the Debian model where
we moved to a Release Team model significantly earlier :)

All the very best, as ever,

Andy Cater
(amacater@debian.org)

All the very best, as ever

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Thank Ritter and Cater very much!

I haven't been able to absorb all details you give as my time is very limited, I give up. i wait patiently for Trixie news

many years of experience with debian have taught me there may not be much excitement with new release after all



<div> Thank Ritter and Cater very much!<br><br>I haven&#39;t been able to absorb all details you give as my time is very limited, I give up. i wait patiently for Trixie news<br><br>many years of experience with debian have taught me there
may not be much excitement with new release after all<br><br><br> </div>

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As is oft said of Debian:
Debian releases when it's darn good and ready.

:-)

This is unlike many other distros, which release like clockwork, ready or not.

Though for many years now, Debian has had a schedule on at least
certain freezes. So that does at least give one indications when test
starts working more towards actually becoming the next stable release.

For more information, you may want to have a look at: https://wiki.debian.org/DebianTrixie
Like earlier stable releases, expect that page to get many more
detailed updates as it comes closer and closer to release.
I notice also, linked from there: https://release.debian.org/trixie/freeze_policy.html
Which may provide more useful information.
As testing gets (much) closer to actual release,
it will get to the point where the release date will be known,
and I expect, per usual, it will also be found on https://wiki.debian.org/DebianTrixie
and relevant list(s), etc.
Notably as there's a lot that has to happen and be coordinated for
the actual release itself, so when it's otherwise ready for release,
the actual release will be scheduled some moderate bit in advance,
so all the needed pieces and actions for the actual release are then coordinated and lined up to make the actual release happen.

On Sun, Jun 8, 2025 at 1:03 AM <longwind2@yahoo.com> wrote:

where can I find such info?

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Thank Paoli and Butterworth!
I will try rc1 anyway.


<div> Thank Paoli and Butterworth!<br>I will try rc1 anyway. <br><br> </div>

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