diff --git a/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/book.sgml b/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/book.sgml index 0139a41adf..4cd47454cb 100644 --- a/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/book.sgml +++ b/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/book.sgml @@ -7125,14 +7125,16 @@ define(`confDELIVERY_MODE',`deferred')dnl I tried to update my system to the latest -STABLE, but - got -RC or -BETA! What is going on? + got -RC or -PRERELEASE! What is going on? Short answer: it is just a name. RC stands for Release Candidate. It signifies that a - release is imminent. In FreeBSD, -BETA is typically synonymous - with the code freeze before a release. + release is imminent. In FreeBSD, -PRERELEASE is typically synonymous + with the code freeze before a release. (For some + releases, the -BETA label was used in the same way as + -PRERELEASE.) Long answer: FreeBSD derives its releases from one of two places. Major, dot-zero, releases, such as @@ -7150,16 +7152,21 @@ define(`confDELIVERY_MODE',`deferred')dnl process. Part of this process is a code freeze. When a code freeze is initiated, the name of the branch is changed to reflect that it is about to become a release. - For example, if the branch used to be called 4.0-STABLE, - its name will be changed to 4.1-BETA to signify the code + For example, if the branch used to be called 4.5-STABLE, + its name will be changed to 4.6-PRERELEASE to signify the code freeze and signify that extra pre-release testing should be happening. Bug fixes can still be committed to be part of the release. When the source code is in shape for the - release the name will be changed to 4.1-RC to signify that a + release the name will be changed to 4.6-RC to signify that a release is about to be made from it. Once in the RC stage, only the most critical bugs found can be fixed. - Once the release, 4.1-RELEASE in this example, has been made, - the branch will be renamed to 4.1-STABLE. + Once the release (4.6-RELEASE in this example) and release branch have been made, + the branch will be renamed to 4.6-STABLE. + + For more information on version numbers and the + various CVS branches, refer the + Release + Engineering article.