FreeBSD Lifecycle: End Of Life And Support Status
Last updated on January 16, 2024
FreeBSD is an operating system based on Unix. It is used in modern servers, desktops, and embedded platforms and is often preferred over Linux as it is more structured.
Support status guide
End of life (EOL) is the end of a product’s useful life. When a product reaches the end of its life cycle, the manufacturer no longer supports it. The following table explains the different phases of a product’s lifecycle. Testing status is when the product is initially released and EOL is when product support is no longer offered. The time between these two points is the support timeframe.
Testing
The software is not yet publicly available. It is in testing phase i.e., alpha, beta, release preview etc.
Active
The software is actively supported by the vendor.
Phasing Out
The software will soon reach its end of life. You need to look for upgrade or migration options. The software will automatically go into phasing out status 2 months before end of life.
End Of Life
The software is no longer supported by the vendor. You need to make sure your system and environment are safe.
Version
Released
Security Support
(21 November 2023)
(21 November 2023)
(30 November 2028)
(11 April 2023)
(16 May 2022)
(31 July 2023)
(13 April 2021)
(31 August 2022)
(13 April 2021)
(31 January 2026)
(5 December 2022)
(31 December 2023)
(7 December 2021)
(5 March 2023)
(27 October 2020)
(31 January 2022)
(4 November 2019)
(31 January 2021)
(11 December 2018)
(4 February 2020)
(11 December 2018)
(31 December 2023)
(16 June 2020)
(30 September 2021)
(10 October 2016)
(30 September 2021)
(3 October 2017)
(31 October 2018)
(4 April 2016)
(30 April 2018)
(13 August 2015)
(31 December 2016)
(14 November 2014)
(31 December 2016)
(20 January 2014)
(28 February 2015)
(20 January 2014)
(31 October 2018)
(16 July 2014)
(31 December 2016)
(30 September 2013)
(31 December 2014)
(30 December 2012)
(31 December 2014)
(10 January 2012)
(31 March 2013)
(10 January 2012)
(31 December 2016)
(9 June 2013)
(1 August 2015)
(18 April 2012)
(30 April 2014)
(24 February 2011)
(31 July 2012)
(23 July 2010)
(31 July 2012)
(25 November 2009)
(30 November 2010)
(25 November 2009)
(1 August 2015)
(24 February 2011)
(28 February 2013)
(23 March 2010)
(31 March 2012)
(4 March 2009)
(30 June 2010)
(4 January 2009)
(28 February 2011)
(27 February 2008)
(30 April 2009)
(27 February 2008)
(28 February 2013)
(28 November 2008)
(30 November 2010)
(18 January 2008)
(31 January 2010)
(15 January 2007)
(31 May 2008)
(9 May 2006)
(31 May 2008)
(4 November 2005)
(31 January 2007)
(4 November 2005)
(30 November 2010)
(25 May 2006)
(31 May 2008)
(9 May 2005)
(31 October 2006)
(6 November 2004)
(31 October 2006)
(6 November 2004)
(31 May 2008)
(25 January 2005)
(31 January 2007)
(14 March 2000)
(31 January 2007)
The naming convention of FreeBSD versions can be confusing. The stable releases have names like “stable/10“, and the corresponding builds have names like “FreeBSD 10.1-STABLE“.
Similarly, the releases from the security branch have names like “releng/10.0“, and the corresponding builds have names like “FreeBSD 10.1-RELEASE -p4“.
There is no fixed tenure for the release of a new FreeBSD version. Each release is supported for a limited time by a security officer, whose job is to protect the FreeBSD community by keeping the community informed of bugs, exploits, popular attacks, and other risks.
Lately, all major versions of FreeBSD have been supported for precisely 5 years. However, the minor releases are supported for exactly 3 months after the release of the next minor release.
The FreeBSD Security Officer Charter issues security advisories to the stable and the security branches, but not the current branch since it is focused on the FreeBSD developer community.
EOLs
