<qandaentry>

        <question id="release-candidate">

          <para>I tried to update by system to the latest -STABLE, but

            got -RC or -BETA!  What's going on?</para>

        </question>

        <answer>

          <para>Short answer: it's just a name.  RC stands for

            <quote>Release Candidate</quote>.  It signifies that a

            release is imminent.  In FreeBSD, -BETA is synonymous with

            -RC.</para>

          <para>Long answer: FreeBSD derives its releases from one of

            two places.  Major, dot-zero, releases, such as

            3.0-RELEASE and 4.0-RELEASE, are branched from the head of

            the development stream, commonly referred to as <link

            linkend="current">-CURRENT</link>.  Minor releases, such

            as 3.1-RELEASE or 4.2-RELEASE, are snapshots of the active

            <link linkend="stable">-STABLE</link> branch.</para>

          <para>When a release is about to be made, the branch from

            which it will be derived from has to undergo a certain

            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's 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-RC to signify that a

            release is about to be made from it.  Once the release,

            4.1-RELEASE in this example, has been made, the branch

            will be renamed to 4.1-STABLE.</para>

        </answer>

      </qandaentry>