.. |next_ver| replace:: v2026.04

Release Cycle
=============

The U-Boot projects attempts to maintain a fixed, predictable Release
Cycle as follows:

* We will have U-Boot releases at a fixed release interval of (approximately)
  every 3 months.

* Under normal conditions the release date will be the first Monday of the month.

* Immediately following each release, there will be a "merge window" of
  normally 21 days, i. e. if the release was on a Monday, then the merge window
  will close on the Monday in the 3rd week after the release.

  While this merge window is open, new features can be added to the U-Boot
  source tree. This is further expanded on in the :doc:`process`.

* After the merge window closes, no new features may be added to allow for a
  release candidate phase which is intended to fix bugs and regressions.

* To help with late pull requests, the **next** branch will open when the
  second release candidate is published.

*Note:* While we try to adhere to the release schedule, we will
not hesitate and take the liberty to delay a release if there are
good reasons, for example if there are known bugs or other technical
reasons.  The code will be released when it is considered ready
without caring too much about the announced deadline.

*Note 2:* Even though we follow Linux ways in many respects, there are
differences in the actual procedures, which are documented in the
:doc:`process`.

Version Numbers
---------------

Starting with the release in October 2008, the names of the releases were
changed from numerical release numbers without deeper meaning into a time stamp
based numbering.  Regular releases are now identified by names consisting of
the calendar year and month of the release date.  Additional fields are
frequently used to denote the release candidates.  They are also used on rare
occasions to note a bug fix release on top of the previous stable release.

Examples::

  U-Boot v2009.11	- Release November 2009
  U-Boot v2009.11.1	- Bug fix release 1 on top of the November 2009 release
  U-Boot v2010.09-rc1   - Release candidate 1 for September 2010 release

Current Status
--------------

* U-Boot v2026.01 was released on Monday, 05 January 2026.

* The Merge Window for the next release (|next_ver|) is **open** until the -rc1
  release on Monday, 26 January 2026.

* The next branch is now **closed** until the -rc2 release on Monday, 09
  February 2026.

* Release "|next_ver|" is scheduled for Monday, 06 April 2026.

Future Releases
---------------

.. The following commented out dates are for when release candidates are
   planned to be tagged.

.. For the next scheduled release, release candidates were made on:

.. * U-Boot |next_ver|-rc1 was released on Mon 27 January 2026.

.. * U-Boot |next_ver|-rc2 was released on Mon 09 February 2026.

.. * U-Boot |next_ver|-rc3 was released on Mon 23 February 2026.

.. * U-Boot |next_ver|-rc4 was released on Mon 09 March 2026.

.. * U-Boot |next_ver|-rc5 was released on Mon 23 March 2026.

Please note that the following dates are planned only and may be deviated from
as needed.

* "v2026.04": end of MW = Mon, Jan 26, 2026; release = Mon, Apr 06, 2026

* "v2026.07": end of MW = Mon, Apr 27, 2026; release = Mon, Jul 06, 2026

* "v2026.10": end of MW = Mon, Jul 27, 2026; release = Mon, Oct 05, 2026

* "v2027.01": end of MW = Mon, Oct 26, 2026; release = Mon, Jan 04, 2027

Previous Releases
-----------------

Note: these statistics are generated by our fork of `gitdm
<https://source.denx.de/u-boot/gitdm>`_, which was originally created by
Jonathan Corbet.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2026.01` which was released on 05 January 2026.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2025.10` which was released on 06 October 2025.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2025.07` which was released on 07 July 2025.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2025.04` which was released on 07 April 2025.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2025.01` which was released on 06 January 2025.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2024.10` which was released on 07 October 2024.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2024.07` which was released on 01 July 2024.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2024.04` which was released on 02 April 2024.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2024.01` which was released on 08 January 2024.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2023.10` which was released on 02 October 2023.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2023.07` which was released on 10 July 2023.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2023.04` which was released on 03 April 2023.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2023.01` which was released on 09 January 2023.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2022.10` which was released on 03 October 2022.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2022.07` which was released on 11 July 2022.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2022.04` which was released on 04 April 2022.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2022.01` which was released on 10 January 2022.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2021.10` which was released on 04 October 2021.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2021.07` which was released on 05 July 2021.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2021.04` which was released on 05 April 2021.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2021.01` which was released on 11 January 2021.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2020.10` which was released on 05 October 2020.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2020.07` which was released on 06 July 2020.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2020.04` which was released on 13 April 2020.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2020.01` which was released on 06 January 2020.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2019.10` which was released on 07 October 2019.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2019.07` which was released on 08 July 2019.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2019.04` which was released on 08 April 2019.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2019.01` which was released on 04 January 2019.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2018.11` which was released on 15 November 2018.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2018.09` which was released on 10 September 2018.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2018.07` which was released on 19 July 2018.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2018.05` which was released on 07 May 2018.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2018.03` which was released on 13 March 2018.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2018.01` which was released on 08 January 2018.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2017.11` which was released on 13 November 2017.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2017.09` which was released on 11 September 2017.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2017.07` which was released on 10 July 2017.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2017.05` which was released on 08 May 2017.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2017.03` which was released on 13 March 2017.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2017.01` which was released on 09 January 2017.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2016.11` which was released on 14 November 2016.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2016.09` which was released on 12 September 2016.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2016.07` which was released on 11 July 2016.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2016.05` which was released on 16 May 2016.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2016.03` which was released on 14 March 2016.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2016.01` which was released on 12 January 2016.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2015.10` which was released on 19 October 2015.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2015.07` which was released on 14 July 2015.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2015.04` which was released on 13 April 2015.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2015.01` which was released on 12 January 2015.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2014.10` which was released on 14 October 2014.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2014.07` which was released on 14 July 2014.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2014.04` which was released on 14 April 2014.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2014.01` which was released on 20 January 2014.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2013.10` which was released on 16 October 2013.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2013.07` which was released on 22 July 2013.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2013.04` which was released on 19 April 2013.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2013.01` which was released on 15 January 2013.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2012.10` which was released on 15 October 2012.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2012.07` which was released on 30 July 2012.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2012.04` which was released on 21 April 2012.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2011.12` which was released on 23 December 2011.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2011.09` which was released on 29 September 2011.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2011.06` which was released on 27 July 2011.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2011.03` which was released on 31 March 2011.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2010.12` which was released on 22 December 2010.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2010.09` which was released on 28 September 2010.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2010.06` which was released on 29 June 2010.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2010.03` which was released on 31 March 2010.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2009.11` which was released on 15 December 2009.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2009.08` which was released on 31 August 2009.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2009.06` which was released on 14 June 2009.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2009.03` which was released on 21 March 2009.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2009.01` which was released on 21 January 2009.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2008.10` which was released on 18 October 2008.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v1.3.4` which was released on 12 August 2008.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v1.3.3` which was released on 19 May 2008.

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v1.3.1` which was released on 06 December 2007. (St Nicholas release).

* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v1.3.0` which was released on 19 November 2007.
