Process/Release Cycle

=Release Cycle=

Release Dates and Schedule
For information on the release dates of specific Blender versions, see the milestones on project.blender.org.

3.x Release Cycle
A new Blender version is targeted to be released every 3 months. The actual release cycle for a specific release is longer, and overlaps the previous and next release cycle.



Branches
Work is done in two branches:
 * `blender-v{VERSION}-release` branch: bug fixing only for the upcoming or LTS release
 * `master` branch: new features and improvements for the release after that

The `blender-v{VERSION}-release` branch will be available for 5 weeks prior to the release date. At the same time `master` will be open for the next release, giving 2 months to add new features for the next release, and another month to improve them.

Bcon Phases
Each Blender version has its own Bcon phase, indicating which types of changes are allowed to be committed and what developers are focusing on.

That means for example that Blender 3.4 can be in Bcon3 (bug fixing only) while Blender 3.5 is in Bcon1 (open for new features).

* Bcon6 only happens for LTS releases.

(Test) Build Schedule
For 2.81 and onward there won't be special RC releases as such. Rather testing is to be done using builds generated by our buildbots. The Windows ZIP archive releases are already properly signed. Code-signing and notarization for the MacOS builds is still being worked on.