FreeBSD 11.2 released with updated GNOME & Plasma Desktop environments

The FreeBSD release engineering team has announced the immediate availability of FreeBSD 11.2, the 3rd minor release in FreeBSD 11.x series. This release includes various updated packages including GNOME 3.18.0 and KDE 4.14.3.

FreeBSD 11.2-STABLE images are available for a wide range of devices and architectures. It can also be installed from a bootable ISO or via the network. Some architectures also supports installation via USB drives.

Some of the highlights in FreeBSD 11.2 release includes:

• OpenSSH has been updated to version 7.5p1.

• OpenSSL has been updated to version 1.0.2o.

• The clang, llvm, lldb and compiler-rt utilities have been updated to version 6.0.0.

• The libarchive(3) library has been updated to version 3.3.2.

• The libxo(3) library has been updated to version 0.9.0.

• Device driver updates to cxgbe(4), ixl(4), and ng_pppoe(4), and the new mlx5io(4), ocs_fw(4), and smartpqi(4) drivers have been added.

• The dwatch(1), efibootmgr(8), and etdump(1) utilities have been added.

• Various miscellaneous kernel, userland application, and library updates.

• KDE has been updated to version 4.14.3.

• Gnome has been updated to version 3.18.0.

For more details, read FreeBSD 11.2 release announcement in project's website.

FreeBSD 11.1 released with Support for Microsoft Hyper-V Generation 2

The FreeBSD release engineering team has announced release of FreeBSD 11.1, latest update cum maintenance release in FreeBSD 11.x branch. This release brings various bug fixes, package updates and other enhancements to provide a more consistent experience in production systems.

FreeBSD 11.1 as a stable release of a generic operating system, comes in different varieties and support for a wide range of architectures and platforms. It is available for the amd64, i386, powerpc, powerpc64, sparc64, armv6, and aarch64 architectures. It can be installed using bootable disc image, usb drive, or over network.

FreeBSD 11.1-STABLE release takes over FreeBSD 11.0 release with following features:

• Clang, LLVM, LLD, LLDB, and libc++ have been updated to version4.0.0.
• Many third-party (contributed) software updates, such as the Elf ToolChain, ACPICA, libarchive(3), ntpd(8), unbound(8), and more.
• Support for blacklistd(8) has been added to OpenSSH.
• The zfsbootcfg(8) utility has been added, providing one-timeboot.config(5)-style options for zfsboot(8).
• The efivar(8) utility has been added, providing an interface tomanage UEFI variables.
• Support for Microsoft(R) Hyper-V(TM) Generation 2 virtual machines has been added.
• The ena(4) driver has been added, providing support for "nextgeneration" 
• Enhanced Networking on the Amazon(R) EC2(TM) platform.
• The NFS client now supports the Amazon(R) Elastic File System(TM)(EFS).
• The EFI loader can now access remote files via TFTP in addition toNFS as a runtime configuration option.
• ZFS now stores compressed data in cache, improving cache hit ratesand performance.
• Several updates to provide build reproducibility.

For more information and download links, see release announcement published by FreeBSD release engineering team.

FreeBSD 11.0-RELEASE is available now

Finally, the FreeBSD project has announced release of FreeBSD 11.0-RELEASE, first stable release in projects 11.x series. This release of FreeBSD comes with several improvements and updated packages to provide a more stable operating system for users of various expertise.

Some of the highlights in FreeBSD 11.0-RELEASE can be summarized as follows:

• OpenSSH DSA key generation has been disabled by default. It is important to update OpenSSH keys prior to upgrading. Additionally, Protocol 1 support has been removed.
  
• OpenSSH has been updated to 7.2p2.
  
• Wireless support for 802.11n has been added.
  
• By default, the ifconfig(8) utility will set the default regulatory domain to FCC on wireless interfaces. As a result, newly created wireless interfaces with default settings will have less chance to violate country-specific regulations.
  
• The svnlite(1) utility has been updated to version 1.9.4.
  
• The libblacklist(3) library and applications have been ported from the NetBSD Project.
  
• Support for the AArch64 (arm64) architecture has been added.
  
• Native graphics support has been added to the bhyve(8) hypervisor.
  
• Broader wireless network driver support has been added.
  

For more details on FreeBSD 11.0 release, you may refer release announcement, release notes and list of known bugs.

FreeBSD 11.0-RC3 released

Continuing the development of upcoming FreeBSD 11.0 STABLE, FreeBSD project has announced availability of FreeBSD 11.0-RC3, latest development build prior to stable release. This release brings some updated packages to fix some bugs reported in previous development releases.

FreeBSD 11.0-RC3 is available for different architectures including widely used 32 bit and 64 bit processors, and other specialized processors like powerpc, ARM, sparc, aarch ..etc. The arm64 and aarch64 system might require a modified EFI loader file for qemu-system-aarch64 to boot in virtual machines.

Major changes in FreeBSD 11.0-RC3, comparing to previous release candidate can be summarized as follows:

• A boot issue affecting booting from large volumes has been fixed.
• A boot issue affecting powerpc/powerpc has been fixed.
• Debugging options have been turned off for arm64/aarch64.
• The libarchive(3) library has been updated.
• The cron(8) utility has been updated tinclude a bug fix.
• An ipfw(4) 'set enable/disable' bug has been fixed.
• The arm64/aarch64 kernel has been updated tprint a warning when running on pass 1.1 hardware.

For more details, you can read release announcement published in FreeBSD development mailing list. Also, there is one release notes which lists the changes since release of FreeBSD 10.0 STABLE.

Download FreeBSD 11.0-RC3

64 BIT | 32 BIT

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FreeBSD 11.0-RC1 released

Mr Glen Barber of FreeBSD foundation has announced availability of FreeBSD 11.0-RC1, first release candidate in FreeBSD 11.0 series. As usual this release is also available for a wide range of architectures including powerpc, intel, arm, and amd systems.

FreeBSD is an independently evolved Unix like operating system, developed in University of Berkeley. It powers a wide range of platforms across the globe including high performance servers, desktop computers, laptops and embedded systems.

The FreeBSD 11.0-RC1, first release candidate in FreeBSD 11.0 series is coming after 4 beta releases and has got fixes for several bugs reported in previous releases. Following are some notable highlights of FreeBSD 11.0-RC1 comparing to previous development release, ie FreeBSD 11.0-Beta4:

• A NULL pointer dereference in IPSEC has been fixed.
• Support for SSH Protocol 1 has been removed.
• OpenSSH DSA keys have been disabled by default.  Users upgrading from prior FreeBSD versions are urged to update their SSH keys to DSA or ECDSA keys before upgrading to 11.0-RC1.
• PCI-e hotplug on bridges with power controllers has been disabled.
• A loader tunable (hw.pci.enable_pcie_hp) to disable PCI-e HotPlug has been added.
• A VESA panic on suspend has been fixed.
• Google Compute Engine image publication has been fixed.
• An AES-ICM heap corruption typo bug has been fixed.
• A regression in pf.conf while parsing the 'interval' keyword has been fixed.
• A ZFS/VFS deadlock has been fixed.

You may find more details on this release, in release announcement shared through FreeBSD stable mailing list.

Download FreeBSD 11.0-RC1

64 BIT | 32 BIT

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FreeBSD 11.0 Alpha 4 is available now

Marking the beginning of another FreeBSD branch, FreeBSD team has announced availability of FreeBSD 11.0 Alpha 4 for testing. This is first officially announced development release in upcoming FreeBSD 11.0 series. FreeBSD is a Unix like operating system that can work on different platforms ranging from small embedded systems to big servers and cloud computing platforms.

Being a development release, FreeBSD team is giving a fair warning on using currently released snapshot on production systems. At the same time, FreeBSD team encourages to use it on non-production systems to serve purpose of testing. More the testing better will be final release.

A release announcement of FreeBSD 11.0 Alpha 4 is available in FreeBSD development mailing list.

New FreeBSD development branch installation ISOs and virtual machine disk images have been uploaded to the FTP mirrors.  (Note: The build date is wrong, these were built on 20160610.)  As with any development branch, the installation snapshots are not intended for use on production systems.  We do, however, encourage testing on non-production systems as much as possible.  Please also consider installing the sysutils/panicmail port, which can help in providing FreeBSD developers the necessary information regarding system crashes.

Download FreeBSD 11.0 Alpha 4

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