Drupal core release cycle: major, minor, and patch releases

Key dates

A release window may be used to release a new Drupal version. However, there is no guarantee that all release windows will be used to release new Drupal versions. In rare cases, a security release may be published outside of the pre-set release windows. In those cases, a public service announcement will be published before the release.

Release windows

Windows are scheduled in advance for each release. A commit freeze on the affected branch is typically in place during the window.

• Release windows for security releases begin at 1200 America/New York (1600 or 1700 UTC depending on the season). Note that a Drupal core security release will not necessarily take place during a security window, only that you should watch for one (and be ready to update your Drupal sites in the event that the Drupal security team decides to make a release).
• Release windows for stable releases begin at 1200 UTC Tuesday and end at 1200 UTC Thursday.
• For pre-release milestones like alphas and betas, the release window officially is a full week starting on Monday. Commits are made at committer discretion. The full commit freeze typically begins at 1200 UTC Tuesday but the window may be adjusted as needed.

Overview: Major, minor, and patch release schedule

• Patch releases (9.0.1, 9.0.2, etc.) will have a monthly release window, which will address bugs to be fixed.
• Scheduled minor releases (9.2.0, 9.3.0, etc.) will be released approximately every six months, and will incorporate new features.
• Previous minor releases no longer receive bugfixes when a new minor release is published.
• So long as the site is using a supported PHP version, security fixes are provided until the following minor release, approximately six additional months. (So, each minor receives security coverage for one year in total, and two minors receive security coverage at a time).
• In rare cases when a particularly severe bugfix is too disruptive for a patch release but cannot wait until the next scheduled minor to resolve, we may release an unscheduled minor release that includes that change only. We will announce this broadly in advance of the release window. It is most likely to happen if a dependency drops support for a PHP version that is still supported by Drupal core.
• Each new major release (e.g. 10.0.0) is released alongside a final scheduled minor release of the previous major version (e.g. 9.5.0) that has the same stable (non-deprecated) API. (More information on continuous upgrades between major versions.)

Minor release development and preparation

• Each minor version has development, alpha, beta, and release candidate phases. The alpha, beta and release candidate phases last approximately two weeks each (so the first alpha release is about 6 weeks before the minor release date). See the allowed changes policy for more information on what can be committed during these phases.
• No contributed project security releases will be issued on the week the new core minor is released.
• An open feature development phase for each minor version may begin when the branch is opened, or may begin later, depending on critical and major technical debt for the branch.

Past milestones