Armbian 25.11 release is coming

As the Armbian 25.11 release approaches, development is entering its final phase with emphasis on testing, stabilization, and release coordination. A code freeze will begin on November 20th, limiting merges to critical fixes and release-essential changes only. Following the freeze period, maintainers will have the flexibility to release once standard validation and review processes are complete.

Here's an overview of coordination priorities and upcoming milestones.

Coordination meeting

A brief coordination session will be held before the freeze to ensure alignment:

When: Saturday, 8 November 2025, at 16:00 CET / 10:00 EST
Where: Release Coordination Event

Agenda:

• Review open blockers and critical priorities
• Maintainer status by board
• Label triage and deferrals to next release (26.02 milestone)
• Final checklist before freeze

Release tasks and timeline

Priorities

• Focus on stability and core functionality: networking, boot reliability, display, and user-space tools.
• Prioritize platinum and supported boards first; community targets come next.
• User-space: armbian-firstrun, armbian-install, armbian-config

Planning

Use GitHub labels to keep scope realistic:

• Keep 25.11-labeled items that you can complete before the freeze.
• Move everything else to the 26.02 milestone.
• Stay focused and collaborative; each resolved issue brings us closer to a stronger, more polished release.

Board maintainer checklist

• Test your boards using vendor and current kernels, with at least one desktop image recommended
• Resolve or document any open issues before the freeze.
• If testing confirms stability, prepare images for final release validation.
• For support status changes:
  • Promote: .csc → .conf
  • Deprecate: .conf → .csc
  • Update maintainer info in the board config.

Key dates overview

Thank you! Every contribution keeps Armbian improving and moving forward. Let’s make 25.11 another solid, reliable release.