FreeCORE 15.1-RC3

Edit installed applications in place, a shell into a running application, the version the image states, the installer on every console, and the fix of 15.0-U1.6 in the third 15.1 release candidate.

FreeCORE 15.1-RC3 is the third release candidate on the 15.1 line. It lets an installed application be edited in place, opens a shell into a running application, reads the reviewed version from the image itself, and offers the installer on every console. It includes the fix in 15.0-U1.6 and everything in 15.1-RC2.

Release date: 16 September 2026

RC3 is for evaluation, not production. Test it on a system you can restore or reinstall. The published CORE compatibility results do not establish that every catalog application or migrated workload works correctly.

Applications

• An installed application can be edited in place. Edit in the application's menu reopens the review form with the installed ports, environment values, storage mappings and restart policy, and replaces the container without pulling a new image. Each volume says what its change means for the app-owned dataset behind it: an owned dataset stays in place when the volume moves to external storage, and existing owned data is reattached when it moves back. The Remove dialog lists the datasets it decides about, and the Installed tab lists app-owned data nothing maps, with a delete that names every dataset. See Applications.
• Shell in a running application's menu opens a shell inside its container, on the same page as the jail console.
• The reviewed version is the version the image itself states, not the provider index's quarterly package field. When only the index could be read, the value says so.
• The Import image and Convert jail panels open in view instead of rendering below the whole catalog and looking inert.

Installer and System

• The installer is offered on every console at the same time: the display and the serial port both show the menu, whichever the firmware lists first. Before this release it ran on the primary console alone, so a serial-console install of a UEFI virtual machine never saw the menu on a 15.0-U1.5 host. One console installs at a time; starting the install on the second reports that an installation is already running on another console and returns to its menu.
• zarcstat and zarcsummary are installed under their upstream names; arcstat and arc_summary remain as links beside them.
• file(1) no longer prints "Duplicate magic entry" warnings on every call: the compiled magic database is back in the image.

VM Compatibility

15.1 supports UEFI VMs. Existing GRUB and UEFI-CSM definitions remain visible, but cannot run or be edited. Their disks are not converted. Prepare and test UEFI boot while still on 15.0; see VM Firmware in FreeCORE 15.1.

Install or Update

RC1 and RC2 systems receive this candidate on the FreeCORE-15.1-STABLE train. Applications installed on RC2 keep running unchanged.

From 15.0, the notes for RC1 still apply: update to 15.0-U1.3 or later first, and the move to FreeCORE-15.1-STABLE is one-way. Staying on FreeCORE-15.0-STABLE keeps a system on the maintained 15.0 line. Back up the system configuration and workload data before choosing 15.1.

The exact installer is FreeCORE-15.1-RC3.iso, with a detached signature and SHA-256 file. Use the installation guide's verification procedure with this exact filename and digest:

b9c87c39e8a618bc9a815a7b5f0512d674c5ad18f1891a0c642ccd717c785095

See the published test evidence, website changelog and Getting Help when evaluating or reporting a problem.