📅 FreeCAD 26.3: release branch on September 30

[maxwxyz]

FreeCAD 26.3 is the first release under the new schedule defined in FEP-0003: three releases per year on fixed dates, with CalVer version numbers. See #31008 for more.
The release branch releases/FreeCAD-26-3 will be created on September 30.

📅 Schedule

• September 30: releases/FreeCAD-26-3 is created, main continues as 27.1.0-dev
• until release: stabilization (blockers, regressions, bugfixes)
• ≈ every two weeks: release candidates (expect 2-3 RCs)
• ≈ in November: target date for the 26.3.0 release if no blockers remain
• few weeks later: 26.3.1 patch release
• January 31, 2027: 27.1 branches, no backports for 26.3

👥 For users

Weekly builds after September 30 are built from main and are therefore already called 27.1.0-dev.
For the first few weeks there will be little practical difference between the two, as the team will be focused on stabilizing 26.3.
If you want to help, test the release candidates when they appear and report regressions.

💻 For developers

1. Expect review attention to shift towards fixes until 26.3 ships.
2. Fixes for 26.3: keep targeting main as usual. When a merged PR should also go into 26.3, apply the label "backport releases/FreeCAD-26-3" (or tag me in the PR) and the backport workflow will open the backport PR for you. Please do not open PRs against the release branch directly unless the fix genuinely does not apply to main (bugfixes only).
3. Milestones: after branching we will work through the PRs and assign 26.3 for relevant PRs. If you have a PR you consider release-relevant, say so in the PR before September 30, tag me, and mark it ready for review rather than draft.
4. UI and strings: the UI freezes with the first release candidate. From branch day, Crowdin takes its source strings from releases/FreeCAD-26-3, so new strings merged into main will not reach translators until the sync switches back after the first patch release. Please plan UI text changes with that in mind.
5. Addon and macro developers: please build against releases/FreeCAD-26-3 early and report anything that breaks, so it can be fixed while there is still time.
6. Documentation: The release notes are almost up to date but some command pages still need to be updated for the changes made during the 26.3 cycle. Please make sure to document your own PRs.

Thanks everyone for the work going into this one. It is the first release on the new schedule, so feedback on the process itself is welcome as well.

[maxwxyz]

@FreeCAD/developers @FreeCAD/freecad-addon-developers @FreeCAD/maintainers
@FreeCAD/cad-working-group @FreeCAD/code-quality-working-group @FreeCAD/design-working-group

[stefano2734]

26.3 should have actual occt 8.0.1 or last 7 Version 7.9.3.
In dev of last years two years old 7.8.1 was here blocking solved occt issues in FreeCAD 1.1 dev, 1.2 dev and 26.3 dev..
So package maker should look at this important 3rd party opencascade core component.
In 8.0.2 in October and 8.1.0 in January will come improvement at fillets with solving a bunch of old issues in this important area.
So occt 8.0.2 should be available in 26.3.x and occt 8.1.0 in FreeCAD 27.1.

Greetings to Luzpaz and Co at occt liaison project

[Lgt2x]

@stefano2734 26.3 will ship with OCCT 8.0.1, check #32431