iXsystems released TrueNAS 27 RC.1 today, built on Linux kernel 6.18 and OpenZFS 2.4. The release candidate, previously tracked as TrueNAS 26 throughout its beta cycle, arrives with a new versioning philosophy and a streamlined numbering scheme that drops the old year-and-month format in favor of a single yearly number.
The rename from 26 to 27 follows community feedback arguing that version numbers should reflect the year most users will actually be running the software, not the year it ships. Since TrueNAS 27.0 is scheduled for early December 2026, the majority of deployments will land in 2027 and beyond. iXsystems compared the logic to automotive model years, where a 2027 vehicle arrives on dealer lots in the fall of 2026. With TrueNAS now on a single major release per year, the simplified scheme also means dot releases within TrueNAS 27 are purely sequential and no longer tied to any particular month.
The shift matters beyond branding. iXsystems notes that version numbers are often the first thing security reviews and audits evaluate, and with over 7,000 Linux kernel CVEs published in 2026 alone, keeping the version number aligned with active support timelines gives administrators a clearer signal about what they are running. TrueNAS 27 will continue receiving security and feature updates through the 27.x release train.
The full TrueNAS 27.0 release is expected in early December 2026, with no changes to the previously announced schedule. RC.1 is available now for testing.
