GNU Emacs history, versions, and release dates

For more details about release contents, see the NEWS* files.

Most of the development history of GNU Emacs is available in its

source code repository .

However, in the early days GNU Emacs was developed without using

version control systems and was published via half-inch 9-track

1600-bpi magnetic tape reels. Although information about this early

development is sketchy, the following text summarizes what is known.

EMACS started out as a set of macros atop the TECO text editor, and

was first operational in late 1976. It was inspired by earlier work

such as the E editor of Stanford, and was based on older TECO macro

sets. See: Stallman RM. EMACS: The Extensible, Customizable

Self-Documenting Display Editor. AI Memo 519a, MIT, 1981-03-26

EMACS in turn inspired several similar editors. For a summary of

this history, see .

In 1984, work began on GNU Emacs, a fresh implementation designed to

run on GNU and GNU-like systems, with a full-featured Lisp at its

core. GNU Emacs 1.0 through 1.12 were released in early 1985. The

next version after 1.12 was 13; this was the initial public release.

Here is a list of known GNU Emacs stable releases starting with the

initial public release. Entries in the list are of the form "GNU

Emacs N (DATE) TAG", where N is the version number, DATE the release

date, and TAG (if present) the corresponding tag in the source code

repository. Any commentary about the version starts on the next line.

Dates are approximate in the following list; some are when the version

was made, some are when it was announced.

GNU Emacs 13 (1985-03-20)

Initial release announced on Usenet.

GNU Emacs 15.10 (1985-04-10)

GNU Emacs 15.34 (1985-05-07)

Last version 15 release.

GNU Emacs 16.56 (1985-07-15)

First version 16 release.

GNU Emacs 16.57 (1985-09-16)

GNU Emacs 16.58 (1985-09-17)

GNU Emacs 16.59 (1985-09-17)

GNU Emacs 16.60 (1985-09-19)

GNU Emacs 17.36 (1985-12-20)

First version 17 release.

GNU Emacs 17.43 (1986-01-25)

GNU Emacs 17.46 (1986-02-04)

GNU Emacs 17.48 (1986-02-10)

GNU Emacs 17.49 (1986-02-12)

GNU Emacs 17.55 (1986-03-18)

GNU Emacs 17.57 (1986-03-27)

GNU Emacs 17.58 (1986-04-04)

GNU Emacs 17.61 (1986-04-22)

GNU Emacs 17.63 (1986-05-07)

GNU Emacs 17.64 (1986-05-12)

GNU Emacs 18.41 (1987-03-22)

GNU Emacs 18.45 (1987-06-02)

GNU Emacs 18.46 (1987-06-08)

GNU Emacs 18.47 (1987-06-10)

GNU Emacs 18.48 (1987-08-30)

GNU Emacs 18.49 (1987-09-18)

GNU Emacs 18.50 (1988-02-13)

GNU Emacs 18.51 (1988-05-07)

GNU Emacs 18.52 (1988-09-01)

GNU Emacs 18.53 (1989-02-24)

GNU Emacs 18.54 (1989-04-26)

GNU Emacs 18.55 (1989-08-23)

GNU Emacs 18.56 (1991-01-16)

GNU Emacs 18.57 (1991-01-25)

GNU Emacs 18.58 (1991-02-18)

GNU Emacs 18.59 (1992-10-30)

GNU Emacs 19.7 (1993-05-22)

GNU Emacs 19.8 (1993-05-24)

GNU Emacs 19.9 (1993-05-27)

GNU Emacs 19.10 (1993-05-30)

GNU Emacs 19.11 (1993-06-01)

GNU Emacs 19.12 (1993-06-02)

GNU Emacs 19.13 (1993-06-08)

GNU Emacs 19.14 (1993-06-17)

GNU Emacs 19.15 (1993-06-19)

GNU Emacs 19.16 (1993-07-06)

GNU Emacs 19.17 (1993-07-19)

GNU Emacs 19.18 (1993-08-08)

GNU Emacs 19.19 (1993-08-14)

GNU Emacs 19.20 (1993-11-11)

GNU Emacs 19.21 (1993-11-16)

GNU Emacs 19.22 (1993-11-27)

GNU Emacs 19.23 (1994-05-16)

GNU Emacs 19.24 (1994-05-23)

GNU Emacs 19.25 (1994-05-30)

GNU Emacs 19.26 (1994-09-07)

GNU Emacs 19.28 (1994-10-06)

GNU Emacs 19.29 (1995-06-19)

GNU Emacs 19.30 (1995-11-24)

GNU Emacs 19.31 (1996-05-25)

GNU Emacs 19.32 (1996-07-31)

GNU Emacs 19.33 (1996-08-11)

GNU Emacs 19.34 (1996-08-21) emacs-19.34

GNU Emacs 20.1 (1997-09-15) emacs-20.1

GNU Emacs 20.2 (1997-09-19) emacs-20.2

GNU Emacs 20.3 (1998-08-19) emacs-20.3

GNU Emacs 20.4 (1999-07-12) emacs-20.4

GNU Emacs 20.5 (1999-12-04)

GNU Emacs 20.6 (2000-02-15)

GNU Emacs 20.7 (2000-06-13)

GNU Emacs 21.1 (2001-10-20) emacs-21.1

GNU Emacs 21.2 (2002-03-16) emacs-21.2

GNU Emacs 21.3 (2003-03-19) emacs-21.3

GNU Emacs 21.4 (2005-02-08)

GNU Emacs 21.4a (2005-02-17)

This is Emacs 21.4 with an updated notice in etc/PROBLEMS.

GNU Emacs 22.1 (2007-06-02) emacs-22.1

GNU Emacs 22.2 (2008-03-26) emacs-22.2

GNU Emacs 22.3 (2008-09-05) emacs-22.3

GNU Emacs 23.1 (2009-07-29) emacs-23.1

GNU Emacs 23.2 (2010-05-08) emacs-23.2

GNU Emacs 23.3 (2011-03-10) emacs-23.3

GNU Emacs 23.4 (2012-01-29) emacs-23.4

GNU Emacs 24.1 (2012-06-10) emacs-24.1

GNU Emacs 24.2 (2012-08-27) emacs-24.2

GNU Emacs 24.3 (2013-03-10) emacs-24.3

GNU Emacs 24.4 (2014-10-20) emacs-24.4

GNU Emacs 24.5 (2015-04-10) emacs-24.5

GNU Emacs 25.1 (2016-09-16) emacs-25.1

GNU Emacs 25.2 (2017-04-20) emacs-25.2

GNU Emacs 25.3 (2017-09-11) emacs-25.3

GNU Emacs 26.1 (2018-05-28) emacs-26.1

GNU Emacs 26.2 (2019-04-12) emacs-26.2

GNU Emacs 26.3 (2019-08-28) emacs-26.3

GNU Emacs 27.1 (2020-08-10) emacs-27.1

GNU Emacs 27.2 (2021-03-25) emacs-27.2

GNU Emacs 28.1 (2022-04-04) emacs-28.1

GNU Emacs 28.2 (2022-09-12) emacs-28.2

GNU Emacs 28.3 (2023-02-17) emacs-28.3-rc1

Was not actually released.

GNU Emacs 29.1 (2023-07-30) emacs-29.1

GNU Emacs 29.2 (2024-01-18) emacs-29.2

GNU Emacs 29.3 (2024-03-24) emacs-29.3

GNU Emacs 29.4 (2024-06-22) emacs-29.4

GNU Emacs 30.1 (2025-02-23) emacs-30.1

GNU Emacs 30.2 (2025-08-14) emacs-30.2

GNU Emacs 31.1 (2026-08-24) emacs-31.1

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This file is part of GNU Emacs.

GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify

it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by

the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or

(at your option) any later version.

GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,

but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of

MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the

GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License

along with GNU Emacs. If not, see .