devel

Devel is an abbreviation of development. In computing and software contexts, it is used as a label for items associated with active development, testing, or build-time resources rather than finished, user-ready releases. The term appears in several related but distinct ways, depending on the project and ecosystem.

In version control and release workflows, devel or development branches are commonly used to integrate ongoing work before it is merged into main or release branches. Such branches serve as staging environments for features, fixes, and experiments that are not yet considered stable.

In software packaging and distributions, devel often refers to development files that are needed to build software from source. Packages with a -dev (or similar) suffix typically provide header files, static libraries, and other resources required by developers to compile against a library or framework.

In repository structures and software projects, a devel directory or category may contain build scripts, tests, documentation sources, examples, or other resources intended for developers rather than end users. Some ecosystems, such as certain BSD ports collections, explicitly organize development-related libraries and tools under a devel category.

The exact meaning of devel is context-dependent, and there is no universal standard. It generally signals development-focused content within a project, distribution, or codebase.