Yes, I agree that that "RC1" or something like that is better than a fixed date. We never know if some patches huge patches that go in the next couple of days break everything. 2006/8/25, Angela Byron <drupal-devel@webchick.net>:
I suggest that we'll do a string freeze for the HEAD version one month after the code freeze. That would be October 1st.
I agree strongly in principle with this approach, because I fully recognize the problems associated with creating translations -- even if the wording changes by one letter you have to re-do work.
The practical problem, however, is that documentation/rewording patches are among the last to get in. This is both because they're "gold-plating" stuff, often only addressed after all the "major" bugs are taken care of, but also because functionality/paths/etc. can still change between a code freeze and a release, so you end up re- writing documentation (and thus translations) if you write it too early.
I'd therefore really appreciate it if we could tie the string freeze to a major project milestone such as beta 1 (or even, preferably, RC 1 if that would give enough time), rather than an arbitrary date. We simply have no idea what HEAD will look Sept. 1 or how long it will take to get it stable enough that documentation writers can go in and do their thing.
-Angie