[development] Drupal 6 release status

[Angela Byron]

Dries Buytaert wrote:
> Hello world,
>
> I talked to Gabor this morning and we decided we're going to release a 
> third Drupal 6 beta on Wednesday.
>
> We also decided that this should probably be the last beta release.  
> Hence, it is extremely likely (but not guaranteed) that we're going to 
> have a first release candidate (RC) after Drupal 6 beta 3.
>
> I figured I'd share this information ahead of time, so we can slowly 
> get into "RC mode" and become more strict about what pending issues we 
> flag as "critical".  It also means that there isn't a whole lot of 
> time left for usability improvements.
A few questions:

a) Can usability improvements still be submitted prior to RC1, or do 
they stop at Beta 3? As in, do we have another 2 days for usability 
improvements or more like 2+ weeks? I ask because there is a lot of 
energy/activity around this area right now, particularly after Chris 
Messina's review, and I feel it'd be a shame to stifle these efforts 
right at their peak.

b) String freeze is also at RC1. Obviously, RC1 will be done when it's 
done. ;) But could we communicate to the docs/translations team to have 
one final look-over of all the text in core by, say, Dec. 10, and/or 
could we pick some other arbitrary "safe" date that's relatively in the 
vicinity of when you estimate you'll be wanting to ship a RC1?

c) Could you describe how "RC mode" differs from "beta mode," for some 
of our newer contributors who might have not been around to experience a 
release of Drupal before? Where should efforts be focused in particular 
in order to get an RC out the door?

-Angie