releases, snapshots, and upgrade-disabling

[Rick Hillegas]

Right now the mainline is marked as alpha quality. This will be true of 
the upcoming snapshot we propose to cut off the mainline. Given the 
alpha marker, databases created by the snapshot won't be upgradable.

What happens when we branch the mainline for the 10.2 release? At what 
point do we remove the alpha marker? I was under the impression that the 
disabling marker remains in place for the initial beta candidates which 
we cut off the 10.2 branch. I was also under the impression that we 
remove the disabling marker only when we produce the first release 
candidate. Does this sound correct?

I notice that the 10.1.3 snapshot does not have the disabling marker. We 
are promising to upgrade databases created with this snapshot. Is this 
what we generally expect: Once we have cut a release off a branch, 
snapshots cut off that branch must create upgradable databases?

Thanks,
-Rick