The "code-freeze" makes it easier to prepare the release candidate packages and make them available for testing.
Code-freeze means *no* non-essential commits to the trunk or to the new release branch. Other branches are free to continue. Whiteboard plugins can also continue. There should be no code enhancements or new functionality, because that could introduce new bugs. The main aim is to find and fix important bugs. Any minor issues are delayed until after release (add to Jira). Essential documentation corrections can happen because they will not break anything. As long as we do test the documentation building just prior to making any final release candidate. Although remember that such work should have happened prior to the code-freeze. We don't want to build subsequent release candidates unless necessary. However, if there are important code changes that are required you can make a proposal to allow that commit. The Release Manager will make a quick decision. Next important milestones are: [3] create final release candidate if necessary Saturday 2011-02-05 at 22:00 UTC http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?day=5&month=2&year=2011&hour=22&min=0&sec=0&p1=0 [4] end of vote on final release candidate and commence the upload phase Monday 2011-02-07 at 22:00 UTC (i.e. planned release date) http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?day=7&month=2&year=2011&hour=22&min=0&sec=0&p1=0 Now the Release Manager will do some final changes, such as license header checks, xml code cleanup, and changing version number information. Then the RM will build the packages. These steps may take some time. The next message will tell you where to download the release candidate packages and describe how to test. -David
