Dear Isabelle contributors, something like 8 months after Isabelle2008, the next stable release is overdue. In principle, we should have initiated the final pre-release stage of finishing existing things and getting the whole system into shape last December.
>From the traffic in the changelog in the last few weeks, I've got the impression that we are not really converging yet, so there will be another delay of several weeks until things have stabilized a bit more --- and the pipes of various people have been properly flushed. (This includes myself; still so many pending issues to be sorted out ...) This additional time should be used for proper consolidation and finishing stuff. Any new "feature" will hold up the release even more. As already pointed out by Florian, the NEWS file needs more attention. The title says "history user-relevant changes", so anything new that is also user relevant should be entered there; if it is not user relevant, it is probably a condidate for deletion. Concerning the CONTRIBUTORS file: if you are too shy to add yourself, you can also tell me and I will do it. Makarius