[llvm-dev] [6.0.0 Release] Scheduling the release

[Hans Wennborg via llvm-dev]

Hello everyone,

It's time to start making plans for the 6.0.0 release.

Following our regular schedule, the branch would occur about two weeks
into January, on Wednesday 17 January 2018, with the goal of shipping
early March. This is the schedule I would propose.

However, one large consumer of the branch has asked if we could start
earlier this time, branching on 3 January instead (not moving the ship
date), to get a longer period for stabilization that syncs with their
internal process.

While I'm hesitant to change the schedule because I think it's
important that it's predictable, there is a benefit of having large
users "in sync" with the upstream release branch, as that means more
people testing the same code.

I will be out of the office the first weeks of January (and I'm
guessing other members of the community might be too), so while I
could get the branch started on the 3rd, it would be a kind of
"slow-start" of the process, but still allow those who want to start
testing and nominating merges to do so.

Ultimately, it comes down to what the community prefers. Should we
stick to the regular schedule, or should we do the "slow-start" two
weeks early this time?

Let me know what you think, especially those of you involved in the
release testing.

Cheers,
Hans