[Release-testers] [6.0.0 Release] Scheduling the release

[Hans Wennborg via Release-testers]

On Wed, Dec 6, 2017 at 9:28 AM, Hans Wennborg <hans at chromium.org> wrote:
> 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.

Since there wasn't really any opposition to the 3 January "slow start"
suggestion, let's go with that. I propose the following schedule:

3 January 2018 - Branch point. Those who want can start testing and
nominating merges.
17 January 2018 - Release Candidate 1 tag, testing of that starts.
7 February 2018 - Release Candidate 2, things should ideally look
pretty good now
21 February 2018 - Final tag. (Typically this slips a bit; just try
not to slip into March.)

Unless there are any objections, I'll post this on the web page soon.

Cheers,
Hans