Re: Release procedure.

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>]

> I've long been baffled that trunk work is affected by the fact that a
> release is under way.

The reason is very simple: because of a lack of resources, we can't spread
half the resources working on a "new trunk" with the half working on
bug-fixing on a release branch.  So we first declare a freeze, then do
bug-fixing on the trunk (during which time, development is significantly
slowed down), and only when the amount of bug-fixing left is expected to be
sufficiently low, do we finally branch so as to allow people to start
hacking again without affecting negatively the time of the release.

It's a delicate balancing exercise to motivate people to do bug-fixing and
other release-preparation work without frustrating them away.


        Stefan