[rfc] six-month stable release cycles

[DeeJay]

My last shot tonight. I didn't intend this to be a dialogue...

"We have at least 1 week of RC w/ an rc installer before the final build
is made. I've certainly gotten some feedback during that time. And even
though we don't have the full week from installer before -final is
released, it is usually the same lag for building installers."

1] There were no Windows standalone installers for the RCs of 1.10,
1.14 and 1.15. (Perhaps that's before John was on the case.)

2] In the case of 1.17 a new problem was introduced into the Final
release that was not in the RC. 403789

Of course the final arbiters of the success of a release are the end
users, but just as with the source code for the core, aren't there
some 'smoke tests' and selftests that could/should be run before an
installer is published?

And my point was not that John, or whoever the current volunteer
packager is at any given time, is 'failing', but that since for
Installer users the installer IS the bzr release perhaps the testing
should be done as part of the 'core' release process?

David