Re: groff 1.24 release goals and gates

"G. Branden Robinson" <[email protected]> writes:

> Hi Peter,
>
> At 2025-11-15T15:00:29-0500, Peter Schaffter wrote:
>> On Sat, Nov 15, 2025, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
>> > I think groff 1.24.0.rc1 is finally coming into view.
>> 
>> Just the release candidate, or the actual release?
>
> Just the release candidate; I don't have the courage to push a final
> release with _no_ release candidates, and we haven't had any for 1.24.
>
> That said, if RC1 is well received and raises no issues demanding a code
> change, I see no reason not to go to final release after that.  (That's
> kind of my definition of a "release candidate"--if it builds and runs
> and no defects arise warranting code changes, it's a successful
> "candidate".)
>
> What I took away from the 1.22.4 and 1.23.0 release cycles shows was
> that 2 weeks is about as long as we need for RC feedback.  I remember
> being frustrated that holding the RC window open for a third week didn't
> seem to accomplish much.
>
> It's my first time doing this officially for groff, of course.  I'm open
> to feedback or suggestions about release management.

For Coreutils, Pádraig usually does a release snapshot around a week
before the planned release to allow people to test [1].

Sometimes it goes well and can be released early. Other times it needs a
few more snapshots due to unforeseen bugs.

Just figured I would share in case you want to try something similar,
using [email protected].

Collin

[1] https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/platform-testers/2025-11/msg00000.html