At 11/17/2001 02:49 AM (Saturday), Joe Martinez wrote:

>Ok, I know that Firebird RC1 stands for "Release Candidate 1", but what
>does that mean exactly?

I really don't want to muddy the waters but here is my take on the terminology:

The 0.9.4 and 0.9.5 versions contained improvements which really needed
extensive testing. Therefore, they were called "beta" versions. The "RC1"
version is the next release in that series but due to the long test cycle
of the previous releases is now considered a "release candidate". That
means it COULD become the version 1.0 release if no problems are discovered
in it's testing. Another attribute of the release candidate is that no new
functionality will be introduced before it evolves into the 1.0 release -
only fixes.

Here is how I personally have interpreted the Firebird release history:

In my mind the 0.9.X releases were actually "alpha test" releases, to be
extensively tested by those in the small circle of experimenters,
contributors, etc. that make up the Firebird development team. I would not
have used such a release in production or even development environments
unless I considered myself part of the team. (However, I understand some
people were just too eager...)

Anyway, I would call the RC1 release the first real "beta test" release
because it is the first release which seems to have everyone's approval as
being a viable 1.0 candidate. In other words it SHOULD work, the known
problems are on a small list, and all the high priority enhancements are
included.

Now for the near future: If the accumulated changes to RC1 which are made
due to bug reports gets large enough (and certainly if there are any show
stoppers bugs fixed) then we should see an RC2 released. We haven't reached
that point yet but we may get there if more adjustments to the release
notes or installation procedures are needed. Depends on how widespread the
testing is.

If an RC2 is released you can expect at least another month or RC2
experience to accumulate before you see it transformed into a 1.0 release.
If the RC1 changes are deemed small enough then we might see a 1.0 release
created from RC1 within a month.

This is all speculation on my part but I think educated guessing from
someone who has been watching closely.