Per recent development chats, we’ve worked out a project schedule for 3.3. The plan:
| July 20, 2011 | Confirm planned timeline. |
| July 27, 2011 | Confirm planned scope. |
| Non-Leads Feature freeze. No new features added after this point by contributors. After this a week for lead developers to assess the state of trunk and identify anything that needs to be pulled for lack of maturity, or to drop in things that were intended for the release but hadn’t been finished yet. | |
| September |
Complete Feature freeze. No new features added after this point, so that testing can begin on a stable-ish product (including usability testing of new features). |
| September |
Usability Test Results. Review results of testing, make fixes based on findings. |
| Target date for beta 1. UI freeze and primary code freeze. Any last adjustments based on testing after feature freeze should be finished by now and the focus shifts to fixing bugs to get to a stable beta. |
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| From this point on, no more commits for any new enhancements or feature requests in this release cycle (including blessed), only bug fixes. Any enhancements/feature requests not completed and committed by this point will be punted to future. Please don’t get angry and complain when this happens; it’s necessary to get us to an on-time release. You can keep working on your pet ticket and have it ready for 3.4 early. | |
| Target date for RC 1. String freeze; translators rejoice. | |
| November |
Target date for WordPress 3.3 launch. |
So: if you have made a 2011 new year’s resolution to get involved in WordPress core development, now’s the time to head on over to Trac and pick a 3.3 ticket (that sounds kind of like a carnival game, doesn’t it?). Get your patches done and submitted as soon as possible, then drum up people to test the patches and leave feedback on the ticket. As stated above, no patches for enhancements or feature requests will be committed after the posted deadlines, so that we can all focus on squashing bugs and hopefully deliver the most bug-free WordPress to date. Wish us luck!
Jared 1:29 am on August 19, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Looks like this is going to be a good update. I can’t wait!
Sebastian 2:49 pm on October 11, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I still don’t get this completely what the chances are but i’m looking forward to see what to expect from the improved admin bar, flyout menues etc. Plus as always i have to wait till my developers test my themes with the latest version, but being a wordpress enthusiast… we’ll i’m really eager to see this new version.
Matthew McGarity 2:09 am on November 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Was RC 1 completed on-target (last Saturday)? Or is it still pending?
Alex Mills 2:19 am on November 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
We’re still on beta 2: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/trunk/wp-includes/version.php
Matthew McGarity 8:43 pm on November 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
@Alex Thanks — but the schedule up above still reflects 10/29; is there a new target date?
Alex Mills 8:45 pm on November 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
You’re probably better off asking one of the lead devs on IRC. I don’t follow the weekly chats.
Ian Dunn 6:04 pm on December 10, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Is there any way you could announce the final launch date in advance, once it’s been determined? I need to coordinate the release of a plugin update with the release of 3.3, and it’s hard to do that without knowing the exact date and time it will come out. I’d assume that other people are in similar situations.
So, maybe once everything is finalized and you ready to be released, could you create a new post on the blog saying something like, “3.3 is ready and will be officially released tomorrow at 8pm UTC” ?
Jane Wells 6:11 pm on December 10, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
That would obviously be ideal, but the fact is, it’s not practical. If you follow trac or IRC, you’ll have seen that 3 separate big fat blockers have cropped up during RC. We’ve pushed back the schedule several times this release cycle, as the schedule clearly shows. As of right now, we’re shooting for Monday to launch, but that will depend on how we stand re late-breaking blockers/security reports. The best way to stay on top of the moving target is to lurk in #wordpress-dev, since that’s where we discuss the release timing as it changes. You can also skim the logs at https://irclogs.wordpress.org/chanlog.php?channel=wordpress-dev to keep up. Since we have volunteer contributors from all time zones, we are rarely able to target a time of day; though it’s often aimed at before/during/after dev chats, it often takes longer to wrap things up than expected. Right now we hope to launch Monday morning, but we don’t make promises/announcements anymore bc when things change people tended to get upset.
Ian Dunn 5:15 am on December 11, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for the reply Jane. I’ll just try to watch it as closely as I can.