GCC 4.3 release schedule

[Andrew MacLeod]

Now that GCC is in stage 4.3, I think we'd all be in agreement that it 
would be nice to keep this stage short and get a release out.

We are interested in using 4.3 as the system compiler in Fedora 9, and 
as such, we'd like to nail down some time lines and requirements with 
release management and the steering committee.

The timelines involved are something like this:  (clearly anything 
earlier would be great :-)

Nov 14th - we'd like to start building F9 with a 4.3 compiler. Ideally 
we'd have a branch cut no later than that and starting to stabilize 
without much new code going in.
Dec 14th - viability decision on using 4.3 as the F9 compiler.  There is 
a window here as late as Jan 14th, but the opinions will start forming 
in Dec. There shouldn't be any ABI changes from this point on.
Feb 29th - Optimistic target date for a 4.3 release.  can slip as much 
as a  month,  but clearly the earlier the release happens the better.

I don't recall seeing any other timeline requirements, does this seem 
like a reasonable target schedule? Once a decision is made to use 4.3 by 
mid-jan, it becomes very difficult to back out if something happens to 
the release date, so it becomes quite important that the final criteria 
is well understood by then and appears reachable.  If something 
unforeseen happens late in the cycle to delay the release, its also 
important that we can get some sort of steering committee agreement on 
what to do so we don't have some sort of evil gcc offspring as happened 
once before. Thats something I don't expect to happen, but will have to 
visit as risk management before the final decision is made.   My hope is 
that it'll be in good enough shape by mid january that slippage by that 
much is unlikely and isn't an issue.

Does this seem like a reasonable schedule?  Can we set the criteria for 
what a final release would look like?  We're committed to applying 
engineering resource to help make it happen.

Andrew