<div dir="ltr">I hope it is ok that I chime in here. From my non developer perspective the 3.x.0 releases are not currently seen as release candidates by most people, if they even understand that concept. My recollection is that the website and OSGEO don't tag them as release candidates (is that true?) and it only shows up on the splash screen. <div>My experience was that when 3.0 came out there were a lot of growing pains and I always used the LTR because the stability difference was significant. As 3.x releases have matured the stability difference was not as great and I started using the latest releases exclusively. </div><div>If I correctly understand the issue I think releasing 4.0.0 with a potential profile corrupting bug even as a release candidate is problematic. </div><div>I also think that the 4.x releases are a great time to switch how these things are numbered and show up on the website. Having separate download buttons for LTR, Latest, and Release Candidates could go a long way to communicating this difference in releases. </div><div>Thanks for all of your amazing and hard work on this and I understand many of you are feeling pressure to release on time but I as someone who is getting a bunch of people to install QGIS I hope you give it a little more time. </div><div>-Bas</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Feb 18, 2026 at 8:31 AM Greg Troxel via QGIS-Developer <<a href="mailto:qgis-developer@lists.osgeo.org">qgis-developer@lists.osgeo.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">[dropping psc because it doesn't accept mail]<br>
<br>
Nyall Dawson via QGIS-Developer <<a href="mailto:qgis-developer@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank">qgis-developer@lists.osgeo.org</a>> writes:<br>
<br>
> Everyone who has been actively testing 4.0 nightlies has probably seen this<br>
> coming, but we're just NOT ready to publicly release 4.0 on the 20th. Aside<br>
> from anything else, we still don't have a fix for the profile corruption<br>
> bug* which should be a blocker alone. With this one a user's 3.x profile<br>
> can get completely corrupted, and/or cause hangs on loading 3.x/4.0.<br>
<br>
In general, I think firmly fixed release dates are not a reasonable<br>
plan, except for micros along a stable branch which is kept stable at<br>
all times. What's reasonable is a firm feature freeze date. Basically<br>
one can stop destabilizing changes on command, but one can't make<br>
stability on command. (Yes, I have managed software development to<br>
deadlines, and yes, I know it's really not fun at times.)<br>
<br>
As a packager, the idea of a 4.0 (with massive change in dependencie)<br>
coming out without a 4.0a1 or 4.0b1 or even an rc is uncomfortable.<br>
<br>
I don't see how is served by tagging a 4.0 release before it's ready for<br>
use by random users. To me that's the key question.<br>
<br>
So I'd say:<br>
<br>
It's past time to be in feature freeze on master. Definitely bug<br>
fixes and doc fixes only. (Probably that's true and has been for a<br>
while.)<br>
<br>
(The last few years we have been able to get away without a/b/rc<br>
because there has been little change in deps and it's mostly core code<br>
that changes in a way that doesn't tend to lead to trouble in<br>
environments other than the developer's.)<br>
<br>
If it mostly works, which it sounds like it does, there should be a<br>
4.0a1 tag laid down, and that can lead to 4.0a1 binary packages.<br>
(People who run an alpha should be making backups, even more than<br>
everybody else.)<br>
<br>
4.0.0 should be tagged when it's ready, not before.<br>
<br>
<br>
I realize there is sort of ".0 releases are sort of rc", but I see that<br>
as a higher-level risk mitigation rather than truly being an rc.<br>
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</blockquote></div><div><br clear="all"></div><div><br></div><span class="gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span><br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">___________________________<br><div dir="ltr"><span>Sebastian "Bas* " Gutwein</span></div><div><span><span>*rhymes with Josh <br></span></span></div><div><span><span><br></span></span></div>Regenerative Design Group<br>1 Chevalier Ave<br>Greenfield, Ma 01301<br>Web: <a href="http://regenerativedesigngroup.com" target="_blank">regenerativedesigngroup.com</a><br>(631) 241-1018<br><br><div dir="ltr"><i><span><span>Look close, think big, make change. </span></span></i></div><div dir="ltr"><span></span></div></div></div>