Estimated Xalan release schedule

[Jo...@lotus.com]

Folks have been asking us when Xalan 2.2 will come out. Here's what we
currently have in mind:

THIS WEEK: Xalan 2.1.D12.
   * This is a candidate for Xalan 2.2.
   * Begin HEAVY TESTING against Xerces 1.
   * Code should be STABILIZED
     In other words, only critical fixes should be checked in.
     Noncritical limitations will be documented (with workarounds, when
     appropriate) and deferred.

DECEMBER 1st: Xalan 2.2 Reference Release
   * This is effectively a candidate for Xalan 2.3.
   * Begin HEAVY TESTING against Xerces 2.
      To make sure no late changes in Xerces 2 affect us
   * Code remains STABILIZED; only critical fixes should be checked in.

JANUARY 2nd: Xalan 2.3 Reference Release
   * Yes, the main difference between 2.2 and 2.3 is confidence in our
   support for Xerces 2
     That's a significant enough change that we felt it merited a Reference
     Release.
     And their own schedule means we don't think we'll be confident earlier
     than this.
   * Plus any late-appearing critical bug fixes.

The goal is to make sure that these two Reference Releases really are
something we know has been pounded on heavily and consider "production
quality". Note that this doesn't necessarily mean 100% bug-free; it does
mean that we want it to be significantly less buggy than 2.1 and -- as much
as possible -- the remaining issues should be clearly delimited and
documented so users understand exactly what to expect.

The trade-off, of course, is that in order to work toward this extra-stable
reference release we're going to have to refrain from doing anything too
likely to destabilize the code -- which means that, for a little while,
we're going to have to be much more selective about what changes get made
immediately and which are held off. If we run across a situation where a
patch that shouldn't go into 2.2/2.3 is really needed by a small part of
the community, we may fork the code and reconverge after 2.3... but we'll
figure that out if/when it arises.


Again: These are target dates. We may find we have to change some of them
if something unexpected happens, so please take them with the appropriate
five-pound block of salt. But at least this gives you a sense of where
we're going, so you can think about how it impacts your own release
schedules.