Alpha 3 freeze ahead, let's go squash bugs

[Steve Langasek]

Hello Ubuntu developers,

The expected release date of Hardy Alpha 3 is this coming Thursday, January
10.

Based on the results of the "soft freeze" trials from alphas 1 and 2, the
release team intends to continue with this approach to alpha milestones.
Again, this does not mean that there is no freeze, it means that we are
asking you the developers to implement this freeze on your end before
uploading packages to the archive.  We still need you to refrain from
uploading packages between Tuesday and Thursday which don't bring us closer
to releasing the alpha, so that these days can be used for settling the
archive and fixing any remaining showstoppers.

The list of bugs targeted for alpha-3 can be found in a couple of different
places, according to your tastes:

  https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+milestone/hardy-alpha-3
  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bugs?field.milestone%3Alist=949

This milestone is intended to be used for tracking bugs that must be fixed
in order for the alpha release to happen.  If you have doubts about whether
a bug should block the alpha, please err on the side of caution by using the
milestone for the bug so that the release team can review it.  Please also
consider helping with the bugs already listed there if you have the time.

The number of bugs blocking the alpha is expected to be relatively small, so
if you don't have any milestoned bugs assigned to you, please consider
helping with the list of bugs that are listed as release-critical for hardy
as a whole: <https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/hardy/+bugs>.  Again, please
use your best judgement with regard to the alpha freeze when uploading fixes
for these bugs.

Please also help us to get the archive in a consistent state again for the
alpha, as described on
<https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDevelopment/PackageArchive#Consistency>.

Finally, if you know of new features in Hardy that you think should be
highlighted for Alpha 3, let me or another member of the release team know
so that they can be added to the release notes at
<https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardyHeron/Alpha3>.

Happy New Year,
-- 
Steve Langasek
On behalf of the Ubuntu release team