Feature Freeze in place; Alpha 5 freeze ahead

[Steve Langasek]

Hello Ubuntu developers,

The Feature Freeze is now in effect for Jaunty.  The focus from here until
release is on fixing bugs and polishing.

If you believe that a new package, a new upstream version of a package, or a
new feature is needed for the release and will not introduce more problems
than it fixes, please follow the Freeze Exception Process by filing bugs and
subscribing ubuntu-release or motu-release as appropriate, or by contacting
a designated delegate[1].

  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FreezeExceptionProcess

Please also make sure that specs assigned to you for Jaunty are updated
to their current status (which should be at least Beta Available if
not Deferred, or unless granted a freeze exception).

  https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/jaunty/

Our next testing milestone, Jaunty Alpha 5, is scheduled for next
Thursday, February 26.  Jaunty Alpha 5 will again use a "soft freeze" for
main[2].  This means that developers are asked 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-5 can be found at:

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/jaunty/+bugs?field.milestone=2213

Per the policy described at <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RCBugTargetting>, this
list is used for tracking bugs that are blockers for the alpha 5 milestone -
so as you can see, the list is currently quite short.  If you know of other
bugs that should be considered blockers, please nominate them for release
and set the milestone target for those bugs.  If you have questions about
whether a bug should be considered a blocker, please contact a member of the
release team[3].

And of course, please also consider helping with the bugs already listed
there if you have the time.

Beyond that short list of bugs that are blockers for Alpha 5, we have those
bugs that are listed as release-critical for jaunty as a whole:

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/jaunty/+bugs

If you aren't among the small group of people who have milestoned bugs
assigned to you, please consider helping with those release-targeted bugs,
using your best judgement with regard to the alpha freeze when uploading
fixes.

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 Jaunty that you think should be
highlighted for Alpha 5, let me or another member of the release team know
so that they can be added to the technical overview at
<https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JauntyJackalope/TechnicalOverview>.

Thanks,
-- 
Steve Langasek
On behalf of the Ubuntu release team

[1] https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2009-February/000533.html
[2] https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2008-January/000363.html
[3] https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-release/+members