RELEASED Python 2.5.2, release candidate 1

[Ben Finney]

"Martin v. Löwis" <martin at v.loewis.de> writes:

> Please accept my apologies.

Thanks, but not needed. I'm merely trying to address the confusing
terminology in this announcement and future ones.

> I'm not a native speaker, so "to release" means to me what the
> dictionary says it means: m-w's fourth meaning, "make available to
> the public". That's what I did - I made the release candidate
> available to the public.

That's one meaning of the word, yes. But in the context of a free
software project with source code *always* available to the public
when it's announced, that meaning of "release" is an oxymoron.

A "release" is better understood in free software as exactly what the
"release candidate" is a candidate of: i.e. that it's always in some
form *available*, but it's not *released* until it's officially
blessed as "ready" in some way.

> So is the subject incorrect as well? If so, what should it say?

It would be better if it didn't say "released" at all, since (as
discussed above) this isn't "released" except in the trivial
always-true sense that it is available.

Rather, it might just say "[ANN] Python 2.5.2, release candidate 1".

-- 
 \       “Imagine a world without hypothetical situations.” —anonymous |
  `\                                                                   |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney