Towards Drupal 4.7RC... Almost There

I've been keeping an eye on the "critical" list for a while now, as I'm sure many other folks have.

I'll be the first one to admit that I have zero skills when it comes to developing code. However, I think that everything evens out in terms of bugs. Yes, there may be a bug here and there that isn't really critical and that is perhaps labeled as such and thus holding up the release candidate (RC), but then there's probably a bug here and there that IS critical that hasn't yet been identified and thus not yet listed and won't be discovered until AFTER the RC is made available. For some bugs, labeling them "critical" is probably a borderline call, but I trust the folks identifying the bugs and the developers who oversee this project to make the correct judgment call and label things accordingly.

The fact that some people care enough to mark something critical shows concern and makes me feel confident that they and others will diligently work on and give it serious thought as to how it can be fixed. Even if it isn't being worked on 24/7, at least it's been identified and, hey, we're ALL volunteers here so we can ALL do things to help speed up the release process such as testing and providing feedback. If a bug is questionable as being "critical", I prefer that it be labeled as such to err on the side of caution. Yes, even if it holds up the release.

So what can people do to help move along the beta, the RC, and the overall Drupal project? Please download the latest beta and test it. Ditto for the RC when it comes out. Play with and try to break the software. If you find a bug, critical or otherwise, help us squish those pesky bugs! Please go to http://drupal.org/support and, under "Bug reports," follow the directions to first search the bug list to see if your bug has already been reported and, if not, to then enter it at the provided link.

If some people don't want to help out in finding and identifying critical bugs, that's OK because there are other ways people can help. The Drupal handbook can always use volunteer help and folks on the forums (like me!) can always use help in having questions answered and issues resolved, even if the issues/questions are minor. We all have to start somewhere, and the Drupal community welcomes everyone, both hard-core programmers and newbies! :) Remember, the more critical bugs we can identify TODAY, instead of in some trickling-in fashion into the future, the faster we can get the RC out.

The bottom line is that I would MUCH rather see as many "critical" bugs, even if they're borderline critical, fixed now while still in beta than download the RC only to then find a bunch of critical bugs.

And to all the developers, THANK YOU for ALL your contributions! I am constantly amazed as just how well this community functions and how far this projects continues to move ahead.

-----
Walt Esquivel, MBA, MA, Captain - U.S. Marine Corps (Veteran)
President, Wellness Corps, LLC
-----
Drupal Users and Developers by Geographical Location
http://drupal.org/node/46659

Here you go for definitions: http://drupal.org/node/45111

If you switch the list from Critical to Normal from the original post you'll see a difference in volume. If you look at this specific bugs you'll see that many of them can have a subtle yet serious breakage implication.

It's not being done to tease anyone, it's being done to solve very real issues.

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain